[2] 11,232 Population [2021] – Census[3] Attleborough is in the Mid-Norfolk constituency of the UK Parliament, represented since the 2010 general election by the Conservative MP George Freeman.

A popular theory of the town's origin makes it a foundation of an Atlinge, and certainly burgh (or burh) indicates that it was fortified at an early date.

According to the mid-12th century hagiographer of Saint Edmund, Geoffrey of Wells, Athla was the founder of the Ancient and royal town of Attleborough in Norfolk.

After the Danes swept across Norfolk and seized Thetford, it is believed that the Saxons rallied their forces at Attleborough and probably threw up some form of protection.

Although the Saxons put up a vigorous resistance, they eventually capitulated to the Danes and during the time of Edward the Confessor, powerful Danish families like Toradre and Turkill controlled local manors.

If local records are correct, nothing but disaster was brought to Attleborough by the Danes, and it took the coming of William the Conqueror to restore some sense of well-being to the area.

Turkill relinquished his hold on the area to the Mortimer family towards the end of William's reign, and they governed Attleborough for more than three centuries.

The Griffin, the Bear and the Cock still operate but the Crown is now a youth centre and the Angel is a building society branch office.

The factory has now closed for cider-making, which has moved to Shepton Mallet in Somerset, but it has since re-opened as a chicken processing plant, and the corn exchange is now a local Indian restaurant.

The 1920s saw continuing growth as a market centre, held on a Thursday, the stalls spread along the pavements of Church Street and in an open area by the Angel Hotel opposite the Griffin Inn.

It was the turkey sales which made the town a thriving market centre in the 1930s, and thousands were sold each year on Michaelmas Day.

Structurally the town changed little during the 1950s and there were no great leaps in population growth, other than the arrival of the notorious London gangsters, the Kray twins, who took over a local hostelry.

[5] The Attleborough Methodist church in London Road has stopped holding normal services but still provides rooms to hire for community use.