Diss, Norfolk

Diss is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in South Norfolk, England; it is near to the boundary with Suffolk.

It is recorded as being in the king's possession as demesne (direct ownership) of the Crown, there being at that time a church and a glebe of 24 acres (9.7 ha).

From this it appears that it was still relatively small, but it soon grew, when it subsumed Watlingsete Manor, a neighbouring area as large as Diss, and seemingly more populated according to the geld or tax that it paid.

After Richard de Lucy's death in 1179, the inheritance of the other two parts of Diss hundred passed to his daughter Maud, who married Walter FitzRobert.

[5] Soon after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, Edward Plantagenet, Duke of York and Earl of Rutland, came to hold Diss manor, hundred and market, together with Hemenhale, and the title of Lord FitzWalter became attached to the estate.

It was part of a larger estate that included Hemenhale and Diss manors, with the hundred of Diss in Norfolk, the manors of Shimpling and Thorne in Suffolk, of Wodeham-Walter (now Woodham Walter), Henham, Leiden (now part of Leaden Roding), Vitring, Dunmow Parva (now Little Dunmow), Burnham (possibly the modern village of Burnham-on-Crouch), Winbush, and Shering (now Sheering) in Essex.

[5] John Skelton, tutor and court poet to Henry VIII, was appointed rector at St. Mary's Church in Diss in about 1503.

Events there formed the subject of some of his poems, such as the humorous invective "Ware the Hauke", in which another priest goes falconing in St Mary's, barring the doors against him and causing chaos in the church.

[10] From 1927 until 1982, Cambridge businessman Jack Baldry and his son Derek operated a factory in the town that produced soda water, lemonade and cola for the pubs of East Anglia.

[14] The 100th Bomb Group Memorial Museum is located 4.5 mi (7.2 km) east of Diss at the former RAF Thorpe Abbotts airfield.

[25][26] Diss railway station, located east of the town, is a stop on the Great Eastern Main Line; it is sited between Norwich and Stowmarket.

Bus services are operated primarily by Konectbus and Simonds; routes connect the town with Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Beccles and Long Stratton.

Place name sign in Diss