Guestwick is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish also includes the hamlet of Guestwick Green.
Guestwick is located west of Aylsham and north-west of Norwich.
History Guestwick's name is of Viking origin and derives from the Old Norse for Guist's clearing.
In the Domesday Book, Guestwick is listed as a settlement of 20 households hundred of Eynesford. In 1086, the village was part of the East Anglian estates of William, Bishop of Thetford and Hagni the Reeve.
In 1652, a Congregationalist Chapel was built in the parish which was re-built in 1840 and converted into a private dwelling in the 1990s. The chapel was one of the oldest in England and the minister was once John Godwin, the father of William Godwin and grandfather of Mary Shelley.
Railway embankments and infrastructure are still visible from the old North Norfolk Railway.
Geography According to the 2021 census, Guestwick has a population of 210 people which shows an increase from the 207 recorded in the 2011 census.
St. Peter’s Church Guestwick's parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter and dates from the Twelfth Century. St. Peter's is located within the village on Church Lane and has been Grade I listed since 1961. The church is still open for Sunday services and is part of the Heart of Norfolk Churches Benefice.
St. Peter's was restored in the Victorian era but still retains its Fifteenth Century font. The church holds a good collection of Fifteenth Century stained-glass and some stained-glass wildlife installed by Adam O'Grady in 2000.
Governance Guestwick is part of the electoral ward of Eynesford for local elections and is part of the district of Broadland.
The village's national constituency is Broadland and Fakenham which has been represented by the Conservative Party's Jerome Mayhew MP since 2019.
War Memorial Guestwick's war memorial is a marble plaque inside St. Peter's Church which lists the following names for the First World War: +RankNameUnitDate of deathBurial/CommemorationLt.Cubitt A. Ireland MC6th Bn., Norfolk Regiment14 Oct. 1917Arras MemorialSgt.Henry E. Jordan MiD11th Bn., Essex Regiment24 Feb. 1916Lijssenthoek Military CemeteryDvr.Ernest E. Dagless2nd Coy., Machine Gun Corps9 Apr. 1918Lillers CemeteryPte.Percival S. Gibbs7th Bn., Bedfordshire Regiment15 Mar. 1917Achiet-le-Grand CemeteryPte.Walter E. Gibbs9th Bn., Royal Fusiliers27 Mar. 1918Pozières MemorialPte.George F. Pearce17th Bn., Middlesex Regiment28 Apr. 1917Arras MemorialPte.Henry E. Broadwater1st Bn., Queen's Royal Regt.13 Apr. 1918Ploegsteert Memorial
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