Remembering Your Roots: Meet Hingham, England

The origins of a community can come from many sources. It can be from early explorers, determined entrepreneurs or the desire of different people willing to work to establish a town that they can be proud of and where they can raise a family. For current residents of Hingham, it can be the birthplace of their American Dream.

But in case anybody wasn’t aware, the seeds of the town were actually sown on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in a small village in Norfolk, England: Hingham, England.

The town is a part of England that was once known as "Little London" due to the high percentage of residents that decided to build homes in the area and one in which the name Lincoln is remembered with pride as it is the  the home of President Abraham Lincoln's ancestors.

The Hingham, England is a picturesque village situated approximately seventeen miles from Norwich, Norfolk’s largest town. Hingham, England is home to 2,078 people, most of who commute into Norwich, Ipswich or London on a daily basis. There is a pub, a post office, a village hall, a village green, a fourteenth century church, an annual fair and a corner shop that is actually called "Harrods of Hingham."

This is a community that could come straight from the pages of a Jane Austen novel, a village steeped in history and one that is acquainted with the American cousin. So much so, that even the Town Signs bear a remarkable similarity.  

An ocean may separate Hingham, MA and Hingham, UK, but there are distinct similarities between the two.

According to Rouve Elvin, assistant manager of The White Hart pub (which was visited by Selectman John Riley some years ago), the village is special because of the “regular people that live here” and the sense of community that comes from not being part of an urban landscape. 

Richard Stickland, a member of the Town Council and the Parish Archivist, has lived in Hingham for 44 years and remembers when the village was “self sufficient, when you didn’t need to go far to get when you need.”

Stickland has never visited Hingham, MA, never seen Hingham Harbor, never tasted Nona's homemade ice cream, or shopped at Derby Street Shoppes but he is trying to raise money through the Hingham History Group to transform a room in the Village Hall into a museum to celebrate and preserve the community history, which is similar to the plan to create a Hingham Historical Hub that is being considered here.

But the village of Hingham may soon find fame on a more global stage.

Hingham, MA has Wahlbergers and Talbots, but Hingham UK is home to Team Lotus, a Formula One motor-racing team that decided in 2009 to locate it’s worldwide base of operations in a “a sleepy little village in the heart of the Norfolk countryside.”

Tom Webb, Head of Communications at Team Lotus admits that the location might seem an odd choice for a Formula 1 motor racing team to base itself, preparing cars to compete in races around the world, but it has turned out to be a profitable partnership.

“Firstly, Norfolk was the home of the original Team Lotus Formula 1 team,” said Webb. “This was the outfit that won numerous races in the 60s and 70s, even bringing Graham Hill over to the USA to win the Indy 500 in 1966, so to base the new incarnation of Team Lotus just made sense, emotionally, historically and practically.”

The practical element of a Formula One being located in rural English countryside may not seem immediately apparent, but Norfolk is home to a large motor-sport industry, with a number of motor racing teams, suppliers and manufacturers based there. Team Lotus has made good use of the availability of local talent with Webb estimating that at least $15 million in revenue has been brought into the area with the creation of 150 jobs.

To demonstrate how a successful business can revitalize a community, Webb is happy to tell a story about a local sandwich vendor:

“A local woman drives to the factory every day and sells sandwiches to the hungry workforce. She was asked one day if she was going on holiday, so the guy asking could make sure he knew to make his own food while she was away. Her answer was this 'Yes. I’m going on holiday next week. Before your factory opened I was going to spend a week at home with the kids. Since you’ve opened business has picked up, so now it’s not a holiday at home… we’re all off to Barbados for two weeks of luxury!' ”

If ever proof was needed that a successful community is more than just about where you lay your head at night, then this sleepy village in Norfolk is a good template to follow. Which would explain exactly why those people who chose a new life across the pond in the Seventeenth Century wanted to make sure that their roots were never forgotten.