Ashby St Mary Village
Commissioned by Ashby St Mary Parish Council to celebrate the millennium, the village sign was unveiled during 2000 (see Gallery below for picture). Its entire nurture to life and manufacture was fittingly provided by residents of the parish. The particular design of the sign was arrived at in the knowledge that history records a link between the windmill, the Lady and the geese depicted on it, to Ashby St Mary. It has been established that it was the practice in the 18th and 19th centuries to walk geese which had been bred in Norfolk to London in readiness for the Michaelmas trade. For protection their feet were bound with webbing and covered in tar. This journey took some 10 to 14 days and they were fed en route by grazing the corn stubbles.
A carving of a lady with geese is to be found on a tombstone situated in Ashby churchyard
The parish of Ashby St Mary is situated in the county of Norfolk in the region of England known as East Anglia.
It is one of 118 towns and parishes within the local authority area of South Norfolk District Council.The parish lies approximately 7 miles south east of the city of Norwich. The village is bordered by Thurton, Claxton, Bergh Apton and Carleton St Peter. It is located to the north east of the A146 road that extends from Norwich to the most easterly point in England at Lowestoft.
Ashby was named after all the ash trees that grew in the village. St Mary was the name of its church so the village eventually became known as Ashby St Mary.
The parish covers an area of almost a square mile at just under 204 hectares. As at 2006 it comprised about 125 dwellings with a population of approximately 300 inhabitants