Wesleyan Methodist chapel was opened in 1892, on the lane to Shingham. The Local Government Act 1894 created the civil parish and parish council of Beachamwell by merging the three ancient parishes, to be part of the Swaffham Rural District Council. 20th century In 1902 a fire completely destroyed the Hall, and this was rebuilt in 1906 in the Queen Anne style by the architects Wimperis and Best. No photograph of the old mansion has been traced, so it is not known if the rebuilding resembled the original edifice. In 1911, the roofless nave of Shingham church was re-roofed in corrugated iron, subsequently replaced with copper sheeting. It was then used for services until 1941. After the First World War, a demobbed army hut was acquired for use as a village hall and re-erected on the village green. In 1924 the Forestry Commission bought of the former Warren from the Beachamwell Estate, and planted conifers on it. The forestry workers were provided with the new hamlet of Drymere, built along the road to Swaffham. In 1927 the Cooper's Arms (formerly a free house) was bought by the Norwich brewers Steward & Patteson. It had the nickname of the “Hole in the Wall”, because of a hatch allowing the sale of takeaway beer to those waiting outside. The 1926 revision of the Ordnance Survey documented the beginning of the 20th-century expansion of the village, which lead to a ribbon of housing along the east side of Chestnut Walk as far as the Swaffham Road junction. In 1935 Shingham civil parish was annexed to that of Beachamwell, creating the parish boundaries extant today. The Royal Observer Corps had a monitoring post on a lane called Narborough Hill (east side), which had an Orlit A post. This was in operation during the Cold War, from 1959 to 1991. In 1963, a proper village hall was built to replace the old army hut, and was named the Memorial Hall so as to do duty as the village's war memorial. It took over as a venue for school dinners from the pub in 1972, and continued this function until 1983. In 1967, the pub became the property of Watneys Brewery of London when it took over Steward & Patteson Brewery. Watneys closed the pub in 1974, part of a deeply resented policy of closing down village pubs by the company which had a monopoly in