County in England
Norfolk
Norfolk's coast keeps giving up secrets: 850,000-year-old footprints, a Bronze Age timber circle and a whole lost village's worth of cliff.
Key information
- County
- Norfolk
- Nation
- England
- Population
- about 916,000 (2021 Census)
- Area
- about 5,370 square kilometres
- Known for
- The Broads, Norwich Cathedral, Sandringham, Cromer crab, Nelson, vast skies and flat land
- What locals are called
- Norfolk people, or Norfolk folk; a traditional nickname is "Norfolk dumplings"
- Famous people
- Horatio Nelson, Edith Cavell, Thomas Paine, Stephen Fry
- Football clubs
- Norwich City (the Canaries), Great Yarmouth Town, King's Lynn Town
About Norfolk
The county that keeps handing over its past
In 2013, storm-scoured sand at Happisburgh revealed a set of footprints pressed into ancient mud about 850,000 years ago. They are the earliest evidence of humans in northern Europe, left by a small group walking along an estuary. The coast has produced other treasures. In 1998 a ring of oak posts surrounding an upturned tree stump appeared on the beach at Holme-next-the-Sea. Dated to around 2049 BC, it became known as Seahenge and was lifted out of the sand for conservation. Inland, at Grime's Graves near Weeting, Neolithic miners dug hundreds of shafts to reach prized flint. Norfolk was busy long before the Romans arrived: the Iceni lived here when the Romans invaded in AD 43, and Boudica later led their revolt against Roman rule in AD 60–61.
The Broads are a giant flooded hole
Those reedy, boat-filled waterways look like nature's work, but the Broads are man-made. Medieval Norfolk dug peat for fuel on an enormous scale. When the sea level rose, the pits flooded. For a long time they were assumed to be natural lakes. Then, in the 1950s, the botanist Joyce Lambert's research showed the straight sides and layered peat of old workings, proving they were flooded medieval peat diggings. Today the Broads form Britain's largest protected wetland, with rivers, windpumps and boat traffic wherever you look. Noël Coward had Norfolk in mind when he wrote the line "Very flat, Norfolk" in Private Lives in 1930. Flat it may be, but the skies are enormous, and that is half the appeal.
Wool money, rebels and 650 churches
Medieval Norfolk was one of England's richest regions, thanks to wool and cloth. Norwich was among the country's biggest cities, and the wealth paid for churches. Around 650 medieval ones still stand, many with towers far grander than their villages seem to need. Norwich Cathedral, begun in 1096, has a spire of about 96 metres, the second tallest in England after Salisbury's. Norwich Castle, built by the Normans on its great mound, still looms over the city. In 1549 the landowner Robert Kett led thousands of protesters against enclosure of common land and camped on Mousehold Heath above Norwich. The rebellion was crushed, but Kett's name is still honoured in the city.
A vice-admiral, a nurse and a revolutionary
Horatio Nelson was born in 1758 at Burnham Thorpe, where his father was the rector, and the county still claims him fondly. Great Yarmouth has a tall column in his honour. Edith Cavell, born in Swardeston in 1865, became a nurse who helped Allied soldiers escape occupied Belgium in the First World War. She was executed in 1915, and her grave lies beside Norwich Cathedral. Thomas Paine, author of Rights of Man, was born in Thetford in 1737 and went on to shape revolutions in America and France. Stephen Fry, who grew up in Norfolk, is a more recent famous name.
Crab, samphire and a very good mustard
Cromer crab has its own devoted following, with sweet meat from the cold North Sea. On the marshes along the north coast, samphire is picked in summer and sometimes called Norfolk asparagus. Norfolk Black turkeys, with their dark plumage, are a festive speciality, and the county has long been a big name in turkey farming. Norfolk dumplings are another old favourite, and gave locals their affectionate nickname. Colman's mustard began in 1814 when Jeremiah Colman started milling near Norwich. The firm became one of the city's best-known names and a fixture on tables across Britain.
Canaries, piers and royal Christmases
Norwich City are the Canaries, and Carrow Road has one of football's most famous half-time moments: in 2005 Delia Smith, a co-owner, grabbed a microphone and appealed to the home crowd with "We need a twelfth man here" and "Let's be 'avin' you!" The East Anglian derby against Ipswich is known as the Old Farm derby. Cromer Pier still stages a traditional end-of-the-pier summer show, and Great Yarmouth has its seafront amusements. Holkham's huge, empty beach is a favourite for windswept walks. Sandringham, bought for the future Edward VII in 1862, remains a royal country retreat, and the royal family traditionally spends Christmas there. The Norfolk accent is distinctive too: "bor" is a friendly word for a neighbour or mate.