Norfolk Facts
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| Norfolk has 659 medieval churches - the highest
concentration in the world. Of these, 125 have round
towers - more than any other county in the UK. (Suffolk
has 42, Essex 7, Sussex 3, Cambridgeshire 2 and
Berkshire 2.) |
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| At 160 ft, the tower of St. Peter and St. Paul's
church in Cromer is the highest in the county.
St. Giles' church tower is the highest in Norwich at
120ft. |
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| The Norfolk coastline stretches for nearly 100
miles - from Hopton on Sea to the Wash. |
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| The highest point in Norfolk is Beacon Hill near
West Runton - standing at
338 ft above sea level. |
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| The second highest point in Norfolk is Piggs' Graves
crossroad at Swanton Novers which is 331 ft above sea
level. |
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| Lord Nelson was born at the rectory at Burnham
Thorpe on 29th September, 1758. |
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| The name 'Norfolk' derives from the Anglo-Saxon for
the place of the North folk. ('Suffolk' being the place
of the South folk.) |
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| Howard Carter - the archaeologist who discovered the
tomb of Tutankhamen - grew up in Swaffham. |
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| The Norfolk Broads are not a natural phenomenon, but
are the result of flooded peat workings. |
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| There are 41 broads in Norfolk. The largest is
Hickling which covers 141 hectares and the second
largest is Barton. Horsey Mere is the only broad to be
called a mere. |
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| Thetford Forest is the largest lowland forest in
Britain - covering an area of 80 square miles; it was
first established in 1922. |
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| Thomas Paine - author of The Rights of Man -
was born in Thetford in 1737. |
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| Norfolk is the fifth largest county in England. |
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| Norfolk is the driest county in the UK. |
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| Norwich is the most easterly city in the UK. |
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| The largest village green in the county is at Old
Buckenham. |
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| At only five miles in length, the Thurne is
Norfolk's shortest river. |
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| In 1990 the bones of an early elephant were
discovered in the cliffs at West Runton; the animal
would have been 4 metres tall at the shoulder. |
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| Norfolk has more than 150 deserted medieval villages
- more than almost any other county. Nearly 30 of these
are located in the Brecklands
where the soil is light and sandy. |
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| St. Helen's Church at Ranworth is known as the
'Cathedral of the Broads'. |
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| At 23,000 sq ft, St. Nicholas' Church in
Great Yarmouth is the
largest parish church in the country |
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| St. Michael the Archangel Church at
Booton (near
Reepham) is known as the 'Cathedral of the Fields'. It
was designed by the Rev Whitwell Elwin who was a
descendant of Pocachontas. |
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| The market town of Reepham appears to have two
churches - but one belongs to the parish of Whitwell.
They are joined together by a passage way from the
chancel at Whitwell to the nave at Reepham. |
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| There are two place names in Norfolk beginning with
'Q' : Quidenham (10 miles NW of Thetford) and Quarles (4
miles SW of Wells). |
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| There are two place names in Norfolk with only three
letters: Oby (10 NW of Yarmouth)
and Hoe ( 2 miles N of Dereham). |
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| STANTA (The Stanford Training Area) in the
Brecklands was created during WW2 by evacuating five
villages: Stanford, West Tofts, Buckenham Tofts, Lynford
and Tottington. |
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| Norfolk was largely unaffected by the industrial
revolution. |
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| Robert Hales (1820-1863) - the 'Norfolk Giant' - is
buried in West Somerton churchyard; he grew to the
height of 7ft 6in. |
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| Dragon Hall, in King Street in Norwich, is the only
medieval merchant's trading hall known to have survived
in western Europe. |
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| Coypus were finally exterminated in the Norfolk
Broads in 1989. |
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| The Cromer-Holt ridge is the terminal moraine of a
glacier. |
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| Norfolk is underlain by a bedrock of chalk. On top
of this - earth, sand and gravel from retreating
ice sheets were deposited. |
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| The University of East Anglia (UEA) was opened in
1963 at Earlham - on the outskirts of Norwich. |
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| The ancestors of President Abraham Lincoln came from
Swanton Morley and Hingham. |
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| On
The Ball City - Norwich City Football club's
song - is probably
the oldest football chant still being sung in the UK
today. |
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| Norwich City Football club's mascot - the canary -
was first brought to the city by Flemish weavers or
'Strangers' as they were known locally. |
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| The spire of Norwich Cathedral is 315ft high -
second only to that of Salisbury. The Caen stone, which
was used to build the Cathedral, was brought to Norwich
from Normandy. |
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| The built-up churchyard of St. George's in Tombland
in Norwich is estimated to hold up to 10,000 dead
bodies. |
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| The Domesday book shows that during the 11th century
- Norfolk was one of the most heavily populated
counties. This remained the case until 1600. |
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| From c.1350 to c.1750 the wool/weaving trade was the most
important economic activity (not including agriculture) in the
county. However, with the advent of the industrial
revolution, the focus of this work shifted to
Yorkshire and Lancashire. |
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| Revelations of Divine Love - written by
Julian of Norwich
(c.1342- after 1416) -
was the first book to be written by a woman. |
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| The Adam and Eve pub in Bishopgate is the oldest in
Norwich and was built in 1249 as a brewhouse for workers
building the Cathedral. |
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| Elm Hill - the most famous street in Norwich - was
only saved from demolition by the casting vote of the
Lord Mayor in 1924. |
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| In 1963 The Beatles played a gig at the Grosvenor
Rooms on Prince of Wales Road, Norwich. In 1967 Jimi Hendrix
played at the Orford Cellar (Norwich) and in 1989 Nirvana played
at Norwich Arts Centre. |
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| St. Peter Mancroft's Church - which overlooks Norwich
market - is the largest church in the city and is often
mistaken for the cathedral. |
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| At 365 feet, the balcony of Norwich City Hall is the
longest in the UK. |
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Supported
by Norfolk Tourism