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Snettisham
Snettisham (pronounced Snettshum) lies in the north-west corner of Norfolk
between Heacham and Ingoldisthorpe. For many centuries
the 175ft spire of St. Mary's Church has been useful as
a 'sea mark' for shipping in The Wash. The steeple was
erected by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster the son of
Edward III. The village is also characterised by the use
of carr-stone as a building material. With the exception
of flint, carr-stone is Norfolk's only other workable stone.
St. Mary's Church
In The Shrimp and the Anemone L.P. Hartley
fictionalised Snettisham as Frontisham. In the novel
Eustace undergoes a religious experience in the church:
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interstices, the spaces where he was not, began to fill
with stained glass. Pictures of saints and angels, red,
blue and yellow, pressed against and into him, bruising
him, cutting him, spilling their colours over him. The
pain was exquisite, but there was rapture in it too.
Another twitch, a final wriggle and Eustace felt no
more; he was immobilised, turned to stone. High and
lifted up, he looked down from the church wall, perfect,
pre-eminent, beyond criticism....to be admired and
worshipped by hundreds of visitors.....Eustace of
Frontisham, Saint Eustace.' |
In 1962 the poet laureate John Betjeman travelled
by train from King's Lynn to
Hunstanton and made a stop
at Snettisham station. He dismounted here and waited for
the next train to arrive - while musing about the
differences between Wolferton and Snettisham. The entire
line was scrapped by Dr Beeching soon after.In 1991 a treasure trove of gold and silver ornaments
dating from the 1st century BC was discovered in a
farmer's field in the village. Amongst the find was an
exquisite collection of gold torcs - manufactured by the
Iceni people who once occupied much of East Anglia. Many
of the torcs were deliberately broken before being
buried. The queen of the Iceni was the famous warlike
Boudicca who rose up against the Romans and sacked their
garrison at Colchester. The poet William Cowper
commemorated her martial skills in a poem entitled
Boadicea, An Ode.
Snettisham is also the location of the RSPB reserve
where thousands of wading birds can be seen - particularly during periods of high tide.
Pink-footed geese also fly inland here during winter
months - providing a spectacular display.
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Links:
St Mary's Church
RSPB Snettisham |
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Supported
by Norfolk Tourism