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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, Snettisham

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:
 

'Meanwhile the 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.
 

Links:

St Mary's Church

RSPB Snettisham

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