111 Places in Norfolk

AT T L E B O R O U G H

2

The Buckenhams Two very different villages with the same name

The Buckenhams are two pretty but unassuming villages in the heart of south Norfolk. Old Buckenham has what locals claim is the largest village green in the country, and, two miles away, New Buckenham is England’s only remaining planned medieval village, a grid of streets lined with ancient houses that was laid out in the 12th century. The central market place is home to a covered loggia with a whipping post, while, footsteps from here, the village shop holds the key to the village’s most secret attraction, Buckenham Castle.

The castle is just a short walk from the shop, up a track that leads off the main road out of the village, and that’s where you head, key in hand, to open the gates of what must be the most hidden fortification in the country. Entry is via a footbridge over a deep and now wooded moat, the site of the castle gradually revealing itself as a wide bowl in the woods, made by what must have been impressive ramparts, and with the remains of the flint stone keep on its far side.

Like the village, the castle was built in the mid 12th century by one William D’Albini as a replacement for a previous castle in Old Buckenham – the village was part of this, added on a medieval grid system, as a community to support the castle, with ancient grazing land at what is now the New Buckenham Common nature reserve.

D’Albini had been given a large part of Norfolk after the Norman Conquest and was eager to defend it, also building Castle Rising in northwest Norfolk. This place is similar, albeit more ruined, with deep moats and an inner bailey surrounded by high walls. The circular keep, with walls some 11 feet thick, was the first round keep to be built in England, perhaps in Europe, and poking around its ivy-wreathed nooks and corners is a pleasant diversion before an inevitable perambulation around the top of the ramparts.

ADDRESS King Street, New Buckenham, NR16 2AF TIP There are some very scant remains of Old Buckenham’s castle in the village but the main thing to enjoy there is its thatched church, a 19th-century windmill, and the vast village green with its enticing Gamekeeper pub.

AT T L E B O R O U G H

2

The Buckenhams Two very different villages with the same name

The Buckenhams are two pretty but unassuming villages in the heart of south Norfolk. Old Buckenham has what locals claim is the largest village green in the country, and, two miles away, New Buckenham is England’s only remaining planned medieval village, a grid of streets lined with ancient houses that was laid out in the 12th century. The central market place is home to a covered loggia with a whipping post, while, footsteps from here, the village shop holds the key to the village’s most secret attraction, Buckenham Castle.

The castle is just a short walk from the shop, up a track that leads off the main road out of the village, and that’s where you head, key in hand, to open the gates of what must be the most hidden fortification in the country. Entry is via a footbridge over a deep and now wooded moat, the site of the castle gradually revealing itself as a wide bowl in the woods, made by what must have been impressive ramparts, and with the remains of the flint stone keep on its far side.

Like the village, the castle was built in the mid 12th century by one William D’Albini as a replacement for a previous castle in Old Buckenham – the village was part of this, added on a medieval grid system, as a community to support the castle, with ancient grazing land at what is now the New Buckenham Common nature reserve.

D’Albini had been given a large part of Norfolk after the Norman Conquest and was eager to defend it, also building Castle Rising in northwest Norfolk. This place is similar, albeit more ruined, with deep moats and an inner bailey surrounded by high walls. The circular keep, with walls some 11 feet thick, was the first round keep to be built in England, perhaps in Europe, and poking around its ivy-wreathed nooks and corners is a pleasant diversion before an inevitable perambulation around the top of the ramparts.

ADDRESS King Street, New Buckenham, NR16 2AF TIP There are some very scant remains of Old Buckenham’s castle in the village but the main thing to enjoy there is its thatched church, a 19th-century windmill, and the vast village green with its enticing Gamekeeper pub.

CROMER

15

Fossil hunting at West Runton Mammoths and more on Norfolk’s Deep History Coast

The coastal village of West Runton is a tranquil place, not much more than a midway point between Sheringham and Cromer. But its dog-friendly beach, a short walk away from the village centre, is a lovely spot, sheltered by cliffs and sandy when the tide is out, when it’s one of the few places on the Norfolk coast you can root around in rockpools. It is also one of best spots – not just in Norfolk but in Britain – to find fossils.

The shoreline here is part of the so-called ‘Cromer Forest Bed’, a geological formation that dates back to the Pleistocene era. About six metres thick, it’s made up of gravel, silt and sand and is particularly exposed in the crumbling cliffs here at West Runton, which have been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). As well as small fossils, it’s said to be one of the best places in the UK to find the fossilised remains of mammoths; indeed, the hip bone of a steppe mammoth was washed up here after a storm back in 1990, and its complete, 700,000-year-old skeleton excavated a couple of years later – look out for the colourful mammoth statue just above the beach.

You may not be lucky enough to find the bones of a mammoth, but you can park up here and stroll down the foreshore, keeping your eyes peeled for fossils on the ground – it’s asked that you don’t disturb the cliffs themselves. Fossil-hunting requires patience, but like one or two other sites around the country (such as Charmouth in Dorset), it’s not unusual to find something if you search hard enough, whether it’s a fossil, shark teeth or fragments of mammoth bone. You may also find belemnites (small squid fossils), fossilised sea urchins (echinoids), bits of deer bone or even ancient tools. Afterwards, you can repair to the excellent Seaview Beach Cafe to examine your finds more closely – and to view their own fossil collection!

ADDRESS West Runton Beach, Water Lane, West Runton, NR27 9QR TIP Other Norfolk fossil hunting spots include the beaches at Hunstanton, where you can find ammonites and mammoth teeth, and of course Happisburgh, where the oldest set of human footprints outside Africa was uncovered in 2014.

CROMER

15

Fossil hunting at West Runton Mammoths and more on Norfolk’s Deep History Coast

The coastal village of West Runton is a tranquil place, not much more than a midway point between Sheringham and Cromer. But its dog-friendly beach, a short walk away from the village centre, is a lovely spot, sheltered by cliffs and sandy when the tide is out, when it’s one of the few places on the Norfolk coast you can root around in rockpools. It is also one of best spots – not just in Norfolk but in Britain – to find fossils.

The shoreline here is part of the so-called ‘Cromer Forest Bed’, a geological formation that dates back to the Pleistocene era. About six metres thick, it’s made up of gravel, silt and sand and is particularly exposed in the crumbling cliffs here at West Runton, which have been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). As well as small fossils, it’s said to be one of the best places in the UK to find the fossilised remains of mammoths; indeed, the hip bone of a steppe mammoth was washed up here after a storm back in 1990, and its complete, 700,000-year-old skeleton excavated a couple of years later – look out for the colourful mammoth statue just above the beach.

You may not be lucky enough to find the bones of a mammoth, but you can park up here and stroll down the foreshore, keeping your eyes peeled for fossils on the ground – it’s asked that you don’t disturb the cliffs themselves. Fossil-hunting requires patience, but like one or two other sites around the country (such as Charmouth in Dorset), it’s not unusual to find something if you search hard enough, whether it’s a fossil, shark teeth or fragments of mammoth bone. You may also find belemnites (small squid fossils), fossilised sea urchins (echinoids), bits of deer bone or even ancient tools. Afterwards, you can repair to the excellent Seaview Beach Cafe to examine your finds more closely – and to view their own fossil collection!

ADDRESS West Runton Beach, Water Lane, West Runton, NR27 9QR TIP Other Norfolk fossil hunting spots include the beaches at Hunstanton, where you can find ammonites and mammoth teeth, and of course Happisburgh, where the oldest set of human footprints outside Africa was uncovered in 2014.

G R E A T YA R M O U T H

35

The Hippodrome Britain’s only surviving circus building

There’s something magical about Great Yarmouth’s Hippodrome Circus – Britain’s only surviving purpose-built circus building.

It attracts some of the best circus performers in the world, but that’s not all. It’s also a unique family business, which continues to serve up the spectacular shows it was designed for, all the way back in 1903.

The Hippodrome sits just behind the arcades and chippies of Yarmouth’s bustling Marine Parade. It was built by George Gilbert, a renowned circus performer who was famous for bareback riding. He pioneered water acts and added the building’s sinking ring, one of only three in the world and still functioning today.

The circus has been owned for almost 50 years now by the 1960s pop musician and local boy Peter Jay (whose band, The Jaywalkers, once toured with The Beatles), and it’s under his family that the Hippodrome has prospered, with regular shows that continue to star ultra-high-class performers, accompanied by a live band. Jay is now in his 80s, and his son Jack is now master of ceremonies, helped by brother Ben and Ben’s wife Estelle. There’s a purity and joy to the proceedings that make it worth coming even if you think you don’t really like circuses – in fact, after attending a circus at the Hippodrome, you may well be hooked!

Besides circus acts, The Hippodrome has hosted just about everyone over the years, from Harry Houdini to Billy Bragg. It has also been a venue for political rallies, and in recent times has provided a suitably grand venue for classical music. But its focus is mainly on regular seasonal circus shows, including a Summer Spectacular, Halloween and Christmas shows – each one a brilliant reason to come and enjoy this magnificent building. There’s even a small museum stocked with old props, posters and technical equipment that is open to visitors after each event.

ADDRESS St Georges Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 2EU, https://hippodromecircus.com TIP Yarmouth has lots of places to stay over but many are of the ‘hot and cold running water and colour TV’ variety. One that definitely isn’t is Andover House, five minutes’ walk from the Hippodrome, which has stylish boutique rooms and a great restaurant.

G R E A T YA R M O U T H

35

The Hippodrome Britain’s only surviving circus building

There’s something magical about Great Yarmouth’s Hippodrome Circus – Britain’s only surviving purpose-built circus building.

It attracts some of the best circus performers in the world, but that’s not all. It’s also a unique family business, which continues to serve up the spectacular shows it was designed for, all the way back in 1903.

The Hippodrome sits just behind the arcades and chippies of Yarmouth’s bustling Marine Parade. It was built by George Gilbert, a renowned circus performer who was famous for bareback riding. He pioneered water acts and added the building’s sinking ring, one of only three in the world and still functioning today.

The circus has been owned for almost 50 years now by the 1960s pop musician and local boy Peter Jay (whose band, The Jaywalkers, once toured with The Beatles), and it’s under his family that the Hippodrome has prospered, with regular shows that continue to star ultra-high-class performers, accompanied by a live band. Jay is now in his 80s, and his son Jack is now master of ceremonies, helped by brother Ben and Ben’s wife Estelle. There’s a purity and joy to the proceedings that make it worth coming even if you think you don’t really like circuses – in fact, after attending a circus at the Hippodrome, you may well be hooked!

Besides circus acts, The Hippodrome has hosted just about everyone over the years, from Harry Houdini to Billy Bragg. It has also been a venue for political rallies, and in recent times has provided a suitably grand venue for classical music. But its focus is mainly on regular seasonal circus shows, including a Summer Spectacular, Halloween and Christmas shows – each one a brilliant reason to come and enjoy this magnificent building. There’s even a small museum stocked with old props, posters and technical equipment that is open to visitors after each event.

ADDRESS St Georges Road, Great Yarmouth, NR30 2EU, https://hippodromecircus.com TIP Yarmouth has lots of places to stay over but many are of the ‘hot and cold running water and colour TV’ variety. One that definitely isn’t is Andover House, five minutes’ walk from the Hippodrome, which has stylish boutique rooms and a great restaurant.

THETFORD

94

Thomas Paine Statue Founding father of the United States

As an ancient county, and one of England’s most prosperous regions until the 18th century, it’s perhaps no surprise that Norfolk is home to so many people of historic importance. However, none is perhaps as relevant today as Thomas Paine, who came from the small market town of Thetford, and is today commemorated by a gilded bronze statue outside the King’s House, close to the grammar school he attended as a boy.

Shown here brandishing a quill and holding a copy of his most famous work, The Rights of Man, Paine emigrated to the American colonies in 1774, although in fact he barely made it, catching typhoid on the ship and having to be carried off the boat on arrival in Philadelphia. Once in America, Paine came into his own, publishing an influential pamphlet – winningly titled Common Sense – which argued the case for US independence and whose ideas laid the groundwork for the Declaration of Independence two years later. In 1791 he published The Rights of Man, which argued the case for revolution – specifically the French Revolution – for which he was arrested in Paris (and very nearly executed).

Paine was ahead of his time, and many of his theories seem curiously contemporary today: he was a republican and was against slavery, and he was particularly critical of established churches of all kinds. He was pro-welfare, state education and state-sponsored healthcare, and he was the first to propose the idea of a universal minimum wage. These were unpopular ideas at the time (some still are!), and he wasn’t especially popular – indeed his critics gloated after his death that only six mourners attended his funeral. But Paine was in many ways the world’s first campaigner for social justice as well as its first true globalist: as the plinth inscription makes clear, Paine was an ‘Englishman by birth; French citizen by decree; American by adoption’.

ADDRESS King’s House, Thetford, IP24 2AP TIP It’s hard to believe it now but Thetford was one of the largest cities in England in Norman times and throughout the Middle Ages, and home to one of the largest monasteries in Norfolk, the evocative ruins of which are worth a visit.

THETFORD

94

Thomas Paine Statue Founding father of the United States

As an ancient county, and one of England’s most prosperous regions until the 18th century, it’s perhaps no surprise that Norfolk is home to so many people of historic importance. However, none is perhaps as relevant today as Thomas Paine, who came from the small market town of Thetford, and is today commemorated by a gilded bronze statue outside the King’s House, close to the grammar school he attended as a boy.

Shown here brandishing a quill and holding a copy of his most famous work, The Rights of Man, Paine emigrated to the American colonies in 1774, although in fact he barely made it, catching typhoid on the ship and having to be carried off the boat on arrival in Philadelphia. Once in America, Paine came into his own, publishing an influential pamphlet – winningly titled Common Sense – which argued the case for US independence and whose ideas laid the groundwork for the Declaration of Independence two years later. In 1791 he published The Rights of Man, which argued the case for revolution – specifically the French Revolution – for which he was arrested in Paris (and very nearly executed).

Paine was ahead of his time, and many of his theories seem curiously contemporary today: he was a republican and was against slavery, and he was particularly critical of established churches of all kinds. He was pro-welfare, state education and state-sponsored healthcare, and he was the first to propose the idea of a universal minimum wage. These were unpopular ideas at the time (some still are!), and he wasn’t especially popular – indeed his critics gloated after his death that only six mourners attended his funeral. But Paine was in many ways the world’s first campaigner for social justice as well as its first true globalist: as the plinth inscription makes clear, Paine was an ‘Englishman by birth; French citizen by decree; American by adoption’.

ADDRESS King’s House, Thetford, IP24 2AP TIP It’s hard to believe it now but Thetford was one of the largest cities in England in Norman times and throughout the Middle Ages, and home to one of the largest monasteries in Norfolk, the evocative ruins of which are worth a visit.