Across Norfolk
Comprising The County of Norfolk, Norfolk History and About Robert Kett.
The County of Norfolk
Norfolk is one of the largest counties in England and is fortunate enough to encompass an extensive coastline which boasts long stretches of soft, sandy beaches, as well as flint pebble banks and the salt marshes of The Broads. These marshes extend from The Wash, in the west, to Yarmouth on the east coast. The marshes include the picturesque towns of Hunstanton, Thornham, Brancaster, Wells-next-the-Sea, Stiffkey, Morston, Cley, Sheringham, Cromer and Mundesley.
The county has a very dynamic cultural heritage, including both contemporary and traditional art galleries, boasting a range of artists. There are also frequent live music concerts, thriving local theatres and many other rich, cultural occasions. There is so much for families to experience.
There is a gorgeous architectural history, including several conservation areas, listed buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The natural side is just as spectacular, with the most magnificent countryside, which is perfect for cycling, rambling and bird watching or just relaxing with a good book.
North Norfolk contains an assortment of museums, offering a subject of interest for all and sundry. If you’re absorbed in local history, vintage agricultural machinery, the Broads, maritime heritage, military vehicles, lifeboats, steam railways, windmills or seashells, there’s a place for you in Norfolk!
For those visitors who are sports fans, the area enjoys the benefit of some of the best links golf courses in the world. On the other extreme, the area also has some of the best wind and water conditions for both Wind-surfing & Kite surfing. However, if neither of those is enough of a challenge, the Norfolk Heroes Ironman Quadrathalon is also enticing ever greater numbers of participants!
Norfolk History
Norfolk was initially established in pre-Roman times, starting with Neolithic camps that were set up on the higher land in the west where flints
were gouged out. A Brythonic tribe, the Iceni, populated the county from the first century BC, to the end of the first century (AD). The Iceni fought
against the Roman invasion twice, first in 47 AD, and then in 60 AD, under the leadership of Boudicca. The devastating suppression of the second
uprising opened up the county to the incoming Romans. In the course of the Roman occupation, roads and ports were created all through the county
and greater amount of agriculture took place.
Positioned on the east coast, Norfolk has traditionally been susceptible to forays from Scandinavia and northern Europe, and to counter that weakness,
forts were erected to shield against the Angles and Saxons. By the Fifth century the Angles, which East Anglia & England are both named for, had seized
control of the county. This later became divided into the "north folk" and the "south folk", which in turn became "Norfolk" and "Suffolk".
Norfolk, along with a number of neighbouring areas, formed the kingdom of East Anglia. This kingdom later amalgamation with Mercia and then Wessex. The impact of the Early English settlers and their language, can be seen in the preponderance of "thorpes", "tons" and "hams" of Norfolk’s place names. In the 9th century, the area came under renewed attack, from Vikings who killed the king, Edmund the Martyr. In the years between the Viking invasion and the Norman Conquest, the marshlands began to be converted for arable use, and agriculturally-inclined populations grew in these areas. It is assumed that movement into East Anglia must have been great since, at the time of the Conquest and the Domesday Book census, it was one of the most populous portions of the British Isles
During the Middle Ages, the region advanced arable farming and woollen trades. The economy was weakening already when the Black Death hit. The reduction in 1349 was so great, that the current populace has yet to equal it. By the 16th century Norwich was second only to London in size, but in 1665 the Great Plague of London again killed around one third of the population. The economy and farming in the region deteriorated, and during the industrial revolution Norfolk developed little industry and only became part of the railway network after many other regions.
In the 20th century the county became involved in aviation. The first progress in airfields came during World War 1. There was another growth during World War 2 with the growing Royal Air Force and the arrival of the American Air Force which operated from many Norfolk Airfields. During the World War 2 farming increased, and has remained that way with the establishment of large fields for cereal and oil seed rape developing.
About Robert Kett
At the time of Kett's Rebellion, 1549, the King of England, Edward VI, was only 11. However, Protector Somerset wielded the actual power. He was a determined man, but reputed to favour reform and with some compassion for the poor. While the country was torn by strife due to government reforms, taxes and wars, in Norfolk, the chief causes of hardship and discontent were economic and social. In the area there was increased rent, but the enclosure of public land by the local gentry, endangered the means of support of many of the peasantry, causing greater strife.
There was extensive rebelling in many counties during the Spring and Summer of 1549. This primarily comprised destroying the hedgerows and barriers recently erected by local landlords. Only in Norfolk did people find a leader of exceptional eminence. Now The name of Robert Kett is inseparable from the rebellion in Norfolk.
In 1549, Robert Kett was 57 years old, the fourth son of Tom and Margery Kett whose family had lived there since the Norman Conquest. A tanner by occupation, by 1549 he was one of the main property-owners in Wymondham, possessing three manors in the area. He was also closely linked with the Abbey Church at Wymondham. He was seen as a mainstay of the local community, yet he became the leader of a undertaking whose main actions threatened the property owing, comparatively affluent class which he characterized.
Ketts motives for becoming the champion of the poor common people are still uncertain. Perhaps he was stirred by their predicament, perhaps it was a dream of an improved Norfolk, or perhaps it was the enduring enmity with John Flowerdew which started again in 1549. Kett maintained he was not fighting against the government in London, but that he wanted to reform the local government in Norfolk. His appeal to Edward VI was courteously formulated and all the way through the rebellion he acted with control and temperance. He repudiated the designation of rebel and naively assumed that the government in London would understand his yearning to reform the local government in Norfolk.
However, Kett was instead viewed as a rebel and a traitor and met his end later that year.
