Greetings all,
We were up relatively early and after a very noisy breakfast (there was a tour bus full of seniors) we headed off to explore the Norfolk Broads. The broads is an area of lakes and rivers that resulted from the flooding of peat lands because of the medieval harvesting of peat by the monasteries for fuel as a side business. As the sea level began to rise it flooded the peat excavations. The building of dykes and wind pumps did little to stop the flooding. The picture on the right is of a wind pump.
Our first stop was Great Yarmouth a seaside resort since the 1760's and it was the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the North Sea. We parked and went for a wander around the town. It is a typical seaside town with a pier that is like a mini amusement park with rides for kids and numerous arcades.
The picture on the left is of one such ride which was about the Wild West which I found amusing. We continued our walk and headed down to the docks which is supposed to be an historic area. We did not find that interesting but did come across a wedding at the city hall and a Victorian shopping arcade which sadly had more empty shops than open ones as pictured on the right. Greater Yarmouth was one of the first areas to be bombed during WWII and was heavily bombed all during the war so much of the historical buildings were destroyed.
After our visit we headed off to the village of Burgh Castle which was just a short drive away. Burgh Castle was not a castle but the site of a Roman Shore Fort built around the 3rd century AD to hold the Roman calvary as a defence against Saxon raids. The fort was roughly rectangular in shape and measured 673 ft by 330 ft with the walls on the north, east and south sides being mostly intact. The west wall collapsed in the distant past into what once would have been an estuary. The walls were constructed of mortared flint, rubble and red tile or brick in alternating bands. The walls were quite thick 9.8 ft at the base. Archaeological finds have shown that the Romans continued to inhabit this site up until the early 5th century AD.
A short walk from this site we also visited the medieval parish church of Burgh Castle, St Peter and St Paul which was constructed from reclaimed materials from the fort. The church is also one of the 124 existing round towered churches in Norfolk. In England there are 185 surviving examples of round towered churches with the largest amount being in Norfolk. The churches seem to be found in areas that were lacking in normal building stone and used knapped flint. Corners are difficult to construct in flint, hence the thick round walls of the towers. The churches also seem to be found in areas that were subject to raids and were built as defensive structures though the towers do not seem high enough for defensive measures. Check out my Facebook Wall for further pictures.
We stopped in the village pub for a late lunch and we enjoyed ham and cheese paninis and a pint of local brew for Fred and ½ pint of cider for me. After lunch we headed off to another ruin, St. Olaves Priory. It is an Augustinian Priory founded in 1239 in the time of Henry III. During the reformation of Henry VIII the priory was handed over to a local
gentleman, Sir Henry Jerningham on January 16, 1546 and it became a private family home. The undercroft is in excellent condition and shows once again the amazing workmanship of the time. The priory is now an English Heritage site but we think we went in through the back door, as we drove into a parking lot of a restaurant with a pasture for two Alpacas and entered through a cattle type gate, but that was the way the Nav chick brought us.
It was still early in the afternoon so we decided to head back into Norwich to check out the Cathedral. The picture on the left gives you a good idea of the many rivers and lakes that make up the broads. We think that in order to truly experience the Broads you need to do it by boat as there is so much more to explore and we have only done some highlights. Our last stop of the day was the City of Norwich and the Cathedral.
The cathedral was built, primarily, in the Norman style with construction starting in 1096 and completed in 1145. It was constructed out of flint and mortar faced with a cream colour Caen limestone. The Norman tower was topped with a wooden spire and covered in lead. Over time damage due to riots, storms, fire lead to the rebuilding of some sections of the cathedral. However, in the early 1600's the Cathedral had fallen into ruins and with the Restoration (of the monarchy in 1660) under Charles II, the Cathedral was fully restored. More restoration work was also completed in the 19th and 20th centuries. Norwich Cathedral has the second largest cloister in England and has over 1,000 bosses in it. The picture below on the right is of the spire and the south transept taken from the far side of the cloister. While we were exploring we got to experience the choir practicing. The choir master was very exacting and critical but the hymns we heard were just beautiful and fill the whole Cathedral.
The last picture (below) is rather interesting as it is a copper baptismal font that was gifted to the Cathedral. It was a chocolate making vat that Cadbury's no longer needed and they gave it to the Cathedral. So everything, old is new again.
It has been a long full day and we decided to have a light supper in our room so we visited the grocery store and picked up some cheese, mixed italian cold cuts, grapes, crackers and wine as the tour bus had returned and the main dining room was sure to be very noisy again. We had a fairly early night as we were heading off towards the fens and Titchwell Manor for our anniversary celebrations.
Bye for now,
Sandy & Fred
We have enjoyed our visit to Norfolk and celebration and headed back home to continue celebrating as we were attending a 100 years young party for Fred's Aunty Eileen. The traffic home was horrendous and the 4 hour drive took us 6 hours. The picture to the left is of a beautiful dahlia garden we passed on our way home.
