Norfolk
Norfolk is a ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and east, Cambridgeshire to the west, and Suffolk to the south. The largest settlement is the city of Norwich.
The county has an area of and had an estimated population of in. It is predominantly rural; Norwich is located in the centre-east, and the county's other principal settlements include Great Yarmouth on the east coast, Thetford in the south, and King's Lynn in the north-west. For local government purposes Norfolk is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts.
The centre of Norfolk is gently undulating lowland. To the east are the northern half of the Broads, a network of rivers and lakes which have a similar status to a national park. The west of the county contains part of the Fens, and to the south is part of Thetford Forest. The geology of the county includes clay and chalk deposits, which make its coast susceptible to erosion; the northern coast has been designated a national landscape.
There is evidence of Prehistoric settlement in Norfolk. In the Roman era the region was home to the Iceni, whose leader Boudica led a major revolt in AD60. The Angles settled the area in the 5th century, after which it became part of the Kingdom of East Anglia. During the later Middle Ages the county was prosperous and heavily involved in the wool trade; this allowed the construction of many large churches.
In 1549 Norfolk was the scene of Kett's Rebellion, which unsuccessfully protested the enclosure of land. The county was not heavily industrialised during the Industrial Revolution, and Norwich lost its status as one of England's largest cities. The contemporary economy is largely based on agriculture and tourism.
History
The area that was to become Norfolk was settled in pre-Roman times, with camps along the higher land in the west, where flints could be quarried. A Brittonic tribe, the Iceni, emerged in the 1st century BC. The Iceni revolted against the Roman invasion in AD 47, and again in 60 led by Boudica. The crushing of the second rebellion opened the area to the Romans. During the Roman era roads and ports were constructed throughout the area and farming was widespread.Situated on the east coast, the homelands of the Iceni were vulnerable to attacks from continental Europe and other parts of Britain, and forts were built to defend against raids by the Saxons and the Picts. A period of depopulation, which may have been due to these threats, seems to have followed the departure of the Romans. Soon afterward, Germanic peoples from the North Sea area settled in the region. Though they became known as Angles, they were likely not affiliated to any tribe in particular at the time of their migration. It is thought that the settlement here was early and that it occurred on a large scale.
By the 5th century, the Angles had established control over the region. They later became known as the "north folk" and the "south folk," giving rise to the names "Norfolk" and "Suffolk." Norfolk, Suffolk, and nearby territories formed the Kingdom of East Anglia, one of the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy, which was later incorporated into Mercia and subsequently into Wessex. The influence of the early English settlers is evident in numerous place names ending in "-ham," "-ingham," and "-ton." Place-name endings such as "-by" and "-thorpe" are also common and indicate Danish origins; during the 9th century, the region was subject to Danish attacks, during which King Edmund the Martyr was killed. Additionally, several place names in the Fenland area contain Celtic elements, which some scholars interpret as evidence of a significant Brittonic population in the region.
In the centuries before the Norman Conquest the wetlands of the east of the county began to be converted to farmland, and settlements grew in these areas. Migration into East Anglia must have been high: by the time of the Domesday Book survey it was one of the most densely populated parts of the British Isles. During the high and late Middle Ages the county developed arable agriculture and woollen industries. Norfolk's prosperity at that time is evident from the county's large number of medieval churches: out of an original total of over one thousand some 659 have survived, more than in any other county in Britain and the greatest concentration in the world. The economy was in decline by the time of the Black Death, which dramatically reduced the population in 1349.
Kett's Rebellion occurred in Norfolk during the reign of Edward VI, largely in response to the enclosure of land by landlords, leaving peasants with nowhere to graze their animals, and to the general abuses of power by the nobility. It was led by Robert Kett, a yeoman farmer, who was joined by recruits from Norwich and the surrounding countryside. His group numbered some 16,000 by the time the rebels stormed Norwich on 29 July 1549 and took the city. Kett's rebellion ended on 27 August when the rebels were defeated by an army under the leadership of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland at the Battle of Dussindale. Some 3,000 rebels were killed. Kett was captured, held in the Tower of London, tried for treason, and hanged from the walls of Norwich Castle.
By the late 16th century Norwich had grown to become the second-largest city in England, but over one-third of its population died in the plague epidemic of 1579, and in 1665 the Great Plague again killed around one-third of the population. During the English Civil War Norfolk was largely Parliamentarian. The economy and agriculture of the region declined somewhat. During the Industrial Revolution Norfolk developed little industry, except in Norwich, which was a late addition to the railway network.
Early military units included the Norfolk Militia. The local British Army regiments included the Royal Norfolk Regiment and the Norfolk Yeomanry. In the 20th century the county developed a role in aviation. The first development in airfields came with the First World War; there was then a massive expansion during the Second World War with the growth of the Royal Air Force and the influx of the American USAAF 8th Air Force which operated from many Norfolk airfields.
During the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since, with the establishment of large fields for growing cereals and oilseed rape.
Economy and industry
In 1998 Norfolk had a Gross Domestic Product of £9,319 million, which represents 1.5% of England's economy and 1.25% of the United Kingdom's economy. The GDP per head was £11,825, compared to £13,635 for East Anglia, £12,845 for England and £12,438 for the United Kingdom. In 1999–2000 the county had an unemployment rate of 5.6%, compared to 5.8% for England and 6.0% for the UK.Data from 2017 provided a useful update on the county's economy. The median hourly gross pay was £12.17 and the median weekly pay was £496.80; on a per year basis, the median gross income was £25,458. The employment rate among persons aged 16 to 64 was 74.2% while the unemployment rate was 4.6%. The Norfolk economy was "treading water with manufacturing sales and recruitment remaining static in the first quarter of the year" according to research published in April 2018. A spokesperson for the
Norfolk Chamber of Commerce made this comment: "At a time when Norfolk firms face steep up-front costs, the apprenticeship system is in crisis, roads are being allowed to crumble, mobile phone and broadband 'not-spots' are multiplying, it's obvious that the key to improved productivity and competitiveness lies in getting the basics right". The solution was seen as a need for the UK government to provide "a far stronger domestic economic agenda... to fix the fundamentals needed for business to thrive here..."
In 2017, tourism was adding £3.25 billion to the economy per year and supported some 65,000 jobs, being the fifth most important employment in Norfolk. The visitor economy had increased in value by more than £500 million since 2012.
Important business sectors also include energy, advanced engineering and manufacturing, and food and farming.
Much of Norfolk's fairly flat and fertile land has been drained for use as arable land. The principal arable crops are sugar beet, wheat, barley and oil seed rape. The county also boasts a saffron grower. Over 20% of employment in the county is in the agricultural and food industries.
Well-known companies in Norfolk are Aviva, Colman's, Lotus Cars and Bernard Matthews Farms. The Construction Industry Training Board is based on the former airfield of RAF Bircham Newton. Brewer Greene King, food producer Cranswick and feed supplier were seeing growth in 2016–2017.
A local enterprise partnership was being established by business leaders to help grow jobs across Norfolk and Suffolk. They secured an enterprise zone to help grow businesses in the energy sector, and established the two counties as a centre for growing services and products for the green economy.
To help local industry in Norwich, the local council offered a wireless internet service, but this was subsequently withdrawn as funding had ceased.
The fishery business still continued in 2018, with individuals such as John Lee, a fifth generation crabman, who sells Cromer Crabs to eateries such as M Restaurants and the Blueprint Café. The problem that he has found is attracting young people to this small industry which calls for working many hours per week during the season. Lobster trapping also continued in North Norfolk, around Sheringham and Cromer, for example.
Management of the shoreline
Norfolk's low-lying land and easily eroded cliffs, many of which are composed of chalk and clay, make it vulnerable to weathering by the sea. The most recent major erosion event occurred during the North Sea flood of 1953.The low-lying section of coast between Kelling and Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk is currently managed by the British Environment Agency to protect the Broads from sea flooding. Management policy for the North Norfolk coastline is described in the "North Norfolk Shoreline Management Plan" published in 2006, but has yet to be accepted by local authorities. The Shoreline Management Plan states that the stretch of coast will be protected for at least another 50 years, but that in the event of sea level rise and post-glacial lowering of land levels in the South East, there may a need for further research to inform future management decisions, including the possibility that the sea defences may have to be realigned to a more sustainable position. Natural England have contributed some research into the impacts on the environment of various realignment options. The draft report of their research was leaked to the press, who created great anxiety by reporting that Natural England plan to abandon a large section of the Norfolk Broads, villages and farmland to the sea to save the rest of the Norfolk coastline from the impact of any adverse climate change.