WHY USE GEOFFREY COLLINGS & CO - Magazine - Page 12
North West Norfolk & Coastal
About Heacham
There is evidence of settlement in the Heacham area
for around 5,000 years, with numerous Neolithic and
bronze age finds, although the origins of the present
village were probably from around the 5th century,
with the Anglo-Saxon invasion. In 1085 the manor of
Heacham was given by William de Warenne to a cell
of Cluniac monks to pray for the soul of his late wife
Gundreda. After the dissolution around 1541, the
manor passed to Thomas Howard, the 3rd Duke of
Norfolk.
The Church of St Mary the Virgin is the oldest surviving building in the village. It
dates from 1230 and is Norman in style. Within the cupola on the tower hangs a bell
dating from about 1100, making it the oldest in East Anglia.
Heacham has historic ties to Pocahontas who married John Rolfe of Heacham on
April 5, 1614 at a church in Jamestown, Virginia. The Rolfe family home, Heacham
Hall, burned down in 1941. Heacham started to become popular as a seaside resort
with the Victorians due to the opening of the railway line between King’s Lynn and
Hunstanton in the early 1860s.
Today the north Beach has an amusement arcade, café and fish bar and beach huts
for hire. South Beach has its own café/gift shop and both beaches have public toilets.
About Snettisham
Snettisham is located 5 miles south of Hunstanton
and 10 miles from Kings Lynn. There has been a
settlement in Snettisham since ancient times as
shown by discoveries of flints from the Mesolithic
and Neolithic periods. It is said that in the 11th
century, Snettisham was the third-largest town in
Norfolk with seven mills, three fisheries, salthouses
and 440 sheep.
Today the village offers a selection of small boutique shops and a mini-market along
with restaurants and specialist services such as an arts and craft shop, picture
framing, an art gallery and an old fashioned bookshop. The village has 2 pubs, The
Rose and Crown and the Queen Victoria.
Standing above the village, St Mary’s Church dates from the 14th century. There
are magnificent views of the church as you approach from the south west. On the
edge of the village is Snettisham Park a very popular family attractions and well
known for its herds of deer and deer safari’s. Towards the coast, less than two miles
away is RSPB Snettisham reserve, a wonderful mix of bird lagoons and observations
hides. On the coast itself the shingle beach looks out across the Wash with the coast
of Lincolnshire just 15 miles away in the distance.