Southrepps
Encyclopedia
Southrepps is a village and a civil parish
in the English
county of Norfolk
. The village is 5.2 miles southeast of Cromer
, 21.9 miles north of Norwich
and 136 miles north of London
. The village lies west of the A149
between Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth
. The nearest railway station is at Gunton
for the Bittern Line
which runs between Sheringham
, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport
. The village is close to the sea and surrounded by rich agricultural land.
which took place from 1348-1350.
created in a warmer period when a great meandering river fringed rank forest vegetation. This surface geology makes for extremely well drained and fertile soils. Beneath these younger rocks lie chalk beds which come to the surface in a line stretching south from Weybourne and can also be seen on the village's nearest beach at low tide in a chalk pavement between Trimingham
and Sidestrand
. The beach here is littered with flint cobbles formed into nodules by chemical replacement of the chalk and eroded into cobbles by wave action. These durable and adundant flint cobbles were collected from the beaches and used as decorative and structural materials in village buildings. Local clays and imported orange pantiles from the Low Countries were used for roofing.
See also: http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=400.500.100
Being in the east, sheltered from most of the extreme weather of the Atlantic from where most of Britain's weather comes, Southrepps has amongst the lowest rainfall in the UK, at less than 500 mm per year. The area has a mean temperature of 10C, second only to southwest and southeast England. With a south to west wind blowing in summer the temperature easily surpasses 20C and exceeds 30C on at least a few days every year. Severe frosts are rare because of the proximity of the sea. With over 1,550 hours of sunshine annually, it is behind only the south-coast counties and Suffolk, though it can be plagued by low sea cloud in spring and early summer when water vapour held in warm, moist continental air from the east condenses into fog ("fret") over the comparatively cold North Sea. The village can be in bright sunshine while the lanes to the coast at Trimingham or Overstrand are shrouded in thick mist. However, North Norfolk light is legendary, the clearness of the air giving the sunshine a quality much loved by artists and poets, the area's heyday being in the late 19th century after being praised by Daily Telegraph theatre critic Clement Scott.
Climate and geology have combined to make the area highly productive in various forms of agriculture, arable and sheep farming being predominant from the Middle Ages, though the Black Death and Great Plague led to serious falls in activity. During the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since with the establishment of large fields for cereal and root crop growing. Many uprooted trees and hedgerows, however, have been systematically replaced, restoring the traditional appearance of the landscape, due to the efforts of a small number of local farmers and landowners.
Station in the lower part of the village. Southrepps still has a Post Office as one of its two shops, and at the other end of the narrow picturesque High Street is the local Mace supermarket.
At the centre of local life in Upper Southrepps is the Village Hall (pictured below decorated for the villagers' Burns
Celebration), which provides a venue for a number of regular users and special events such as receptions for weddings, christenings and funerals, annual village events and other celebrations. It is the meeting place for the active Southrepps Society (see below) which investigates and celebrates rural North Norfolk life in and around the village, which recently published its DVD, "Southrepps: The Story of a North Norfolk Village". It is used weekly as a day centre for the local Multiple Sclerosis
Society. The village hall also funds a weekly computer club for older residents. There is an outdoor Bowls Club
located near the village hall
with a well-maintained green of six playing rinks. Lower Southrepps has its own meeting place, the social club, which holds many different functions.
The very large parish church
dominates the local landscape and is called St James. This is a busy church, providing for a range of different worship styles and hosting a number of different local activities, ranging from the Christmas Tree Festival to the Flower Festival during the Open Gardens event in late spring, as well as a young people's drama club.
Southrepps has a primary school, Antingham & Southrepps CP.
is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
and covers an area of 12.4 hectares. It can be found in Lower Southrepps. The site supports woodland
, reedbeds and many species of grass
and wild flowers. There is an 800-metre boardwalk
which allows access to the most interesting and important parts of the reserve for wheelchair
s and all other members of the public. The diverse habitats support an exceptional range of species and it also has "Special Area of Conservation" status. Across the site there are over 160 plant species including some small orchid species.
List of plants include:
There is a large variety of nesting birds across the reserve such as Reed Warblers
, Reed Bunting
, and Sedge Warbler
. The woodland areas are habitat of such birds as Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch
, Treecreeper
, Barn Owl
and Tawny Owl
. The stream that runs through the common is called Fox’s Beck. The stream is shallow, free-flowing and supports several species of snail
, caddis fly
and dragonfly
, with water voles living along the banks. Fox’s Beck and the Common
until quite recently had common rights
attached to certain properties in the Southrepps and other rights of common included turbary
(peat cutting), estovers
(firewood and bedding for livestock) and piscary
(fishing). Livestock
could be grazed and many other natural resources were exploited, such as reed cutting for thatch
; alder and hazel were coppiced
for tool handles, twigs were collected for the use of broom heads and willow was cut for use in screens.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. The village is 5.2 miles southeast of Cromer
Cromer
Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...
, 21.9 miles north of Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
and 136 miles north of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The village lies west of the A149
A149 road
The A149 is a major route in Norfolk, linking Kings Lynn to Great Yarmouth. It runs via the coast rather than on a more direct route such as the A47. The eastern section runs through The Broads.-Kings Lynn to Wells next the Sea:...
between Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
. The nearest railway station is at Gunton
Gunton railway station
Gunton is a railway station on the Bittern Line which connects the city of Norwich to the North Norfolk coastal towns of Cromer and Sheringham in East Anglia, England. There is no village of this name, the station being actually situated in the parish of Thorpe Market...
for the Bittern Line
Bittern Line
The Bittern Line is a railway line from Norwich to Cromer then Sheringham in Norfolk, England. It is one of the most scenic in the East of England traversing the Norfolk Broads on its route to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the North Norfolk Coast. The line is part of the Network Rail...
which runs between Sheringham
Sheringham
Sheringham is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, west of Cromer.The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District Council, is Mare Ditat Pinusque Decorat, Latin for "The sea enriches and the pine adorns"....
, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport
Norwich International Airport
Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....
. The village is close to the sea and surrounded by rich agricultural land.
Upper and Lower Southrepps
The village is split in two halves separated by a mile of farmland. The halves of the village are known as Upper Southrepps and Lower Southrepps (Upper Street and Lower Street to the locals). It is believed locally that this situation came about due to the Black DeathBlack Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
which took place from 1348-1350.
Physical Geography
Southrepps is built on a low rise mix of glacial sands and gravels, with expanses of rich till formed from the so-called Cromer Forest BedCromer Forest Bed
The Cromer Forest Bed formation is exposed at intervals along the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, from Weybourne to Kessingland. The forest bed was formed in the Quaternary Period and dates to between 780,000 to 450,000 years ago, within the Cromerian Stage of the Pleistocene...
created in a warmer period when a great meandering river fringed rank forest vegetation. This surface geology makes for extremely well drained and fertile soils. Beneath these younger rocks lie chalk beds which come to the surface in a line stretching south from Weybourne and can also be seen on the village's nearest beach at low tide in a chalk pavement between Trimingham
Trimingham
Trimingham is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is north of North Walsham, east of Cromer and north of the city of Norwich. The village straddles the B1159 coastal road between Cromer and Mundesley. Near-by road communications with Gimingham are the A140...
and Sidestrand
Sidestrand
Sidestrand is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is North of Norwich, South East of Cromer and north-east of London.The nearest railway station is at North Walsham for the Bittern Line which runs between Cromer and Norwich...
. The beach here is littered with flint cobbles formed into nodules by chemical replacement of the chalk and eroded into cobbles by wave action. These durable and adundant flint cobbles were collected from the beaches and used as decorative and structural materials in village buildings. Local clays and imported orange pantiles from the Low Countries were used for roofing.
See also: http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=400.500.100
Being in the east, sheltered from most of the extreme weather of the Atlantic from where most of Britain's weather comes, Southrepps has amongst the lowest rainfall in the UK, at less than 500 mm per year. The area has a mean temperature of 10C, second only to southwest and southeast England. With a south to west wind blowing in summer the temperature easily surpasses 20C and exceeds 30C on at least a few days every year. Severe frosts are rare because of the proximity of the sea. With over 1,550 hours of sunshine annually, it is behind only the south-coast counties and Suffolk, though it can be plagued by low sea cloud in spring and early summer when water vapour held in warm, moist continental air from the east condenses into fog ("fret") over the comparatively cold North Sea. The village can be in bright sunshine while the lanes to the coast at Trimingham or Overstrand are shrouded in thick mist. However, North Norfolk light is legendary, the clearness of the air giving the sunshine a quality much loved by artists and poets, the area's heyday being in the late 19th century after being praised by Daily Telegraph theatre critic Clement Scott.
Climate and geology have combined to make the area highly productive in various forms of agriculture, arable and sheep farming being predominant from the Middle Ages, though the Black Death and Great Plague led to serious falls in activity. During the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and it has remained very intensive since with the establishment of large fields for cereal and root crop growing. Many uprooted trees and hedgerows, however, have been systematically replaced, restoring the traditional appearance of the landscape, due to the efforts of a small number of local farmers and landowners.
Village Amenities
The village has two shops and two public houses - the Vernon Arms in Church Street in the upper part of the village, and the Suffield Arms opposite GuntonGunton
Gunton may refer to:People*Bob Gunton, American actor*Colin Gunton, British theologian*Frederick Gunton , English organist*Mike Gunton, British television producer*Samuel Gunton, English association football player...
Station in the lower part of the village. Southrepps still has a Post Office as one of its two shops, and at the other end of the narrow picturesque High Street is the local Mace supermarket.
At the centre of local life in Upper Southrepps is the Village Hall (pictured below decorated for the villagers' Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
Celebration), which provides a venue for a number of regular users and special events such as receptions for weddings, christenings and funerals, annual village events and other celebrations. It is the meeting place for the active Southrepps Society (see below) which investigates and celebrates rural North Norfolk life in and around the village, which recently published its DVD, "Southrepps: The Story of a North Norfolk Village". It is used weekly as a day centre for the local Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...
Society. The village hall also funds a weekly computer club for older residents. There is an outdoor Bowls Club
Bowls
Bowls is a sport in which the objective is to roll slightly asymmetric balls so that they stop close to a smaller "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a pitch which may be flat or convex or uneven...
located near the village hall
Village hall
In the United States, a village hall is the seat of government for villages. It functions much as a city hall does within cities.In the United Kingdom, a village hall is usually a building within a village which contains at least one large room, usually owned by and run for the benefit of the local...
with a well-maintained green of six playing rinks. Lower Southrepps has its own meeting place, the social club, which holds many different functions.
The very large parish church
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
dominates the local landscape and is called St James. This is a busy church, providing for a range of different worship styles and hosting a number of different local activities, ranging from the Christmas Tree Festival to the Flower Festival during the Open Gardens event in late spring, as well as a young people's drama club.
Southrepps has a primary school, Antingham & Southrepps CP.
Organisations
- The Southrepps and District Branch of the Royal British LegionThe Royal British LegionThe Royal British Legion , sometimes referred to as simply The Legion, is the United Kingdom's leading charity providing financial, social and emotional support to those who have served or who are currently serving in the British Armed Forces, and their dependants.-History:The British Legion was...
has a membership of some 30 plus. It meets quarterly at the Vernon Arms. - Local bell-ringersCampanologyCampanology is the study of bells. It encompasses the physical realities of bells — how they are cast, tuned and sounded — as well as the various methods devised to perform bell-ringing....
meet and practise at 7.30 pm on Wednesday at the parish church. - The Southrepps Society was formed in 1979 to celebrate and conserve all that is best in Southrepps. The Memories Project started in 2006, its objective to present the Society's archive in an easily accessible form and to engage the village in these community-based Memories Events and Exhibitions. Its current project is a detailed survey of the history of agricultural land use in the area which the local school is participating in.
- There is a long-established Southrepps and District Women’s Group. The group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at nearby Thorpe Market Village Hall.
- There is also a Women's Reading Group.
- The Village Fayre Committee came together to organise the highly acclaimed Summer Fayres of 2007 and 2009, the first for a number of years. They succeeded in attracting a huge number of visitors and raised substantial funds for local charities and for pump-priming other events aimed at bringing villagers together, such as the Carols-Round-The-Four-Village-Trees event during December which itself raises funds for a local children's hospice.
- Watch the Village Fayre video http://www.poppyland.co.uk/index.php?s=NNTV&gm=598
Southrepps Common - Local Nature Reserve
Southrepps Common local Nature ReserveNature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
is a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
and covers an area of 12.4 hectares. It can be found in Lower Southrepps. The site supports woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
, reedbeds and many species of grass
Grass
Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...
and wild flowers. There is an 800-metre boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
which allows access to the most interesting and important parts of the reserve for wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
s and all other members of the public. The diverse habitats support an exceptional range of species and it also has "Special Area of Conservation" status. Across the site there are over 160 plant species including some small orchid species.
List of plants include:
- Parnassus GrassGrass of ParnassusThe genus Parnassia, also known as Grass of Parnassus or bog-stars, are plants in the family Celastraceae. The plants occur in arctic and alpine habitats, as well as in dune systems and fens, swamps, moist woods, and across the Northern Hemisphere. It is actually not a grass, but an herbaceous dicot...
- Bog PimpernelAnagallis tenellaAnagallis tenella known in Britain as the Bog Pimpernel, is a low growing, perennial plant found in a variety of damp habitats from calcareous dune slacks to boggy and peaty heaths in Eurasia but absent from North America...
(Anagallis tenella) - Flea SedgeCarexCarex is a genus of plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges. Other members of the Cyperaceae family are also called sedges, however those of genus Carex may be called "true" sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as...
(Carex pulicaris) - Common CottongrassCommon CottongrassCommon Cottongrass is a plant from the sedge family, so even though it looks like a form of grass, technically it is not. It grows in acidic wetlands and peat bogs all over northern parts of Europe, Asia and North America...
(Eriophorum angustifolium) - Marsh HelleborineEpipactis palustrisEpipactis palustris is an orchid. An example occurrence of this species is in the Sarmatic mixed forests ecoregion. -References:* C.Michael Hogan. 2011....
(Epipactis palustris) - BogbeanMenyanthesMenyanthes is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the family Menyanthaceae containing the single species Menyanthes trifoliata...
(Menyanthes) - Marsh MarigoldCaltha palustrisCaltha palustris is a herbaceous perennial plant of the buttercup family, native to marshes, fens, ditches and wet woodland in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
(Caltha palustris)
There is a large variety of nesting birds across the reserve such as Reed Warblers
Acrocephalus
The Acrocephalus warblers are small, insectivorous passerine birds belonging to the genus Acrocephalus. Formerly in the paraphyletic Old World warbler assemblage, they are now separated as the namesake of the marsh- and tree-warbler family Acrocephalidae...
, Reed Bunting
Reed Bunting
The Reed Bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus, is a passerine bird in the bunting family Emberizidae, a group now separated by most modern authors from the finches, Fringillidae....
, and Sedge Warbler
Sedge Warbler
The Sedge Warbler is an Old World warbler in the genus Acrocephalus. It is a medium-sized warbler with a brown, streaked back and wings and a distinct pale supercilium. Sedge Warblers are migratory, crossing the Sahara to get from their European and Asian breeding grounds to spend winter in Africa...
. The woodland areas are habitat of such birds as Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch
Nuthatch
The nuthatches are a genus, Sitta, of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittidae. Characterised by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs...
, Treecreeper
Treecreeper
The treecreepers are a family, Certhiidae, of small passerine birds, widespread in wooded regions of the Northern Hemisphere and sub-Saharan Africa. The family contains ten species in two genera, Certhia and Salpornis...
, Barn Owl
Barn Owl
The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
and Tawny Owl
Tawny Owl
The Tawny Owl or Brown Owl is a stocky, medium-sized owl commonly found in woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey. Several of the eleven recognised subspecies have both variants...
. The stream that runs through the common is called Fox’s Beck. The stream is shallow, free-flowing and supports several species of snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
, caddis fly
Trichoptera
The caddisflies are an order, Trichoptera, of insects with approximately 12,000 described species. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, they are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous wings...
and dragonfly
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
, with water voles living along the banks. Fox’s Beck and the Common
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
until quite recently had common rights
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
attached to certain properties in the Southrepps and other rights of common included turbary
Turbary
Turbary is the term used to describe the ancient right to cut turf, or peat, for fuel on a particular area of bog. The word may also be used to describe the associated piece of bog or peatland and, by extension, the material extracted from the turbary...
(peat cutting), estovers
Estovers
In English law, estovers is wood that a tenant is allowed to take, for life or a period of years, from the land he holds for the repair of his house, the implements of husbandry, hedges and fences, and for firewood....
(firewood and bedding for livestock) and piscary
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
(fishing). Livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
could be grazed and many other natural resources were exploited, such as reed cutting for thatch
Thatching
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge , rushes, or heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. It is a very old roofing method and has been used in both tropical and temperate climates...
; alder and hazel were coppiced
Coppicing
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which takes advantage of the fact that many trees make new growth from the stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to near ground level...
for tool handles, twigs were collected for the use of broom heads and willow was cut for use in screens.