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The Norfolk Burnhams are a group of adjacent villages on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The villages are located near a large natural bay named Brancaster Bay and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve.
A medieval verse speaks of "London York and Coventry and the Seven Burnhams by the sea". The Domesday Book of 1086 also mentions some of the Burnhams (see external links). At one time there were indeed seven Burnham villages, all within a radius of two miles. These were:
Hence the mnemonic for the seven Burnhams: Nelson Of Thorpe Died Well Under Sail.
It is thought that Burnham Market is one of the original seven Burnhams, but this is incorrect. Burnham Market is a modern merging of three Burnhams: Burnham Sutton, Burnham Westgate and Burnham Ulph. Over the years those three central villages have merged to form the larger village and civil parish of Burnham Market, which forms the principal centre for the Burnhams and several other nearby villages. The most westerly of the villages, Burnham Deepdale, has more or less merged with the neighbouring village of Brancaster Staithe, and both are now part of the civil parish of Brancaster.
Burnham Norton and Burnham Thorpe still exist as separate villages and civil parishes, much as they always have. Burnham Overy is still a single civil parish, but in modern times a distinction is often made between the two settlements of Burnham Overy Town (actually a small settlement adjacent to the parish church) and Burnham Overy Staithe (a rather larger settlement about a mile away and next to the creek-side harbour).
The Burnhams are all located either on the River Burn, or adjacent to its mouth, and the name Burnham may derive from this.
Burnhamthorpe Road in Toronto and Mississauga, Ontario, Canada was named after Burnham Thorpe. [1]
Stalham is a market town and civil parish on the River Ant in the English county of Norfolk, in East Anglia. It covers an area of 2.82 sq mi (7.3 km2) and had a population of 2,951 in 1,333 households at the 2001 census, the population increasing to 3,149 at the 2011 Census. It lies within the Norfolk Broads, about 15 miles (24 km) north-east of Norwich on the A149 road. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of North Norfolk. The parts of the parish lying adjacent to the river fall into the executive area of the Broads Authority.
Burnham Thorpe is a small village and civil parish on the River Burn and near the coast of Norfolk, England. It is famous for being the birthplace of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, victor at the Battle of Trafalgar and one of Britain's greatest heroes. At the time of his birth, Nelson's father, Edmund Nelson, was rector of the church in Burnham Thorpe.
The River Burn is a river in the northwest of the County of Norfolk, in the East of England. From its source to its mouth on the North Coast of Norfolk it is 12.3 kilometres (7.6 mi). The river has a fall of 36 metres to the sea.
Holkham is a small village and civil parish in north Norfolk, England, which includes a stately home and estate, Holkham Hall, and a beach, Holkham Gap, at the centre of Holkham National Nature Reserve.
Brancaster is a village and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Brancaster comprises Brancaster itself, together with Brancaster Staithe and Burnham Deepdale. The three villages form a more or less continuous settlement along the A149 at the edge of the Brancaster Manor marshland and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve. The villages are located about 3 miles (5 km) west of Burnham Market, 22 miles (35 km) north of the town of King's Lynn and 31 miles (50 km) north-west of the city of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of 8.27 square miles (21.43 km2) and in the 2011 census had a population of 797 in 406 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. Janet Lake, the clerk to Brancaster Parish Council, has recently reached 50 years of service in the post.
Testerton is a small village in the English county of Norfolk. It is located between the village of Great Ryburgh and the market town of Fakenham. Any remaining population is included in the civil parish of Pudding Norton.
Docking is a village and ancient civil parish in the north-west of the English county of Norfolk. It is near the North Norfolk Coast Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Burnham Market is an English village and civil parish near the north coast of Norfolk. It is one of the Burnhams, a group of three adjacent villages that were merged: Burnham Sutton, Burnham Ulph and Burnham Westgate. In 2022, Burnham Market was rated among the "20 most beautiful villages in the UK and Ireland" by Condé Nast Traveler in 2020.
North Creake is a village and civil parish in the north west of the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 14.99 km2 (5.79 sq mi) and had a population of 414 in 184 households at the 2001 census, reducing to 386 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk. The parish shares boundaries with the adjacent parishes of Burnham Market, Burnham Thorpe, Holkham, Walsingham, South Creake, Barwick and Stanhoe.
Burnham Overy is a civil parish on the north coast of Norfolk, England. In modern times a distinction is often made between the two settlements of Burnham Overy Town, the original village adjacent to the medieval parish church and now reduced to a handful of houses, and Burnham Overy Staithe, a rather larger hamlet about 1-mile (1.6 km) away and next to the creek-side harbour.
Brancaster Staithe is a village on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. Brancaster Staithe merges with Burnham Deepdale, forming one village.
Burnham Deepdale is a village on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. Burnham Deepdale is in the civil parish of Brancaster, along with Brancaster Staithe. The three villages form a more or less continuous settlement along the A149, at the edge of the Brancaster Manor marshland and the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve.
Burnham Norton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk, one of the Burnhams, an adjacent group in the northernmost part of Norfolk, on the A149 some 2 km north of the larger village of Burnham Market, 35 km north-east of King's Lynn and 60 km north-west of Norwich. "Burnham" means "Homestead/village on the River Burn" or perhaps, "hemmed-in land on the River Burn". "Norton", meaning "North farm/settlement", distinguishes it from the other Norfolk Burnhams.
Gayton Thorpe is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Gayton, in the King's Lynn and West Norfolk district, in the county of Norfolk, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 136.
Scolt Head Island is an offshore barrier island between Brancaster and Wells-next-the-Sea in north Norfolk. It is in the parish of Burnham Norton and is accessed by a seasonal ferry from the village of Overy Staithe. The shingle and sand island appears to have originated from a former spit extending from the coast, and longshore drift means that it is slowly moving to the west and inshore.
The A149 is commonly known as "The Coast Road" to local residents and tourists, as this road runs along the North Norfolk coast from King's Lynn to Cromer, via coastal villages.
Burnham Market was a railway station which served the village of Burnham Market in Norfolk, England. Opened by the West Norfolk Junction railway in 1866, it closed with the line in 1952.
The West Norfolk Junction Railway was a standard gauge eighteen and a half-mile single-track railway running between Wells-next-the-Sea railway station and Heacham in the English county of Norfolk. It opened in 1866 and closed in 1953. At Wells the line made a junction with the Wells and Fakenham Railway and at Heacham it connected with the line from Hunstanton to Kings Lynn.
St Mary's Church is a round-tower church in Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk, England. Its round tower and some other parts of the building date from the 11th century. The church underwent additions and rebuilding in the medieval period. It fell into disrepair by the early 18th century, and much of the current building's appearance dates from an 1870 renovation by Frederick Preedy. The church is famed for its many 14th- and 15th-century medieval stained glass windows, and for its Norman font depicting the Labours of the Months.
Coordinates: 52°57′04″N0°44′24″E / 52.951°N 0.740°E