Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, 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 eas ...

. Burgh Castle is located south-west of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

and east of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

. The parish was part of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

until 1974.

History

Burgh Castle was likely the site of a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlement due to an abundance of flint and bronze axe-heads being discovered in the area. Burgh Castle is the location of a Roman fortification called ''Gariannonum'' which dates to the third century; the fort was part of system of coastal defence, the Saxon Shore, against

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

incursions on the

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

n coast. The site is managed by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust and is open free of charge to the public. Bradwell's name is of mixed

and Norman origin and derives from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''burh'' (meaning fort) and the

Norman French Norman or Norman French (, , Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a '' langue d'oïl'' spoken in the historical and cultural region of Normandy. The name "Norman French" is sometimes also used to describe the administrative languages of '' Angl ...

'castle.' It has been suggested by the Elizabethan historian William Camden, that Burgh Castle is the site of Cnobheresburg, the first Irish monastery in southern England founded by Saint Fursey in the seventh century as part of the

Hiberno-Scottish mission The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaels, Gaelic Missionary, missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, History of Anglo-Saxon England, England a ...

. In the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, Burgh Castle is recorded as a settlement of 15 households in the

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Lothingland. In 1086, the village was part of the estates of Ralph the Bowman. Burgh Castle was also the site of a Norman castle. Burgh Castle was once used to imprison Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany. Other listed buildings in Burgh Castle include Church Farmhouse (c.1788), the Old Rectory (c.1832) and the Grange (Seventeenth Century).

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Burgh Castle has a population of 1,323 people which shows an increase from the 1,150 people recorded in the 2011 census. The northern boundary of the parish is marked by the confluence of the River Waveney and River Yare. The village is also within the Norfolk Broads. Amenities within the village include two pubs (The Queen's Head and The Fisherman's Inn) as well as the Burgh Hall Bar & Restaurant and Golden Fish (a Chinese Takeaway).

St Peter and St Paul's Church

Burgh Castle's parish church is dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

and Saint Paul and is one of Norfolk's 124 remaining round-tower churches. St. Peter and St. Paul's is located on Church Road and has been Grade II listed since 1954. The church incorporates significant amounts of Roman brick in its foundations, almost certainly from the nearby Roman fort.

Governance

Burgh Castle is part of the electoral ward of Lothingland for local elections and is part of the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. The village's national constituency is

which has been represented by the Reform UK's Rupert Lowe since 2024.

War memorial

Burgh Castle has two war memorials, both located inside St. Peter and St. Paul's Church. The memorial for the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

is a metal embossed plaque whilst the memorial for the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

is a wooden plaque which was unveiled by Field Marshal Edmund Ironside GCB DSO in 1953. The memorial lists the following names for the First World War: And, the following for the Second World War: And, Mr. Clive G. Harvey of the Merchant Navy.

References

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

St Peter's and St Paul's on the European Round Tower Churches WebsitePhotographs of the church and fort
at flickr.com

- Christian pilgrimage to Burgh Castle {{authority control Villages in Norfolk Castles in Norfolk Ruins in Norfolk English Heritage sites in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Kingdom of East Anglia Borough of Great Yarmouth