NORFOLK

NORFOLK, an English maritime county, bounded on the northern and north-eastern sides by the German Ocean; on the south and south-east by the county of Suffolk; and on the west by the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge. The shape is nearly that of an ellipse bounded by a convex line, a little indented on the western extremity. Its greatest length is fifty-nine miles, and its greatest breadth thirty-eight. Its square contents, as calculated by the late Arthur Young, amounts to 1830 square miles, or 1,171,000 acres. It is divided into thirty-three hundreds, and contains 1 city, 30 market towns, and 722 parishes. According to the enumeration of 1811, the number of houses was 52,807; that of families 62,815. The families employed in agriculture were 31,454; those employed in trade and manufactures 23,082; and 8279 were engaged in other occupations. The inhabitants were 291,999, of whom 138,099 were males, and 153,910 females. In the preceding year the baptisms of males were 4741, of females 4671; the burials of males were 2800, of females 2920; the marriages were 2364. The surface of this county presents less variety than any other in England. It is generally a level plain, with few undulations, and no bold or abrupt elevations. With the exception of some recently planted districts around the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, the woody parts of the county are very inconsiderable, and there is generally a great scarcity of the more umbrageous trees. The streams have almost all a languid and sombre appearance. Though, to the traveller of taste, the sameness and uniformity is wearisome, yet to him who directs his attention to the wealth and comforts of the districts through which he journeys, few countries can be more pleasing. The number and substantial appearance of the farm-houses, and even the cottages, the condition of the roads and fences, and the high cultivation of the fields, are marks of rural prosperity that are nowhere more striking. Some few portions on the eastern side of the county form exceptions to this general description, but they are inconsiderable when compared with the whole. From its exposure to the North Sea, the winters in Norfolk are usually severely cold, and the powers of vegetation are retarded to a later period of the year than in the western counties. In the hundred of Marshland the climate is not only cold, but damp, Norfolk. and the inhabitants are subject to intermitting fevers, which commonly attack all strangers who come to reside in that district. The soil of Norfolk is generally a light sand, or sandy loam, for though a part of the fens are within this county, and the district of Marshland consists of ooze formed by deposition from the sea, as well as a narrow tract of land on the banks of the river Waveney, yet these form but trifling exceptions to the general character of the soil of the county. Mr Arthur Young, in his Agricultural Survey of Norfolk, has made the attempt to classify the soils, and estimate their quantities. The difficulty of doing this with accuracy must be acknowledged by every one who considers the nice gradations which soils discover, and how various are their modifications. We give this estimate rather as an approximation to, than as absolute exactness: Soils. Square Miles. Acres. Light sand, - 220 140,800 Good sand, - 420 268,000 Marshland clay, - 60 38,400 Various loams, - 900 576,000 Rich loams, - 148 94,720 Peat, - 82 52,480 of all kinds has been of late years very much and beneficially increased. By perseverance in their excellent plans, many extensive portions of this county, especially in the north-eastern part of it, which were a few years ago deemed incapable of producing a wheat crop, now yield abundant harvests of that grain. Oats are but a small object of cultivation, but barley is deemed the most appropriate grain to the soil and climate, and is consequently sowed to the greatest extent, occupying nearly one-fourth of the arable land of the county. The increase of grain varies very considerably. On the heavy soils of Marshland and Flegg the produce of wheat is frequently six quarters, and of oats ten quarters to the acre; but as these districts form but a small proportion of the whole, the average quantity of wheat in the county is about three quarters to the acre, and of barley four quarters. In no part of the kingdom have the various mechanical inventions for facilitating agricultural labour been so generally diffused as in Norfolk, and the implements used there may well serve as models for the other counties. Besides the common grains, wheat, barley, oats, pease, and beans, this county yields mustard, saffron, flax, and hemp, but none of them in such quantities as to merit especial notice. The live stock of this county possess few peculiarly discriminative features. The horses, crossed by the breed of Suffolk, are bony, active, and hardy, and well adapted for husbandry or the road, and are almost universally used for agricultural labour, to the exclusion of oxen. The native cows were a small breed, not unlike those of Alderney and Guernsey, but have been improved by a mixture with the cows of the richer adjoining counties. The greater part of the cattle fattened in Norfolk are bought from the Scotch drovers, who bring them to the fairs about Michaelmas. They are fed on the banks of the rivers on the natural grass, or on the arable farms on turnips, till they become fit for slaughter. The number of Scotch cattle annually bought by the Norfolk farmers is estimated to vary from 15,000 to 20,000. The original sheep of Norfolk were a hardy race, with horns, black feet, and black noses, the fleece yielding about two pounds of wool of third rate fineness, and the quarters weighing, when fattened, about eighteen pounds. They were well calculated for the land when it was less highly cultivated than at present, as they were good travellers, and eat the herbage very close; but as the improved systems of husbandry have been extended, this native breed has sometimes been crossed by others, and in many instances has given place to the South Down sheep. The increase of arable farms has diminished the dairies, and consequently the pigs which were reared from them, and the practice of fattening hogs for bacon is scarcely known. The poultry of Norfolk has been long celebrated, and vast quantities of it are conveyed to the London markets. The turkeys are most highly prized from their superior delicacy of flavour. The dry nature of the soil is deemed peculiarly favourable to the rearing of these birds, and the numbers that are sent from it to other districts amount to hundreds of thousands. No part of England is so abundantly stock- Agriculture. As the land of Norfolk, from the representation here given, appears to be far from being naturally of a fertile description, the great amount of its productions must be attributed to the excellent system of agriculture which has been here introduced and extended, and which, though scarcely calculated for most of the other districts of our island, is admirably adapted for the soil and climate where it is pursued. The foundation on which the whole system of its agriculture is built is the cultivation of turnips. These light soils are easily brought into a fine tilth, by repeated ploughings and harrowings, and their produce maintains so large a portion of live stock, that their manure, when carefully preserved and properly distributed, enriches the soil at every successive course more than it is impoverished by the crops of corn that are grown upon it. The land is thus in a constantly progressive state of improvement. The soil being so light, no deep ploughing is required, but such a repetition of moving it as will be sufficient to destroy the surface weeds, and to pulverize it effectually. This is easily effected by well constructed light ploughs, drawn by two horses, who are guided by reins in the hands of the man who directs the plough. In many instances a four course system of rotation is followed, consisting of turnips, barley, artificial grasses, and wheat. In some instances the artificial grasses are left two years, and then, after three or four ploughings, the wheat is sown. A very common rotation, provincially termed the six course shift, is wheat, barley (with or without clover), turnips, barley or oats, clover mown for hay, clover fed, and then wheat again. Both these systems, with the varieties of each, are founded on the principle that as much land shall be cultivated with green crops, which furnish sustenance for cattle, and thereby produce manure, as is destined to the growth of corn. The system of drill-husbandry is carried to a great extent, and the practice of planting or dibbling grain ed with game, especially pheasants and partridges, as Norfolk. They are sedulously preserved by the landlords, and generally reserved in the leases, so that they have obtained the character of property, and are commonly respected as such by adjoining proprietors of estates. Great numbers of rabbits are bred on extensive warrens in many parts of the county, both for the sake of the flesh and the wool. Norfolk has been long and still continues an extensive manufacturing county. The Flemings first settled here as early as 1336, and made woollen goods at the village of Worstead, from whence the name of that place was applied to the thread made of the longer kinds of wool. Under the persecutions of the Duke of Alba, in Flanders, many more natives of that country found refuge in and near Norwich. The fabrics have indeed successively changed with the change of fashions, and the fluctuations of markets, but manufactures have been continued through many vicissitudes, to the present time. The chief goods now manufactured are bombazeens, camblets for the markets of China, and shawls of various and elegant kinds, principally for home consumption. This last article, introduced when the demand for stuffs from Spain ceased, has been highly beneficial to the city of Norwich and its vicinity. The introduction of machinery in the northern counties had destroyed the habit of spinning, which, a few years ago, universally prevailed among all the females of the peasants' families in this and the adjoining counties. Besides the manufactures of Norwich and its vicinity, in Diss, and some other parts of the county, some inferior kinds of bone lace are made, but the quantity produced is slowly and gradually diminishing. Scarcely any of the goods manufactured in this county are sent to foreign markets directly; those destined for distant countries being almost wholly exported from London. The commerce is notwithstanding very extensive from the two ports of Yarmouth and Lynn. Yarmouth, in regard to the number of its ships, is the eighth port in the kingdom, having more than 300 registered vessels. It is well situated for trade, and has one of the finest quays in Europe; but the depth of water is not sufficient for ships of great draft, and the bar at the mouth of the harbour is a serious impediment. The great support of the shipping of Yarmouth is the herring-fishery. These fish are caught by the Yarmouth men, in June and July, on the shores, and in the lochs of Scotland, and at a later period on their own coasts. They are first cleaned, and then slightly salted; after which they are hung up in large appropriate houses, where, by the application of the smoke of wood fires, the preparation of curing them is completed. This fishery usually yields from 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of red herrings, each barrel containing 1000 fish. This branch of industry, besides the employment of the seamen, gives occupation to several thousand artificers of various kinds. Besides this fishery, the exports of Yarmouth as well as Lynn, and the smaller ports of Wells, Blackney, Burnham, and Clay, afford great employment to shipping by the surplus quantity of corn which the county produces and sends to London and other ports. The imports at these towns consist of timber, hemp, wine, spirits, and foreign fruit, which, by means of the navigable rivers, are forwarded to the interior adjoining counties. The rivers are sufficiently easy of navigation to render canals unnecessary, and there are consequently none in the county, though some have been commenced, and, after languishing some time, have been abandoned without being completed. The Great Ouse is a navigable river, which rises in Northamptonshire, enters this county at Downham, and empties itself into the sea near Lynn. It has a great rise of tide; is navigable for barges twenty-four miles from its mouth; and for boats as far as Bedford; thus affording water communication with seven of the midland counties. The Little Ouse rises in the southern part of this county; at Thetford it receives the small river Thet, and from thence is navigable to its junction with the Great Ouse, on the borders of Cambridgeshire. The Waveney rises within nine or ten feet of the source of the Little Ouse, and takes a directly opposite course. It has many sinuities, as its name denotes, becomes navigable at Bungay, receives the Yare at Burgh, and empties itself into the sea at Yarmouth. The Bure rises near Aylsham, and, after joining the Thone, near North Walsham, becomes navigable for boats. It falls into the Yare previous to its meeting the sea. The Yare rises near Attleburgh, becomes navigable at Norwich, and, after receiving the waters of the Tass and the Wensum, merges in the Waveney. The Nar rises near Litcham, has a short course to the sea at Lynn, from whence it is navigable upwards to Narborough, a distance of fifteen miles. The whole of the county is within the diocese of Political Norwich; the bishop of which sees has his palace and cathedral in the city. The titles derived from the county are Duke to the family of Howard; Earl of Norwich to the Scotch Duke of Gordon, and of Yarmouth to the Marquis of Hertford, Marquis and Viscount Townsend; Viscount Thetford to the Duke of Grafton; Barons Walsingham, Calthorpe, Woodhouse, Hobart, Walpole, and Nelson. Norfolk sends twelve members to the House of Commons, viz. two for the county, and two each for Norwich, Yarmouth, Lynn, Thetford, and Castle-Rising. This county contains few Roman antiquities, but some of Saxon date are to be seen in the cathedral, the episcopal palace, the gates of Yarmouth and Lynn, and in several piles of ruins of ecclesiastical edifices, and in some of the parish churches. Among many distinguished natives of this county, the most celebrated have been Queen Anne Boleyn, Dr Samuel Clarke, Sir Edward Coke, Archbishops Herring and Parker, Lord Nelson, Richard Porson, Sir Robert Walpole, and the Right Honourable William Windham. In so large a county many seats of noblemen and gentlemen are naturally expected to be found. It would far exceed the limits which the nature of this work admits to enumerate one half of them, but the most remarkable are the following: Bickling, Lord Suffield; Binley Hall, Earl of Rosebery; Bracon Ash, T. F. Berney, Esq.; Bucken- NorfolkNorthamptonshire. ham House, Lord Petre; Costessey Hall, Sir Wm. Jerningham; Felbrigg, Captain Lukin; Harling, Sir John Sebright; Hethel Hall, Sir Thomas Beevor; Hillington Park, Sir Martin Folkes; Houghton Hall, Watson Taylor, Esq.; Intwood Hall, Earl of Buckinghamshire; Gunton, Lord Suffield; Kimberley Hall, Lord Woodhouse; Kirby Bedon, Sir John Berney; Melton Constable, Sir J. H. Astley; Quiddenhall, Earl of Albemarle; Rainham Hall, Marquis of Townsend; Wareham, Sir M. B. Folkes; Wolerton Hall, Earl of Orford; Oxburgh Hall, Sir Richard Boddington. The towns whose population exceeds 1500 inhabitants are the following: Houses. Inhabitants. Norwich, - - - 8521 37,256 Lynn, - - - 2318 10,259 Wells, - - - 603 2,683 Thetford, - - - 528 2,450 North Walsham, - - 447 2,035 Aylsham, - - - 362 1,760 Yarmouth, - - - 3576 17,977 East Dereham, - - 554 2,888 Diss, - - - 352 2,590 Swaffham, - - - 485 2,350 Market Downham, - 383 1,771 Harlestone, - - - 278 1,516 See A. Young's and Kent's General View of the Agriculture of Norfolk; Topographical History of Norfolk; The Norfolk Tour, 1808; Booth's History of Norwich; Gough's Topography; Richards's History of Lynn; Brayley and Britton's Beauties of England, Vol. II. (w. w.) Extent.