Burnham Market

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The village green.
The village green.
The Hoste Arms.
The Hoste Arms.

Burnham Market is a village and civil parish near the north coast of Norfolk, England. Burnham Market is one of the Burnhams, a group of adjacent villages in North Norfolk. It is the result of the merger of three of the original Burnham villages, namely Burnham Sutton, Burnham Ulph and Burnham Westgate.

Burnham Market lies approximately 1 mile (2 km) inland, some 5 miles (8 km) west of Wells-next-the-Sea, 12 miles (19 km) east of Hunstanton and 10 miles (16 km) north of Fakenham. The smaller villages of Burnham Deepdale and Burnham Norton are within 2 miles (3 km) to the west of Burnham Market, whilst Burnham Overy and Burnham Thorpe are a similar distance to the east. North Creake is some 4 miles (6 km) to the south. The larger town of King's Lynn is 20 miles (30 km) to the south-west, whilst the city of Norwich is 30 miles (50 km) to the south-east.[1]

The civil parish has an area of 18.43 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 948 in 496 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.[2]

Burnham Market is close to the mouth of the River Burn and the name Burnham probably derives from this. However another theory is that the town was a centre for the amber trade (see article Amber in British place names). As the name implies, historically Burnham had a market and was therefore considered a town, however that market was discontinued several years before 1854.[3] Today Burnham Market is more normally considered a village, albeit one slightly larger and considerably busier than its immediate neighbours.

A map of Burnham from 1946
A map of Burnham from 1946

In recent times Burnham Market has attracted a significant number of second-home owners, mostly affluent residents of London, and in consequence acquired a somewhat metropolitan atmosphere. Long term local residents often refer to the village as Chelsea-on-sea, after the up-market London district of Chelsea. One of the factors driving this movement is the presence of the up-market pub and restaurant, the Hoste Arms, named after Captain William Hoste or his family.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ordnance Survey (2002). OS Explorer Map 251 - Norfolk Coast Central. ISBN 0-319-21887-2.
  2. ^ Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes. Retrieved October 18, 2005.
  3. ^ Francis White (1854). Francis White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk - Burnham Westgate (or Burnham Market). Retrieved October 18, 2005.

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 52.94584° N 0.72815° E