North Creake

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The village centre and Jolly Farmers pub

Plaque on the site of the air crash

St Mary's Church

North Creake is a village and civil parish in north west Norfolk, England. The village lies 3 miles (5 km) south of Burnham Market and about 5 miles (8 km) from the north Norfolk coast. A mile (2 km) further south is the twin village of South Creake.^[1]

The village lies on the River Burn, which flows through the centre of the village. A mile (2 km) to the north of the village along the river lies the ruined Creake Abbey. The village itself musters a church, a public house, and a post office. Most of the agricultural land surrounding the village, and many of the village houses, today belong to the estate of the Earl Spencer, who consequently has significant influence on village matters, although his family seat is many miles away in Althorp, Northamptonshire.

The civil parish has an area of 14.99 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 414 in 184 households. The parish shares boundaries with the adjacent parishes of Burnham Market, Burnham Thorpe, Holkham, Walsingham, South Creake, Barwick and Stanhoe. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.^[2]^[3]

On April 27, 1944, a De Havilland Mosquito fighter bomber, on a night training exercise, crashed in the centre of the village killing the crew of two. On the 50th anniversary of the crash in 2004, a plaque on the approximate location of the crash was unveiled by an Royal Air Force guard of honour and other dignitaries, including relatives and friends of those killed.