Snettisham

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The view across The Wash from Snettisham Beach

The Watermill

Snettisham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located near the west coast of Norfolk, some 5 miles (8 km) south of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, 9 miles (15 km) north of the town of King's Lynn and 45 miles (70 km) north-west of the city of Norwich.^[1]

The civil parish has an area of 28.03 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 2374 in 1097 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.^[2]

RSPB Snettisham, on the coast of The Wash some 2 miles (3 km) to the west of Snettisham village, is a nature reserve in the care of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It consists of bird lagoons and bird observation hides, including a rotary hide. The Snettisham coast around the reserve is often said to be "where Norfolk stares at Lincolnshire". This is because, unlike much of Norfolk's coast where the sea stretches to the horizon, Snettisham looks across the square-mouthed estuary of The Wash at the county of Lincolnshire, only 15 miles (24 km) away. The River Ingol runs to the south of the village upon which stands the now unused Snettisham watermill.

St. Mary's Church in the village has a 14th century, 172 ft. high spire. Nikolaus Pevsner called it "perhaps the most exciting decorated church in Norfolk".

The Snettisham Hoard is a series of discoveries of Iron Age precious metal, including nearly 180 gold torques, 75 complete and the rest fragmentary, found in the area between 1948 to 1973. In 1985 there was also a find of Romano-British jewellery and raw materials buried in a clay pot in AD 155. Although this latter find has no direct connection with the nearby Iron Age finds, it may be evidence of a long tradition of gold- and silver-working in the area.^[3] ^[4]