Southrepps
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Southrepps | |
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  Southrepps shown within Norfolk |
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| Population | 758 (parish, 2001 census) |
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| OS grid reference | |
| - London | 136 miles (219 km) |
| Parish | Southrepps |
| District | North Norfolk |
| Shire county | Norfolk |
| Region | East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Cromer |
| Postcode district | NR 11 |
| Dialling code | 01263 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| European Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | North Norfolk |
| List of places: UK • England • Norfolk | |
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Southrepps is a thriving village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
The village is close to the sea but surrounded by rich agricultural land. Farming as well as religion have defined the lives of villagers for hundreds of years, though over recent years this has been less so.
The village is 5.2 miles southeast of Cromer, 21.9 miles north of Norwich and 136 miles north of London. The village lies west of the A149 between Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth. The nearest railway station is at Gunton for the Bittern Line which runs between Sheringham, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport.
The village is split in two halves and separated by a mile of farmland. The halves of the village are known as Upper Southrepps and Lower Southrepps (Upper Street and Lower Street to the locals). It is believed locally that this situation came about due to the Black Death.
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[edit] Physical Geography
Southrepps is built on a low rise mix of glacial sands and gravels, with expanses of rich till formed from the so-called Cromer Forest Beds created in a warmer period when a great meandering river fringed rank forest vegetation. This surface geology makes for extremely well-drained and fertile soils. Beneath these younger rocks lie chalk beds which come to the surface in a line stretching south from Weybourne and can also be seen on the village's nearest beach at low tide in a chalk pavement between Trimingham and Sidestrand. The beach here is littered with flint cobbles formed into nodules by chemical replacement of the chalk and eroded into cobbles by wave action. These durable and adundant flint cobbles were collected from the beaches and used as decorative and structural materials in village buildings. Local clays and imported orange pantiles from the nearby Low Countries were used for roofing.
See also: http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=400.500.100
Being in the east, sheltered from most of the extreme weather of the Atlantic from where most of Britain's climate comes, Southrepps has amongst the lowest rainfall in the UK, at less than 500 mm per year. The area has a mean temperature of 10C, second only to southwest and southeast England. With a south to west wind blowing in summer the temperature easily surpasses 20C and exceeds 30C on at least a few days every year. Severe frosts are rare because of the proximity of the sea. With over 1,550 hours of sunshine annually, it is behind only the south-coast counties and Suffolk, though can be plagued by low sea cloud in spring and early summer when warm but moist continental air from the east condenses into "haar" over the comparatively cold North Sea. The village can be in bright sunshine but along the lanes to Trimingham or Overstrand thick mist is encountered shrouding the coast. However, North Norfolk light is legendary - so close to the sea, the clearness of the air gives the sunshine a particular quality much loved by artists and poets, the area being in its heyday during the late 19th century, following its immortalisation by Telegraph theatre critic Clement Scott.
The climate and geology have combined to make the area highly productive in various forms of agriculture, arable and sheep farming being predominant from the Middle Ages, though the Black Death and Great Plague led to serious falls in activity. During the Second World War agriculture rapidly intensified, and has remained very intensive since with the establishment of large fields for cereal and root crop growing. Large scale uprooting of trees and hedgerows, however, have been systematically replaced, restoring a traditional look to the landscape, thanks to the efforts of a small number of far-sighted and responsible local farmers and landowners.
[edit] Village Amenities
The village has two shops and two public houses - the Vernon Arms in Church Street in the upper village, and the Suffield Arms opposite Gunton Station in the lower village. Villagers are very grateful they still have a Post Office as one of its two shops, and at the other end of the narrow picturesque High Street is the local Mace supermarket which sells an exceptionally wide range of goods.
Also at the centre of local life is the Village Hall, which provides a venue for a number of regular users and events, and is an excellent facility for special occasions such as receptions for weddings, christenings and funerals as well as annual village events and celebrations. It is the meeting place for the very popular and active Southrepps Society (see below) which investigates and celebrates rural North Norfolk life in and around the village, captured delightfully in its recently published DVD "Southrepps: The Story of a North Norfolk Village".
The village hall (pictured below decorated for the villagers' Burns Celebration) is situated in Upper Southrepps, whilst Lower Southrepps also has a successful meeting place in its social club, which holds many different functions.
There is an outdoor Bowls Club which is located near the village hall. It has a well-maintained green of six playing rinks.
The very large parish church dominates the local landscape and is called St James. This is a busy church, providing for a range of different worshipping styles and also hosting a number of different local activities, ranging from the Christmas Tree Festival to the Flower Festival during the Open Gardens event in late spring.
There is a Methodist chapel[1] which also is home to a number of local organisations, such as the local young people's drama club, Bric a Brac.
Southrepps has an excellent primary school, Antingham & Southrepps CP.[2]
[edit] Organisations
- The Southrepps and District Branch of the Royal British Legion has a membership of some 30 plus. It meets quarterly at the Vernon Arms.
- Local bell-ringers[3] meet and practise at 7.30 pm on Wednesday at the parish church.
- The Southrepps Society was formed in 1979 to celebrate and conserve all that is best in Southrepps. The Memories Project started in 2006, its objective to present the Society's archive in an easily accessible form and to engage the village in these community-based Memories Events and Exhibitions.
- There is a long-established Southrepps and District Women’s Group. The group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at nearby Thorpe Market Village Hall.
- The Village Fayre Committee came together to organise the highly acclaimed Summer Fayre of 2007, the first for a number of years. It succeeded in attracting a huge number of visitors and raised substantial funds for local charities and for pump-priming other events aimed at bringing villagers together, such as the Carols-Round-The-Four-Village-Trees event during December which itself raised funds for a local children's hospice.
- Watch the Village Fayre video http://www.poppyland.co.uk/index.php?s=NNTV&gm=598
[edit] Southrepps Common - Local Nature Reserve
Southrepps Common [4] local Nature Reserve is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and covers an area of 12.4 hectares. It can be found in Lower Southrepps. The site supports woodland, reedbeds and many species of grass and wild flowers. There is an 800-metre boardwalk which allows access to the most interesting and important parts of the reserve for wheelchairs and all other members of the public. The diverse habitats support an exceptional range of species and it also has "Special Area of Conservation" status. Across the site there are over 160 plant species including some small orchid species.
List of plants include:
- Parnassus Grass
- Bog Pimpernel (Anagallis tenella)
- Flea Sedge (Carex pulicaris)
- Common Cottongrass (Eriophorum angustifolium)
- Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris)
- Bogbean (Menyanthes)
- Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)
There is a large variety of nesting birds across the reserve such as Reed Warblers, Reed Bunting, and Sedge Warbler. The woodland areas are habitat of such birds as Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Barn Owl and Tawny Owl. The stream that runs through the common is called Fox’s Beck. The stream is shallow, free-flowing and supports several species of snail, caddis fly and dragonfly, with water-voles living along the banks. Fox’s Beck and the Common until quite recently had common rights attached to certain properties in the Southrepps and other rights of common included turbary (peat cutting), estovers (firewood and bedding for livestock) and piscary (fishing). Livestock could be grazed and many other natural resources were exploited, such as reed cutting for thatch; alder and hazel were coppiced for tool handles, twigs were collected for the use of broom heads and willow was cut for use in screens.
