Norfolk facts:
- The name 'Norfolk' derives from the Anglo-Saxon Nordfolc, the place of the North folk. ('Suffolk' being the place of the South folk.)
- Norfolk has 659 medieval churches - the highest concentration in the world. Of these, 125 have round towers - more than any other county in the UK. (Suffolk has 42, Essex 7, Sussex 3, Cambridgeshire 2 and Berkshire 2.)
- At 160 ft, the tower of St. Peter and St. Paul's church in Cromer is the highest in the county. St. Giles' church tower is the highest in Norwich at 120ft.
- The Norfolk coastline stretches for nearly 100 miles - from Hopton on Sea to the Wash.
- The highest point in Norfolk is Beacon Hill near West Runton - standing at 338 ft above sea level.
- Lord Nelson was born at the rectory at Burnham Thorpe on 29th September, 1758.
- Norfolk is the fifth largest county in England.
- Norfolk is the driest county in the UK.
- Norwich is the most easterly city in the UK.
- At only five miles in length, the Thurne is Norfolk's shortest river.
- In 1990 the bones of an early elephant were discovered in the cliffs at West Runton; the animal would have been 4 metres tall at the shoulder.
- There are two place names in Norfolk with only three letters: Oby (10 NW of Yarmouth) and Hoe ( 2 miles N of Dereham).
- The ancestors of President Abraham Lincoln came from Swanton Morley and Hingham.
- The Adam and Eve pub in Bishopgate is the oldest in Norwich and was built in 1249 as a brewhouse for workers building the Cathedral.
- From c.1350 to c.1750 the wool/weaving trade was the most important economic activity (not including agriculture) in the county. However, with the advent of the industrial revolution, the focus of this work shifted to Yorkshire and Lancashire.
