British Counties›England›Norfolk
Historic County of England

Norfolk

County town: Norwich

County origins

Norfolk Historical Research

Norfolk was established as a shire in the 10th century, its name distinguishing the 'north folk' of East Anglia from the 'south folk' of Suffolk. It had been part of the Danelaw and retains strong Scandinavian influences in its settlement patterns.

Norfolk is a county of big skies and flat horizons, its landscape shaped by chalk uplands in the west, the Broads in the east, and a long North Sea coastline. Norwich, medieval England's second city, was a centre of the wool and worsted cloth trade that made East Anglia prosperous from the 11th century onward. The county's numerous fine churches — Norfolk has more medieval churches than any other county — reflect the extraordinary wealth generated by its textile industry. Its coast was historically important for North Sea fishing and herring curing. The Sandringham estate, royal since 1862, lies in its north-west.

Domesday Book 1086

Norfolk was surveyed in the Domesday Book of 1086, William the Conqueror's great census of England. The survey recorded 706 settlements in the county, with details of their lords, landholders, population, and resources.

Browse 706 Domesday settlements in Norfolk
706
Domesday settlements
About England's historic counties

England's 39 historic counties, established between the 9th and 12th centuries, are the framework through which English local history, legal records, and landscape have been organised for a thousand years. Most survive today as ceremonial counties, their boundaries deeply embedded in place identity.

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Everything a full report reveals about Norfolk

This page introduces the historic county of Norfolk. A full Aubrey report for a location within it pulls together everything the record actually holds about that ground, from the geology beneath it to the last coin dropped in a field:

Overview
An interactive map of the location with every monument and battle plotted, and a plain-language history built only from what the record holds.
Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman Britain
The Roman roads, forts and towns near here, and the Iron Age people who held the land before Rome arrived.
Domesday
The settlement's entry in the 1086 Domesday Book: who held it, what it was worth, and the people who worked the land.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
LiDAR
Laser-scanned terrain that reveals earthworks hidden under fields and woodland, with likely features flagged.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
Spotlight
A deep dive into the most remarkable, lesser-known history of the place, traced back to the record.
Target Zones
For detectorists: the most promising ground to search nearby, ranked by confidence, with what to expect.
Timeline
The whole story of the location told era by era, from prehistory to the present day.
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Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.

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Explore

Aubrey has published in-depth research reports for one notable place in Norfolk. Read in-depth research reports on notable places — explore.

Godwick, Norfolk →
Scheduled monuments

Norfolk contains 423 scheduled monuments — sites of national importance protected under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

Browse scheduled monuments in England
423
Scheduled monuments
Aubrey Research

Research Norfolk's History

An Aubrey report for a specific location in Norfolk draws on historical maps, archaeological records, Domesday data and landscape history to tell the full story of any site in the county.

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Covers any location in England, Scotland or Wales