Walcott, Norfolk
| Walcott | |
|---|---|
 Walcott village sign |
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 Walcott
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| Walcott shown within Norfolk | |
| Population | 548 (Including Ostend 2011) |
| OS grid reference | TG360320 |
| • London | 137 miles (220 km) |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | NORWICH |
| Postcode district | NR12 |
| Dialling code | 01692 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Walcott is a small village and civil parish on the North Norfolk coast in England between Mundesley and Happisburgh. The name is formed from the Anglian word 'walh' (cognate with 'Welsh') and the Anglo-Saxon 'cot' meaning 'cottage, hut, shelter or den'. The village is 19.1 miles (30.7 km) north east of Norwich, 11.9 miles (19.2 km) south east of Cromer and 137 miles (220 km) north east of London. The village lies 5.6 miles (9.0 km) east of the town of North Walsham.
The village is the only point where the B1159 (the coast road) actually runs along the edge of the sea. This makes it a popular stopping off point for day-trippers and storm watchers.
The parish was created in 2008, having formerly been part of Happisburgh parish.
This section is adapted from The Historic Happing Website with permission.
The geology and geography in the vicinity of Walcott have been shaped by past ice ages, sea incursions and rivers that have deposited material over the underlying chalk.
The last ice sheet left Norfolk around 16,000 BC allowing pine trees to colonise the region.
Between 10,000 – 6000 BC the climate became warm and dry allowing alder, oak, elm & lime into the region.
The increasing temperature caused the sea level to rise and around 5000 BC the North Sea was first connected to the English Channel via a narrow strait. Eventually there were wide inter-tidal estuaries around Norfolk, which started to deposit marine clay over the original peat in the Broadland area.
Around 3000 BC the Norfolk coastline was roughly similar to today's outline, although the local cliffs continued to erode. Some of the eroded material goes to form the sand bar, a few kilometres offshore, that runs parallel with the coastline and is a danger to local shipping.
During the Bronze Age (2,500 – 800 BC) the climate slowly became cooler although the sea level continued to rise and around 750 BC the sea started to breach the spits across the estuaries further south. This resulted in Walcott becoming part of a large peninsula with numerous islands and waterways in the south and east. This peninsula would have made an ideal area for man to colonise with fresh water, fishing and reeds (for thatch) in the west, sea fishing in the east. The good farming land and its isolation would have offered some degree of defence.
From the Iron Age to the end of the Roman period (800 BC – 410 AD) the climate became wet and cold and locally the sea level probably reached about 1.0 m above today's average.
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Wikipedia