South Acre is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. The village has almost disappeared, but the remnants are located about south-west of Castle Acre, north of the town of

Swaffham Swaffham () is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District and English county of Norfolk. It is situated east of King's Lynn and west of Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 6,9 ...

, east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. The River Nar flows between South Acre and Castle Acre.Ordnance Survey (1999). ''OS Explorer Map 236 - King's Lynn, Downham Market & Swaffham''. . The villages name means 'cultivated land'. 'South' to distinguish from Castle Acre. In 1441 the village was the scene of the attempted murder of an important member of the local

gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...

, Sir Geoffrey Harsyk. A gang of local

yeomen Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...

and labourers occupied the main road, preventing passage along it, singing "we are Robbynhodesmen, war war war". This was a direct reference to the legends of

Robin Hood Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is dep ...

that were particularly popular in Norfolk in the fifteenth century, and, indeed, it is probable that events such as this fed directly into later versions of the tales. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 32 in 13 households, at the 2011 Census

Narford Narford is situated in the Breckland (district), Breckland District of Norfolk and covers an area of 970 hectares (3.75 square miles). Narford village has all but List of lost settlements in the United Kingdom, disappeared, with a population of o ...

was included and the population increased to 115 in 47 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of Breckland.Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001).
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
''. Retrieved 2 December 2005.

Notes

External links

*
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on South Acre. *http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/South%20Acre Villages in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District {{Norfolk-geo-stub