Holkham is a small 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

county of

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

. The village is dominated by the stately home and estate,

Holkham Hall Holkham Hall ( or ) is an 18th-century English country house, country house near the village of Holkham, Norfolk, England, constructed in the Neo-Palladian style for Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester (fifth creation), Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of ...

, and a beach, Holkham Gap, at the centre of

Holkham National Nature Reserve Holkham National Nature Reserve is England's largest national nature reserve (United Kingdom), national nature reserve (NNR). It is on the Norfolk coast between Burnham Overy, Burnham Overy Staithe and Blakeney, Norfolk, Blakeney, and is manage ...

. Holkham is located north-west of

Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household c ...

and north-west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Holkham has a population of 218 people which shows a decrease from the 220 people recorded in the 2011 census. The village of Holkham is located on the coast road (the A149) between

and

Burnham Overy Staithe Burnham Overy is a civil parish on the north coast of Norfolk, England. In modern times a distinction is often made between the two settlements of Burnham Overy Town, the original village adjacent to the medieval parish church and now redu ...

. At one time the village was a landing with access to the sea via a tidal creek to the harbour at Wells. The creek succumbed to land reclamation, much of which created the grounds of the estate, starting in 1639 and ending in 1859 when the harbour at Wells was edged with a sea wall. The land west of the wall was subsequently turned to agricultural uses. Aerial photographs show traces of the creek in the topsoil, and the lake to the west of the hall appears to be based on a remnant of it. Now the village serves principally as the main entrance to the hall and deer park, and to Lady Anne's Drive which leads to the beach. Among the houses of the village are several estate-owned businesses, including a hotel ('The Victoria Inn') and art gallery.

is one of the principal

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

houses of England, built for an ancestor of Thomas Coke, noted agricultural innovator and later 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham. The hall, now the home of the 8th Earl, is surrounded by an attractive park, with herds of

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

and

fallow deer Fallow deer is the common name for species of deer in the genus ''Dama'' of subfamily Cervinae. There are two living species, the European fallow deer (''Dama dama''), native to Europe and Anatolia, and the Persian fallow deer (''Dama mesopotamic ...

, a lake that was once a

tidal creek A tidal creek or tidal channel is a narrow inlet or estuary that is affected by the ebb and flow of ocean tides. Thus, it has variable salinity and electrical conductivity over the tidal cycle, and flushes salts from inland soils. Tidal creeks a ...

, several monuments and drives, and its own church. Both hall and park are open to the public. The hall also holds a large collection of

Artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

. From the main coast road Lady Anne's Drive, a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and ...

owned by the Holkham Estate, crosses the reclaimed salt marshes to Holkham Gap. This is a gap in

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

-fringed

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

which form the outer coastline. From here, an uninterrupted sandy beach runs both ways to Wells and

. To the west of the gap is a

nudist Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms ar ...

section of beach.

Holkham railway station Holkham was a railway station which served the coastal village of Holkham in Norfolk, England. Opened by the West Norfolk Junction railway in 1866, it closed with the line in 1952. History The construction of the West Norfolk Junction Railwa ...

was located about halfway along Lady Anne's Drive (to the east). The railway line through to Holkham was built in 1864. The line made up part of the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

network, which ran from

, through Holkham and on to

Burnham Market Burnham Market is a village and civil parish in the England, English county Norfolk. The village is located north-east of King's Lynn and north-west of Norwich. It is one of The Norfolk Burnhams, the Burnhams, a group of three adjacent vill ...

. The line was closed in 1952. A very vast beach - geograph

Holkham Pines is the large belt of pine trees which runs west to east inland from the beach; the eastern end is known as Wells Woods. Holkham Freshmarsh is a series of

wet meadow A wet meadow is a type of wetland with soils that are Solubility, saturated for part or all of the growing season which prevents the growth of trees and brush. Debate exists whether a wet meadow is a type of marsh or a completely separate type of ...

s which sit inland from the pine belt, and north of the A149. They are bisected by Lady Anne's Drive, which gives access to the woods and the beach. The marshes are important for their wintering population of

pink-footed geese The pink-footed goose (''Anser brachyrhynchus'') is a goose which breeds in eastern Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard, and recently Novaya Zemlya. It is migratory, wintering in northwest Europe, especially Ireland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and ...

, and have been designated a National Nature Reserve.

History

Celts

The last of the ancient

Celts The Celts ( , see Names of the Celts#Pronunciation, pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples ( ) were a collection of Indo-European languages, Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient Indo-European people, reached the apoge ...

to inhabit

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

were the tribe of the

Iceni The Iceni ( , ) or Eceni were an ancient tribe of eastern Britain during the British Iron Age, Iron Age and early Roman Britain, Roman era. Their territory included present-day Norfolk and parts of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, and bordered the ar ...

. They are believed responsible for the earthworks of the

Roman Iron Age The archaeology of Northern Europe studies the prehistory of Scandinavian Peninsula, Scandinavia and the adjacent North European Plain, roughly corresponding to the territories of modern Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Northern Germany, Poland, the Net ...

visible in the marsh. A Roman road runs along the west side of the estate. Their provincial capital under Roman occupation was

Venta Icenorum Venta Icenorum (, literally "marketplace of the Iceni") was the civitas or capital of the Iceni tribe, located at modern-day Caistor St Edmund in the English county of Norfolk. The Iceni inhabited the flatlands and marshes of that county and ...

near

Anglo-Saxons

The ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'' for the years 449–454 records the arrival of large numbers of

Angles Angles most commonly refers to: *Angles (tribe), a Germanic-speaking people that took their name from the Angeln cultural region in Germany *Angle, a geometric figure formed by two rays meeting at a common point Angles may also refer to: Places ...

and

Jutes The Jutes ( ) were one of the Germanic people, Germanic tribes who settled in Great Britain after the end of Roman rule in Britain, departure of the Roman Britain, Romans. According to Bede, they were one of the three most powerful Germanic na ...

under

Hengist and Horsa Hengist (, ) and Horsa are legendary Germanic peoples, Germanic brothers who according to later English legends and ethnogenesis theories led the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the progenitor groups of modern English people, in thei ...

, defeating the British king,

Vortigern Vortigern (; , ; ; ; Old Breton: ''Gurdiern'', ''Gurthiern''; ; , , , etc.), also spelled Vortiger, Vortigan, Voertigern and Vortigen, was a 5th-century warlord in Sub-Roman Britain, Britain, known perhaps as a king of the Britons or at least ...

, in 455. By about 600 the distribution of cruciform brooches, a diagnostic of Anglo-Jutish society, show that the culture had displaced the Celtic on the east coast of Britain, including coastal East Anglia. A similar displacement was true of Saxon culture in south-east Britain, diagnosed by saucer brooches. Two bands of Saxons penetrated into East Anglia, one down the rivers that empty into

the Wash The Wash is a shallow natural rectangular bay and multiple estuary on the east coast of England in the United Kingdom. It is an inlet of the North Sea and is the largest multiple estuary system in the UK, as well as being the largest natural ba ...

and the other into the centre. In the 7th century the Germanic kings of these regions were being converted to Christianity. The Anglisc or Englisc of East Anglia may already by that time have been divided into the "North Folk" and the "South Folk". In 654 the Christian king of East Anglia,

Anna of East Anglia Anna (or Onna; killed 653 or 654) was List of monarchs of East Anglia, king of East Anglia from the early 640s until his death. He was a member of the Wuffingas family, the ruling dynasty of the East Angles, and one of the three sons of Eni of ...

, was killed in battle against the last pagan king of

Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...

. So great was his Christian affirmation that his four daughters renounced the world and became saints. Numerous lives of the saints relate that the youngest, Saint Withburga, was brought up at Holkham. She later founded a Benedictine nunnery at East Dereham and was eventually buried at Ely in 743. This is the first reference to Holkham. A church on the grounds of the estate, still used for worship, commemorates the saint. The existence of the saint is attested by the

, which for the year 798 records that the body of Wihtburga, sister of St. Aethelthryth, was found to be uncorrupted at

Dereham Dereham (), also known historically as East Dereham, is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Breckland District of the England, English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the A47 road, about west of the city of Norwich ...

55 years after her death. The ''Chronicle'' and the historian,

Bede Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...

, do not state the name of Holkham. It does appear as that in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, 1086, which means that it must precede

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

. The element -ham is clearly identifiable as

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, "village, manor, home". The Holk- remains unidentified. A suggestion has been made that it comes from *hoelig, "holy", in honour of the saint, but it would not have been named that before she was one. The guidebook of the parish church (which is dedicated to Saint Withburga) says the area was originally called 'Wihtburgstowe' but later 'holc-ham' which the church guide translates as 'homestead in a hollow'.

Later Middle Ages

Medieval manuscripts concerning Holkham have been edited by William Hassall and Jacques Beauroy.

20th century

Holkham Studio Pottery was set up at Holkham Hall in 1951, making it the first stately home to produce pottery on-site to sell in the

gift shop A gift shop or souvenir shop is a store primarily selling souvenirs, memorabilia, and other items relating to a particular topic or theme. The items sold often include coffee mugs, stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, postcards, handmade collection ...

. At its peak, it employed 100 people and sold its distinctive pottery around the world. The company, which produced

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

s, became Holkham Pottery Ltd in 1961 and closed in 2007.

Church of St Withburga

Holkham parish church is just south of the coast road, hidden in the trees of the Holkham Estate. It stands on a tall circular mound, which archaeologists suggest might be man-made and possibly pre-Saxon. Holkham parish church is dedicated to Saint Withburga. This dedication to a Saxon saint often implies a church has Saxon origins. Excavations at Holkham have found Saxon remains near the west end which may be a tower. Norman remains have been found incorporated into the present building which implies that the Normans expanded the Saxon building – as they did at other churches. In turn this Norman church made way for an Early English building (13th century). The tower and the western part of the south aisle date from this period. The church guidebook notes that the tower gets progressively younger as it goes up. The lower section is Early English up to the sill of the belfry windows. The belfry itself is Decorated (14th century) while the battlements and pinnacles are Perpendicular (15th to 16th century). During restoration work at least six 12th and 13th century coffin lids with foliated crosses were found on site and are now on show inside the church. The north aisle and north transept are thought to have been added later than the 13th century as burials and parts of coffin lids were found under the foundations. The church is known to have been enlarged in the 14th century and many of the internal arches are Decorated period. By the early 18th century the church had fallen into decay but the development of Holkham Estate by the Coke family led to renewed interest in the church. In 1767 the Countess Dowager of Leicester put up £1,000 for its repair. She had overseen the completion of Holkham Hall after the death of the 1st Earl in 1759. A major renovation of the church was completed in 1869 at the expense of Juliana, the wife of the 2nd Earl of Leicester. This cost £9,000. She died the following year and has a striking sculpted memorial in the north chapel of the church. The unusual

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

in the west wall of the churchyard was built for Juliana in the 1870s, but her body was transferred in 1905 to the Coke family plot on the south side of the churchyard. Inside the parish church there are several other memorials to various members of the Coke family of Holkham Hall. During the post medieval period, many Cokes were also buried in St. Mary's Church, Tittleshall.

Media

* All the Peenemünde sequences of the 1965 film ''

Operation Crossbow ''Crossbow'' was the code name in World War II for Anglo-American operations against the German V-weapons, long range reprisal weapons (V-weapons) programme. The primary V-weapons were the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, which were launched agai ...

'' featuring German attempts to make the V-1 fly were filmed at Holkham Gap. The mass grave sequence at Holkham was filmed using male extras recruited from nearby

and – as a result – the film used to show at the former Wells cinema for several weeks a year during the late 1960s. * Several parts of the 1976 film '' The Eagle Has Landed'', starring

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, 14 March 1933) is a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

and

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...

, were filmed on Holkham Beach and in the pinewoods. * The final scenes of ''

Shakespeare in Love ''Shakespeare in Love'' is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, B ...

'' (1998) were filmed on the beach. * The music video for "

Pure Shores "Pure Shores" is a song by English girl group All Saints from their second studio album, '' Saints & Sinners'' (2000). Group member Shaznay Lewis and producer William Orbit wrote the song for a scene in the 2000 adventure drama film '' The Bea ...

", by

All Saints All Saints' Day is a Christian holiday. All Saints, All Saints Day or Feast of All Saints may also refer to: Art and entertainment * ''All Saints'' (film), a 2017 Christian drama film * ''All Saints'' (TV series), an Australian hospital drama * ...

, for the 2000 film '' The Beach'', was filmed here. * A number of beach scenes for the ''

Avengers Avenger(s) or The Avenger(s) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of "The Infinity Sag ...

'' episode "The Town of No Return" (1965) were filmed at Holkham Gap. * Parts of the ITV1 drama '' Kingdom'', featuring comedian

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

, were filmed on Wells and Holkham Beaches. *' The Duchess' starring

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Knightley ( ; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and Blockbuster (entertainment), blockbusters, particularly Historical drama, period dramas, she has received List of awards and no ...

was filmed at Holkham Hall. * Scenes of '

Annihilation In particle physics, annihilation is the process that occurs when a subatomic particle collides with its respective antiparticle to produce other particles, such as an electron colliding with a positron to produce two photons. The total energy a ...

' starring

Natalie Portman Natalie Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

were filmed at Holkham Pines in July 2016.

Notable Residents

* Robert Coke MP- (1651-1679) politician, born in Holkham Hall. * Thomas Coke KB, 1st Earl of Leicester- (1697-1759) landowner, lived in Holkham Hall. * Thomas Coke MP, 1st Earl of Leicester- (1754-1842) politician and agricultural reformer, born in Holkham Hall. * William Shellabear- (1862-1947) scholar and missionary, born in Holkham. * Alice Coke DBE JP, Countess of Leicester- (1866-1936) Anglo-Irish aristocrat, lived in Holkham Hall. *

Thomas Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester Major Thomas William Edward Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester (16 May 1908 – 3 September 1976), styled Viscount Coke from 1941 to 1949, was a British hereditary peer. cited in Early life Thomas William Edward Coke, 5th Earl of Leicester, was born ...

- (1908-1976) peer of the realm, lived in Holkham Hall. * Anne Tennant LVO, Baroness Glenconner- (b.1932) peeress and socialite, born in Holkham Hall. * Edward Coke, 7th Earl of Leicester- (1936-2015) nobleman, lived in Holkham Hall. *

Thomas Coke, 8th Earl of Leicester Thomas Edward Coke, 8th Earl of Leicester (born 6 July 1965), is the son of Edward Coke, 7th Earl of Leicester, and Valeria Phyllis Potter. He is the current Earl of Leicester. From 1994 to 2015, when he succeeded into the earldom, he was styled ...

- (b.1965) nobleman, Lord of Holkham Hall. * Alan Miller- (1970-2021) West Brom and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

footballer, died in Holkham.

Governance

Hindringham is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

of Wells with Holkham for local elections and is part of 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, municip ...

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer, and the largest town is North Walsham. The district also includes the towns of Fakenham, Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Shering ...

. The village's national constituency is

, which has been represented by the

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

Steff Aquarone MP since 2024.

War Memorial

Holkham has two memorials: a marble plaque in St. Withburga's Church and a granite obelisk in the grounds of Holkham Hall. The latter memorial was unveiled in 1920 by

Thomas Coke, 3rd Earl of Leicester Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Alice Coke, Countess of Leicester Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

and John Bowers, Bishop of Thetford. Together, the memorials list the following names for the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

: The following names were added after the Second World War:

References

Bibliography

* * Available Google Books.

External links

Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Holkham.
The Holkham Estate websiteDiCamillo companion guide
– includes some good photos

roman-Britain.org
North Norfolk History
article in the North Norfolk News.

Viking.no site {{authority control Villages in Norfolk Populated coastal places in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Beaches of Norfolk North Norfolk