Holt is a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

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

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

, England. The town is north of the city 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 ...

, west of

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. It is north of Norwich, northwest of North Walsham and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local ...

and east of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to 3,810 at the 2011 census. Holt is within the area covered by

North Norfolk District Council North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

. Holt has a heritage railway station; it is the south-western terminus of the preserved North Norfolk Railway, known as the ''Poppy Line''.

History

Origins

The most likely derivation of the name Holt is from an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

word for

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

,Brooks, Peter, ''Holt, Georgian Market Town'', (Cromer: Poppyland Publishing, second edition 2001, ) and Holt is located on wooded high ground of the

-Holt ridge at the crossing point of two ancient by-ways and as such was a natural point for a settlement to grow. The town has a mention in the great survey of 1086 known as 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 ...

. In the survey it is described as a market town and a port with the nearby port of Cley next the Sea being described as Holt's port. It also had five

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

s and twelve

plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...

teams and as such was seen as a busy thriving viable settlement. The first

Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

was Walter Giffard; it passed to Hugh, Earl of Chester, who then left it to the De Vaux family. By this time Holt had a well-established market and two annual fairs which were held on 25 April and 25 November. Over the years Holt grew as a local place of trade and commerce. The weekly market which had taken place since before the 1080s was stopped in the 1960s.

Great fire

On 1 May 1708, Holt was devastated by a fire which destroyed most of the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

town in three hours. The fire started at Shirehall Plain and quickly spread through the timber houses of the town. The church was also badly damaged with its

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, Phragmites, water reed, Cyperaceae, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), Juncus, rushes, Calluna, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away fr ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

destroyed, the lead melted from the windows and the flames spreading up the steeple. Contemporary reports stated that the fire spread so swiftly that the butchers did not have time to rescue their meat from their stalls on the market. The damage to the town was estimated to be in the region of £11,000. The town subsequently received many donations from all over the country to aid reconstruction.

Georgian Holt

With most of the medieval buildings destroyed, the rebuilding made Holt notable for its abundance of Georgian buildings, that being the style of the day. However, the town repaired and retains its Norman parish church, which is dedicated to St Andrew.

1968 RAF mid-air collision

mid-air collision In aviation, a mid-air collision is an aviation accident, accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight. The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by Aviation communication, miscommunication, mistrus ...

over the town occurred on the night of 19 August 1968, involving a Victor Tanker from RAF Marham and a Canberra bomber from RAF Bruggen in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. This followed an electrical storm that had disabled

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

systems. All seven airmen on board were killed. A memorial stone hangs inside Saint Andrew's Church.

Churches

The ancient

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of Holt is dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle and probably has late Saxon origins. It was rebuilt in the early 14th century in the Decorated Gothic style by Sir William de Nerford and his wife Petronilla, daughter of John de Vaux, and a tower was added later in the same century. The church was thatched and was badly damaged in the great Holt fire of 1708. Between 1722 and 1727 it was rebuilt, with contributions from Lord Townshend, the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

, and

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prim ...

. The church was restored between 1862 and 1874 by William Butterfield. The Methodist Church, on Obelisk Plain, was built between 1862 and 1863 to a design by Thomas Jeckyll, on a site donated by William Cozens-Hardy of Letheringsett Hall, who also paid most of the building costs. The most recent religious building is the Chapel of Gresham's School, designed by

Maxwell Ayrton Ormrod Maxwell Ayrton Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA (1874 – 18 February 1960), known as Maxwell Ayrton, was an England, English architect. He spent most of his adult life working in London and designed houses, public buildings, ...

and built in knapped flint and limestone between 1912 and 1916, with two angle turrets and an embattled parapet. This is now a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Education

Gresham's School

Gresham's School, a public school founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham, originally for boys but co-educational since 1971, is located on the north side of the town.

Other schools

Holt Community Primary School is a state primary school for children aged 4–11. The infant school was built in 1910 and the Junior School by 1928. In 1965 they were amalgamated to form Holt County Primary School. The school has been extended and developed over the years. It changed its name in 1999 to Holt Community Primary School. There is no state secondary school in the town, so many children travel to Sheringham High School between the ages of 11 and 16.

Local points of interest

Holt Hall

The hall, which stands in an estate made up of ancient woodlands, lawns, lakes and gardens, was built in the 1840s and extended in the 1860s. It was owned by John Rogers, whose son Henry Burcham-Rogers inherited it from his father in 1906 and was still the owner when he died in 1945. A Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, it was subsequently owned by

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for Norfolk, England. Below it there are seven second-tier district councils: Breckland District, Breckland, Broadland, Borough of Great Yarmouth, Great Yarmo ...

, who used it as an outdoor education centre. In 2023, it was sold to Gresham's School, with funding from James Dyson, a former student, making the acquisition possible. In August 2024, despite objections from

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

and The Victorian Society, the school was granted planning permission to demolish the north, services wing of the house and add a modern extension.

Byfords

1–3 Shirehall Plain – The building is thought to be the oldest house in Holt (the cellar dates back to the 15th century), a survivor of the great fire of Holt in 1708 and a further fire in the building in 1906. The premises traded as a hardware shop or ironmonger's for over 100 years under the ownership of the Byford family. Byfords is now run as a café, delicatessen and B&B.

Blind Sam

Blind Sam is the name given locally to the

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

Jubilee Lantern located in Obelisk Plain. From the year of Victoria's

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

in 1887 until 1921 it stood in the Market Place, where it had two functions, to provide light to the Market Place and to provide drinking water from two fountains at the bottom. The light was powered by the town's gas supply, which at the time was sporadic and unreliable, hence the nickname "Blind Sam". It was moved to Obelisk Plain in 1921 to make way for the war memorial. Made by ironmongers in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, it was restored in the 1990s.

Obelisk

The pineapple-topped obelisk at Holt is one of a pair of gateposts from Melton Constable Park, the other having been given to the town of Dereham in 1757. Each gatepost had the distances to various places from Holt and Dereham respectively carved into the stone. At the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, to avoid assisting the enemy in the event of invasion, the townspeople of Dereham dumped their obelisk down a deep well, where it remains to this day. The people of Holt whitewashed their obelisk at the start of the Second World War and it remains in good condition.

Chapel Yard

Chapel Yard, the first major retail development in Holt in modern times, was developed in 1983 within the conservation zone by architect Eric Goodman and Richard Webster, with removal of 1950s warehouses and adaptation of derelict flint workers' cottages, a chapel, the old fire station, and the reservists' drill hall. During renovations, Goodman discovered that the cottages at 3, 4, 5 and 6 Chapel Yard dated to the mid-16th century; they are the oldest known buildings in the conservation area and have since been given Grade II listed status. The massive chimney breasts have pockets for drying grain. Corn was discovered in pots during renovation. Goodman added two new buildings with doors and windows inset behind a covered walkway and with pan tile roofs supported by oak buttresses, derived from a traditional 'Norfolk cart shed'. The model of a 'yard' of shops, making use of both small workers' cottages and redundant land, was later adopted for Apple Yard by Ru Bruce-Lockhart, who consulted Goodman on the design of his scheme, and for Lee's Yard, Feather Yard, Hoppers Yard and Franklyn's Yard. Goodman was also consulted on the design of a new supermarket in Holt, built in 1986 and also based on a Norfolk cart shed. The supermarket, now Budgen's, received the 1986 Graham Alan Award, an award from

which is given both for conservation and restoration and for well-designed new buildings, including those that make innovative use of traditional design forms and detailing. Chapel Yard itself did not receive the Graham Alan Award, because Graham Alan's son Mike Alan had consulted on the development. The judges instead sent a letter of recognition. The Norfolk Society awarded a certificate in March 1984. In addition,

gave the buildings at 12 and 8 Albert Street Grade II listed status to protect the newly built environment; Goodman may be the only known design architect to receive such an accolade for a new development in North Norfolk. In 2022 the then MP for North Norfolk Duncan Baker recommended Goodman for an MBE. Chapel Yard is referenced as part of the 2021 Holt Conservation Appraisal and Management Plan.

Former landmarks

Water tower

The town's water was pumped from the common land at Spout Hills to a brick water tower in Shirehall Plain. The tower was built in 1885 by Erpingham Rural Sanitary Authority and was high. It held 15,000 gallons of water; the water level could be read from the ground. The tower was in use until 1955 and was demolished in 1957.

Windmill

A brick-built windmill was erected in the late 18th century: when put up for sale in summer 1792 it was described as "newly built". It was used by many different owners until the early 1920s. The sails were removed in 1922 and the rest of the machinery was removed in the 1930s. The brick tower was then used for storage until deemed unsafe, and was demolished in the 1970s. There are now homes on the site, known as Mill Court.

Amenities

Holt Country Park

Holt Country Park is a short walk from the town. Its history includes a horseracing course, heath, farmland, forestry and woodland garden. It is now woodland dominated with Scots pine and native broadleaves. Its rich ground flora supports wildlife including

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

. The park has achieved a Green Flag Award every year since 2005.

Holt Lowes

The Lowes is an area of heathland of around to the south of Holt set aside by the Holt and Letheringsett Inclosure Act 1807 ( 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 2. c. ''19'' ). The poor of Holt had grazing rights for an animal and also had the right to take wood and gorse from the land for their own use. It is likely that the land was never used by the poor of Holt as the land was not wholly suitable. The Lowes was used for military training during 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 ...

. It is open to the public along with Holt Country Park. The Lowes has long been recognised as an important area for wildlife, with records going back to the 18th century. It was declared an SSSI in 1954 and for a while managed as a nature reserve by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, which continues to act as managing agents for the trustees. As on all lowland heaths, there is a constant need for management to prevent the encroachment of trees. Recent work has concentrated on clearing a large part of the mixed valley mire, an area of

sphagnum ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store water, since ...

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

that supports plants like sundews and several species of

dragonfly A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threat ...

, including one, the keeled skimmer, found nowhere else in East Anglia.

Spout Hills

These consist of of green space, which provided the town of Holt with all of its water needs, enabling it to grow and flourish. An old reservoir still exists but the pumping station was dismantled in the 1950s.

Bakers & Larners

Bakers & Larners is a department store located on Market Place. It has been continuously owned by the Baker family since the eighteenth century.

Transport

Railway

The nearest

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

to Holt is in the town of

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is a seaside town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District ...

, where access to the National Rail network is provided by the Bittern Line to

. Services are generally hourly and are operated by Greater Anglia.

History

Holt's original railway station, which opened in 1887, was served by the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway. Most of this network was closed by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways in 1959, but the short section from Melton Constable via Holt to Sheringham (services continuing on to Cromer and Norwich) escaped closure for a few more years. It succumbed finally in 1964 when the branch was cut back to Sheringham, which is now the nearest national railway station. The station was later demolished and the site is now under the town's by-pass.

Heritage

Holt Railway station on the North Norfolk Railway

In 1965, within a year of the closure of the line, the North Norfolk Railway was formed to restore part of the line as an independent heritage steam railway. Initially, it operated between

and Weybourne; later, it was extended to the eastern edge of Holt at a new station site. A horse-bus service, the ''Holt Flyer'', once ran between the Railway Tavern in the town centre and the new railway station, timed to connect with trains; this has now been replaced by an

AEC Routemaster The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...

bus.

Future ambitions

There are now plans by the Norfolk Orbital Railway to extend the railway back towards the town centre and on to Melton Constable and Fakenham.

Buses

Several local bus routes operate in and around Holt, provided by Sanders Coaches.

Roads

The town is on the route of the A148

road.

Air

Norwich International Airport is sited in the northern outskirts of the city.

Media

Television

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, and by ITV Anglia and ITV Yorkshire on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

. Television signals are received from either the Tacolneston or Belmont TV transmitters.

Radio

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Norfolk, Heart East, Amber Radio, Greatest Hits Radio East (formerly North Norfolk Radio) and Poppyland Community Radio, a community based station.

Newspapers

The town is served by the local newspapers, ''The Holt Chronicle'', '' North Norfolk News'' and ''

Eastern Daily Press The ''Eastern Daily Press'' (''EDP'') is a regional newspaper covering Norfolk, northern parts of Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to ...

''.

Festivals and cultural events

Holt Festival

The Holt Festival started in Summer 2009 as an arts festival. The events run for a week and include music, theatre, literature, cinema and art.

Doctor Who events

On Sunday 25 June 2006, Holt was "invaded" by

Daleks The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Na ...

. The event was a celebration of

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

's classic science fiction series ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

''. ''The

Midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer, taking place on or near the date of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere; the longest Daytime, day of the year. The name "midsummer" mainly refers to summer solstice festivals of Eu ...

Invasion'' attracted many fans of the ever-popular show to the town as well as some of its previous stars. Organised by Planet Skaro, a local sci-fi store that has subsequently closed, the highlight of the day was a Dalek

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

through the town centre. Due to the success of the first Invasion, another science fiction themed event took place in Holt on 30 June 2007.

Sport and recreation

Holt has a Rugby football club, formed in 1961. The club's first match was played against West Norfolk on Gresham's School playing field. In the early days the team used the White Lion Hotel (now closed) for their changing rooms and hospitality. In 1967 the club was able to purchase of land on the eastern side of Bridge Road in nearby

High Kelling High Kelling is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. High Kelling is east of Holt and west of Cromer, along the A148 road. History High Kelling's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English for th ...

. The club began playing their home games at their new facilities in 1969. At Bridge Road the club has three full-size pitches, six dedicated mini pitches and a clubhouse which was built in 1970. There are changing room facilities for up to 100 players. The club has three senior sides, a junior side and mini rugby sides for 6- to 18-year-olds. Holt United Football Club was formed in 1894 and was a founder member of the

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 ...

and

League, which began in 1895. In 1927 the club joined the Norwich and District League and went on to win this league on five occasions. In 1935 the club was in the

and

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

League and did not suffer a league defeat until December that year, when they lost to Norwich City A at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is a association football, football stadium in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship club Norwich City F.C., Norwich City. The stadium is east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

. Holt was the first amateur team to play at the newly built Carrow Road ground. In 1985 Holt United left their ground at Jubilee Road, which was sold to finance the new Sports Centre complex on Kelling Road. For one season Holt played their matches at Gresham's School. In 1986 the club moved to their new ground at the Sports Centre. Four years later they dropped into junior football. During the past three seasons the club have remained in Division One of the Anglian Combination. At present Holt United runs three sides, the first team playing in the Anglian Combination and the Reserves and colts teams in the North East Norfolk League. Holt Harlequins Hockey Club (formerly Cromer Hockey Club) plays at the

astroturf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for pitch (sports field), playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a pile (textile), short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Si ...

ground at Gresham's School. Holt has a King George's Field in memorial to

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. George was born during the reign of his pa ...

Notable people

* Rex Malcolm Chaplin Dawson (1924–2021), biochemist * Geoffrey Gillam (1905–1970), consultant cardiologist"Geoffrey Gerrard Gillam"
''(sic)'' in William Munk, ed., ''The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London: Continued to 1975'' (The Royal College, 1982), pp. 196–198 * Dr Thomas Girdlestone (1758–1822), physician * Sir John Gresham (1492–1556), merchant, founder of Gresham's School * Sir Richard Gresham (1494–1549), merchant and member of parliament * Billa Harrod (1911-2005), architectural conservationist * John Holmes (1703–1760), educationist * Logie Bruce Lockhart (born 1921 - 7 September 2020), writer and journalist * Robert Pilch (1877–1957), footballer * Sir Matthew Pinsent (born 1970), Olympic gold medallist in rowing * Lewis Radford, Vicar of Holt, later Bishop of Goulburn in Australia * Edmund Rogers (1823–1910), journalist and spiritualist * Sebastian Shaw (1905–1994), actor * Gareth Sibson (born 1977), writer and broadcaster * Sir William Stanley (1435–1495), soldier, Lord Chamberlain * Kieron Williamson (born 2002), landscape artist

Bibliography

* Lewis Radford, ''History of Holt. A Brief Study of Parish, Church and School'' (Holt: Rounce & Wortley, 1908) * Peter Brooks, ''Holt, Georgian Market Town'' (Cromer: Poppyland Publishing, second edition 2001, )

References

External links

*
Holt Town Council
{{authority control North Norfolk Market towns in Norfolk Towns in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk

History

Origins

Great fire

Georgian Holt

1968 RAF mid-air collision

Churches

Education

Gresham's School

Other schools

Local points of interest

Holt Hall

Byfords

Blind Sam

Obelisk

Chapel Yard

Former landmarks

Water tower

Windmill

Amenities

Holt Country Park

Holt Lowes

Spout Hills

Bakers & Larners

Transport

Railway

History

Heritage

Future ambitions

Buses

Roads

Air

Media

Television

Radio

Newspapers

Festivals and cultural events

Holt Festival

Doctor Who events

Sport and recreation

Notable people

See also

Bibliography

References

External links