A study of 'common-edge drift' in Norfolk

The Norfolk landscape has continuously changed and developed over the centuries as farms have grown and amalgamated, towns expanded, and coastlines eroded. Despite this, it retains the shadows of former eras including prehistoric burial mounds, Roman roads, and medieval field patterns. Although post-medieval alterations and additions have influenced the county’s landscape, the settlement patterns were created earlier, in the medieval period. One characteristic feature of this time is the ‘isolated’ parish church. Now standing surrounded by wheat or cows, it is a familiar icon of East Anglia, but one rarely seen elsewhere. Nearly every Norfolk local will have a story of a relative who lives in a small village lying separate from the parish church, and theories about its origins. Rumours of Viking raids, the Plague and over-zealous enclosure abound.