Please take a few seconds to be part of my survey of local residents. You don't have to live in Burgh Castle (or even know where it is!) to take part. I am interested to see what the issues are that affect you in your area. I cannot promise that your responses will be part of any future policy but I will use the totality of what you tell me for my own information when making decisions at future meetings.

If you feel strongly about any of the issues listed please do take the time to attend your local parish council meeting and make your voice heard.

Thanks in advance.

Following on from my last post, I have decided to put down some of the details that I have over the years collected. The Norfolk Archaeological Trust owns the Roman Fort site (as I recall) whilst the actual flint walls themselves are in the care of English Heritage. From meetings that I have attended with Dr. Wade-Martins, I believe the actual size of the site to extend to some 90 hectares. The reed beds on the foreshore of the fort also being included in the estate.


There are only three of the original walls left standing. The west wall either having fallen into the water of the River Waveney or, more likely, being used in the construction of the St. Peter and St. Paul church to the North of the site. The walls are built of flint and mortar interspersed with red Roman tile. The walls are cornered with round bastions which would have had a wooden super-structure atop them. The gate in the east wall makes for a wonderful sunrise as the sun shines directly through it. The missing west wall allows for romantic sunsets on warm, summer evenings.

The Norfolk Archaeological Trust website states:

Burgh Castle was built in the late third or early fourth centuries as part of a string of forts around the south and east coasts stretching from Porchester in Hampshire to Brancaster in north Norfolk.  The fort now overlooks a large expanse of grazing marshes to the west which once formed a great inland estuary.  Breydon Water is the last remnant of that estuary today.

There is considerable evidence for Anglo-Saxon activity in and around the fort, including what may be the monastery of a seventh-century saint, St Fursey.  Later, when the Normans came they built a castle in the south west corner, although little of that remains after it was levelled in the eighteenth century.

The reed beds below the fort provide a breeding ground for bearded tits, reed and sedge warblers and water rail.  A large gathering of yellow wagtail use the reed beds as a roost in late summer and early autumn.  Marsh and Hen Harriers frequent the area in winter and there have been sightings of bittern and Cetti's warbler.  A pair of Marsh Harriers nested successfully in the reed beds for the first time in 1999.  The tidal mudflats support a variety of wild fowl and waders.  Shooting is prohibited on Trust property and the birds clearly benefit from the tranquil surroundings which the  Trust can provide on this property.

The new visitors centre (currently under construction and marked on the Feature Map of Burgh Castle) will allow more visitors to have access to this wonderful site. I have spent many, many happy hours at the site, just gazing out over the river and marshes. The map below from NAT shows some of the archaeology.

Wow! Little bit of a surprise when looking for information about the Roman Fort; I am listed at the top of the search pages on Google:

This website I stumbled across seems to be working towards the same aims that I would like to. ACRE They have a visions that "rural communities will increasingly take a leading role in ensuring the social, environmental and economic well-being of all their residents. They will do this in a way that provides for the present generation and also plans for future needs and future challenges."

Action with Communities in Rural England is the national umbrella body of the Rural Community Action Network (RCAN), which operates at national, regional and local level in support of rural communities across the country. 

We aim to promote a healthy, vibrant and sustainable rural community sector that is well connected to policy and decision-makers who play a part in delivering this aim.  

Our organisational vision is to provide a rural community development centre of expertise that is extensively used by policy makers and practitioners.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has invested in the Rural Community Action Network under a three-year contract, administered by ACRE and overseen by the RCAN Steering Group, to deliver strategic advocacy on behalf of rural communities.

ACRE is also recognised for its contribution to third sector policy through its strategic partner status with the Office of the Third Sector, with whom it has a three-year funded relationship. 

You can visit their website here 

I have over the past month or so started creating digital assets for the village of Burgh Castle. I have so done under my own direction and independently of any Council directive or other organisation. My intention is to put our village firmly on the digital map as an example of how technology can strengthen a rural community.

The beginning


Broadband Internet, or ADSL, was launched in Great Yarmouth in 2001. Our village, which hosts an exchange that serves Belton and Burgh Castle was not updated by BT as there was deemed to be a lack of interest from the residents. I launched a campaign to have the exchange upgraded to support ADSL and enlisted the help of local businesses and residents. I recruited a band of volunteers who spent some of their spare time delivering leaflets, spreading word of mouth and writing to BT in support of the campaign. It was at this time that I launched the www.burgh-castle.co.uk website. Within the space of 6 months we had secured enough support to trigger action from BT. However, it was to be another year before the exchange was upgraded fully and high speed internet came to the village.

The now

Although I have no definite data to support this claim, I suggest that some 75% of households in the area that is served by the Burgh Castle exchange have an internet connection. This is without surprise as since the advent of the World Wide Web in 1991 our society has been in the midst of a technological revolution.

As part of this revolution, I believe it is important that all communities adopt new ways of working and sharing information about their operation. Whilst all district and borough councils now have an obligation to provide their services electronically the same is not true of parish councils. To ask them to do so would be to ask them to levy intolerable precepts upon their residents. However, these mostly small, rural communities are not without a heart. There often exists small groups of people looking to enhance the sense of belonging and cohesion within the parish boundary. A community that is interconnected should find it easier to share this information and thereby realise its potentials.

My aim is to make a search for "Burgh Castle" in a search engine, such as Google, give instant access to all the information that a community has made publicly available. A list of the sorts of information that I am aiming to give access to includes:

Parish Council Agendas and Minutes
Councillor contact details
Bus timetables
Pub  and restaurant locations and opening times
Holiday camp locations and user generated maps for tourists to use
Details of doctors and dentists
Election details
Church services
Groups and organisations

The Future


Ultimately I hope to see more sharing of information. I would like to see each user pick up the mantle and generate their own information and share online independently of any central moderator. As more people use handheld, mobile devices so can the information be shared 24/7. The village will become truly alive and everyone will have a hand in its operation.

Its a grand aim but I feel that this is a significant way to halt the decline in village life. Too many pubs and post offices are being closed due to lack of business. Too many people are coming home from work, drawing the curtains and ignoring the village that they live in. Its a privilege to live in villages like Burgh Castle and I would like to see more people take interest in these parishes.

As part of my own personal crusade to put Burgh Castle on the digital map so to speak, I have registered the village with its own YouTube website.

This latest venture means that the village now has a blogging councillor on this site, a Twitter feed that can be used to disseminate information readily, Google Map with prominent features added in addition to the lastest YouTube project.

I have an idea that the first set of videos that I will create will be to supplement the feature map of Burgh Castle - also give me an opportunity to introduce myself and other Parish Council members.

Once again, as I have done previously, I must reiterate that these are personal ventures and not attributable to the Burgh Castle Parish Council in any way.

I have added some new information to my Feature Map of Burgh Castle.

The new URL is http://bit.ly/burghcastlemap

If you would like any information added to the map please email me at myt@burgh-castle.co.uk I am especially keen to hear from charity or other organisations that need a little bit of publicity.

The Parish Council has been putting pressure on First Bus, via County Councillor Graham Plant, to review the allocation of public transport to residents of Burgh Castle.

As shown in the timetable below, the last bus on a weekday evening leaves Great Yarmouth at 17:50. This means that if you work in town in the evening you cannot use the First Bus service to return home from work. At a time when bus travel is being encouraged to reduce global warming, does this situation seems to make little sense?

It seems that every month at the Parish Council meeting we have mention of the speed that some vehicles achieve on our roads. We always pass comments on to the Police as the authority responsible for enforcement. Unfortunately there is nothing more that the Parish or Borough Councils can do other than record complaints and pass them on.

Despite what many of us believe, our roads are in fact statistically safe. There is no chance of any enforcement equipment, such as Gatso, being deployed in the village as the number of serious accidents is, mercifully, very, very low.

This does not mean that they are always used by all motorists in a safe manner.

From time to time most of us have noticed that we may have crept over the posted limit for the road by a few miles an hour. As responsible residents we make the appropriate correction to our speed and continue our journey without incident. However, a small minority continue to drive with disregard for their own and others safety and it is these people that I will continue to press the Traffic Policing Division at Acle to target.

I understand that it is very frustrating and it feels that things are moving slowly but rest assured that your Parish Council is very aware of the problems and on your side.