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STALHAM This broadland market town still has its original name and spelling, Stal (a pond or stal of water) and Ham (a settlement or village). With its narrow high street and weekly market it retains many of the features it displayed in centuries gone by. The town was on the original roman road to
Caister and must have been a popular watering hole for the Romans and
later on other travellers going to the coastal towns of Caister and
Yarmouth. The town is joined to the river Ant by a dyke, with its own
staithe, where Wherries and other trading vessels could moor. Today
however, the staithe is on the other side of the busy A149 to the town
and unfortunately boating holidaymakers must cross this busy road to
visit the delights of Stalham. The earliest record of the town is in 1044 and
by the time the Domesday Book was compiled the town was divided into 4
manors and had a total population of around 200 people. Considerable
building took place in the ensuing centuries with the church of St Mary
being built in the 15th century and the lovely old Jacobean
Manor house, Stalham Hall, being built in the 17th. But by the 1880’s the town still only had a
population of 852 and in many ways was self-sufficient, earning its
income from agriculture and exporting grain and livestock by road and
river to other parts of the country. As with so many towns the coming of the railway
changed the face of the town enabling the community to trade far and
wide and to receive and send visitors throughout Britain. The station
was closed in 1959 and the present Stalham Bypass was built on the route
of the old line. In recent years several housing estate
developments have taken place between Stalham and Stalham Green and at
the top of the high street vastly increasing the population. From the 1960 onward, the town relied not only
on its agricultural connections but also increasingly on the Broads
tourist industry. Today it is the home of one of the largest holiday
boat hirers and with its weekly market and auction on a Tuesday, is a
popular Norfolk Town. To see all that Stalham has to offer in the way of Shops, Businesses, Local Attractions, where to Eat & Drink and where to Stay, go to:- |
