family holiday east coast
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During the first half of the 19th century Norfolk’s farmers became more and more prosperous however this was not to last. In the second half of the century cheaper grain began to be imported from America and Norfolk’s farmers began to suffer. People began to leave the country in favour of the towns and industrial areas. Except for the best-run estates farming went in to decline and became less intensive and the fields and hedgerows became overgrown and neglected.
The coastal towns of Great Yarmouth, Wells and Kings Lynn flourished as fishing ports, the herring industry at Great Yarmouth grew to enormous proportions and all the coastal towns had their own fleets of inshore vessels fishing for crabs, cockles, mussels, lobsters and shrimps. The boats were built locally and the shipbuilding yards in the towns and coastal villages expanded.
The "holiday maker" industry began to come to the forefront with the coming of the railways. Until then the resorts could only be reached by sea or road.
The Norfolk Broads too became a popular holiday destination.
1900 - 1920
Agriculture in Norfolk had a temporary reprieve at the onset of war in 1914 but this was short lived and immediately after the Great War many of the estates and other land changed hands.
When war was declared Norfolk found itself very vulnerable both to attack and bombardment from the sea and from invasion. Most of the coastal defences built in the preceding centuries had been demolished and after the German navy attacked Great Yarmouth there was a sudden flurry of gun battery building and trench digging all along the coastline. Concrete "pillboxes" were built both on the coast and inland to defend the county against invasion.
1921 - 1939
The period between the two wars saw major changes to Norfolk’s agriculture. Sugar beet became a major crop and was grown under contract to the new sugar beet factory built at Cantley. Sheep farming declined and was replaced by dairy farming; by 1939 the county was a major milk producing area. The military defences of the First World War had been comprehensibly dismantled and only the pill boxes remained when on 3rd September 1939 war was declared.
1939 - 1945
War again made enormous changes to the face of Norfolk. The county was to become known as "The flight deck of Britain". RAF stations and concrete runways appeared throughout the county. By the end of the war there were some 37 active airfields in the county. Many remain in some form to this day others have been returned to farmland. Some, such as RAF Coltishall, are still very active and the airfield of Horsham St Faiths is now Norwich International Airport.
Extensive defences were constructed both all along the coast and inland. Not only was it necessary to protect against invasion but also attack from the air. Some 14 coastal batteries were installed armed with searchlights and 6-inch guns.
Norfolk received its fair share of raids during the war and very few places escaped damage in some form or other by 1945 Arable production was increased, every bit of land not used for other war purposes was put under the plough and Norfolk was farmed more intensively than ever before.