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In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Norfolk like this:
Norfolk, a maritime co. in E. of England, bounded N.and E. by the North Sea, S. by Suffolk, and W. by Cambridgeshire; greatest length, 70 miles; greatest breadth, 43 miles; area, 1,356,173 ac., pop. 444,749. The coast line is about 90 miles in extent. All along the seaboard the land is low, and has suffered greatly from encroachments of the sea. ...
Many thousands of acres however have been reclaimed from the waters of the Wash, and the work is still being prosecuted. A level surface characterises the appearance of the co., which is watered by the Yare, with its tributaries the Wensum, Waveuey, and Bure, and by the Ouse and its tributaries. Light sand and loam is the prevailing character of the soil, which generally has been rendered productive through the excellence of the system of farming that has been pursued during recent years. (For agricultural statistics, see Appendix.) The barley of the co. has especial celebrity. Great attention is paid to live stock, and the cobs and cart horses of the co. are well known. Large numbers of geese and turkeys are supplied to city markets. Besides the great herring fishery of Yarmouth, there is all along the coast an important and valuable fishing industry, which employs many thousands of the people. Norfolk comprises 33 hundreds, 736 pars, with parts of 9 others, the parl. and mun. bors. of King's Lynn (1 member) and Norwich (2 members), and most of the parl. and mun. bor. of Great Yarmouth (1 member), and of the mun. bor. of Thetford. It is mostly in the diocese of Norwich. For parliamentary purposes the co. is divided into 6 divisions - viz., North-Western, South-Western, Northern, Eastern, Mid, and Southern, 1 member for each division.
Vision of Ireland presents long-run change by redistricting historical statistics to modern units. However, none of our modern units covers an area close to that of Norfolk. If you want trends covering a particular location within the county, find it on our historical maps and then select "Tell me more".
How to reference this page:
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Norfolk | Map and description for the county, A Vision of Ireland through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofireland.org/place/17468
Date accessed: 09th February 2026
Click here for more detailed advice on finding places within A Vision of Ireland through Time, and maybe some references to other places called "Norfolk".
