Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/583

N O R N O R The city of Norwich and the boroughs of King s Lynn and Great Yarmouth have their own police. One parish, a part of a parish, and a part of an ecclesiastical district are in the diocese of Ely, a part of a parish in the diocese of Lincoln, and the rest of the county in the diocese of Norwich. The county contains 736 parishes, with parts of nine others. For parliamentary purposes it is divided into North Norfolk, South Norfolk, and West Norfolk, each division returning two members ; and two members are also returned for the parliamentary boroughs of Norwich city in the southern division and of King s Lynn in the western division. The population in 1801 was 273,371, which in 1821 had increased to 344,365, in 1851 to 442,714, in 1871 had decreased to 438,656, and in 1881 had risen again to 444,749, of whom 215,266 were males and 229,483 females. The number of inhabited houses in 1881 was 100,372, and the average number of persons to the acre 33. History and Antiquities. At the Roman conquest Norfolk was inhabited by the Cenomanni, a tribe of the Iceni. The numerous groups of pits on the heaths and along the coast, such as " Grimes Graves" near Weeting and the "shrieking pits" on Aylmerton heath, appear to have been ancient villages. The whole of the district was brought to own allegiance to the Romans during the campaign of Aulus Plautius ; but on account of the indignities offered to their queen, Boadicea, the Iceni revolted, and, joining with the Trinobantes, seized Camulodunum (Colchester), an import ant Roman colony, massacring every Roman on whom they could lay hands. The Romans had their revenge shortly afterwards in a battle (62 B.C.) in which the power of the Britons was finally completely crushed. The name of the tribe was retained in the Incehilde Way, an old British road passing westward from the Norfolk coast, which was utilised by the Romans. The county was traversed by four other Roman roads, and was the seat of five principal Roman stations Brannodunum (Brancaster), Garianonum (Caistor, near Yarmouth), Vcnta Icenorurn (Caistor, St Edmund), Sitomagus (Thetford), and Ad-Tuam (Tasburgh). Coins and other remains have been found at all these places. In the Teutonic settlement Norfolk was occupied by the Angles, and in 870 the kingdom of East Anglia fell in turn before the Danes (see vol. viii. p. 284). New ravages were com mitted by the Danes from time to time ; and in 1004 Sweyn brought his fleet up the river to Norwich, which he plundered and burned. After the Norman Conquest Ralph de Waher or Guader was created earl of Norfolk, but on his rebellion in 1057 the estates and title were conferred on Roger Bigod. Subsequently the title was in disuse, but it was at length revived and bestowed on Thomas Plantagenet, fifth son of Edward I. During a vacancy in the earldom John le Littester, a dyer, rose in rebellion and joined the commons under Wat Tyler. After the suppression of the rebellion the earldom with the title duke of Norfolk was bestowed on the Mowbray family, who held it till the latter part of the 15th century, when it passed by marriage to the Howards. The duke of Norfolk still exercises a peculiar and permanent jurisdiction, and appoints two coroners for his liberties. There are few or no traces of Saxon architecture in the county, unless the towers of Dunham-ilagna and Newton-by-Castleacre be assigned to this period. The round towers which are specially characteristic of the district are probably Norman. Although there are several fine specimens of Norman architecture in the county in addition to Norwich cathedral, and a few good examples of Early English, the majority of the churches are Decorated or Perpendicu lar, or a mixture of both styles. The most notable features of the churches are the flint and stone panels, the fine rood-loft screens, and the numerous brasses. Norfolk possessed an unusually large number of monastic foundations, but of these the remains are few and comparatively unimportant. The cathedral-church of Norwich was originally connected with a very richly-endowed Benedictine monastery. A foundation of nearly equal importance was that of Augustinian canons at Walsingham, where there are remains of the church, the refectory, and a Perpendicular gateway. The other principal remains are those at Bacton, Beeston, Binham, Carrow, Castleacre, Thetford, and AVymondham. Of the old Norman keeps there are entrenchments and remains of the building at Castleacre, while Castle Rising is still a magnificent ruin, and Norwich Castle has been restored. Among the more interesting old mansions are the halls of Hunstanton, Oxborough, Blickling, Heydon, and Bar- ningham. The larger mansions, such as Sandringham, Holkham, Rainham, Cossey, Gunton, Houghton, and Shad-well, are, however, of comparatively modern date. Among the eminent persons con nected with Norfolk are Sir Edward Coke, Lord Cranworth, John Skelton, the earl of Surrey, Sir Thomas Browne, Sir Thomas Gresham, Roger L Estrange, Horace Walpole, Tom Paine, Theodore Hooke, Mrs Opie, Person, Harriet Martineau, Bulwer Lytton, Elizabeth Fry, Fowell Buxton, Sir Francis Palgrave, Sir Cloudesley Shovell, Lord Nelson. See Blomefield, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (5 vols., 1739-1775); Chambers, General History of the County of Norfolk (11 vols., 1805-1810); White, History of Norfolk (new ed., 1883); J. O. Halliwell, Norfolk Anthology (1852); Norfolk Antiquarian Miscellany, edited by W. Rye; and Davies, Norfolk Broads and Rivers, 1883. NORFOLK, a city and port of entry of the United States in Norfolk county, Virginia, opposite Portsmouth, on the north bank of Elizabeth river, an arm of Chesa peake Bay. It is the terminus of the Norfolk and Western Railroad (408 miles) and the Norfolk Southern Railroad (74 miles), has easy access to the Dismal Swamp Canal (from Elizabeth City to the Pasquotank river), and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, navigable for vessels of 500 tons, and is connected by regular lines of steamers with Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Provi dence, Washington, and New York. The city lies low, and is somewhat irregular in its arrangement, but the streets are generally wide. The city hall, with a cupola 110 feet high, the custom-house "and post-office, the Nor folk academy, the masonic temple, the mechanics hall, and some of the banks are the most conspicuous of the secular buildings. Apart from its naval yard, one of the largest in the United States, Norfolk has but few manu facturing establishments, but it carries on a large trade in cotton, fruits, vegetables, and oysters for the northern markets, as well as in maize, wheat, and sugar. Though the harbour has 26 feet of water at high tide, the fairway up to the city is narrow. The population was 14,620 in 1860, 19,229 in 1870, and 21,966 in 1880. Founded in 1705, Norfolk was incorporated as a borough in 1736, and as a city in 1845. In 1776 it was burned by the British. At the opening of the Civil War it was the chief naval depot of the Confederates, but at an early date in the contest the vessels and yard were destroyed, and in May 1862 the town was occupied by the Federal forces. NORFOLK ISLAND, with the much smaller Nepean Island and Phillip Island, lies about 29 3 S. lat. and 167 58 E. long, 400 miles north -north -west of New Zealand, on a submarine tableland extending 18 miles to the north, and 25 miles to the south, with an average breadth of 18 miles. Measuring about 6 miles in length from north-west to south-east, Norfolk Island has an area of 8607 acres, or 13J square miles. The breakers of the Pacific beating on its high cliff-bound coast render it diffi cult or even impossible to land except at two places, and even there not without danger. With a general elevation of 400 feet above the sea the surface of the island rises in the north west into Mount Pitt, whose double summit is 1050 feet in height. The soil, of decom- $ posed basalt, is well watered and wonderfully fertile. A rich undulating pasture -land clothed with clumps of trees and copses gives a park-like appearance to the general aspect of the country. The Norfolk Island pine (JEutassa excelsa), a magnificent tree, with a height at times of 200 feet and a girth of 30, forms a fine avenue between Sydney and St Barnabas, though of the forest that clothed the slopes of Mount Pitt only a few of the larger trees are left. A small species of palm is known as the Norfolk Island cabbage. The underwood is largely composed of lemon trees ; and guavas, bananas, peaches, and pine -apples are to be had in abundance. Sweet potatoes are the staple crop, but common potatoes, maize, yams, and even barley and oats are cultivated. The climate is genial and healthy, the thermometer rarely sink ing below 65. In 1862 the population was 268; in 1871, 481; and in 1880, 663. The descendants of the Pitcairn Islanders, who form two -thirds of the inhabitants, have their chief settlement on the south side, on Sydney Bay, where the buildings of the old penal establishment were placed at their disposal. A thousand acres on the west side of the island are held by the mission station of St XVII. 68