Prior to the loss of St Olaves, the population of the former parish was 262 at the 1961 United Kingdom census.[1] At the 1981 census it was 58[a] and the current population of Herringfleet is estimated to be around 50.[1][2] There is no village centre, with the population spread across a number of scattered farms and small settlements. Much of the land within the area of the former parish is owned by the Somerleyton Estate.[2][5][6]
During the medieval period, a ferry was established across the Waveney at St Olaves. St Olaves Priory was founded nearby in about 1216 by Roger Fitz Osbert as an Augustinian priory. It was dedicated to St Olav and operated until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, controlling the Herringfleet parish church as well as those at Burgh St Peter and Hales as well as land at Tibenham.[8][9][10][11] The site is largely in ruins, although the undercroft survives in good condition.[9][10]
By around 1509 the first stone bridge across the Waveney had been built, possibly replacing a bridge first mentioned in 1298. This was replaced with a cast iron bowstring girder suspension bridge in 1847. The bridge is the only crossing point on the Waveney between Great Yarmouth and Beccles.[1][12]
Henry Jerningham owned the priory site by 1546 and a Tudor manor house was built on the site. By the 18th-century the manor was owned by the Leathes family, and Herringfleet Hall dates from this time, the new hall having been built to replace an older manor house to the south.[1][13][14] A series of duck decoys are known to have been operated at Fritton Decoy at the north-east boundary of the former parish at this time and are believed to date from the 17th-century.[15]
During World War II parts of the parish, including the area around Fritton Decoy, were used for training ahead of the Normandy landings in 1944. The 79th Armoured Division used the site for the testing and development of amphibious DD tanks from 1943 and it was used until 1947 as part of the British Army's Assault Training and Development Centre, and later part of the Specialised Armour Development Establishment.[18][19] Other areas in Herringfleet and the surrounding area were used as campsites for the units involved in training.[20][21][22]
Church of St Margaret
St Margaret's church
The parish church, which is dedicated to St Margaret, is one of around 40 round-tower churches in Suffolk.[b] It dates from the medieval period, with the tower thought to date from the 11th-century at the latest, with a possibility of it dating from the Anglo-Saxon period, although this is considered unlikely due to its construction in Caen stone.[29] The parish came under the control of St Olaves Priory after it was established in the 13th-century.[11]
The nave doorway dates from the 12th-century and there are 12th- and 13th-century windows in both the nave and chancel. The church was restored from 1824 by the Leathes family and include Victorian stained glass windows as well as painted glass dating from as early as the 14th-century.[30][31] The church is a Grade I listed building.[30]
^The 1981 census was the last time the population of Ashby as a parish was recorded.
^The exact number of round-tower churches in the county is a matter of debate. Some sources list 38,[23][24] others cite between 40 and 43.[25][26][27][28] They almost all date from the late Anglo-Saxon or early Norman periods and were mostly built between the 11th and 14th-centuries. There are around 183 round-tower churches in England, most of them in Norfolk, which has around 124, and Suffolk.[26][28] Four of the churches now in Norfolk were previously in Suffolk before boundary changes in 1974.[27]
^ abPage W ed. (1975) 'Houses of Austin canons: Priory of Herringfleet', in A History of the County of Suffolk: Volume 2, pp.100–101. London: Victoria County History. (Available online at British History Online. Retrieved 2021-03-17.)
^Payne-Gallwey R (1886) The book of duck decoys, their construction, management, and history, pp. 164–167. London: John van Vorst. (Available online. Retrieved 2021-03-13.)
