THE STORY OF MARTHAM
Part One – The arrival of the Saxon settlers – by Ann Meakin
The story of Martham is truly fascinating. In spite of the many changes over the centuries, it is possible to see how people lived in earlier times and identify things that would have been familiar to them.
The name Martham means a settlement where you could find pine martens. Pine Martens became extinct here over 200 years ago when the marshes were drained and their habitat destroyed.
The floods of recent winters have perhaps been an indication of how the landscape looked centuries ago before anyone thought of draining the common marshland alongside the River Thurne.
In Roman times forts were built at Caister and Burgh Castle to prevent Saxon invaders from across the North Sea settling in Britain. However, when the Romans finally left England in 410 A.D. there was nothing to prevent the Saxons from settling.
By then, was Flegg still an island surrounded by the sea? Perhaps not. It is difficult to know as the coastline was constantly changing. The longshore drift was gradually creating sand dunes between Winterton and Horsey. But these fragile sand dunes were very vulnerable to the sea breaking through every few years and flooding far inland. The sandbank on which Great Yarmouth is now built may have already been forming.
When the Romans left, apart from people living at Caister there were probably few inhabitants and Flegg was covered by woodland.
Very soon in the 5th century, the Saxons sailed over the North Sea in their longships and were able to explore inland, sailing up what we call the River Bure and the River Thurne and finding ideal places to settle.
From place names we know that they settled at Runham, Fleggburgh, Martham, Repps, Bastwick, Somerton and Winterton.
At Martham, they would have settled near to the many spring-fed ponds and cleared the woodland immediately around them in order to grow crops. Surprisingly, they could judge that some soil was much more fertile for crop growing than other soil which was better left for grazing land for their livestock. One piece of their common grazing land we now call The Green.
To be continued.