page_title: Surlingham
section_title: Wheatfen Broad
hierarchical_section_title: Surlingham / Wheatfen Broad
caption_attribution_description: English: Gravestone marking the burial place of naturalist Ted Ellis.
context_page_description: Surlingham is a village and civil parish in South Norfolk situated on the Broads. It lies approximately 6½ miles south-east of Norwich on the south bank of the River Yare between Bramerton and Rockland St Mary. In the 2001 census it contained 266 households and a population of 637, increasing to 725 at the 2011 census. Although Surlingham is part of South Norfolk District, as in other broadland villages those areas of the village adjacent to the river and broads fall into the executive area of the Broads Authority.
context_section_description: A well known and widely respected local figure, the writer, broadcaster and naturalist Ted Ellis (1909–1986) lived near Surlingham with his wife Phyllis for 40 years at Wheatfen Cottage near Wheatfen Broad. Ellis, who was known in print as E.A. Ellis, set up and developed his own nature reserve at the broad which is today known as Wheatfen Nature Reserve and is managed by the Ted Ellis Trust. A study centre was opened at the nature reserve in 2011.
  From 1928–56 Ellis was Keeper of Natural History at Norwich Castle Museum, but aged 47 he resigned to focus on his work as a naturalist. He wrote a nature column in the local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press, above the byline 'E.A.E'. (for Edward Augustine Ellis). As E. A. Ellis, he wrote books including the volume on The Broads in Collins' New Naturalists series. He often appeared on local television (on BBC Look East) and on radio (on BBC Radio 4's Nature Postbag) and he was active in many nature and conservation organisations.
  A naturalist with a national reputation whose painstaking research was respected and admired by the academic world, he communicated his enthusiasm to a wide audience through his writing and broadcasting. Ellis and his wife are buried among the ruins of St Saviour's Church.
  David Bellamy compared the significance of Wheatfen Broad to that of "Mount Everest or the giant redwood forests of North America". He went on, "It is probably the best bit of fenland we have because we know so much about it... purely because one man gave his life trying to understand it – Ted Ellis."
caption: Gravestone marking the burial place of naturalist Ted Ellis
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