NORFOLK, an English maritime county, bounded on the northern and north-eastern sides by the German Ocean, on the south and south-east by the county of Suffolk, and on the west by the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge. The shape is nearly that of an ellipsis bounded by a convex line, a little indented on the western extremity. Its greatest length is fifty-nine miles, and its greatest breadth thirty-eight. According to the most recent calculation, as made by Mr Rickman, the number of acres is 1,292,300.

The population, according to the returns at the four decennial enumerations, appears to have amounted in 1801 to 273,371, in 1811 to 291,999, in 1821 to 344,366, and in 1831 to 390,000. The annual value of the real property of the whole county, as taken for the property-tax in 1815, amounted to L.1,540,952.

The burials, including both the registered and the unregistered, in the ten years from 1821 to 1831, appear to have been one in fifty-two of the whole number of inhabitants then living. The illegitimate births were one in nineteen of the whole number born.

The occupations of the inhabitants, according to the returns arranged by Mr Rickman in 1831, were as follow:
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The surface of this county presents less variety than almost any other in England. It is generally a level plain, with few undulations, and no bold or abrupt elevations. With the exception of some recently-planted districts around the seats of noblemen and gentlemen, the woody parts of the county are very inconsiderable; and there is generally a great scarcity of the more umbrageous trees. The streams have almost all a languid and sombre appearance. Though, to the traveller of taste, the sameness and uniformity is wearisome, yet to him who directs his attention to the wealth and comforts of the districts through which he journeys, few countries can be more pleasing. The number and substantial appearance of the farm-houses, and even of the cottages, the condition of the roads and fences, and the high cultivation of the fields, are marks of rural prosperity that are nowhere more striking. Some few portions on the eastern side of the county form exceptions to this general description, but these are inconsiderable when compared with the whole.

From its exposure to the North Sea, the winters in Norfolk are usually severely cold, and the powers of vegetation are retarded to a later period of the year than in the western counties. In the hundred of Marshland the climate is not only cold, but damp; and the inhabitants are subject to intermitting fevers, which commonly attack all strangers who come to reside in that district. The soil of Norfolk is generally a light sand or sandy loam; for although a part of the fens are within the county, and the district of Marshland consists of ooze formed by deposition from the sea, as well as a narrow tract of land upon the banks of the river Waveney, yet these form but trifling exceptions to the general character of the soil of the county. Mr Arthur Young, in his Agricultural Survey of Norfolk, has made an attempt to classify the soils, and estimate their quantities. The difficulty of doing this with accuracy must be acknowledged by every one who considers the nice gradations which soils discover, and how various are their modifications. M e give this estimate rather as an approximation to the truth than as absolutely exact.
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Since the land of Norfolk, from the representation here given, appears to be far from being naturally of a fertile description, the great amount of its productions must be attributed to the excellent system of agriculture which has been there introduced and extended, and which, though scarcely calculated for most of the other districts of our island, is admirably adapted for the soil and climate where it is pursued. The foundation upon which the whole system of its agriculture is built is the cultivation of turnips. These light soils are easily brought into a fine tilth by repeated ploughings and harrowings, and their produce maintains so large a portion of live stock, that their manure, when carefully preserved, and properly distributed, enriches the soil at every successive course more than it is impoverished by the crops of corn which are grown upon it. The land is thus in a constantly progressive state of improvement. The soil being so light, no deep ploughing is required, but such a repetition of moving it as will be sufficient to destroy the surface weeds, and to pulverize it effectually. This is easily effected by means of well-constructed light ploughs, drawn by two horses, which are guided by reins in the hands of the man who directs the plough. In many instances a four-course system of rotation is followed, consisting of turnips, barley, artificial grasses, and wheat. In some instances the artificial grasses are left two years in the ground, and then, after three or four ploughings, the wheat is sown. A very common rotation, provincially termed the six-course shift, is wheat, barley with or without clover, turnips, barley or oats, clover mown for hay, clover fed, and then wheat again. Both these systems, with the varieties of each, are founded upon the principle that as much [7:16:245]land shall be cultivated with green crops which furnish sustenance for cattle, and thereby produce manure, as is destined to the growth of corn. The system of drill-husbandry is carried to a great extent, and the practice of planting or dibbling grain of all kinds has been of late years very much and beneficially increased. By perseverance in these excellent plans, many extensive portions of the county of Norfolk, especially in the north-eastern part of it, which were a few years ago deemed incapable of producing a wheat crop, now yield abundant harvests of that grain. Oats are but a small object of cultivation; but barley is deemed the grain most appropriate to the soil and climate, and is consequently sowed to the greatest extent, occupying nearly one fourth of the arable land of the county. The increase of grain varies very considerably. On the heavy soils of Marshland and Flegg the produce of wheat is frequently six quarters, and of oats ten quarters, to the acre; but as these districts form but a small proportion of the whole, the average quantity of wheat in the county is about three quarters to the acre, and of barley four quarters. In no part of the kingdoni have the various mechanical inventions for facilitating agricultural labour been so generally diffused as in Norfolk; and the implements used there may' well serve as models for the other counties. Besides the common grains, wheat, barley, oats, pease, and beans, this county yields mustard, saffron, flax, and hemp; but none of them in such quantities as to merit especial notice.

The live stock of this county possess few peculiarly discriminative features. The horses, crossed by the breed of Suffolk, are bony, active, and hardy, and well adapted for husbandry or the road; and they are almost universally used for agricultural labour, to the exclusion of oxen. The native cows were a small breed, not unlike those of Alderney and Guernsey; but they have been improved by a mixture with the cows of the richer adjoining counties. The greater part of the cattle fattened in Norfolk are bought from the Scotch drovers, who bring them to the fairs about Michaelmas. They are fed upon the banks of the rivers on the natural grass, or upon the arable farms on turnips, till they become fit for slaughter. The number of Scotch cattle annually bought by the Norfolk farmers is estimated to vary from 15,000 to 20,000. The original sheep of Norfolk were a very hardy race, with horns, black feet, and black noses, the fleece yielding about two pounds of wool of third-rate fineness, and the quarters weighing, when fattened, about eighteen pounds. They were well calculated for the land when it was less highly cultivated than at present, as they were good travellers, and ate the herbage very close; but as the improved systems of husbandry have been extended, this native breed has sometimes been crossed by others, and in many instances has given place to the South Down sheep. The increase of arable farms has diminished the dairies, and consequently the pigs which were reared from them; and the practice of fattening bogs for bacon is scarcely known.

The poultry of Norfolk has been long celebrated, and vast quantities of it are conveyed to the London markets. The turkeys are most highly prized, from their superior delicacy of flavour. The dry nature of the soil is deemed peculiarly favourable to the rearing of these birds; and the numbers which are sent from Norfolk to other districts amount to hundreds of thousands. No part of England is so abundantly stocked with game, especially pheasants and partridges, as Norfolk. They are sedulously preserved by the landlords, and generally reserved in the leases, so that they have obtained the character of property, and are commonly respected as such by adjoining proprietors of estates. Great numbers of rabbits are bred on extensive warrens in many parts of the county, both for the sake of the flesh and of the wool.

Norfolk has long been and still continues to be an extensive manufacturing county. The Flemings first settled here as early as the year 1336, and made woollen goods at the village of Worstead; hence the name of that place was applied to the thread made of the longer kinds of wool. Under the persecutions of the Duke of Alva in Flanders, many more natives of that country found refuge in and near the city of Norwich. The fabrics have indeed successively changed with the change of fashions and the fluctuations of markets, but the manufactures have been continued through many vicissitudes to the present time. The chief goods now manufactured are bombazeens, camblets for the markets of China, and shawls of various and elegant kinds, principally for home consumption. This last article, introduced when the demand for stuffs from Spain ceased, has been highly beneficial to the city of Norwich and its vicinity. The introduction of machinery in the northern counties had destroyed tht> habit of spinning, which, a few years ago, universally prevailed amongst all the females of the peasants’ families in this and the adjoining counties. Besides the manufactories of Norwich and its vicinity, some inferior kinds of bone-lace are made in Diss, and some other parts of the county; but the quantity produced is slowly and gradually diminishing.

Scarcely any of the goods manufactured in this county are sent directly to foreign markets, those destined for distant countries being almost wholly exported from London. The commerce is notwithstanding very extensive, from the two ports of Yarmouth and Lynn. Yarmouth, in regard to the number of its ships, is the eighth port in the kingdom, having more than 300 registered vessels. It is well situated for trade, and has one of the finest quays in Europe; but the depth of water is not sufficient for ships of great draft, and the bar at the mouth of the harbour is a serious impediment. The great support of the shipping of Yarmouth is the herring fishery. These fish are caught by the Yarmouth men, in the months of June and July, on the shores and in the lochs of Scotland, and at a later period on their own coasts. They are first cleaned, and then slightly salted; after which they are hung up in large appropriate houses, where, by the application of the smoke of wood fires, the preparation of curing them is completed. This fishery usually yields from 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of red herrings, each barrel containing about 1000 fish. This branch of industry, besides the employment of the seamen, gives occupation to several thousand artificers of various kinds. Besides this fishery, the exports of Yarmouth, as well as Lynn, and the smaller ports of wells, Blackney, Burnham, and Clay, afford great employment to shipping, by the surplus quantity of corn which the county produces and sends to London and other ports. The imports at these towns consist of timber, hemp, wine, spirits, and foreign fruit; which, by means of the navigable rivers, are forwarded to the interior adjoining counties.

The rivers are sufficiently easy of navigation to render canals unnecessary, and there are consequently none in the county, though several have been commenced, and, after languishing some time, have been abandoned without being completed. The Great Ouse is a navigable river, which rises in Northamptonshire, enters this county at Downham, and empties itself into the sea near Lynn. It has a great rise of tide, and is navigable for barges twenty-four miles from its mouth, and for boats as far as Bedford; thus affording water communication with seven of the midland counties. The Little Ouse rises in the southern part of this county; at Thetford it receives the small river Thet, and from thence is navigable to its junction with the Great Ouse, on the borders of Cambridgeshire. The Waveney rises within nine or ten feet of the source of the Little Ouse, and takes a directly opposite course. It has many sinuosities, as its name denotes, becomes navigable at Bun [7:16:246]gay, receives the Yare at Burgh, and empties itself into the sea at Yarmouth. The Bure rises near Aylsham, and after joining the Thone near North Walsham, becomes navigable for boats. It falls into the Yare previously to its meeting the sea. The Yare rises near Attleburgh, becomes navigable at Norwich, and, after receiving the waters of the Tass and the Wensum, merges in the Waveney. Recently a communication directly from Norwich to the sea has been formed by a canal to Lowestoff. The Nar rises near Litcham, and has a short course to the sea at Lynn, whence it is navigable upwards to Narborough, a distance of fifteen miles.

The whole of the county is within the diocese of Norwich, the bishop of which see has his palace and cathedral in that city. The titles derived from the county are that of duke to the family of Howard; Earl of Norwich to the Scotch Duke of Gordon, and of Yarmouth to the Marquis of Hertford, Marquis and Viscount Townsend; Viscount Thetford to the Duke of Grafton; Barons Walsingham, Calthorpe, Wodehouse, Hobart, Walpole, and Nelson. ’Norfolk, under the reform act, was divided into two portions, each returning two members. The election for the eastern division is held at Swaffham, and the polling places are Downham, East Deerham, Fakenham, Lynn Regis, Swaffham, and Thetford. The election for the western division is held at Norwich, and the polling places are that city and the towns of Long Stratton, North Walsham, Reepham, and Yarmouth. Besides the four members for the county, the following places return two each, viz. Norwich, Yarmouth, Thetford, and Lynn Regis. Castle Rising, which before the change returned two members, has been disfranchised.

This county contains few Roman antiquities, but some of Saxon date are to be seen in the cathedral, the episcopal palace, the gates of Yarmouth and Lynn, and in several piles of ruins of ecclesiastical edifices, as well as in some of the parish churches. Amongst many distinguished natives of this county, the most celebrated have been Anne Boleyn, Dr Samuel Clarke, Sir Edward Coke, Archbishops Herring and Parker, Lord Nelson, Richard Porson, Sir Robert Walpole, and the Right Honourable William Windham.

In so large a county we may naturally expect to find many seats of noblemen and gentlemen. It would far exceed the limits which the nature of this work prescribes, to enumerate one half of them; but the most remarkable are the following :—Bickling, Lord Suffield; Binlcy Hall, Earl of Rosebery; Bracon Ash, T. F. Berney, Esq.; Buckenham House, Lord Petre; Costessey Hall, Sir William Jerningham; Felbrigg, Captain Lukin; Hading, Sir John Sebright; Hethel Hall, Sir Thomas Beevor; Hillington Park, Sir Martin Folkes; Houghton Hall, the Marquis of Cholmondeley; Intwood Hall, Earl of Buckinghamshire; Gunton, Lord Suffield; Kimberley Hall, Lord Wodehouse; Kirby Bedon, Sir John Berney; Melton Constable, Sir J. H. Astley; Quiddenham, Earl of Albemarle; Rainham Hall, Marquis of Townsend; Warcham, Sir Μ. B. Folkes; Wolterton Hall, Earl of Orford; Oxburgh Hall, Sir Richard Boddingfield.

The towns having a population exceeding 1500 inhabitants are the following:—
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Norfolk, a borough-town and a port of entry in Norfolk county, Virginia, one of the United States of North America. It is situated on the north-eastern side of Elizabeth River, eight miles above its entrance into Hampton Road, and thirty-two miles from the sea. The land side of the town is not pleasant, being low, and in some places marshy. The streets are crooked and irregular, and neither the public nor the private buildings are remarkable for elegance. Of the former there are above twenty, including places of public worship for Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, and Methodists. The Farmer’s Bank, the Orphan Asylum, and the Lancasterian School, are amongst the most conspicuous structures in Norfolk. It has a spacious and commodious harbour, nearly a mile in width, defended by three forts: Fort Norfolk on the north-east side of Elizabeth River, about a mile below the town; Fort Nelson on the south-west side of the river, a little higher than the former; and a large and strong fort upon Craney Island, five miles below the town. Norfolk has more shipping and maritime commerce than any other town in the state. On Washington Point, between the eastern and western branches of the river, there is a marine hospital, a handsome brick edifice. Near this town, also, there is an United States navy’yard. The population of Norfolk amounted in 1820 to 8478, and in 1830 to 9816. Long. 76. 10. W. Lat. 36. 52. N.

Norfolk Island, in the Southern Pacific Ocean, is fifteen miles in circumference. It was discovered in 1774 by Captain Cook, who found it uninhabited. It has a remarkably fruitful soil; the whole country is clothed with verdure, and presents a scene of most exuberant fertility. It is described by Turnbull, who visited it in 1801, as being so uniformly fertile, that, with the exception of the mountains overhanging the sea, it would be difficult to find one spot less fertile than another. This island was colonized shortly after that of Port Jackson, by Governor Philips, who sent thither the more profligate division of the colonists; and the most abandoned convicts were afterwards sent to the same place. One great objection to the island as a colonial settlement is the difficulty of approaching it, in consequence of the mountainous sea which constantly beats on its rocky shores, so that ships from Port Jackson have often been obliged to beat off and on for upwards of a month, and found themselves still as distant as ever from all communication with the shore. This circumstance; and the want of any harbour or roadstead for shipping, is much against the island; and hence, in 1805, it was found necessary to remove the colonists and, convicts either to Port Dalrymple or to the river Derwent. The population amounts to 1000. Long. 168. 10. E. Lat. 29.3. S.

Norfolk Sound, according to the account of Captain Dixon, is situated in 57. 3. north latitude, and 135. 36. west longitude. It is a very extensive place, but how far it stretches to the northward is not known.