Norfolk border change: Villages impacted fifty years on

The Local Government Act came into effect on April 1, 1974, revising many county borders as part of a nationwide shake-up as Westminster sought to bring in a simpler system.

In Norfolk, six villages were added from neighbouring Suffolk and the district of Lothingland was killed off.

Ex-council houses on Green Lane in Bradwell still bear the inscription of the former Lothingland Rural District Council. Picture - James Weeds (Image: James Weeds)Overnight, Bradwell, Belton, Burgh Castle, Fritton, St Olaves and Hopton were all transferred to Norfolk, boosting population numbers for Great Yarmouth's parliamentary constituency, while bringing income into the town, as villagers' local rates went into Yarmouth's coffers rather than Suffolk's.

Despite the boundary change, artefacts from these villages' former life in Suffolk can still be found, from Hopton using the Lowestoft dialling code to the name of a popular Bradwell pub.

And they are not the only reminders. In the villages concerned, there are still grumbles from some about how the change brought an increase in rents, poorer water quality and a negative impact on education.

A bird's eye view of Hopton, which was in the county of Suffolk until 1974. Picture - Mike Page (Image: Mike Page)

'BETTER OFF IN SUFFOLK'

Wendy Bullock, 84, lived with her husband and daughter on Willow Avenue, Bradwell, when the village was adopted by Norfolk.

At the time, Mrs Bullock said she had been paying £30 in rates per year.

"We moved to Church Lane after the boundary change and the rates went sky high," she said.

"So much has changed. The main road was surrounded by fields and a lot more houses have been built. Too many, I'd say. And I don't know if that would have happened with Lothingland District Council. We were better off in Suffolk."

Susan Bessey's grandmother was not pleased with boundary shake up in 1974. Picture - James Weeds (Image: James Weeds)Susan Bessey, 75, remembered the impact the boundary reform had on her grandmother who lived in Belton at the time.

"She was ever so upset about it," Mrs Bessey said.

"When it was Lothingland, my grandmother had a water pump. It was always fine and the taste was incredible.

"But then she had to have a tap water main put in when it became Great Yarmouth Borough Council.

"She didn't like change."

Dean Lauri said his last two year's of schooling were affected by the boundary change. Picture - James Weeds (Image: James Weeds)

'LIKE PUTTING IPSWICH FANS AND NORWICH FANS TOGETHER'

The shift also impacted people's education, with students at Lothingland School, Lound, being shipped off to Denes High in Lowestoft in 1974.

At the weekend, former Lothingland and Denes student Dean Lauri, 65, was enjoying a pint with some of his friends inside The Sun Inn on Beccles Road - a pub whose name references the old flag of its former home county of Suffolk.

The Sun Inn on Beccles Road, Bradwell, owes its name to the former flag of its old home county. Picture - Google (Image: Google)Mr Lauri said his final two years of education were "sorely affected".

"Lothingland was a very friendly school. But at Denes, you had Yarmouth people mixing with Lowestoft people - it was like putting Norwich supporters with Ipswich supporters," he said.

"There was so much fighting just based on where you were from, I think we all suffered.

"My final two years of education were ruined. It was a waste of time.

"I still believe we would have been better staying as Lothingland."

Bradwell homes with an insignia for the Mutford and Lothingland Rural District Council, which existed until 1934. Picture - James Weeds (Image: James Weeds)'PEOPLE STILL CONSIDER THEMSELVES AS SUFFOLK'

Among the changes were that local policemen saw themselves switch from the Suffolk force to the Norfolk one.

Suffolk constable Ted Howlett, of Bradwell, spent 15 years at each force, ending his career as a sergeant in Yarmouth.

He has previously described how he felt he never lost his Suffolk roots. Ten years ago, in an interview with this newspaper, he said: "It did mean quite a lot of change and people weren't very keen. The rates were far lower in Bradwell under Lothingland and I think people always thought they were better off in Suffolk.

"I don't think some people ever really accepted it; Suffolk people still consider themselves as Suffolk. I still feel I'm akin to Suffolk."

There were certainly some upsides to the changes. For a start, villagers could pay their road tax in Yarmouth, rather than trek to Ipswich to do it.

LOSS OF LOTHINGLAND... AND A NEW NAME

Many people were sentimental about the loss of Lothingland, at the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen.

The political change was drastic historically as it removed one-third of the settlements in the Lothingland Half-hundred – an ancient Suffolk administrative unit dating back to the late Anglo-Saxon period.

It was argued at the time that the majority of people in the villages saw Great Yarmouth as their local town, so it would only be right that it take the income from local rates.

For one of the six villages, it gained a new name as well as a new county under the changes.

Hopton became Hopton-on-Sea for the first time in its history after the village was given a thin strip of coastal Corton – the remains of the former parish of Newton mostly destroyed by erosion in the 16th century – which ran up to the boundary with Gorleston.

SHIFTING BORDER

The changes meant the border moved away from the traditional boundary between the two counties, the River Waveney.

But it was not the first time it had shifted.

Previous border changes in the mid-1830s also saw Gorleston leaving Suffolk and being incorporated into Yarmouth borough - the sign at the former East Suffolk Tavern near the Haven Bridge was relic from the old county border.

The old sign in front of the long-closed East Suffolk Tavern on Bridge Road, Great Yarmouth. Picture - Google (Image: Google)Earlier in the decade, Norfolk also snapped up Thetford, which sits on both sides of the traditional Little Ouse River county border.