The village's name means 'Island' next to the sea.
The civil parish has an area of 8.82 km2 (3.41 sq mi) and in the 2001 census had a population of 322 in 177 households,[2] falling to 239 at the 2011 Census.[3] For local government, the parish falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.
Its position on the North Sea coast makes it a prime site for migratory birds in autumn. It consequently is home to two adjoining nature reserves, one owned by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and the other by the Norfolk Ornithological Association. A pair of black-winged stilts bred at the Wildlife Trust's Holme Dunes [1] in 1987, raising three young.[4]
The parish church of St Mary was first mentioned in 1188, but the oldest remaining part of the building is the tower which dates from the fifteenth century. The main church building was demolished and rebuilt in 1888, although some memorials and an ancient stone font survive from the earlier structure. The church has a peal of five bells which are still rung, the earliest is dated 1677. In the churchyard are the graves of various members of the Nelson family, who lived at Holme House.[5]
Gore Point
Near the village is an area of beach and dunes known as “Gore Point” and is the north easternmost point of the area known as The Wash and is just eleven and a half miles (18.5 km) by sea from Gibraltar Point (the north westernmost point) near Skegness in Lincolnshire yet by land it's a journey of over 75 miles (121 km) and marks the narrowest point on The Wash between the two points of entrance into the bay.
References
^Ordnance Survey (2002). OS Explorer Map 250 - Norfolk Coast West. ISBN0-319-21886-4.
