About Stanhoe
The Pit, Stanhoe
Stanhoe is a small village in the north-west of the English county of Norfolk.
We have fewer than 200 permanent residents, but there is a lively community spirit, and many more people visit at weekends and during the summer.
Stanhoe lies around 100 miles (160 km) north of London, and 6 miles (10 km) from the North Sea. Fakenham and King’s Lynn are the nearest towns.
In the middle of the village is a large duck pond, otherwise known as the Pit, and nearby is our pub (the Duck Inn). Many of the houses are built from traditional Norfolk materials: flint, chalk, and brick, roofed with curved red tiles. There are several fine large houses, including Stanhoe Hall, and some attractive old farm buildings.
2,000 years of farming
Stanhoe’s village
sign shows our
farming heritage,
All Saints’ church
and Sir Hervey
de Stanhoe
Stanhoe has been a farming community since the Romans were here nearly two thousand years ago. The Saxons gave us the name Stanhoe (“stony hill”), and by the thirteenth century the village was prosperous enough to build the church of All Saints. Sir Hervey de Stanhoe, who appears on our village sign, was High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1260. Check out our local history section for more information.
In the fields today you will see wheat, oilseed rape (canola), sugar beet, and East Anglia’s famous malting barley. Don’t be surprised to find tractors and mud on the road at harvest time.
Norfolk is still an unspoiled county with abundant wildlife, especially birds. Stanhoe has no street lights, and on a clear night the sky is full of stars.
Less tranquil are the military aircraft that pass overhead from the bases at RAF Marham and RAF Lakenheath. Not everyone appreciates them, but the Royal Air Force has been part of Norfolk’s history for around 90 years.
From the middle of the last century the population of Stanhoe fell as workers moved away from the land. In the last couple of decades more people have come into the village, so that we now have around 190 permanent residents, plus many visitors at weekends and in the summer.
For such a small village we are proud of our community spirit and the number of activities that go on here. If you don’t already know Stanhoe, we hope to see you here one day.