logo
Burgh Castle

Burgh Castle

Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the east bank of the River Waveney, near Great Yarmouth, some 6 km west of Great Yarmouth and within the Broads National Park.

Burgh Castle is the site of Gariannonum, one of several Roman forts constructed to hold cavalry as a defence against Saxon raids up the rivers of the east and south coasts of southern Britain (the Saxon Shore). The fort is a very large rectangle with three of the tall massively built walls still extant; the fourth fell into what was once an estuary but is now a marsh. Breydon Water is all that is left of the estuary this fort once overlooked. The castle is freely open to the public. For more details see the Gariannonum article.

The church of Burgh Castle St Peter and St Paul is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.

The civil parish of Burgh Castle has an area of 6.76 km2 and in the 2001 census had a population of 955 in 376 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish today falls within the district of Great Yarmouth. However prior to the Local Government Act 1972, the parish was within Lothingland Rural District in Suffolk.