Great Snoring (3 miles)

Great Snoring walk map

EDP walkers have kindly been given permission to park in the social club car park in Great Snoring where the recycling bins for glass are situated. Great Snoring is situated on a minor road three miles north-east of Fakenham. The paths on this pleasant three-mile walk were in good order.

We turned right out of the car park, went over the crossroads and, on the pavement, went down the main street, passing the church on our right. At the end of the church wall we went right through the kissing gate along the walled path, then went beside the wall and through a gate to the lane.

After turning right along the lane, reaching the T-junction, we went down the grassy tree-lined track opposite (Greenway to Walsingham). Along these paths there are good nesting places for birds so it is advised to keep dogs under good control so as not to disturb any nests.

At the marker post with a map at the end of the field of oilseed rape we turned right along a wide path between a field and a hedge line. We turned right along the country lane, then after 100yd went left along a track between a hedge and a field. At the hedge on our left we turned left along the path that came in on our left, keeping a hedge on our left.

St Mary’s Church, Great Snoring.

Reaching the boundary hedge we turned right. We found that this path turned right twice with trees and hedges on our left and then, further along, went right, then left at a marker arrow.

At the hedge on the left, and marker sign and white map, we turned left with the farm buildings ahead.

We went through the five-bar gate, carrying on along the track, over a stile and along the fenced track to the farmyard and turned left, signed 'Permissive Path' between barns, then right, with a house in our view. We then went left, going to the left-hand corner and on a narrow path to the road.

We turned right in the attractive village of Great Snoring and then, at the staggered crossroads, went right to the start of the walk.

Great Snoring Manor House.

Map references OS Landranger 132 Explorer 251: 946346, 947345, 945345, 945346, 939354, 943354, 947353, 949356, 954353, 954351, 948352, 947347, 946346.



BY THE WAY

1 St Mary's Church is a fine one with a tall square tower, two storeys of which were once used for accommodation by the priest, complete with a fireplace and privy. The east window has 13th century interlaced tracery. There is also a remnant of a brass to Sir Ralph Shelton and his wife. The rood screen has just two surviving painted panels. Particularly poignant is the original first world war grave marker cross.

2 Great Snoring Manor House became the rectory and, more recently, it has become famous as a hotel. It is a brick building with a plastered front with polygonal turrets with perpendicular panelling on their upper storeys. It was built for Sir John Shelton in around 1525. A later owner was Thomas Richardson, a chief justice, who was famously said to have remarked that he could 'sleep without snoring'.

Gwen Bolton who lived in the village in the 1970s wrote about the Shelton family who reached their zenith in Tudor times, though two members made their mark earlier. One was Nicholas de Shelton, who took part in the revolt against King John that culminated in Magna Carta, and the other was Sir Ralph who fought at the battle of Crecy and was rewarded with a knighthood. Sir Ralph's first wife was Ann Bourgiloun, whose family had held the lordship of Great Snoring for generations and brought the lordship with her when she married.

3 In the summer swallows can be seen flying across the fields on this walk. They catch insects on the wing and rarely land. Many species of butterflies, such as tortoiseshell, which lay their eggs on nettles, and meadow brown butterflies, can also be spotted. The village of Great Snoring is an attractive one. Many of the dwellings are built of flint. And, though it does appear something of a 'sleepy' village, there is clearly a strong community with the social club being well used.