As the government lifts its ban on fracking, CHRIS BISHOP visits the Norfolk village which was once at the centre of an oil rush, to see what locals made of the prospect of digging for black gold there once again
Abandoned a century ago, the patch of land near the A10 south of King's Lynn now houses industries of all shapes and sizes, from car repairs to antique bears and from skip hire to a swingers' club.
Swing the clock back to 1918 and these former farmers' fields at Setchey were at the centre of an oil boom.
It began when drainage workers spotted oily deposits on the surface of a dyke.
Then geologists found oil-bearing shale. And then investors bet their shirts on English Oilfields.
The million £1 shares in the company tripled in value. A shanty town housing hundreds of workers sprung up beside what is now the A10.
And then boom turned to bust after Norfolk's oil proved to be so riddled with sulphur it was worthless.
But could it turn to boom once again?
This month, the government lifted a moratorium on so-called fracking, where rock is fractured by injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to extract shale gas or oil.
It says the process, which would only be permitted where there is local consent, could help boost domestic energy supplies and curb price hikes triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
While most attention has been paid to sites in the north of England where fracking operations could start up, technological advances mean that Norfolk's oil field could - theoretically - become viable once again.
Professor Jon Gluyas, an energy expert from Durham University, was quoted in the national press this week talking up the chances of extracting shale oil in Norfolk.
“Around 100 years ago there was a mini oil boom in Norfolk but the oil was too sulphurous," he said.
“Now we have the capability to remove that sulphur and the prime minister’s constituency could be good for shale oil. They might just like to lead the way.”
Prof Gluyas, who had a long career in the oil industry and worked in North Sea gas exploration before joining academia, is not a fan of the lifting of the moratorium and has stressed that his remarks were somewhat tongue-in-cheek. (Setchey also lies outside the prime minister's South West Norfolk constituency, albeit a few miles from its border.)
He does not actually think Norfolk would be a viable site, citing the relatively small size of the reserves beneath the ground.
And plenty of those who now live near and work in the area also have their own objections - not least the fact that it is now occupied by homes and businesses.
Simon Nash lives above a former engine shed near the heart of the old oil field, on Garage Lane, where he runs a car turning business.
"The whole thing was a con," he said. "There was so much sulphur it was uneconomical to refine. Still, I got an engine shed out of it."
Mr Nash, an independent borough councillor, said he did not agree with reopening the field to allow fracking.
"I don't think fracking's a good idea," he said. "They won't have my support, I'm not up for that at all.
"Some of the water locally comes from boreholes as well."
Derek Clark owns Beers of Europe, which stands on what was part of the refinery site.
"I've got two opposite views, I don't know if it's good or bad," he said. "I know it can cause minor earth tremors but we're desperate for oil and gas at the moment."
Another nearby trader said: "It's just nonsense, it's never going to happen is it.
"I mean they tried before, didn't they. They said there was oil and it was all a con, people lost millions."
English Oilfields' meteoric rise in value came after it announced it had found a 6ft seam of shale, an oil-bearing solidified mud capable of producing 50 gallons of oil per ton, which stretched to King's Lynn and beyond.
A geologist's report reckoned the seam was capable of providing 1,000 tons a day for 60 years.
But the shale in the Fens south of Lynn was of a similar stamp to that found in Dorset, nicknamed Kimmeridge Coal. It was worthless because of its high sulphur content.
A report into the Setchey fiasco by the Geologists' Association said: "It burns with a sooty, foul-smelling flame on account of its high sulphur content, and leaves behind large quantities of ash.
"Accounts of rural Dorset by Victorian gentlemen travellers describe evil-smelling peasants crouching around smoky fires in their sooty hovels."
The Setchey shale was hauled by rail the short distance to an oil refinery after being dug from open-cast mines.
Modern extraction techniques are very different.
Fracking involves digging boreholes, before pumping water, chemicals and sand into them at high pressure to fracture the seam.
As well as extracting gas, the process can also cause earthquakes. A report by the British Geological Survey says it is "challenging" to predict how severe these might be.
In 2011, an earthquake happened near a fracking site close to the Lancashire seaside resort of Blackpool.
Residents said the tremor, which measured 2.3 on the Richter Scale, woke them from their beds.
No new evidence has been produced to support lifting the ban. But business and energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs quakes of 2.5 on the Richter Scale were a routine natural phenomenon around the world which happened "millions of times a year" after the moratorium was ditched.
Tucked away amid Setchey's modern sprawl of workshops, yards and industrial clutter, an otherwise anonymous building houses a sex club.
No-one was available to comment on whether members would object if the earth moved a little more often for them.
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