Flegg

Welcome to the Isle of Flegg

Flegg is a coastal part of Norfolk, lying to the north of Great Yarmouth in the the area called Broadland, or 'The Broads'. It is thought that the name Flegg comes from the Old Danish word flaeg, meaning the place of ‘marsh plants’, particularly reeds. Most of the village names end in '-by', which indicates an overwhelmingly Danish settlement. It is one of my thin places because it was the home of two branches of my ancestors, the Reads and the Hunns. This connection was made when my grandfather Kemp married Mary Ann Read of Runham.

In the Middle Ages the broads were soggy peat diggings in shallow valleys. The rivers Bure (to the south) and Thurne (to the north and west) form the boundaries of Flegg on three sides, and to the East lies the North Sea.If the sea should rise about half a metre, Flegg would become an island.In pre-Norman times, Flegg was divided for taxable reasons into East and West Flegg, the boundary being a small river, now occupied by Trinity Broad, running diagonally, north east to south west, which cuts the Isle of Flegg in two. In Medieval times, peat was dug from the valley bottom and these flooded excavations created the large broad known as Trinity Broad, which is an important landscape/wildlife/amenity. The surrounding land is relatively flat, low lying, and intensely cultivated, the highest parts being only about 20 metres above sea level.

[|The Flegg Hundreds]

[|Google Map]