Norman knight at Norwich Castle
_Why East Anglia is England’s Origin Story
East Anglia the only region to see five historical invasions
East Anglia, made up of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk in the East of England, can claim to be the Origin of England, being the only region with evidence of five invasions across more than two thousand years. East Anglia is England’s Origin Story.
East Anglia was made by uninvited invaders in boats. In the 20th century, welcomed invaders came by plane.
The Romans were the first invaders, then the Anglo Saxons and the Vikings, followed by the Normans. All have left indelible marks on Norfolk and Suffolk. The fifth and final invasion was a friendly one, of more than 350,000 servicemen and women of the United States Eighth Air Force from 1942-45 to help fight the tyranny of Nazism in occupied Europe.
But before those invasions, the first people to come to the British Isles came here, to East Anglia, almost one million years ago. That’s why we have the Deep History Coast.
Coastal path at Happisburgh
Deep History Coast
Footprints from nearly a million years ago found in Norfolk are the oldest outside the Great Rift Valley in Africa, where man came from. The first tourists that ever came to the British Isles came to visit Norfolk.
Found on the coast in East Anglia was the largest and best-preserved prehistoric mammoth skeleton ever found in the British Isles – eaten by hyaenas 650,000 years ago.
Also found on the coast of East Anglia was a half-a-million-year-old flint hand axe, the Swiss Army Knife of its day.
Burgh Castle Roman fort
The Romans
The Romans came, they saw, they conquered… most of England, including what would become Norfolk and Suffolk.
The Romans stayed for 450 years, and the reminders of their time here include Venta Icenorum at Caistor St Edmund outside Norwich and Burgh Castle at Great Yarmouth, one of the Saxon Shore forts.
One of the biggest events of Roman occupation was the Iceni rebellion lead by Queen Boudicca.
Sutton Hoo is England’s ‘Valley of the Kings’
The Anglo Saxons and Vikings
The Anglo Saxons from northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands drove out the Britons after the Romans left.
The ship burial site of one of their kings in East Anglia, Raedwald, at Sutton Hoo, became the most important archaeological find in British history.
They created East Anglia, made up of the North folk of the East Angles (Norfolk) and the South folk of the East Angles (Suffolk).
The Anglo-Saxons created a harmonious society for more than 600 years, until the Vikings came along.
The Vikings martyred the last king of East Anglia, Edmund, who went on to become England’s first patron saint, and the place where he was buried was named after him, Bury St Edmunds.
Norwich Castle is accessible across all five levels
The Normans
The Norman invasion of England, the Norman Conquest, in 1066 fundamentally changed the political and social landscapes.
William the Conqueror imposed a new aristocracy on the country, rewarding his Norman followers with huge tracts of land in East Anglia.
To impose themselves, the Normans built huge castles and fortifications, including Norwich Castle. They also left behind a magnificent monastic legacy, including Norwich Cathedral.
US veterans return to Thorpe Abbotts
The Friendly Invasion
The biggest cultural and landscape impact on Suffolk and Norfolk since the Norman Conquest came in 1942 when more than 350,000 servicemen and women of the United States Eighth Air Force arrived in East Anglia to begin the build-up to the Invasion of Normandy, D-Day, in 1944 and the end of Nazi tyranny in Europe.
Hundreds of miles of concrete runways were built in a matter of months, air bases the size of small towns were constructed in rural settings, huge aerial armadas of B24 Liberators and B17 Flying Fortresses filled the skies on their way to daytime bombings of industrial sites.
East Anglia became ‘Little America’, Norfolk and Suffolk became the largest unsinkable aircraft carrier in history.
This Friendly Invasion, as it became known, was welcomed by the inhabitants. To heavily rationed England, the North Americans brought with them peanut butter, popcorn, donuts, chewing gum, Coca Cola and much more.
Nature + Wildlife
Where is the Deep History Coast in Norfolk
One of the world’s most important archaeological sites, the Deep History Coast in Norfolk is the cradle of British civilisation and the place where the first ever tourists to the British Isles came to visit
History + Heritage
Where to find Boudicca and Romans in Norfolk
Find Roman history including the largest remaining Roman site in the British Isles and discover Iceni Queen Boudicca when you visit Norfolk.
History + Heritage
Where to find Anglo-Saxons in East Anglia
Before the Normans, England was a patchwork of independent kingdoms of the Angles and Saxons. The eastern Angles formed the Kingdom of East Anglia, comprising the South Folk and the North Folk, what we know today as Suffolk and Norfolk.
History + Heritage
Where to find Normans in East Anglia
East Anglia was a vital region for the Norman invaders, a place of wealth, but also a strategic position from which they could trade with countries across the North Sea.
History + Heritage
What was The Friendly Invasion in East Anglia
East Anglia has had five invasions. Romans, Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Normans and then the fifth, a Friendly Invasion of East Anglia when more than 350,000 US servicemen and women were stationed in and around Suffolk and Norfolk during World War II.
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