Official Visitor Website

History & Heritage

 

With a rich recorded history spanning back millennia, the East enjoys no shortage of historical attractions and museums. Below are just a few…

Norwich Castle was built as a royal palace by the Normans some 900 years ago and served as the city’s prison for over 600 years. The royal fortification now hosts the city’s museum and art gallery and is found within half a mile of the the imposing Norwich Cathedral which was completed in 1145 and remains one of the largest places of worship in the UK.

Elsewhere, out on the Norfolk coast, is Great Yarmouth’s Time & Tide Museum, which is housed in a former herring curing works and offers a Horrible Histories-like experience to reveal the seaside town’s past from Ice Age origins to present day.

Quietly lying on the Suffolk Heritage Coast is Dunwich: once medieval England’s 10th largest city and one of the nation’s most important ports. Now, after a thousand years of coastal erosion, all that remains is a tea room, a pub and the diminutive yet excellent Dunwich Museum.

Sutton Hoo, found just outside Woodbridge in Suffolk, is a 6th and 7th century burial site that is believed to be the resting place of Rædwald ruler of the East Angles. Uncovered in 1939 and now maintained by the National Trust, the ship-burial site is regarded as one of the finest archaeological finds in England for its size and completeness.