Somerleyton Primary School

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 24 Sep 2009

Somerleyton is a village on the north bank of the River Waveney, about 7 miles from Lowestoft and 8 miles from Yarmouth. The population numbers approximately 300. The village is an example of 19th century planning of housing consisting of thatched cottages > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1505686 and a village school > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1505653 around a newly created green. When Samuel Morton Peto took over the Somerleyton Estate in 1844 he began to reconstruct the Hall > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1506718 and to replan the village as a model village in the spirit of the times. The main road was diverted through the village which became centred on the village green, a horse-shoe shaped area with new houses around the perimeter, the school at one end and the village pump at the other > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1505643. The new houses were designed by John Thomas, the architect of Somerleyton Hall. Peto also brought the railway to the village > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1505968. In more recent times Christopher Cockerell at Somerleyton Marina > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1506149 began his work on ideas to make a boat go faster which led to the invention of the Hovercraft - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hovercraft - the first patent being applied for in December 1955.

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