High Street shops at night

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 12 Dec 2007

Holt is a rural Norfolk town with a market place, and a High Street lined by interesting Georgian houses and cottages, pubs and tearooms as well as unusual shops. It is also well-known for its fine Christmas decorations: once the Christmas Lights are switched on, the Christmas shoppers that are populating the streets and pavements of this busy town are joined by almost as many photographers. A number of the former court yards and tradesmen's yards have been converted into shops or accommodation. In 1066 Holt already had a market and a port (the coastal village of Cley being named in the Domesday Book as the port of Holt), five water mills and twelve plough teams. The town survived the Plague of 1348, and by 1556 a school had been opened. The school (a public school since 1900) was founded by Sir John Gresham, and is described as one of the leading schools in the country. In 1708 the town was badly damaged by a fire, which destroyed most of the houses and left the church in the isolated position it occupies today. In Victorian times, Holt had a population of around 1700 and a daily coach service to Cromer, Norwich and London; the railway arrived in 1884.

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