Somerleyton
The Sign
The sign was designed by Mrs AV Steward from Lowestoft and made by SC Pearce of Bredfield. The sign depicts the 'travelling Viking', Sumarlithi, on his longship crossing the North Sea and making his way up the River Waveney.
The sign was erected in 1949 to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Lord and Lady Somerleyton. It is located on the village green.
The Name and Population
It was called Sumerledetuna in the Domesday Book and Sumerletun in 1185. The name means "The farmstead or estate of a man called Sumarlithi", from Old English and Scandanavian. The personal name means 'Summer Traveller', denoting a warrior who went in summer on Viking expeditions. The population was 300 at the 2011 census.
Other Points of Interest
In the 1950s, Christopher Cockerell designed and tested the first hovercraft at his boatyard in the village. A column was erected in the village in 2010 on the 100th anniversary of Cockerell's birth.
The church is dedicated to St Mary and sits on the Somerleyton Estate.
The hall has been featured on many TV programmes: The BBC's Antiques Roadshow took place at Somerleyton Hall in 2009, with selected excerpts to form a one-hour broadcast in 2010. An episode of Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected TV series was filmed at Somerleyton Hall in 1979, and the house was used as a stand in for Sandringham House in the 2003 television drama The Lost Prince. The house was used for the same purpose in the 2020 series The Crown.