Scoulton

Infobox UK place
country = England
latitude = 52.5657
longitude = 0.9291
official_name = Scoulton
population = 241 (2001 Census)
shire_district = Breckland
shire_county = Norfolk
region = East of England
constituency_westminster =
post_town =
postcode_district =
postcode_area =
dial_code =
os_grid_reference = TF9800

Scoulton is a small village and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England, situated 16 miles (26 km) west of the city of Norwich and 21 miles (34 km) north-north-east of Thetford. Scoulton lies on the main road between Norwich and the market town of Watton. Increasingly a dormitory for workers in Norwich's insurance and other service industries, it was traditionally agricultural, relying particularly on the production of sugar beet and on pig farming. It has a fine, partially thatched Saxon church.

The civil parish has an area of 9.02 square kilometres and in 2001 had a population of 241 in 94 households. The population is split between two main areas of settlement and a number of small, isolated farms. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of Breckland.ref|osnncc

Scoulton is known for its artificial and heavily-wooded lake or "mere", which was the product of extensive flint quarrying, and which was the only known breeding ground of the great black-headed gull in the UK. Considered by many to be only a rare vagrant visitor to Europe, anecdotal evidence suggests that Scoulton mere was home to a colony until the early 1970s, with the eggs being harvested and forming the basis of a now obsolete dish known as Scoulton Pie. The collection of these eggs is depicted on the village sign.

References

* Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council, 2001. " [http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/groups/public/documents/general_resources/ncc017867.xls Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes] ". Retrieved December 2, 2005.