Acle

Acle is a small market town on the River Bure in Norfolk, England within The Broads National Park.

It is halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and has the only bridge across the Bure between Wroxham and Great Yarmouth.

The name "Acle" means "in the lea of the oaks", i.e. a clearing in an oak forest. In Tudor times, hundreds of oaks were felled here to built ships for Elizabeth I's war ships.

In Roman times, Acle was a port at the head of a large estuary named Gariensis.

Acle is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and in 1253 it was granted a market. In 1382, it received the right for a "turbary", i.e. the right to dig peat.

Acle was connected to the railway system in 1883, and in 1892 a foundry was started which built mainly windpumps for land drainage, including the very last windpump built for the Broads, at Ash Tree Farm.