1. Etymology and Geology

2. Wildlife sites

3. Notable people

4. Public access

5. References

6. External links

The civil parish has an area of {{convert|14.55|km2|abbr=on}} and in the 2001 census had a population of 223 in 105 households, the population falling to 209 at the 2011 Census.^[2]

For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk.^[3]

The River Stiffkey runs through the village, from which it takes its name, and used to power the Stiffkey watermill which was built before 1579. It was a small mill, running two pairs of stones, and it operated until 1881 when it was put up for auction as a warehouse. Little now remains of the mill: just a few low ruined walls showing the position of the building.^[4]

Stiffkey is also famous for cockles Cerastoderma edule which still retain the old name of "Stewkey blues". These are stained blue by the mud in which they live.^[5]

Etymology and Geology

Stiffkey is first evidenced in the Domesday Book of 1086, and means 'stump island, island with stumps of trees'.^[5]

The local historical pronunciation of the village is "Stew-key" this is primarily due to the underlying glauconitic clays (blue-green clays - formerly Blue Marl), BGS lexicon lithological description: Pale to dark grey or blue-grey clay or mudstone, glauconitic in part, with a sandy base. Discrete bands of phosphatic nodules (commonly preserving fossils), some pyrite and calcareous nodules. In Norfolk, the Cretaceous Gault Formation becomes calcareous before passing northwards into the Hunstanton Formation ("Red Chalk"). In places thin, variable junction beds at the base include some limestones. (BGS lexicon: Gault Formation which belongs to the Selbourne Group).

The blue clays are known locally as "Norfolk Stew", hence the name "Stew-Key" [Stew-Quay] as the flats there and the quays use the underlying blue clays (muds) weathered from Cretaceous Bedrock. As already noted the local fauna of cockles can be stained with relation to their habitat. Glauconite is an iron and potassium rich mineral and the solid phase reactions can produce the iron and potassium rich dye Prussian Blue.

Wildlife sites

Forming part of the Blakeney Point, a National nature reserve, the Stiffkey Salt Marshes create an extensive habitat for a wide range of birds and plant life. The salt marshes which are owned and managed by the National Trust are open to the public.^[5]

Notable people

Sir Nathaniel Bacon (1546?-1622), second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and half-brother of Sir Francis Bacon, was a Member of Parliament for Stiffkey.

The village is remembered as the parish whose rector, Harold Davidson, faced charges of immorality and was defrocked in 1932.^[7] He was a popular priest in the area and the villagers asked his family to allow him to be buried in Stiffkey when he died, rather than in the family tomb in Sholing, where he was born.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} (He was killed, rather improbably, by a lion.) They have cared for his grave for many years.

The author Henry Williamson bought a farm in Stiffkey. The Story of a Norfolk Farm (1941) is his account of his first years of farming here.^[8]

On 11 May 1978, the author, soldier and politician Aubrey Buxton was created a life peer as Baron Buxton of Alsa, of Stiffkey in the County of Norfolk. He died there in 2009.

Public access

The Norfolk Coast Path runs between the village and the sea and further onto Blakeney to the East and Wells to the West. The village is provided with a bus service by Sanders Coaches coasthopper which links to King's Lynn to the west and Cromer to the east.^[9]

References

External links

• {{oscoor gbx|TF971430}}
• Information from Genuki Norfolk on Stiffkey.
• Information from NorfolkCoast.co.uk on Stiffkey.
• Parishes and Churches of Central North Norfolk - Stiffkey

• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's floor
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's horizontal bar
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's pommel horse
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's rings
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's team competition
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Men's vault
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's balance beam
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's floor exercise
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's uneven bars
• Gymnastics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's vault
• Gymnastics at the 1968 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Men's Trampoline
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics - Women's Trampoline
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's floor
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's horizontal bar
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's parallel bars
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's pommel horse
• Gymnastics at the 2004 Summer Olympics – Men's rings