Welcome to our County School pages at www.countyschool.co.uk. 

Yes the website stays the same, but we now have an easy to remember web address:  www.countyschool.co.uk !

County School is the name given to a small picturesque hamlet straddling the river Wensum in the Breckland district of Norfolk.  It was once the site of a long defunct victorian public (ie privately run - for you non-British visitors) school - the Norfolk County School.  The school may be long gone, but the hamlet still bears it's name - and has a quaint anachronisim - a restored junction railway station, in the middle of a field, now serving no-one at all!....

The Norfolk County School went bust at the turn of the 1900's and the School was subsequently turned into a Barnados childrens home (training the orphans for a life at sea) under a bequest from a benefactor who lent his name to the Barnados 'Watts Naval Training School'.

The Barnados home was shut in the early 50's and the school demolished shortly after.  The other buildings all remain, chapel, sanitorium, vicarage, etc - all now houses, as does the stunning little station, set in the middle of the Wensum flood plain, and surrounded by nothing but fields and summer pastures.

The station has been gradually restored by enthusiasts at the Mid Norfolk Railway (www.mnr.org.uk) to its pre war 1937 glory.  We await the return of trains in the next few years time with great anticipation...

We hope you find this all of interest.  We are starting to get written history up here, and  hope that more will follow soon, as we gain recognition. 

We'd love old boys from the school, and you former & current inhabitants, to make your mark here, alongside rail enthusiasts and also those who have just discovered this place by chance - and share our respect for it's precarious beauty.

So please feel free to contribute information, pictures and anecdotes to the site to allow us to develop this resource.  Puzzled? - Then raise a query - someone's bound to have the answer!  Don't forget to join the site too - so we can keep you up to date with events...

Use the message board to add thoughts and 'proof read' existing historical submissions etc. etc.  We welcome the contributions, and will also try to answer your queries as best we can.  We will regularly vet the site - but cannot be held responsible for every iota of it's content - do let us know if anything needs changing.

Best of all - come and visit!  Even when the station tea rooms are closed*,  there are walks, orchards, trains, historic buildings and water-meadows to enjoy, not forgetting the peace and tranquility of the sleepiest branch line in England!    

*Generally open summer weekends, occasional Sundays in winter & for special events - do look for the 'open' sign on the main road by the tourist signpost....