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Norwich, Norfolk — Aerial View
An expansive aerial view of Norwich, one of England’s most historic and characterful cities. The winding River Wensum can be seen curving through the centre, a defining feature that shaped Norwich’s layout since Saxon times. The city grew around the river’s loops, its bridges and quays once busy with trade.
At the heart of the image stands Norwich Cathedral, begun in 1096, its towering spire rising 96 metres above the Close — still the most striking landmark in the city. Nearby, Norwich Castle, built shortly after the Norman Conquest in 1067, dominates the skyline on its mound, originally serving as a royal palace before becoming a prison and now a museum.
During the late Middle Ages and Tudor period, Norwich was England’s second largest city after London, a position it held until the early 17th century. Its prosperity was founded on the wool and weaving trade, which brought in Flemish and Walloon craftsmen and helped establish a cosmopolitan culture.
As centuries passed, Norwich diversified into industries that became famous nationwide — Colman’s mustard, Boulton & Paul engineering and aircraft, Caley’s chocolates and Bullards Brewery. It was also home to the Norwich Union Insurance Society (now Aviva), one of Britain’s great financial institutions.
The city’s wealth left a remarkable legacy: more medieval churches than any city north of the Alps, their towers and spires still punctuating the skyline. Surrounding the historic core are green spaces such as Chapelfield Gardens, Mousehold Heath, and the Norwich School playing fields near the cathedral.
Today, Norwich itself has a population of around 145,000, but the Greater Norwich urban area exceeds 210,000 residents, reflecting its continuing growth as the cultural, commercial, and educational hub of East Anglia. From the air, it remains a city where centuries of history and enterprise are beautifully interwoven with the landscape of modern life.
High definition image of the City of Norwich
Aerial view of Fort Gilkicker - a Palmerston fort built at the eastern end of Stokes Bay, 1863 to 1871. Its purpose was to defend the anchorage at Spithead and the western approach to Portsmouth Harbour.
Hampshire UK aerial image
From the air, the extraordinary form of Old Sarum is unmistakable — a perfect concentric fortification set high above the Wiltshire countryside, its great earthwork rings etched clearly into the chalk landscape. This remarkable site marks the earliest settlement of Salisbury, with human occupation stretching back nearly 5,000 years. The outer ramparts, first raised in the Iron Age around 400 BC, enclosed an impressive 29 acres, later adapted and strengthened by successive Roman, Saxon, and Norman builders.
At the heart of the site lie the ruins of the Norman castle and cathedral — reminders of a time when Old Sarum was one of the most important strongholds in medieval England. William the Conqueror himself commissioned the royal castle here shortly after 1066, using it both as a fortress and an administrative centre. The cathedral, consecrated in 1092, was later abandoned when its clergy relocated to the valley below in the 13th century to found the “New Sarum” — today’s Salisbury — leaving the old hilltop citadel to fall into ruin.
Seen in evening light, the geometry of the ditches and banks is strikingly clear, emphasising how the landscape still carries the imprint of centuries of human endeavour. The chalk ridges, patchwork fields, and golden harvest tones surrounding the ancient ramparts give a sense of timeless continuity — a place where Britain’s layers of history remain visible in the very shape of the land.
Old Sarum aerial view
Aerial view of Chantry Place shopping mall in Norwich - formerly Intu Chapelfield - Norwich aerial photograph
Aerial view of Anglia Square in Norwich, taken in August 2025, catching the whole 11-acre site just before full demolition begins. The camera looks down on the long slab of Sovereign House, the multi-storey car park, the low shopping decks and the empty service yards, boxed in by the inner ring road and the surrounding Victorian streets.
Anglia Square grew out of 1960s road schemes and slum clearance. Botolph Street and neighbouring housing were swept away to create the flyover and a new “district centre”, with local firm Alan Cooke & Partners behind much of the design. Sovereign House opened around 1968 for HMSO and most of the shopping centre followed in the early 1970s. The architecture is heavy, car-led brutalism: red brick and raw concrete, raised walkways, service roads below, a small “city within a city” set at a different level to the medieval street pattern around it.
The decline started once HMSO left in the mid-1990s taking hundreds of office jobs with it. The cinema and nightclub closed, units emptied and the multi-storey car park finally shut in 2012, leaving large areas derelict. Investment fund Threadneedle bought the complex in 2014 for a few million pounds and spent years pushing major redevelopment plans. A tall-tower scheme with over a thousand flats and a budget of around three hundred million pounds became a national planning row, with heritage bodies, local campaigners and the cathedral all arguing that the tower would damage Norwich’s historic skyline. After a public inquiry the secretary of state turned that plan down in 2020.
Norwich City Council eventually stepped in, buying the site in 2024 for just over five and a half million pounds and partnering with Aviva to deliver a new high-density quarter worth in the region of three hundred and fifty million pounds. The latest masterplan keeps roughly 1,100 homes, shops, workspaces and new public gardens, with promises of high levels of affordable housing. Demolition contractor DSM has been appointed to clear every remaining structure on the square, including Sovereign House and the car park. This photograph records the last chapter of one of the city’s most controversial modernist schemes as it waits to be erased and replaced by another round of contested “regeneration”.
Great Yarmouth Town Hall fills the centre of this view of Hall Quay on the River Yare, a big red-brick statement of late Victorian civic pride. The building stands on the west side of the river in the old heart of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, facing the quayside where trading vessels once crowded the waterfront.
This is the borough’s second town hall on the site. The first was a classical building completed in 1716 that cost about £880 and served the corporation for more than 150 years before it was cleared in the 1870s. As the town grew and its ambitions with it, councillors decided to replace the old hall with something larger and more impressive.
The present Town Hall was designed by Norwich architect John Bond Pearce in a rich Queen Anne Revival style. The foundation stone was laid in April 1880 and the new building opened on 31 May 1882, with the Prince of Wales present at the ceremony. The project cost in the region of £35,800, a huge sum for the time and a clear signal that Yarmouth saw itself as a major resort and port.
The plan is a large U-shaped block wrapped round a small internal courtyard, two main storeys high with attics, and a central clock tower rising over the principal entrance. The long riverside front contains the main civic rooms, including the council chamber and the great assembly hall that once hosted balls, concerts and public meetings. Behind and beside them are offices, committee rooms and service spaces that allowed almost all borough business to be conducted under one roof.
The Town Hall was built for Great Yarmouth Borough Council and it is still occupied by the modern borough council today, so it continues to function as the administrative centre and ceremonial focus of the town. Over the years the heavy structure and its proximity to the river meant the foundations needed strengthening and parts of the building were underpinned, but outwardly it has changed very little.
Although contemporary reports name the local contractors who won the building work, that detail is rarely repeated in modern summaries and I have not seen a source I trust enough to give a firm builder’s name here. What is beyond doubt is that it was a substantial local job, using red brick and stone dressings on a grand scale and employing a large workforce during construction.
In 1974 the Town Hall was added to the statutory list at Grade II*, recognising it as one of the most important late Victorian civic buildings in East Anglia. Seen from the air, its long rooflines and tower anchor the tangle of older streets behind and the open sweep of Hall Quay in front, marking the point where historic river trade meets the town’s civic life.
Looking west from Wells-next-the-Sea towards Holkham beach – sweeping sands, pinewoods & tidal creeks. Part of the Holkham Estate & Norfolk Coast AONB.
The item in the middle at the very bottom of the picture is part of a floating jetty. Probably broke lose in a storm/flood and has been sweeped out but now lodged on a bank and can't be towed back to the harbour.
North Norfolk coast aerial image
Lowestoft Outer Harbour and Ness Point, Suffolk - aerial view
This photograph looks over the breakwaters that shelter Lowestoft’s Outer Harbour with the North Sea beyond. The wind turbine stands at Ness Point, known as the most easterly point in the UK, right on the edge of the working port.
The quays and yards here have been shaped by more than one Lowestoft economy. The town grew into a major fishing port and later became closely linked to southern North Sea oil and gas support, with parts of this waterfront used for fuel and offshore servicing. In recent years the same waterside has shifted again toward renewables and offshore energy logistics, which makes the turbine feel like a marker of that change rather than a standalone curiosity.
Along the shoreline you can see Lowestoft’s long sweep of beach and seafront, where the town’s industrial harbour sits only a short distance from the holiday coast. The contrast is very Lowestoft: hard engineering, sea defences and working quays on one side, promenades and a pier on the other, all stitched together by the same exposed North Sea horizon.
Lancaster Castle, Lancashire – aerial view
Lancaster Castle occupies a commanding position above the River Lune and has been a centre of power, justice and confinement for nearly a thousand years. The site was already fortified in Roman times when a fort guarded the river crossing on the road north. After the Norman Conquest, a stone castle was established here in the late 11th century, traditionally associated with Roger of Poitou, one of William the Conqueror’s supporters.
Much of what is visible today dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, when the castle was rebuilt in stone as a major royal stronghold in the north-west of England. The massive curtain walls, corner towers and gatehouses reflect its defensive role during periods of unrest, including the Anglo-Scottish conflicts. The keep, known as the Adrian’s Tower, incorporates some of the earliest surviving masonry on the site.
From the late Middle Ages onwards, Lancaster Castle became increasingly associated with law and punishment rather than warfare. In 1352, it became the seat of the Duchy of Lancaster courts, a role that shaped its future. The castle is most notorious for the Lancashire Witch Trials of 1612 and 1634, when accused witches were imprisoned and tried here. In 1612 alone, ten people were executed following trials held at the castle.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the castle was extensively remodelled as a working prison. Architect Thomas Harrison carried out major alterations from the 1780s, adding new prison blocks and courtrooms in a severe classical style that still dominates the inner wards. Executions continued at Lancaster until 1865, after which the castle remained an active prison well into the 20th century.
The prison finally closed in 2011, ending more than 800 years of continuous judicial use. Today, Lancaster Castle is a scheduled monument and Grade I listed site, combining medieval fortifications with later Georgian and Victorian prison architecture. Seen from above, the tight enclosure of towers, courts and cell blocks makes clear why this place was both a fortress and a formidable instrument of authority for centuries.
Lancaster Castle is owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate held in trust for the reigning monarch. That ownership goes back to the medieval period and has never changed. Today, the Duchy provides income to King Charles III in his role as Duke of Lancaster, but it is legally distinct from the Crown Estate.
Since 2014, the day-to-day management of the castle as a historic site has been carried out by Lancaster Castle Ltd, a company created specifically to operate the site. This followed the closure of the prison in 2011 and a subsequent agreement with the Duchy to bring the castle into wider public use.
Lancaster Castle Ltd operates the castle as a visitor attraction: tours, exhibitions, events and venue hire.
HM Courts & Tribunals Service continues to use parts of the castle for legal purposes. The Crown Court and Magistrates’ Court are still active, meaning the castle remains a working judicial building as well as a historic monument.
The Duchy of Lancaster retains overall ownership and strategic control through lease and governance arrangements.
aerial view of Castle Acre Priory - English Heritage site in west Norfolk - UK aerial image - Cluniac monastery
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aerial view of a boat wreck on the river Rother, downstream from Rye in East Sussex - UK aerial image
This aerial photograph captures the sweeping sands and coastal marshes of Holme Dunes, at the north-western tip of Norfolk, where the Wash meets the North Sea. The long, pale ribbon of beach gives way to rich saltmarsh and freshwater pools managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, forming part of the Holme Dunes National Nature Reserve.
From above, the interplay of sea, sand, and tidal flow is beautifully visible — sandbars extend far out into the shallows, creating shifting patterns that change daily with the tides. The area is of huge ecological importance: it provides vital habitat for migratory birds, rare plants, and coastal wildlife.
This is also the site where, in 1998, the extraordinary Bronze Age timber circle known as Seahenge was discovered beneath the sand — a haunting reminder of ancient life along this ever-changing coast. Beyond its archaeology, Holme’s landscapes are constantly reshaped by erosion and deposition, illustrating the dynamic nature of Norfolk’s shoreline.
A serene view of one of England’s most remarkable and fragile coastal environments, seen from a thousand feet above.
The seals basking on Blakeney Point this afternoon at Blakeney on the hottest September day since 1911 - Norfolk UK aerial image
Grimsthorpe Castle stands in rolling parkland north-west of Bourne in Lincolnshire. The core of the house goes back to the early 1200s when a fortified manor with King John’s Tower guarded routes between the Fen edge and the Great North Road. Later medieval owners included the de Gant and Lovell families before the estate was taken into Crown hands.
In 1516 Henry VIII granted Grimsthorpe to William Willoughby, 11th Lord Willoughby de Eresby, as a wedding gift when he married Maria de Salinas, lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon. Their daughter Katherine Willoughby inherited the estate and married Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, one of Henry’s closest friends. Brandon rebuilt and enlarged the house in grand Tudor style using stone from the dissolved Vaudey Abbey and Henry VIII stayed here in 1541 on his northern progress.
In the early 18th century Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, commissioned Sir John Vanbrugh to redesign the north front. Vanbrugh created the great Baroque façade with its central hall and corner towers which still gives the castle its dramatic outline. A little later Lancelot “Capability” Brown reshaped the surrounding park with lakes, long avenues, woodland belts and sweeping lawns so the house sat at the heart of a designed landscape.
Through the female line the property passed to the Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby family who still hold the historic title of Baron Willoughby de Eresby. The castle and park saw military use in both world wars, then returned fully to family occupation in the mid-20th century. Notable later residents include Nancy, Viscountess Astor, who spent her final years here with her daughter.
Today Grimsthorpe remains the country seat of Jane Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 28th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. The house, formal gardens and wider park are managed by the Grimsthorpe and Drummond Castle Trust which looks after the buildings, collections and landscape, opens them to visitors on selected days and uses events, filming and weddings to help support the upkeep of this long-lived Lincolnshire castle.
Aerial - Grimsthorpe Castle
aerial image: Bentwaters Cold War Museum, Suffolk, England
Once one of the most significant front-line airbases during the Cold War, RAF Bentwaters played a vital role in NATO’s air defence network from the late 1940s until its closure in 1993. Located near Woodbridge in Suffolk, it was originally opened in 1943 as a Royal Air Force station, but it was soon taken over by the United States Army Air Forces and later by the United States Air Force.
From 1951 onwards, Bentwaters became one of two “twin bases” — the other being RAF Woodbridge — forming the so-called “Twin Bases Complex” under USAF control. For decades, it was home to various American fighter squadrons, most notably those of the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing. The base hosted a succession of aircraft including the Republic F-84 Thunderjet, North American F-86 Sabre, McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, and finally the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (Warthog) — which remained stationed here right up until the early 1990s.
The site became an operational hub for tactical air support, nuclear strike readiness, and air defence exercises during periods of great international tension — including the Berlin Crisis, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and later NATO’s operations throughout the 1980s. RAF Bentwaters is also closely associated with the famous Rendlesham Forest Incident of December 1980, often dubbed “Britain’s Roswell,” which involved personnel from the base.
Following the end of the Cold War, the USAF withdrew, and the airfield was handed back to the Ministry of Defence in 1993. Today, the airfield survives as Bentwaters Parks, used for commercial, filming, and heritage purposes. The Bentwaters Cold War Museum, located in the old hardened command bunker and adjacent buildings seen here, is run by dedicated volunteers who preserve its unique history.
Outside the museum are several restored aircraft and vehicles representing the types once operated from the base — including examples of the A-10 Thunderbolt, Hawker Hunter and various NATO aircraft. Inside, the original Battle Cabin, radar equipment, and operations rooms have been carefully reconstructed, offering visitors a vivid glimpse into Cold War life behind the wire.
erial view of Sea Palling on the North Norfolk coast with the offshore rock “reefs” standing out in winter light. These segmented breakwaters sit a little way off the beach and are meant to take the sting out of incoming waves. In the lee of each reef you can see the calmer water and the way sand builds into curved “salients” that help keep a wider beach in front of the seawall.
Sea Palling has long been vulnerable because the land behind the dunes is so low-lying. After the devastating North Sea surge of 1953, the main concrete sea wall along the Eccles to Winterton frontage was built in stages, reaching its modern extent by the late 1980s. By the early to mid 1990s beach levels here had fallen dangerously, storms were stripping sand away and the sea wall was starting to suffer at its foundations. The response was a major defence scheme through the 1990s: nine offshore reefs plus additional groynes and repeated beach recharge to rebuild the protective beach. The first phase was completed in 1995 and the later reefs were added by 1997. Reported figures for the works include a Phase 1 cost of about £5.9m and around 220,000 tonnes of rock for the later reefs at a quoted cost of about £10.5m. The scheme was developed by Halcrow for the public flood and coastal authorities.
Has it worked? Locally, yes in the sense that it helped restore and hold a higher beach in front of the wall and dunes, which is exactly what keeps this frontage stable during storms. Monitoring has also shown a large build-up of sand around the reefs, even though the gaps between reefs can still see erosion and scour. It is not a “build it once and forget it” solution: maintaining the beach has meant periodic nourishment and the last major recharge in this area was in 2009. Looking ahead, sea level rise and the possibility of more frequent severe surges mean the reefs and the beach management behind them will need ongoing review and further recharge is likely to be required to keep the standard of protection.
Aerial view of The Minster Church of St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Founded by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich, in 1101 and completed in 1119, St Nicholas is England’s largest parish church. Built to serve the growing medieval town and its herring industry, the church originally stood within a walled graveyard, part of which remains visible in the image.
Severely damaged during bombing raids in the Second World War, the Minster was almost completely rebuilt in the 1950s under architect Stephen Dykes Bower. Its copper-clad roof—now a defining feature of the Great Yarmouth skyline—was added during the post-war restoration. The church was granted Minster status in 2011.
Visible in the image are the surviving sections of the medieval town wall in the foreground and the compact urban grid of central Great Yarmouth beyond.
This aerial view looks north across Thornham Harbour on the North Norfolk coast where a web of tidal creeks winds through saltmarsh before opening out towards the sands and channels of Brancaster Bay and the Wash. In the foreground the sea wall and track form a hard edge between reclaimed grazing marsh and the living harbour beyond with its shifting mudflats and sinuous rills.
Beside the wall sits Thornham’s Coal Barn, a small but evocative survivor from the days when this was a working landing place. Local records and tradition describe coastal craft bringing coal in from the north east and carrying grain and other produce out with references to this trade appearing as far back as the 1500s. Thornham’s sea defences were strengthened in 1642 and the harbour continued to serve the village into the 18th and 19th centuries although the channel was always prone to silting.
Coastal trading here is often said to have tailed off in the early 20th century with 1914 frequently given as the end of regular commercial traffic. Today the scene reads as a classic North Norfolk tidal landscape shaped by tide, wind and longshore drift with the Coal Barn as a quiet marker of the harbour’s working past.
North Carolina Hunting Videographer Camo 4x4s
Youtube.com most viewed hunting video
Hunting and Fishing Video's professionally done by Stuart M Edwards owner of Camo 4x4s
From the mountains to the coast, North Carolina offers a wide variety of hunting and trapping opportunities. Click on the appropriate subtopic above to find maps of all Game Lands managed by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, season dates and bag limits and information on hunting and safety classes. The Hunting News subtopic contains timely information about the hunting and trapping seasons. The Publications subtopic contains information on obtaining the current Inland Fishing, Hunting & Trapping Regulations Digest and the latest Hunting and Fishing Maps for North Carolina Game Lands.
www.ncwildlife.org/fs_index_04_hunting.htm
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Huntmaster Hunt Unit
In an ongoing effort to provide opportunities for all of North Carolina’s outdoor enthusiasts, the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission (WRC) will allow the public to use the Huntmaster Hunting Unit (Huntmaster) mobile hunting and wildlife viewing blind for organized disabled special-needs hunts.
Due to cooperative efforts between the N.C. Handicapped Sportsman (NCHS) and the WRC, 10 of these new lifts were purchased at a cost of $100,000 by the NCHS. The WRC provided $50,000 while the NCHS raised the other $50,000 from various donors.
The Huntmaster is a mobile hunting blind with a heavy-duty trailer that can be set up easily by one individual. They feature all-steel heavy-duty construction throughout, and offer a fail-safe hydraulic system powered via a heavy-duty, solar-powered, 12v deep-cycle battery. Set-up features include four rugged, steel-beam outriggers, each with adjustable stabilizers. The Huntmaster has a roomy 6x6 foot interior and can lift up to 750 pounds to 20 feet, providing not only a great vantage point, but also reducing the element of human scent for that hunt of a lifetime opportunity.
Designated wildlife depots within each of the agency’s nine districts will house the Huntmasters and offer their use via advanced reservation. The Huntmasters will be made available for organized disabled special-needs hunts only and will not be provided for individual use.
First priority will be given to WRC-organized events. Second priority will be to partner agencies/entities that allow public hunting or wildlife viewing opportunities for the disabled. Third priority will be given to organized hunting or wildlife viewing events that are put on by private groups (Note: the application form will require that the event is being conducted by an established organization and request the name of the organization as well). These Huntmasters may also be used under the same priority structure for use at expos or other special events to promote hunting and wildlife viewing opportunities available for disabled North Carolinians.
It is extremely important that every North Carolinian have the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the state’s natural resources, whether disabled or not, and that WRC considers this goal as being paramount to providing opportunities for all outdoor recreationists in North Carolina. For a listing of additional outdoor opportunities in North Carolina, please visit our Web site at www.ncwildlife.org.
Aerial image - Wells-next-the-Sea beach and sandbanks, North Norfolk Coast, England.
Captured looking north across the shifting tidal sands and channels that define this ever-changing stretch of coastline. The vast sandy expanse forms part of the Holkham National Nature Reserve and is managed by the Holkham Estate in collaboration with Natural England.
Visible here are the intricate tidal flows that sculpt the outer sandbanks, creating the lagoon and creeks behind the beach, and the characteristic spit of sand that extends towards the North Sea. The darker waters mark the meeting of fresh and salt currents as the tide ebbs from Wells Harbour. Beyond the pines of Holkham are the dunes that back one of Britain’s most spectacular beaches — a landscape constantly reshaped by wind and tide.
This area lies within the North Norfolk Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and is an important habitat for seals, wading birds, and migratory species. The beach and pinewoods are owned and maintained by the Holkham Estate and The Crown Estate, with coastal management input from North Norfolk District Council and The Environment Agency.
Captured from a light aircraft, not a drone.
The second largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England - completed in 1910. Norwich aerial image.
Interesting and learned article about the cathedral from Simon:
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichcatholic/norwichcatholic...
Ketteringham Hall aerial image: A grand Norfolk pile with Gothic flair, wartime RAF brains, and Lotus dreams.
#KetteringhamHall #aerial #image #Norfolk #AerialPhotography
Aerial view of Norwich Cathedral in the snow #Norwich #aerial #image #NorwichCathedral #snow
Norwich Cathedral aerial image
Lowestoft aerial image - the RV Cefas Endeavour passes through Lowestoft Bascule Bridge #Lowestoft #aerial #image #CefasEndeavour #Suffolk #harbour