Norfolk

Burnham Overy Staithe walk

Wander through Burnham Overy Staithe near Brancaster, and enjoy beautiful sights of the North Norfolk coast and its wildlife. This circular route follows part of the Norfolk Coast Path and passes through Holkham National Nature Reserve. There's the opportunity to visit Burnham Overy Town, St. Clement church with its Norman tower, and catch sight of the Tower Windmill along the way.

Near to

Brancaster Estate

Start point

The Hero Bar and Restaurant, Burnham Overy Staithe

Visit Scolt Head Island

From the harbour at Burnham Overy Staithe, you can go on a boat trip to Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve.

Total stages: 8
Total stages: 8
Start point
The Hero Bar and Restaurant, Burnham Overy Staithe
Stage 1
From the Hero, turn right, then immediately left down East Harbour Way until you reach Overy Creek. Turn right next to a house painted black. Go through the gate and then bear left along the waterfront. The raised bank you are now on is part of the Norfolk Coast Path National Trail.
Burnham Overy Staithe
'Staithe' is an Old English word meaning 'landing place', and 'overy' means 'over the water'. The original settlement was Burnham Overy Town which lies a mile or so inland and was once a busy port situated on the navigable River Burn. Like many of the North Norfolk rivers, the river has since silted and declined. Burnham Overy Staithe has really only been in existence since the Second World War and lies on the North Norfolk coast between Holkham and Burnham Norton.
Burnham Overy Staithe harbour, Norfolk | © Scenic Norfolk
Stage 2
Where the path along the embankment turns 90 degrees left, turn right through a gate into a marshy meadow. This area is a Natural England reserve (part of Holkham National Nature Reserve). Go through a second gate, cross a stile and then continue along a track until reaching the A149. Cross to the lane opposite, and follow this until you’ve passed two fields on the right.
Stage 3
Go through a gap at the entrance to the third field, which is marked as a footpath. Keep to the right of the hedge until reaching a way-marker pointing left, across the middle of the field. Keep going in a straight line, through gaps in the hedges following circular markers with yellow arrows until reaching a dirt lane. Cross the lane, and continue down the track opposite with hedges on either side, towards the Norman tower of Burnham Overy’s Church of St. Clement.
Burnham Overy’s Church of St. Clement
St Clement’s was a large cruciform building, begun in the Norman era. The central tower has been lowered and is now topped with an attractive bell turret. The interior of the church is unusual, as the area beneath the tower arches was blocked off during the long centuries between the Reformation and the Victorian revival. The nave was used as a church, whilst the chancel became among other things a village school. The two parts are now reunited but still only connected by a narrow passage. The decorated organ pipes are worthy of inspection, the organ dating from 1750.
Passage joining both parts of St. Clement at Burnham Overy, Norfolk | © National Trust/Michael Graham
Stage 4
Turn left at the end of the track onto Mill Road, and take a grass track to the right called Marsh Lane. Go through the gate and into a field keeping the River Burn to the left, with the round Saxon tower of Burnham Norton in the distance also to the left. Burnham Overy Tower Mill is straight ahead.
Stage 5
Cross the A149 with a pond on your left, and take the public footpath into the next field. Cross a stile and keep the hedge to your right.
Stage 6
In the distance you will see the sails of Burnham Overy Windmill. Cross another stile and turn right onto the Norfolk Coast Path until reaching the A149.
Stage 7
The Burnham Overy Tower Windmill is now in front of you. The mill is looked after by the National Trust but is not open to the public.
Burnham Overy Tower Mill
The mill was built in 1816 for Edmund Savory, a miller who was running a watermill on the River Burn known as the Lower Mill. Savory worked the mill until his death on 9 February 1827, when it passed to his son John. In the nineteenth century the windmill drove three pairs of millstones and, along with the watermill and a steam mill, there were maltings, granaries and various other farm buildings, together with over 40 acres (16 ha) of land. The Tower Mill last worked in 1919 and was eventually given to the National Trust in 1958.
Stage 8
Turn left at the A149 and follow the path beside the road to East Harbour Way on the left until reaching The Hero public house and the end of your walk.
End point
The Hero Bar and Restaurant, Burnham Overy Staithe
Trail map
Burnham Overy Staithe trail map | © Crown copyright and database rights 2013 Ordnance Survey
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Brancaster Beach, Beach Road, Brancaster, Norfolk, PE31 8AX

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norfolkcoast@nationaltrust.org.uk

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