Origins

Although we cannot say exactly when the villages of Belton and Browston were founded, there is evidence of human activity in this area going back thousands of years. Finds recorded by Norfolk Landscape Archaeology include a hand axe found near the Round Hills, south of Belton. This is thought to be at least 12,000 years old. Other finds in the Belton area are flint knives, scrapers and axe heads dating from 4,000 to 6,000 years ago and a quartzite mace-head from the Bronze Age (2,500 BC-700 BC). Windmill Hill south of Belton and Bell Hill in nearby Fritton are ancient burial mounds or barrows, dating from the Bronze Age. Aerial photography carried out between 1977 and 1981 showed two ring ditches to the south-east of Browston Hall. These may be traces of other barrows long since flattened.

It is quite likely that people were already living in the area when the Romans started settling here in the first century AD. Two thousand years ago the landscape was very different from today. There was a large tidal estuary covering the rivers Yare and Waveney and their surrounding marshes. It extended inland as far as present day Acle. Its north shore was the high land overlooking the present day village of Caister. On its southern shore today stand Burgh Castle and Belton.

The Romans were not the only people from mainland Europe interested in East Anglia. During the 3rd century Saxons raided these shores the large estuary making them vulnerable to attack from sea. To defend the coast the Romans built a chain of forts, one of which was at Burgh Castle. This was completed around 280 AD. This is the most obvious evidence of Roman occupation, but there is other evidence in the Belton area. There are finds of pottery and coins dating from 43AD to 409 AD, the entire period of Roman occupation in Britain. Aerial photography has also revealed markings in the fields at Browston that indicate a large Roman farmstead. This would have been a timber framed house with wattle and daub walls and a tiled roof, outbuildings and a grain store along side. It would have had a hypercaust, the Roman version of under-floor heating. There are indications of a neatly kept garden, laid out in geometric patterns which would have grown herbs for the kitchen.

It is possible that a harbour was excavated on the inlet at Stepshort to take ships supplying Burgh Castle. Its location would have made it suitable. Under the Romans East Anglia flourished, but in the early 5th century troops were withdrawn. Rome itself was under attack and its empire declining. The way was clear for the Saxons to settle here. At first the new Saxon settlers were pagan, but from the 7th century they converted to Christianity. In 631 the East Anglian king Sigbert invited the Irish missionary Fursey to found a monastery. Tradition places it within the walls of the old Roman fort. With Sigbert's help Fursey made Christianity the religion of the area.

There were further incursions from Europe. The Dane settled here and in time intermixed with the Saxons. It is at this time, more than a thousand years ago, that communities were founded and places given names which have come down to us today. Belton and Browston are modern versions of Saxon names. According to Ekwall's 'Concise Dictionary of Place Names', Belton means a village or homestead in a clearing or an area of dry land surrounded by a fen. The latter describes Belton which sits on a low hill above the river to the west and low lying marshy ground to the north. Browston, which is called Brockestuna in the Domesday Book, takes its name from the word for a badger. Ekwall suggests that the village was named after someone called Brock rather than the animal itself.

By the 10th century Saxon government ruled England. The country was divided into counties and the counties into administrative districts called hundreds. Belton was in the Lothingland hundred of Suffolk. By this time the Lothingland parishes that we know today had all been established. Lothingland was then practically an island. A branch of the Waveney, flowing into the sea at Kirkley, cut it off to the south. The main southerly route in was at Mutford Bridge.

In 1066 the Normans conquered England and positions of power where granted by the new King William to his supporters. One such supporter was Roger Bigot who was made Sheriff of both Norfolk and Suffolk. Under Norman rule the farms owned by the Saxons were given the French name of manor and many came under Norman control. In time the manors grew and acquired more land, not always in their own parish. In Norfolk and Suffolk manors often overlap parish boundaries. William wanted to know what was the wealth of his new kingdom and in 1086 a nationwide survey was carried out. The records this are known as the Domesday Book and give some idea of what Belton, Browston and the neighbouring communities were like.

In Belton three men farmed 90 acres with a plough team of oxen. Another six men are recorded, a team of oxen belonging to the lord of the manor, plus half a team, one draught horse and 160 sheep. Away from the main settlement another 120 acres of land were being cultivated. Browston may have been bigger than Belton. A total of 240 acres were being cultivated and nine men are recorded. There were four plough teams, two draught horses, 70 sheep, three goats and 14 pigs. This may include Brotherton which is in Hopton.

The Domesday survey was not a census and does not include women and children. The population of Belton and Browston may have been about 50 or 60 each. Gapton was another community in the area. It had 190 acres under cultivation plus 4.5 acres of meadowland. There are 10 men are recorded and seven plough teams plus half a team, one draught horse, 12 pigs and 110 sheep. Gapton Hall manor eventually became the manor with the largest land holdings in Belton.