The Southrepps Society was formed by residents of Southrepps in 1977 with objectives similar in principle to those of the Norfolk Society. The Southrepps Society’s aims are:
- To educate the public in the geography, history, natural history, and architecture of the area;
- To secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of the features of historic interest;
- To promote high standards of planning and architecture;
The Society has remained active and achieved much in the last 47 years arranging regular well attended talks during the winter months and walks and outings in the summer. Members of the society have successfully campaigned on a range of issues covering for example access to the countryside and the preservation and listing of important buildings and structures in the village. The Society had saved from destruction and now cares for the Chapel yard an old graveyard on the outskirts of the village.
The Society has an ongoing project to research and document the history of the older buildings in village. Since 2010, members have undertaken an archaeological field walking survey of much of the arable land within the parish and the findings of this study will be published in 2024.
Over the years the Society has accumulated a substantial collection of photographs and documents relating to the village and its residents. The Society has always been aware that many of the declining numbers of older residents born and educated in Southrepps would be the last generation to recall living in what was once a very self-sufficient village.
In 2006 the Society started a memories project to record the living history of the village. As part of this project a series of memories day events were held. Older residents were interviewed and their recollections of past times in the village were recorded. A considerable number of historic and family photographs and these and video recordings, formed the basis of a published DVD entitled “Southrepps-The story of a North Norfolk village”.
On the 30th anniversary of the founding of the society it was resolved to produce a publication entitled “ Southrepps remembered–Past glimpses of a North Norfolk village” to showcase the historic photographs in the archive. To improve accessibility to the archive (“The History Hub”) and to garner further information from a wider audience, materials from the archive and news of the Society’s activities are being progressively added to this website.