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 (a seat of King Edward VII.), Holkham, Rainham, Costessey, Gunton, Houghton and Shadwell, are of more modern date. The Holkham estate was the scene of the agricultural work of Thomas William Coke, earl of Leicester (d. 1842), who successfully proved that wheat could be profitably grown in this part of the county, and also made great improvements in live stock. Among sites of other various interests are Burnham Thorpe, the birthplace of Nelson; Paston and Oxnead, successive seats of the Paston family whose Letters are famous; and Ket’s Oak near Hethersett, W. of Norwich, where Robert Ket took oath as leader of the agrarian rebellion of 1549.

 NORFOLK, a city of Madison county, Nebraska, U.S.A., on the north branch of the Elkhorn river, 2 m. from its mouth, and about 75 m. S.W. of Sioux City. Pop. (1900) 3883 (622 foreign-born); (1910) 6025. It is served by the Union Pacific, the Chicago & North Western (of which it is a division headquarters), and the Chicago, St Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railways. The city is the seat of the Northern Nebraska Insane Asylum. Cereals, alfalfa and fruit are raised in the surrounding country. The site was first permanently settled in 1866. Norfolk was incorporated as a village in 1881 and chartered as a city in 1886; it became a city of the first class in 1909.

 NORFOLK, a city and port of entry of Norfolk county, Virginia, U.S.A., on the northern side of the Elizabeth river (an arm of the Chesapeake Bay) and at the mouth of its eastern branch, and on the Albemarle and Chesapeake and the Dismal Swamp canals, about 90 m. S.E. of Richmond. Pop. (1890) 34,871; (1900) 46,624, of whom 1705 were foreign-born and 20,230 were negroes; (1910 census) 67,452. It is served by the Atlantic Coast Line, the Seaboard Air line, the Southern, the New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the Norfolk & Western, the Norfolk & Southern and the Virginian railways, by many steamship lines, by ferry to Portsmouth (immediately opposite), Newport News, Old Point Comfort and Hampton, and by electric lines to several neighbouring towns. The Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line encircles the two cities, and connects the various trunk lines. Among the prominent buildings and institutions are the Custom House, the Federal Building, Marine Hospital, St Christopher’s Hospital, St Vincent’s Hospital, Norfolk Protestant Hospital, Sara Leigh Hospital, Norfolk Public Library, Norfolk Academy, Cotton Exchange, City Market, Bank of Commerce Building, Citizens' Bank Building, Board of Trade Building, Law Building, Virginia Bank & Trust Company Building, Norfolk National Bank, Atlantic Hotel, Monticello Hotel, Lynnhaven Hotel, Norfolk Mission College (Presbyterian) for negroes and the historic St Paul’s church, which was built in 1737 and was struck by a cannon-ball and partly burned in 1776; in the yard is one of the oldest cemeteries in the country. Norfolk is the see of a Protestant Episcopal bishopric. The city has a public park of 110 acres and various smaller ones, and in the vicinity are several summer resorts, notably Virginia Beach, Ocean View, Old Point Comfort, Pine Beach and Willoughby Beach. The “Norfolk” navy yard is in the southern part of the city of Portsmouth. The harbour is deep, easily accessible through a channel 30 ft. in depth, and well protected by forts Monroe and Wool. The city has immense coal piers. It is the largest peanut market in the world, is in a great truck-gardening region, and makes large shipments of cotton (822,930 bales in 1905), oysters, coal, fertilizers, lumber, grain, fruits, wine, vegetables, fish and live stock. Norfolk is combined with Portsmouth in one customs district, the foreign trade of which in 1908 amounted to $11,326,817 in exports and $1,150,044 in imports. One of the most important manufacturing industries is grading, roasting, cleaning and shelling peanuts (in 1905 valued at $791,760). In 1900 the value of the factory products was $4,691,779; in 1905 it was $5,900,129, the city ranking third among the cities of the state in value of factory products.

Norfolk was founded in 1682 in pursuance of an act of the Virginia Assembly passed in 1680 to establish towns for the encouragement of trade; it was incorporated as a borough in 1736 by a royal charter, was chartered as a city in 1845, its charter being revised in 1882 and 1884, and received a new charter in 1906 (amended in 1908), under which there are a mayor (elected for four years), a common council, a board of aldermen and a board of control of three members, which has charge of public works, streets, sewers, drains and water supply, the police and fire departments, the work of the board of health, &c. Norfolk is administratively independent of Norfolk county. In 1906 the town of Berkley (incorporated in 1890; pop. in 1900, 4988) was annexed. During the War of Independence Norfolk was bombarded on the 1st of January 1776 by the British under John Murray, 4th earl of Dunmore (1732–1809); much of the town was burned by the American troops to prevent Dunmore from establishing himself here. In 1855 it suffered severely from yellow fever. At the outbreak of the Civil War the city was abandoned, and the navy yard was burned by the Federals in April 1861; Norfolk was then occupied until the 9th of May 1862 by Virginia troops, first under General William Booth Taliaferro (1822–1898) and later under General Benjamin Huger (1806–1877). Five miles from Norfolk and with Norfolk as its headquarters was held from the 26th of April to the 30th of November 1907 the Jamestown Ter-Centennial Exposition, celebrating the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown, Virginia.

 NORFOLK ISLAND, an island in the Pacific Ocean, about 800 m. E. of the nearest point of New South Wales, in 29° S., 167° 56′ E. It stands on a submarine tableland extending about 18 m. to the N. and 25 m. to the S., and has itself an area of 8528 acres or 13·3 sq. m. The islets of Nepean and Philip lie near it. Its high cliff-bound coast is difficult of access. With a general elevation of 400 ft. above the sea the island rises in the N.W. to 1050 ft. in the double summit of Mount Pitt. The soil, of decomposed basalt, is wonderfully fertile. The rich undulating pasture-land with clumps of trees and copses resembles a park. Oranges, lemons, grapes, passion fruit, figs, pine-apples, guavas and other fruits grow abundantly; while potatoes, onions, maize and arrowroot can be cultivated. The Norfolk Island pine (Araucaria excelsa) is a magnificent tree, with a height sometimes exceeding 200 ft. and a girth of 30. A small species of palm is known as the Norfolk Island cabbage. Tree-ferns are abundant. The flora is most closely associated with that of New Zealand, and the avifauna indicates the same connexion rather than one with Australia, as those birds which belong to Australian genera are apparently immigrants, while those which occur on the island in common with New Zealand would be incapable of such distant migration. The climate is healthy, the thermometer rarely sinking below 65° F. The island is a station of the British Pacific cable. It was discovered in 1774 by Captain Cook, and was taken by Philip King of the Stirling and twenty-four convicts from New South Wales. This settlement was abandoned in 1805, but in 1826 the island was made a penal settlement from New South Wales. In 1856, 194 Pitcairn islanders took the place of the convicts. Forty of them soon returned to Pitcairn Island, and the remainder deteriorated owing to intermarriage. The administration of justice by an elected magistrate was unsatisfactory. Crime was rarely punished, and debts are rarely recoverable. A remedy was attempted in 1896 by an improvement in the government. The island was brought under the immediate administration of New South Wales; a chief magistrate, appointed by the governor of New South Wales, took the place of the elected magistrate, and an elected council of twelve elders superseded the general gathering of the adult population. In 1867 a Melanesian mission station was established at St Barnabas, and in 1882 a church was erected to the memory of Bishop Patteson, with windows designed by Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris.