About the town » Docking, Norfolk, England, Great Britain

Docking is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk and contains the highest point in North West Norfolk. It covers an area of 25.79 km2 (9.96 sq mi) and had a population of 1,150 in 469 households at the 2001 census.For the purposes of local government, it falls within the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk.Docking has many small businesses including a fish and chip shop. The blacksmith's forge is near the village pond but is now no longer active.Docking Market is a local produce and product market bring fresh and local produce to the village it provides funding to help maintain and service the village hall it was founded on April 25th 2012 and has continued to serve the village and the surrounding villages and its visitors on a regular weekly basis every Wednesday at the Ripper Hall it only closes 2 weeks over the Christmas period.Docking is close to the coastal resorts of Hunstanton, Heacham and Brancaster. Other surrounding villages include Bircham, Bircham Newton, Ringstead, Sedgeford, Stanhoe, Syderstone, and Burnham Market.Docking church, St Mary, was built during the 15th century and is a large church with some interesting features that include a late medieval font.In 1969 Docking had an unusual UFO sighting. Electrical Engineer, Robin Peck was driving through Docking at night when the electrical system in his car failed. He could sense static electricity in the air and then saw a bright blue inverted mushroom shape in the sky that was roughly 400 metres away and 40 metres above the trees. It suddenly disappeared in the direction of Norwich and his car strangely began working again.The small inland village of Docking can trace its origin back to Roman times. In the past it used to be known as Dry Docking as it had no water supply of its own. In the 1760s a well was sunk some 230 feet down which provided domestic water for the village at a farthing per bucket. The use of this well continued until 1936 when water was eventually piped into the village..The village church is St Mary the Virgin which is mostly 14th and 15th century in date with Victorian restorations. There is currently a village archaeological project to locate the site of a lost priory believed to have been in the area during the 13th and 14th century. One theory is that the village church may have been the site of the former priory church.