Acle is a small market town on the River Bure in Norfolk within The Broads National Park. It is located halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and has the only bridge across the River Bure between Wroxham and Great Yarmouth.
The name "Acle" means "in the lea of the oaks", that is, a clearing in an oak forest. In Tudor times, hundreds of oaks were felled here for timber to construct Elizabeth I's war ships.
In Roman times, Acle was a port at the head of a large estuary named Gariensis. Acle is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and in 1253 it was granted a market. In 1382, it received the right for a "turbary", that is, the right to dig peat.
Acle railway station, which was built in 1883, lies on the Wherry Line from Norwich to Great Yarmouth. In 1892 a foundry was constructed that specialised in building windpumps for land drainage, including the very last windpump built for the Broads, at Ash Tree Farm.
