The church of St Mary in Surlingham is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk. The adjacent Church Marsh nature reserve is leased by the RSPB and is overlooked by the ruins of St Saviour's church. Dating from the 12th century, St. Saviour's was in regular use until 1705. A campaign has been launched by local villagers to save the site from further deterioration and to make it safe for visitors. Norfolk naturalist Ted Ellis is buried here.
Village
Surlingham Community Primary School currently caters for around 80 children in four classrooms, two in the original Victorian building and two more built in a similar style completed in 2006. It is situated on Walnut Hill in the centre of Surlingham opposite the village pond. Also in the centre of the village are a village shop, post office and a garage. In 2011 a choir, "Surlingham Broadnotes", was started in the village.
Pubs
The village has two pubs, both in the north of the village on the bank of the river, the Coldham Hall Tavern and The Ferry House Inn. The latter marks the site of a ferry across the Yare to Postwick which stopped operating around 1939 following a collision with a coaster.
Surlingham Broad
Lying between Surlingham Ferry and Coldham Hall Tavern is Surlingham Broad, a maze of waterways and swamp over 1 km2 in area leased by Norfolk Wildlife Trust. One of the central lakes, Bargate, is connected to the Yare by two dykes; the area is known as the 'wherry graveyard' as 13 wherry hulls have been sunk here. It was in the Yare valley and in particular on Surlingham Broad in the 1950s that Dr Joyce Lambert, helped by schoolboys from the City of Norwich School, began taking peat borings which led her to conclude that the Broads were the result of human activity, peat digging.
Wheatfen Broad
A well known and widely respected local figure, the writer, broadcaster and naturalist Ted Ellis lived near Surlingham with his wife Phyllis for 40 years at Wheatfen Cottage near Wheatfen Broad. Ellis, who was known in print as E.A. Ellis, set up and developed his own nature reserve at the broad which is today known as Wheatfen Nature Reserve and is managed by the Ted Ellis Trust. A study centre was opened at the nature reserve in 2011. From 1928–56 Ellis was Keeper of Natural History at Norwich Castle Museum, but aged 47 he resigned to focus on his work as a naturalist. He wrote a nature column in the local newspaper, the Eastern Daily Press, above the byline 'E.A.E'.. As E. A. Ellis, he wrote books including the volume on The Broads in Collins' New Naturalists series. He often appeared on local television and on radio and he was active in many nature and conservation organisations. A naturalist with a national reputation whose painstaking research was respected and admired by the academic world, he communicated his enthusiasm to a wide audience through his writing and broadcasting. Ellis and his wife are buried among the ruins of St Saviour's Church. David Bellamy compared the significance of Wheatfen Broad to that of "Mount Everest or the giant redwood forests of North America". He went on, "It is probably the best bit of fenland we have because we know so much about it... purely because one man gave his life trying to understand it – Ted Ellis."
Coldham Hall Sailing Club which was founded in 1951 is situated in the grounds of Coldham Hall Tavern.
In 2009 a football team was established to give boys and girls in the village the opportunity to play the game.
In 2012 a small group of residents from Surlingham and surrounding villages formed an informal cycling club called the Ghostriders. So named because of their tendency to cycle in the evenings, enjoy liquid refreshment in local pubs and cycle home late at night. In 2015, five Ghostriders cycled from Lands End to John O'Groats via the Isle of Arran, a distance of 1030 miles over 14 days.
Transport links
Surlingham is served by bus route 85 operated by Our Bus providing nine services a day into Norwich via Rockland St Mary, Bramerton and Kirby Bedon. National Cycle Route 1 passes through Surlingham on its way from Norwich to Beccles via Loddon.
