Jubilee - East of England Region

RAF Coltishall

The Queen has visited RAF Coltishall more than once. She inspected planes on a visit in 1983 and her most recent visit was on 17 November 2005, to mark the 65th anniversary of the airfield. RAF Coltishall operated from 1938 to 2006.

It was a fighter airfield in the Second World War; a front-line fighter station in the Cold War; then a station for night fighters then ground attack aircraft until closure. During its prime, RAF Coltishall was a flourishing military base with many individuals involved in its running. Many acts of bravery were displayed by these courageous men and women, with some receiving legendary status.

Former RAF Coltishall is one of Norfolk’s most important historic airfields, now in the care of Norfolk County Council.

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Smithdon High School

The Queen with students in the Curriculum Learning support classroom during her visit to Smithdon High School in Hunstanton, Norfolk 31 January 2001. The school was built in 1954 during the post-war period and the baby boom following World War Two.

A national competition for architecture was won by the Smithsons, who designed the school in their “New Brutalism” style. It was one of their first designs. It remains a significant building to this day and has Grade II listed status.

In 1980, the school became a comprehensive school. The name Smithdon comes from the administrative division of a larger region, dating back to before Norman times. The Smithdon Hundred, was a collection of parishes around Hunstanton.

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Norwich Cathedral

The Queen visited Norwich Cathedral for a service of Dedication for the new hostry and refectory on 4 May 2010.

Begun in 1096, the structure of the cathedral is primarily in the Norman style. An Anglo-Saxon settlement and two churches were demolished to make room for the buildings and a canal cut to allow access to the River Wensum.

The cathedral was completed in 1145 but over the next 600 years, suffered damage through riots, storms, lightning strikes, fires and civil war. Rebuilding was done in both gothic and perpendicular styles. However, the roof bosses survived, and are one of the world's greatest medieval sculptural treasures.

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Kings Lynn South Fire Station

The Queen meets firefighters as she formally opens the new Kings Lynn South Fire Station, 2 February 2015. She unveiled a plaque to mark the official opening.

The station has a Fire Appliance staffed by Wholetime Duty System (WDS) Firefighters available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week working in teams, known as watches.

Thousands more homes are likely to be built over the next decade along the A10 corridor to accommodate Lynn's growing population. The new station offers a much faster response south of Lynn. As part of their community outreach they also offer visits to local schools.

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King's Lynn Town Hall

The Queen visited Kings Lynn Town Hall in Norfolk where she saw exhibits and met local dignitaries on 6 February 2012.

Originally home to the Trinity Guild, King’s Lynn Town Hall has been at the centre of life in the town for over eight centuries and the Borough Mayor is still based here. The heart of the Guildhall is Stone Hall, a medieval hall built in 1421 with a stone floor and oak-beamed ceiling.

After the Reformation closed the Guilds, the undercroft was used as a prison and a Bridewell (jail), a courtroom and ornate Assembly Room were added in the Georgian era. It is recognisable by its striking chequerboard pattern of flintwork facing onto the Saturday Market Place.

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Thoresby College

The Queen is shown an exhibition at the King's Lynn Preservation Trust in Thoresbury College, Kings Lynn Norfolk 24 January 2008. Thoresby College is one of the most complete survivals of medieval Lynn.

Originally named Trinity College, it was the creation of Thomas Thoresby, burgess, merchant and three times Mayor of the Borough. Building started in 1508 and provided accommodation for priests of the Trinity Guild to pray for him and his family ‘as long as the world shall endure’.

After the Reformation, the college was sold and adapted for domestic and commercial use. In 1963, it was presented to the King’s Lynn Preservation Trust for restoration, with the request that the building be used for the benefit of the whole community.

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True's Yard Fisherfolk Museum

The Queen visited True's Yard in King's Lynn on 5 February 2010. True’s Yard is a heritage site and town museum celebrating the fishing community which made such a significant contribution to Lynn’s economic and social life. 

The two cottages and smoke house are virtually all that remains of the North End. They are a physical reminder of the harsh lives of the hundreds of families, who once lived close by to the beautiful medieval chapel of St. Nicholas. 

The North End had its own boat builders, chandlers, sailmakers, pubs, bakehouses and school. The fishing fleet still sails from King’s Lynn, but the old way of life has gone.

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King Edward VII Academy

The Queen visited King Edward VII High School in King's Lynn, Norfolk to unveil a plaque commemorating the School's Centenary year on January 24, 2007.

King Edward VII Academy was founded in 1510 by Thomas Thoresby, a former Mayor of Lynn, who made provision in his will for a priest to teach ‘grammar and song’. The name was changed to King Edward Vll Grammar School in 1903 when it was amalgamated with the King’s Lynn Technical School.

The current academy building was designed by Basil Champneys and opened in 1906 by King Edward VII. In 2014 the school became an academy and changed its name to King Edward VII Academy.

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Carole Brown Health Centre

The Queen arrived without her 87-year-old husband to open the Carole Brown Health Centre on 3 February 2009. She was greeted by more than 200 well-wishers.

She seemed visibly amused as she unveiled a plaque to officially open the health centre, which read: 'This plaque was unveiled by Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.' Prince Philip was due to join the Queen but was recovering from a back problem suffered while carriage-driving at Sandringham.

Among the large crowd were more than 100 children from Dersingham First and Nursery School, who waved handmade union flags. The Queen was given flowers by seven-year-old Phoebe Ward, whose grandmother is a nurse at the centre.

Great Bircham (St. Mary’s) Church

The Queen laid a wreath at the Cross of Sacrifice at St Mary's Church, Great Bircham, Norfolk, on 1 July 2006 to mark the 60th anniversary of the unveiling of the first Cross of Sacrifice to be completed after the Second World War.

During the 1939-1945 war the Grade II listed Norman church’s churchyard was used for the burial of airmen from RAF Bircham Newton, service dead whose bodies were washed up by the sea and German airmen brought down in the Battle of Britain.

The cross of Sacrifice, the first to be erected after the 1939-1945 war, was unveiled by His Majesty King George VI on 14th July 1946. There is now one, 1914-1918 war casualty and nearly 80, 1939-1945 war casualties commemorated in the churchyard.

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Sandringham Estate

Sandringham House and Estate are a royal residence. The house has been occupied since the 16th century but only became a royal residence in 1862, when the future King Edward VII had the house almost completely rebuilt. It was the setting for the first Christmas broadcast in 1932 by George V.

The Queen spends each winter on the Sandringham Estate, including the anniversary of her father's death and her accession in February, since 1952. In 1957, she broadcast her first televised Christmas message from there.

In 1977, for her Silver Jubilee, the house and grounds were opened to the public for the first time. In early February 2022, the Queen stayed at the house to mark her Platinum Jubilee.

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The Hub, Milton Keynes

The Queen unveils a plaque marking the 40th anniversary of Milton Keynes at the Hub on 29 November 2007.

In January 1967, the decision was taken to build a new town, enveloping several existing towns and villages near Bletchley and be named after one of them, Milton Keynes. This was planned as a series of grid squares divided by roads and strips of parkland. The 'city centre’ was to be an American style 'downtown strip', most successfully realised in the Shopping Building.

The Shopping Building, the largest covered arcade then built, was unprecedented in Britain. The original design was informed by the play of natural light and the arcades are aligned so that on Midsummer Day, the sun sets along the arcades.

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St Paul's Walden Bury

Princesses Elizabeth (1926-) (later Queen Elizabeth II) and Margaret (1930-2002) playing in the sandpit at St. Paul's Walden Bury in 1932. This was the home of their grandparents Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cave.

St Paul’s Walden Bury was the childhood home of the Queen’s mum, Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The house was built in c1730, along with ornamented formal pleasure grounds in the adjacent woodland.

The estate stayed with the Bowes-Lyon family during the 19th and 20 ^th  centuries. The gardens were restored from the 1930s to the 1960s.

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Town Centre Market, Harlow

The Queen smiles at the crowds packed behind the barriers as, followed by Prince Philip, she arrives in Market Square during her visit to Harlow New Town on 30 October 1957.

Harlow New Town was built after World War II to ease overcrowding in London caused by bombing during the Blitz. The development incorporated historic villages like Old Harlow but kept ‘Green Wedges’ to separate neighbourhoods of the town.

Many of the country's leading post-war architects were invited to design buildings, which included Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern-style residential tower block, The Lawn, constructed in 1951. There was also a focus, by the Harlow Arts Trust, on including public art and sculptures such as the now Grade II listed ‘The Meat Porters’ sculpture.

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Felsted Old School Room

The Queen and Prince Philip met staff and pupils during their visit to Felsted School in Essex, where she unveiled two plaques to commemorate the School's 450th anniversary and completion of a new boarding house on 6 May 2014.

Felsted was founded as a Grammar school in 1564 by Richard Riche, Lord Chancellor to Edward VI. The school became popular for boys from Puritan families in the 17th century, including four of Oliver Cromwell's sons. Originally the school was housed in the converted Guild Hall which is still used today.

The Victorian independent public school was built between 1860 and 1867 and buildings have been added in the 20th and 21st centuries.  The Old School Room is still used as Art Rooms by the school.

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Colchester Campus, University of Essex

The Queen smiles as she talks with students from around the world, during a visit to Essex University near Colchester on 25 November 2004 , which celebrated its 40th anniversary in that year.

The University of Essex was established in 1964 as one of the ‘plate glass’ universities. These were a series of new universities that were typically named after the county or wider area they served, rather than the town or city in which they were based.

The 6 tower blocks on the Wivenhoe Campus were some of the tallest loadbearing structures in Europe at the time and remain a local landmark. The campus is set in the historic Wivenhoe Park, originally landscaped in the eighteenth century and painted by celebrated artist John Constable.

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Harwich International Port

The Queen and Prince Philip walk up the gangway to embark on the Royal Yacht Britannia at Harwich, Essex, for their three-day State visit to Holland on 24 March 1958. Boys from the Royal Navy Junior Training Establishment, HMS Ganges, mount a guard of honour beside the gangway.

Harwich International Port is a North Sea Haven port on the south bank of the River Stour opposite the Port of Felixstowe. The Great Eastern Railway operated passenger steamers to continental Europe and opened Parkeston Quay in 1883, with its own railway station and hotel.

Today, it is the port for ferries to the Hook of Holland, freighters to Rotterdam Europort and for wind farms in the southern North Sea.

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Bury St Edmunds Cathedral

The Queen leaving Bury St Edmunds Cathedral with clergy after attending the traditional Maundy Thursday Service on 9 April 2009.

A church has stood on this site since at least 1065. Originally a parish church, it was rebuilt in the 12th century and dedicated to St James. In 16th century, it was rebuilt again in the Perpendicular style. Further alterations to the building were undertaken in the 18th and 19th centuries.

When the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich was created in 1914, St James's Church became the cathedral. In 1959, new building work began to transform the former parish church into a cathedral building.

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Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds

The Queen and Prince Philip chat while seated during a musical performance in the Abbey Gardens, during her Golden Jubilee visit to Suffolk on 17 July 2002.

The Abbey Gardens occupy the site of St Edmund's Abbey, one of the largest and most important Benedictine abbeys in medieval England. The site became home to the remains of the martyred King Edmund in 903 and continued to be a place of pilgrimage until dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. Though the abbey precinct was quickly stripped of valuable building material, the abbot’s palace survived as a house.

A botanic garden was established in the abbey grounds in 182: this was expanded from 1831-1885. The grounds were opened to the public, but with a high entrance fee. The Borough Council leased the grounds and a free park was opened in 1912.

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RAF Honington

The Queen and Prince Philip visit family and friends of personnel serving in the Gulf, 24 March 2003 at RAF Honington, Suffolk.

Although used as a bomber station by both the British and American air forces during the Second World War, RAF Honington is now the RAF Regiment depot. Construction of Honington airfield, which was undertaken by John Laing & Son, began in 1935, and the facility was opened on 3 May 1937.

Two rare Second World War era field fortifications survive within the airfield boundary.

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King's College, Cambridge

The Queen and Prince Philip, who was the Chancellor of Cambridge University, attend a service at King's College Chapel, to mark the 800th anniversary of the University on 19 November 2009.

King's College is part of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1441 by Henry VI soon after he had founded its sister college in Eton. Both Henry VII and Henry VIII also took an interest in the college.

King's College Chapel is regarded as one of the greatest examples of late Gothic English architecture. It has the world's largest fan vault, while the chapel's stained-glass windows and wooden chancel screen are considered some of the finest from their era. The building is seen as emblematic of Cambridge.

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Orfordness Lighthouse

The Queen looks at an optic from the decommissioned Orfordness Lighthouse in Suffolk built in 1913, during a visit to the International Maritime Organization, London on 6 March 2018, to mark the 70th year of its formation. 

After 228 years of safeguarding and providing a navigation mark for mariners, Orfordness Lighthouse is being undermined by the encroaching sea. Over the years there have been 11 different lighthouses on Orford Ness, the first built in 1792 by Lord Braybrooke of Audley End.   

Until 1965 the lighthouse was manned by resident lighthouse keepers with their families living on site until 1938.  The lantern room and other artefacts will pass to the Orfordness Lighthouse Trust charity and form the basis of a lighthouse memorial structure. 

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Stevenage

The Queen visited some new homes during her visit for the official opening of the pedestrianised town centre in Stevenage New Town on 2 April 1959. Stevenage was designated the first New Town under the New Towns Act in 1946.

The plan was not popular and local people protested at a meeting held in the town hall before Lewis Silkin, minister in the Labour Government of Clement Attlee. In keeping with the sociological outlook of the day, the town was planned with six self-contained neighbourhoods with a separate industrial area.

The pedestrianised town centre was the first purpose-built traffic-free shopping zone in Britain, taking its inspiration from the Lijnbaan in Rotterdam. Although revolutionary for its time, the town centre began showing signs of age and, in 2005, plans were revealed for a major regeneration.

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Cornhill, Ipswich

The Queen receives a rose from an onlooker, during a walkabout among the crowds in Ipswich, during her Silver Jubilee Tour of Britain on 11 July 1977.

The Cornhill was packed as Her Majesty did a walkabout to meet the crowds. In Medieval times, the Cornhill became the centre of trade and local government in the centre of Ipswich, surrounded by many grand buildings.

NatWest Bank’s Grade II building on the corner of Tavern Street and Cornhill was designed in 1928 for the National Provincial Bank. Founded in 1833, this bank opened branches outside London so it could issue its own banknotes and gradually establish a national branch network. In 1968 the bank announced its merger with Westminster Bank, and NatWest launched in 1970.

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St Mary’s, Saffron Walden

The Royal Family left the Church of St Mary the Virgin in the Essex village of Saffron Walden, after the wedding of James Ogilvy and Julia Rawlinson on 30 July 1988.

The Grade I listed parish church is the largest in Essex. There was probably a Saxon wooden church here and an Anglo-Saxon cross survives in the porch. The Norman stone church was rebuilt and enlarged in the ‘Perpendicular’ style by royal master masons when events of 1485 meant work temporarily ceased at King's College, Cambridge. The Saffron Crocus and Tudor symbols can be found throughout.

The Muniment room was the meeting place of the Guild of Holy Trinity, later the Town Council. The Howard vault is the resting place of the Earls of Suffolk who built Audley End.

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RAF Marham

The Queen visited RAF Marham on 4 February 2008. She watched a flypast and spoke to RAF personnel who had recently returned from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It opened in 1916 to defend Norfolk from raids by the German Zeppelin airships during World War One. By 1939, it was home to Wellington bombers, which flew some of the first raids of World War Two.

During the Cold War, the Atom Bomb arrived at RAF Marham and it was home to flying tanker units that pioneered air-to-air refuelling, seen in the Falklands conflict in 1982. Since 1990 RAF Marham has seen continuous operations in the Middle East and North Africa. Over 3600 Service Personnel work there.

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Norfolk Constabulary - Operations and Communications Centre

The Queen watched a demonstration given by PC Jason Newman from the Norfolk Police Dog Section and his dog Murphy who has a camera strapped to his head, as she opened the Norfolk Constabulary Operations and Communications Centre on 5 February 2002.

Norfolk Constabulary was founded in 1839 under the County Police Act 839 and was one of the first county forces to be formed. In 1965, it had an establishment of 636 officers and an actual strength of 529. In 1968 it amalgamated with Norwich City Police and Great Yarmouth Borough Police to form the Norfolk Joint Constabulary. In 1974, it returned to the name Norfolk Constabulary.

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Newmarket Racecourse

The Queen is all smiles after her horse, Highclere, wins the 100 Guineas at Newmarket on 2 May 1974.

Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of British horseracing and is home to two of the Classics. The Racecourse is made up of the Rowley Mile Course (after Old Rowley, favourite racehorse of Charles II) and the July Course. Both are wide, galloping tracks used for Flat racing only. The new Millennium Grandstand at the Rowley Mile was constructed in 1999.

Both courses have grass airstrips, which were used during the Second World War by the RAF, though the racecourse remained operational throughout the war. The ancient Devil's Dyke runs past, and half the racecourse is actually in Cambridgeshire.

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