area on 12 December 1849. Steam trains linked London, Ipswich, Diss and Norwich, five stopping daily at the local station at Flordon. At first the Norwich terminal was called Victoria Station and stood at the top of St Stephen's Street. A fine station was built at Flordon with buildings in typical Victorian style sporting large ornate chimneys, slate roofs and decorated brickwork. The first stationmaster was James Clayton. Close by stood the Railway Tavern kept by Jonathan Pawley. The coming of railways to Norfolk brought a drastic fall in the heavy traffic of stage coaches, carriers and wagons along the main road through Tasburgh. Within a year sales of hay at the Bird-in-Hand fell from 50 tons annually to around 17, and all five licensed stage coach services disappeared. In 1863 rail travel to Harleston, Bungay, Beccles and beyond became possible with the completion of the Waveney Valley Railway, which left the main line at Tivetshall Station. In 1881 a further branch line from Forncett Station to Wymondham opened up travel to many other parts of the county. All the railways in the area were absorbed into the Great Eastern Railway. By 1851 the population of 363 at the beginning of the century had grown to 475, and the village contained 113 houses. This growth reflected the boom in agriculture in the mid-19th century. At this time Tasburgh was quite self-contained, with two blacksmiths, two shopkeepers, two butchers, a shoemaker, a wheelwright, a miller and a maltster. There were eleven farmers, a cattle dealer and a pig jobber, who slaughtered the pigs that most of the villagers kept. Tasburgh Hall, still called Tasburgh Lodge, was occupied by Commander Gwyn, a one-legged veteran of the Napoleonic Wars while Tasburgh Grange was a maltings named Maltings Farm. There were five licensed premises and a windmill in addition to the watermill. Later, the uncertainties of wind and water power were overcome by the installation of a steam engine at the watermill. At this time the village comprised two separate straggles of houses, one along Saxlingham Lane and Low Road and the other clustered around Ipswich Road. The only dwellings in between were the Rectory and Old Hall Farm. Church Road was a tree-lined lane. The principal residence was Rainthorpe Hall, occupied by the Hon Frederick Walpole MP. An agricultural depression in the last part of the 19th century caused the population to fall