But millions of years ago, a volcano erupted off what is now the Norfolk coast with a blast so powerful it sent ash flying as far as Scandinavia.

Scientists studying a mysterious layer of ash found across areas of Norway, Sweden, and parts of eastern Europe now believe it originated from a volcanic eruption in the Wash.

Researchers from the British Geological Survey (BGS) and the University of Oslo examined microscopic zircon crystals from boreholes in North Creake, near Fakenham along with sites in Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.

They found they matched those found in the so-called Kinnekulle tephra deposits, named after the Swedish mountain where they were first discovered.

The site of one of the boreholes, at North Creake (Image: Tim Pharoah)

Tim Pharaoh, principal author of the study and a scientist at the........

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