It is halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth and has the only bridge across the Bure between Wroxham and Great Yarmouth.
The name "Acle" means "in the lea of the oaks", i.e. a clearing in an oak forest. In Tudor times, hundreds of oaks were felled here to built ships for 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", i.e. the right to dig peat.
Acle was connected to the railway system in 1883, and in 1892 a foundry was started which built mainly windpumps for land drainage, including the very last windpump built for the Broads, at Ash Tree Farm.