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Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in the north of the English county of Norfolk^[1]. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles (37 km) north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles (6.5 km) east of Sheringham. The civil parish has an area of 4.66 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 7,749 people in 3,671 households.^[2]

Origins

Cromer is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, but two other settlements, Shipden-juxta-mere and Shipden-juxta-Felbrigg, are mentioned. It is reasonable to assume that the present site of Cromer, around the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul, is what was then Shipden-juxta-Felbrigg.^[3] The other Shipden is now about a quarter of a mile to the north east of the end of Cromer Pier, under the sea. Its site is marked by Church Rock, now no longer visible, even at a low spring tide. In 1888 a vessel struck the rock, and the rock was then blown up for safety.

Cromer became a resort in the early-19th century, with some of the rich Norwich banking families making it their summer home. Visitors included the future King Edward VII, who played golf here. The resort's facilities included the late-Victorian Cromer Pier, which is home to the Pavilion Theatre. In 1883 the London journalist Clement Scott went to Cromer and began to write about the area. He named the stretch of coastline, particularly the Overstrand and Sidestrand area, "Poppyland",^[4] and the combination of the railway and his writing in the national press brought many visitors. The name "Poppyland" referred to the numerous poppies which grew (and still do) at the roadside and in meadows.

Tourism

The North Norfolk Information Centre was opened in the town on 1 August 2008 by local writer Keith Skipper. The eco-friendly building uses underground heat source pumps and solar energy to provide 60% of its energy needs.^[5][6]

Youth organizations

Air Training Corps: 1895 (Cromer) Squadron, based at Cromer High School, parade on Monday and Thursday evenings.

Army Cadet Force: Cromer Platoon, Britannia Company, based at Cromer High School, parade on Tuesday evenings and some Wednesdays during the summer months.

Transport connections

Railway stations in Cromer: The first railway connected to Cromer in 1877. Ten years later a second station was opened bringing visitors from the East Midlands. The two stations were Cromer High (owned by the Great Eastern Railway) and the more central Cromer Beach (owned by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway), of which the latter still remains (now known simply as Cromer). Direct services were operated from London, Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, Peterborough and Sheffield, but today a service to Norwich is all that remains. The station is on the Bittern Line connecting it to Sheringham, North Walsham, Wroxham and Norwich, from where the rest of the national rail network can be accessed.

Road communications with Cromer are the A140 to Norwich, the A148 (direct) & A149 (coast road) to King's Lynn, and the A149 into the Norfolk Broads and Great Yarmouth. The B1159 is a coastal road out towards Mundesley. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport and there is a private airfield 3 miles (5 km) south east of the town at Northrepps Aerodrome.

Cromer crab

The town is famous for the Cromer crab, which forms the major source of income for the local fishermen. The town had grown up as a fishing station over the centuries and became a year-round fishery, with crabs and lobsters in the summer, drifting for longshore herring in the autumn and long-lining, primarily for cod, in the winter, when the weather permitted. The pattern of fishing has changed over the last thirty years, and it is now almost completely focused on crabs and lobsters. At the end of the 19th century, the beaches to the east and west of the pier were crowded with fishing boats. Now, about ten boats ply their trade from the foot of the gangway on the east beach, with shops in the town selling fresh crab, whenever the boats go to sea.

Lifeboat

The fishermen also crewed Cromer's two lifeboats. Most famous of the lifeboatmen was Henry Blogg, who received the RNLI gold medal for heroism three times, and the silver medal four times. Cromer lifeboat station was founded in 1804, the first in Norfolk. Rowing lifeboats were stationed there through the 19th century.

In the 1920s a lifeboat station was built at the end of the pier, enabling a motor lifeboat to be launched beyond the breakers. A number of notable rescues carried out between 1917 and 1941 made the lifeboat and the town well-known throughout the United Kingdom and further afield. The area covered by the station is large, as there a long run of coastline with no harbour – Great Yarmouth is 40 miles (65 km) by sea to the south east and the restricted harbour of Wells next the Sea 25 miles (40 km) to the west. Today the offshore lifeboat on the pier performs about a dozen rescues a year, with about the same number for the inshore lifeboat stationed on the beach.

The Duke of Kent officially named the town's new lifeboat the Lester in a ceremony on 8 September 2008. ^[7]

v • d • e   Lifeboat stations in Norfolk (RNLI) Caister Beach Company lifeboats Unnamed 1st • Unnamed 2nd No. 1 station lifeboats James Pearce • Covent Garden I • Covent Garden II • Covent Garden III • James Leath No. 2 station lifeboats The Boys • Godsend • Beauchamp • Nancy Lucy • Charles Burton • Jose Neville • Royal Thames CVRS lifeboats Shirley Jean Adye • Bernard Matthews I • Bernard Matthews II Notable crew James Haylett • Charles Bonney George    Lifeboat disaster Caister lifeboat disaster (1901) Cromer Beach station lifeboats Unnamed 1st  • Unnamed 2nd  • Unnamed 3rd (RNLI) • Benjamin Bond Cabbell I (ON 12) • Benjamin Bond Cabbell II (ON 495) • Louisa Heartwell (ON 495) • Alexandra (ON 514) • Harriot Dixon (ON 770) • Jose Neville (ON 834) • William Henry and Mary King (ON 980) • Spirit of Round Table • Chloe Pier station lifeboats H F Bailey (ON 670) • H F Bailey (ON 694) • H F Bailey II (ON 714) • City of Bradford (ON 680) • H F Bailey III (ON 777) • J B Proudfoot (ON 694) • Millie Walton (ON 840) • Henry Blogg (ON 840) • Edward and Isabella Irwin (ON 778) • The Cunard (ON 728) • Ruby and Arthur Reed (ON 990) • Good Hope (ON 821) • William Gammon (ON 849) • Guy and Clare Hunter (ON 926) • Sam and Joan Woods (ON 1075) • Ruby and Arthur Reed II (ON 1097) • Her Majesty The Queen (ON 1189) • Lord Saulton (ON 1138) • Saint Cybi (ON 1095) • Royal Shipwright (ON 1162) • Lester (ON 1287) Notable crew Henry Blogg · Henry Thomas Davies Notable rescues SS Cantabria · SS English Trader · SS Georgia · Stuart Hill (sailor) · SS Mount Ida · HMS Vortigern (D37) Great Yarmouth & Gorleston Lifeboats The Manby • Unnamed 2nd • Unnamed 3rd • Unnamed 4th aka Duff aka Abraham Thomas • Refuge • Elizabeth Simpson • Brave Robert Sheldon aka Mark Lane I • Mark Lane II • Thora Zelma • John Burch • Mark Lane III • Leicester I • Leicester II • Leicester III • City of Glasgow • James Stevens No.3 • Hugh Taylor • John and Mary Meiklam of Gladswood I • Agnes Cross • Kentwell • James Finlayson • John and Mary Meiklam of Gladswood II • Louise Stephens • Khami • Barham • Samarbeta Lifeboat disasters Gorleston lifeboat disaster (1866) · Gorleston lifeboat disaster (1867) · Gorleston lifeboat disaster (1881) · Gorleston lifeboat disaster (1888) Happisburgh   Hunstanton   Sheringham Private lifeboats Augusta • Henry Ramey Upcher RNLI lifeboats Duncan • William Bennett (ON 11) • J C Madge (ON 536) • Forester’s Centenary (ON 786) • The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows (ON960) • ILB (D 204) • Lloyds II (ON 986) • ILB (B 536) • Lions International (B 539) • Manchester Unity of Oddfellows (B 702)  Notable rescues SS Eaglescliffe Hall Wells-next-the-Sea Lifeboat disaster Wells lifeboat disaster (1880) Related topics George William Manby · Hammond's Knoll · Haisborough Sands

Twinning

Nidda, Hesse, Germany

Crest, Drôme, France

Gallery

Cromer Pier as seen from the Henry Blogg Museum