Overstrand

Overstrand – known once as Ox Strand – is listed in the Doomsday Book of 1086 and is a small coastal village in the county of Norfolk in the east of England.  A little less than a thousand people live there and it can claim crab fishing, farming and tourism as its main sources of revenue.  Because of the type of land along that entire portion of the coastline, cliff slippage is still a problem, the town losing over an acre of land to the North Sea in 1992.
Overstrand was a fairly quiet hamlet with no recognition until Anna Gurney, Sarah Buxton, and Sir Thomas Fowel Buxton got involved with prison reform and anti-slavery in the 19th century.  Northrepps Cottage, located in Overstrand, became a popular meeting place for many of the reformers of the era.  Anna Gurney was also well known for translating the Saxon Chronicles and starting a school in the village.
Overstrand was the village to which famous names such as Edward VII, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and the Duke of Marlborough travelled to when they were taking holidays in nearby Cromer.  Some of them even built homes there for their use during summer, earning the town the nickname of ‘the Village of Millionaires’.
Today this seaside village has two hotels, a café, pub, caravan site, and other everyday needs such as a village shop and schools.  It does not see as many tourists as some of the other towns and villages on this coast but visitors who manage to make it to Overstrand will enjoy the hospitality and the excellent beach. There is good car parking provision.

East Runton

Situated near the North Sea, East Runton is a small village in Norfolk County, England.  Like Cromer, it was once a fishing community that was turned into a popular holiday spot during the Victorian era.  The population of the village is around 1,633 which includes the area known as West Runton.  The village proper can be reached by the A149 coast road, but most of the houses and businesses will be found south of the road around the two village greens.  The beach that is part of East Runton has become a well known surfing area.
The Fishing Boat and the White Horse Inn are East Runton’s two public houses.  The Fishing boat is the oldest, dating back to 1734 when it was called the Three Horse Shoes.  The White Horse dates back to 1851.  Like many of the town’s surrounding it East Runton once had a working mill, but the land and the buildings upon it have been restored and turned into a private residence.  According to historical records, the town also boasted a wooden post mill, but there is no evidence as to where it stood.
East Runton’s famous citizen was James Leak, the local blacksmith and bare knuckle prize fighter in the 1800’s.  Supposedly he developed gangrene in one of his toes and decided to perform surgery on it himself to keep the gangrene from spreading.  Using his blacksmith tools, he removed the toe and cauterized the wound by himself since he couldn’t afford a surgeon’s fees.  He went on to a full recovery and continued fighting, dying at the age of 82.

Fakenham

Located on the Wensum River, Fakenham is a small town and civil parish in Norfolk County, England.  It is not far from the county seat of Norwich and the popular seaside town of Cromer, and it has a population of around 7,357 people.  The name of the town is Saxon, which possibly translates to ‘fair place’.  In 1086 the town only had 150 citizens in it.  Nearby Hempton was located across the Wensum River and had its own abbey, making it the larger town.  The abbey was destroyed by King Henry VIII when he split from the church and Fakenham suddenly became the trading centre in the area.  In the 19th and 20th centuries, Fakenham was well known for its print works, but most of the major facilities closed in the 1970’s, leaving only a few presses still in operation around the town.
Everything in Fakenham closes early on Wednesday causing it to be dubbed, in a national guide, as the ‘most boring place on Earth’ in the late 1990’s.  The town has been attempting to shake off this misnomer ever since, doing everything in its power to show the world that it is anything but boring.  The entire town centre has been renovated and motor vehicles are no longer allowed in much of the central area.  The Farmer’s Market has found renewed interest and is always crowded on the morning of the 4th Saturday each month.
There were two railway stations in Fakenham, Fakenham West and East.  The West station was on the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway which closed in 1959.  The Fakenham east station was on the Great Eastern Railway and closed in the 1960’s to passenger service.  Freight service discontinued on the line in the 1980’s.  There are plans to restore rail services to Fakenham via the Mid-Norfolk Railway line which would connect the town to East Dereham, Wymondham, and Norwich.

Sheringham

Sheringham in the county of Norfolk, England has the distinction of being able to say that it was the first place in the country to be bombed by a Zeppelin during World War I.  It is also the home of pure, natural beaches, unspoiled woodland, and a National Trust property that is absolutely amazing when the rhododendrons are in bloom.
Sheringham has its own RNLI lifeboat crew with the latest class of boat.  They still possess four of the original lifeboats that were used when the RNLI was founded.  Many residents are still active in crab fishing and the town offers visitors a range of shops, pubs, B&B’s, hotels, and even a youth hostel.  There are plenty of sports related accommodations as well, including a golf course, leisure complex, putting, skateboard park and cycling.
The Sheringham Museum displays a long history of boat building and the tools that were used in olden times to build them.  The Weybourne Elephant is also displayed here, a 1.5 million year old skeleton that was found in the cliffs west of the village.
The town is also the headquarters of the North Norfolk Steam Railway at Sheringham Station and visitors will enjoy the full size steam trains and diesel trips through the countryside to other towns nearby.
There is a carnival with over forty events held every year during the last week of July and first week of August.  All of the carnival’s proceeds are donated to charity.  Anyone who enjoys artistic pursuits will enjoy the town’s theatre where they can watch plays, musical performances, and more.

Holkham

The county of Norfolk, England is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country.  It is also the home of Holkham, a village and civil parish that is located on the coast road (A149) and lies in the middle of a national nature reserve.  The population of Holkham is approximately 236 people.  Like many of the villages and towns along the eastern coast, Holkham once had its own harbour landing thanks to a tidal creek that ran into the town of Wells-next-the-Sea.  Eventually this disappeared as the estate of Holkham Hall began to use the land for agriculture.  When the seawall at Wells was completed the rest of the creek dried up.  This small village is basically the main entry to the Holkham estate and nature reserve.
The current Earl of Leicester still resides at Holkham Hall, one of the first Palladian styled homes to be built in England.  The nature reserve completely surrounds the estate and there is a lake on the property that was probably formed during the reclamation of land around the creek that led to the North Sea.  The park is filled with fallow deer, boasts monuments and drives, and even has its own church.  The Earl has opened his home and the park to visitors and collects a toll fee from Lady Anne’s Drive.  This road connects the A149 to the town and leads across the salt marshes to Holkham Gap and the lovely beach at Holkham Bay.  The Gap leads between a pine forest to a section of sand dunes that eventually makes way to an uninterrupted beach that runs from Wells to Burnham Overy Staithe.  The western edge of the beach is the nudist section.
Holkham Beach and Holkham Gap have both been featured in films and television shows such as ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, ‘Shakespeare in Love’, and episodes of the television show ‘The Avengers’.

The Town Of Holt Norfolk

Holt is a market town in the county of Norfolk, England.  The town is listed in the Doomsday Book of 1086 and there is proof that it pre-dates the Norman invasion.  It is surrounded by delightful countryside and seaside towns and is filled with antique, gift shops and art galleries. Built in the beautiful Georgian style of architecture, the streets of the town are still laid out in the medieval twisting and turning paths of the time.

The High Street, which is the home to high quality stores and eateries, is connected to the many alleyways with more shops that are hidden gems people love to find.  For those who are feeling the bite of hunger there are tea shops and coffee houses that offer a wide range of fare, from traditional British dishes to ethnic delicacies.
Those who are visiting Holt for the very first time will be greeted with a variety of colours and building styles that are reminiscent of the Georgian era.  Many of the buildings in the town have been labelled as being architecturally important.  One of the reasons the town has such an eclectic mixture of architecture is due to a fire that rampaged through it in 1708, destroying the enter village in less than three hours.
Visitors can ride the steam railway to Sheringham, a coastal resort town, and enjoy the scenery of the coast.  Holt also offers a beautiful wooded park and heath that spans one hundred acres with walking paths rambling throughout.  The last working watermill in the county can be found in Holt along the Glaven River.  Tours of the mill explaining how grains are ground into flour are held on a daily basis for tourists. Those who are interested in bringing home a taste of this quaint location can purchase the flour ground in the mill which is also retailed in many shops throughout the county.

The Village Of Antingham

The county of Norfolk in the United Kingdom is the home to a variety of small towns and villages.  Antingham is one of the smaller villages boasting a population of around 287 people in this civil parish.  It only has a total area of 6.12 square kilometres and it is located six miles south of Cromer and three miles north of North Walsham.
One of the most interesting facts about Antingham is that it was the location of two watermills within a few hundred yards of each other that were located off a cut from the Ant River.  They were part of the North Walsham & Dilham Canal and were owned by the same person.  What made these two mills interesting was they were bone mills.  Butchers, slaughterhouses, knackers’ yards, and travelling traders would bring in bones that they had collected and give or trade them to the bone yard for grinding.  The local rag and bone man also brought his wares to these mills.  Phosphates from the local ports that was used for ballast on ships was also brought to the mills.   The powdered substance was then shipped from the two mills via the canal or rail and used to make fertilizer.
The two mills were powered by water in the early days of their production, but by the late 1800’s/early 1900’s, a Crossley gas engine that was run by anthracite and coke turned the wheels that ground the bones.  Both mills ceased operation somewhere between 1935 and 1936, and they were demolished in 1958.

Blakeney, Norfolk

Blakeney is a small village and civil parish of 789 people located on the north coast of England in the county of Norfolk.  It is part of an area designated as an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and is part of the North Norfolk Heritage Coast.  Its closest neighbours are Sheringham and Wells-next-the-Sea.  Up until the turn of the twentieth century, it was a booming commercial seaport, but the harbour has since silted up and only small boats can make it past Blakeney Point and out to sea.  The area that was once the harbour and the marshes around it is now an important national nature reserve.
Mariners Hill is just inland from the harbour and it is believed to be a man made structure once used as a lookout point.  The old Guildhall and the town’s High Street are at the bottom of the hill.  The Church of Saint Nicholas is higher up in the village with its two towers.  The main tower is over 100 feet high and can be seen from miles around the village.  The second tower was built as a beacon in order to guide boats into the harbour.
Blakeney has become a popular summer tourist spot, a great place for a holiday cottage, and visitors can stay at one of the two hotels in the town or at a 15 acre caravan park.  Crabbing, fishing, canoeing, and bird watching are just some of the many activities residents and visitors alike can enjoy while visiting the town.  Close to a hundred species of birds can be found living in the marshland around Blakeney Point.

A Short Guide To Cromer

Cromer is one of the many coastal towns that dot the north-eastern side of the United Kingdom. It is believed that the original settlement was actually two smaller villages, one of which is now under the sea close to the end of the Cromer Pier. The population of the civil parish is 7,749 and it lies twenty-three miles north of the county seat of Norwich. It was not mentioned in the Doomsday Book of 1086, but the two settlements of Shipden-juxta-Felbrigg and Shipden-juxta-Mere – which are believed to be Cromer’s ancestors – were mentioned.
The Victorian era saw the surge of affluent individuals into the Norfolk County coastal towns, Cromer included. Many families from Norwich built summer homes in Cromer and King Edward VII played regularly at the Cromer Links golf course. The Pier was built in 1907 and the promenade and Pavilion Theatre were added later. In 1883, the journalist Clement Scott nicknamed the area ‘Poppyland’ because of all of the poppies that grew in the fields and along the country roads. This caught the imagination of his readership and contributed greatly to the popularity of the area.

The local Crab was and is a main income source for Cromer and the town fished all year round for crab, lobster, herring, and cod. The last thirty years has seen a decline in fishing off the coast, and the fishermen that go out now primarily catch lobster and crab. The catches are usually sold to one of the many restaurants and shops in the town and visitors can enjoy a seafood dish at any one of the many eateries and know that it was locally caught and prepared.

Walsingham - A Place of Pilgrimage

Those that know it well cherish the area around Wells-next-the-Sea. The expansive sandy beaches, the salt marshes and pinewoods; and the charm of the town itself, combine, to make this place special to many people. A first time visitor can quickly become a devotee. However, apart from these attractions there is something else that makes this area notable. Just inland of Wells lies a village that is one of the most important sites of Anglican and Catholic pilgrimage in the United Kingdom: Little Walsingham.

Before the year 1061, Walsingham Parva, as it was then known, was an unremarkable Saxon settlement situated on the banks of the River Stiffkey; the fact that the Lord of the Manor was a Norman was not that unusual either. Immigration was quite common even then; the head of the family, named de Faverches, had settled and made his home at Walsingham. Then in 1061 something remarkable did occur that would elevate Walsingham to a position as one of the most important sites of Christian pilgrimage in England; Lady Richeldis de Faverches reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary.

Why was the report believed? Should such a claim be made today I suspect that the majority of the general public would meet it with cynical indifference. These however, were very different times. The word of Richeldis was not doubted; at the site of the vision, in the village, she ordered that a small house be built. This is thought to have been a simple wooden building. Word of the mystical event soon spread and visitors started to arrive at Walsingham. They were allowed to view the house, and the image of the Virgin that was placed by the altar. Richeldis obtained permission for Mass to be said, and the flow of pilgrims increased steadily.

In 1152 Augustinian Canons took responsibility for the shrine and work was commenced at the site to build a Priory Church that would become one of the wealthiest and best known in the Christian world. The completed building was some 250 feet in length; the ruin of the east window - in what are now the Abbey grounds - gives a clear impression of the scale of what was once a magnificent building.

The pilgrims came in their thousands. Most Kings of England made the journey, including Henry VIII, who ultimately would cause the demise of pilgrimage to the shrine. The wealthy came on horseback, the poor on foot. Many travelled hundreds of miles over many weeks, carrying the minimum of belongings in a sack, using a stout wooden staff for support and personal protection. Often travelling in groups -for companionship and security - they made their way, staying at monasteries and inns, en-route. The favoured route, known as the ‘Palmers’ Way’ - from the tradition of bringing a palm leaf back from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land - was via Newmarket, Brandon, Swaffham and Fakenham. They also came by sea using the port of King’s Lynn. Some made the journey in the hope of a ‘miracle’ cure for a physical ailment, many for spiritual purposes and many, no doubt, for the adventure of the trek. Whatever the reasons they came in great numbers between the creation of the shrine and the start of the Reformation in England during the reign of Henry VIII.

In 1534 the establishment at Walsingham came firmly under the control of the King. The treasures were removed and in 1538 the statue of the Virgin Mary was taken to London and publicly burned by the reformers. Much of the church was destroyed and by 1738 only the ruins that we see today remained. The great Christian centre of pilgrimage that had flourished for five hundred years was destined to lie dormant for almost a further four hundred years.

A man called Alfred Hope Patten, who arrived upon appointment to the parish in 1921, ended this dormancy. Patten was born in Devon in 1885 and was the son of a brewer. Whilst living at Hove he had become involved in the Anglo-Catholic movement; this prompted him to study and he was ordained in 1914. Early in his ministry at Walsingham he decided to attempt the re-establishment of the parish as a centre of pilgrimage. He commissioned a statue of the Virgin, which he placed in the parish church of St Mary. The first pilgrimage to the shrine was held in 1923. (Sadly St Mary’s was severely damaged by fire in 1961. It was rebuilt between 1962 and 1964 and is a credit to the craftsmen involved.)

Fr.Patten’s great ambition then became the re-creation of a Holy House as had existed in Walsingham many centuries before. He set to work to find a site and raise money for the project. A garden at the corner of Holt Road and Knight Street was selected as the most suitable position for the new building. Work commenced, and on the 15th October 1931, the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was blessed by Bishop O’Rorke. The building was in an Italianate style, and, it must be said, was not liked by all. Nikolaus Pevsner (The Buildings of England) was rather dismissive: likening it to a minor suburban church. However the architectural style was of little consequence to the faithful, who came in ever increasing numbers.

This new shrine had to be extended over the following years to cater for the growing number of pilgrims. Since 1931 the numbers visiting Walsingham have increased to hundreds of thousands a year. They now come from all corners of the Christian World, travelling on from airports and railway stations by car and motor coach. The parking for the vehicles, and facilities for the care and accommodation of the individuals, has had to be increased accordingly.

The Roman Catholic Shrine at Little Walsingham is known as the Slipper Chapel; it is situated approximately a mile from the village centre. The first building on the site was erected in 1325 and was used as the last stopping place for pilgrims before they made their way barefoot - hence the name - to the original Holy House. The building was reopened in 1934 and is now the centre for Roman Catholic pilgrimage to Walsingham. It incorporates a modern building, the Chapel of Reconciliation, consecrated in 1982.

On Spring Bank Holiday Monday each year the National Pilgrimage to Walsingham is held. This event has been marked in recent years by the attendance of a group of protestors who feel very strongly that the veneration of a religious statue, or as they refer to it, ‘idolatry,’ is wrong. They assemble at the Common Place around the redbrick village pump, where, prior to the procession they preach to the crowd. Holding placards aloft, they put their point of view to the watchers. When the pilgrimage procession passes, the two groups, singing at their loudest, try to drown each other out. This is generally light hearted, and although extra police are on duty they do not need to intervene.

A visit to Walsingham can be a very interesting and rewarding experience for anyone, not just for those with strong religious convictions. The village has a relaxing ambience and much of interest to see. Commercialism has thankfully been restrained at an acceptable level. A walk in the beautiful Abbey grounds at snowdrop time is highly recommended; or why not visit on the day of the National Pilgrimage and experience the atmosphere of this event the origins of which date back over nine hundred years.