Coordinates: 52°55′53″N 1°18′10″E / 52.931376, 1.302812
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 are 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, in order that it did not remain as a hazard to shipping.
Cromer became a resort in the early-19th century, with a few 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", 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 and the town today
The North Norfolk Information Centre was officially opened in the town on August 01 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 [4] [5]
Transport connections
Railway stations in Cromer: The first railway connected to Cromer in 1877, and 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 solitary shuttle 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 at 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 was, and is, famous for the Cromer crab, which forms the major source of income for the town's fishermen. The town had grown up as a fishing station over the centuries, and into the 20th century it was 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. From the beaches to the east and west of the pier being crowded with fishing boats at the end of the 19th century, about 10 boats now ply their trade from the foot of the gangway on the east beach. Four shops in town continue to operate and sell fresh crab, whenever the boats can get to sea.
Lifeboat
The fishermen were also renowned for manning 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, and a series of rowing lifeboats was 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 vast, 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 undertakes about a dozen services a year, with about the same number for the inshore lifeboat stationed on the beach.
Twinning
Cromer is twinned with the following towns;
Gallery
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Beaches and cliffs east of Cromer in the summer
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View over Cromer from the lighthouse hills
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Henry Blogg's bronze bust on the cliff top in North Lodge Park, Cromer
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Ticket for the Pavilion Theatre on Cromer Pier
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Hotel de Paris viewed from pier
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North Norfolk information centre (opened 2008)
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Notable people
Further reading
- Cromer – Chronicle of a Watering Place, Warren, M., Pub: Poppyland Publishing, Third edn. 2001, ISBN 0-946148-55-4
- The Cromer Lifeboats, Malster, R., Pub: Poppyland Publishing, Fourth Edn., 1994, ISBN 0-946148-21-X
- Poppyland – Strands of Norfolk History, Stibbons and Cleveland, Fourth Edn., 2001, ISBN 0-946148-17-1
- Cromer Lifeboats 1804-2004, Leach, Nicholas & Russell, Paul, Tempus Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7524-3197-8
References
See also
External links
Cromer at the Open Directory Project
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