Cromer’s History

At the time of King William's Domesday records, 1086, there is no mention of the town of Cromer. Instead, we read of Shipden, a town that now lies beneath the sea. In medieval times we read of

Cromer, alias Shipden. The natural break in the cliffs now known as the Gangway was the centre of the town, with fishermen and merchants plying their trade from the beach below, and sheep farmers keeping their flocks on the hills behind the town.

In 1285 the king granted Cromer a Friday market and a yearly fair of eight days. By the end of the 14th century the town was sufficiently prosperous for the large church of St Peter and St Paul to be built, replacing Shipden's lost church of St Peter. In 1565 Cromer is listed as a landing place with a pier, with 117 householders. The merchants traded far afield, and Cromer vessels crossed the North Sea, sailed to the Baltic and even to Iceland and Greenland.

The trading vessels of Cromer continued to land on its open beach until almost the end of the 19th century, when the railways offered a more efficient means of transport. Undoubtedly sea trade declined over the centuries, with the general decline in the importance of the county of Norfolk as a centre for the wool industry. Fishing continued to be a mainstay of the town, with cod, mackerel and other longshore catches providing a year round return, before the move to the crab and lobster specialisation of today. Tourism began to be of more importance from the beginning of the 19th century, and it is from that period that the first written guide to Cromer dates.

West beach Aug 1892 - On Cromer west beach with no west promenade and the jetty rather than the current pier.

Pier Opening - A crowd gathers for the June, 1901 opening of Cromer pier

The end of the Napoleonic wars provided the opportunity for this influx of visitors. The members of the Gurney family of Earlham Hall were amongst the earliest visitors of this sort to the town. The

mixture of sea views and bathing, the woods and walks behind the town and the activity on the beach brought those with leisure time and the time to draw and paint to Cromer, including a number of artists of the Norwich school.

The coming of the railways and the accompanying publicity started by the travel writer and theatre critic Clement Scott - who coined the name

Poppyland for the area - led to a further rush of visitors in the final decade of the 19th century. Many of those visiting the town chose to stay, contributing to local prosperity and building of substantial houses. Others took the opportunity to develop businesses based on the holiday trade. The great hotels, few of which remain, date from this time. With the decline of the town after the medieval

period, the church itself had fallen into a considerable state of disrepair. The Reformation and the time of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth

had also contributed to the deterioration of many church buildings. The church windows had largely been bricked up and the chancel demolished. The Reverend Thomas Gill had resorted to the use of

gunpowder for this purpose in 1681. The restoration of the church was undertaken in the

reign of Queen Victoria, this work was substantially completed for the beginning of the 20th century.

Cromer also became known because of its lifeboat

station. Today the offshore lifeboat station is at the end of the pier, whilst the inshore lifeboat operates from the beach. In the 19th century, almost every coastal town or village in Norfolk had its lifeboat. In the 1920s motor lifeboats began to take over from the pulling and sailing boats. The building of the pierhead station at Cromer meant that the

lifeboat could launch in almost any weather, and Cromer took over responsibility for much of the coastline to the east, and in particular for the Haisboro' Sands. The work of Coxswain Henry Blogg and his crew became known nationally, and has been continued by his successors led by Henry 'Shrimp' Davies, Richard Davies, Billy Davies and John Davies, John being the last of the family line in this role, before handing over to today's Coxswain-Mechanic.

Cromer remains a very popular spot for visitors. Of course it is not possible to guarantee the sunshine and warmth of overseas destinations, but the summer can offer open beaches, country walks, safe sea bathing and a variety of interesting places to visit. A sunny weekend winter morning will see hundreds of people take the walk out on the pier and a number of other events are held throughout the year. The Boxing Day swim and the New Year's Day fireworks now bring thousands to the seafront in the coldest of weather! Folk on the

Pier, usually the second weekend of May and the Crab and Lobster festival on the third weekend of

May are now well established attractions.

Writing in the summer of 2021, we have to report of course that most of the regular activities have not been able to operate for the past 18 months, but the net effect of the pandemic has been that the summer months have been even busier than

usual, with overseas holidays being largely out of favour and staycations being the choice for many. However, organisations and societies are beginning to swing into action again and we trust that 2022 will bring the regular events we mention above back. Visitors to Cromer can currently take a trail around town to see the selection of reproductions of major art works that have been placed at various locations - families can be seen with their leaflets, tracking down the various images. Just to help matters, an original 'Banksy' appeared on one of the concrete breakwaters at the east end of town, though how long it will survive as the sea and beach stones get to work is impossible to tell. The next additions for Cromer's 'Blue Plaques' are currently being prepared, including those for our lady lighthouse keepers of the 19th century and for suffragette Emily Davison, who worked as a governess in Cromer and was renowned as a keen sea swimmer, even in the coldest of weather.

The third plaque is for geologist and Cromer historian Alfred Savin, a regular collector of many fossils from local beaches, a selection of which are now in the Natural History Museum. The 'Deep History' project looks back to those ancient times, with the installation on the west cliff and through the displays at Cromer Museum and at the Tourist Information Centre at the Meadow. There's plenty to explore in the outdoors along Cromer's seafront and along the north Norfolk coast by following the 'Deep History' project! Other new attractions are the developments at North Lodge Park, with the bridge and its access to another children's playground and the wild flower areas now being prepared by the Cromer Green Spaces project, complementing the carefully tended traditional flower beds of the town.

Peter Stibbons