Part 4: Wells-next-the-sea to Sheringham

Wells-next-the-Sea to Sheringham

PART FOUR

Overview map Part 4

4km

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Rebellion Way route Chapter markers National Cycle Network National Cycle Network route number

13

Rough stuff...

Part 4

Wells-next-the-Sea to Sheringham

Distance: 58km (36 miles)

Highlights

• Blessed pilgrimage perfection • Seaside mammoths at Sheringham • Chuffing railways and mouthwatering farm shops • Deserted gravel tracks • Picture perfect fords • Yet another lovely Georgian town • Tudor manors and phone-box libraries • All the hooting, tooting steam music you could want

Be aware

• Pilgrim, nun and priest jams in Walsingham • Three main road crossings • The descent into Sheringham is quick and can be busy

Scene setter

This is the shortest section of the Rebellion Way, but looping inland and then back to the seaside, it’s also the hilliest (in comparative Norfolk terms), and has more gravel than the previous section. It’s also packed with places you might want to stop and really appreciate. That starts with an optional diversion to an unsurprisingly rare Iron Age ‘hillfort’ that breaks up the pilgrimage to the religious epicentre of marvellously medieval Walsingham. Then there’s a parade of stunning manor houses, Snoring airfields, steaming organs and gravel tracks through nature reserves, across a picture-perfect ford next to an artisan shopping oasis to yet another lovely, lively Georgian town at Holt. The desire to dodge main roads requires a rolling woodland loop on quiet back roads before wriggling north over Bodham Hill through unspoilt villages. Then it’s a dive back down to the coast to the always surprising and welcoming seaside town of Sheringham.

Warham fort

This 212m-diameter bank and ditch enclosure is the site of a late Iron Age ‘hill’ fort that archaeology suggests was occupied into the early Roman period too. It’s now clipped by a realignment of the River Stiffkey, but it’s definitely worth the walk up the footpath to see the ramparts of the best preserved Icenic site in Norfolk. The site is also an SSSI noted for its herbs and butterflies.

Norfolk’s Nazareth

Weaving through the narrow historic back streets of Wells-next-the-Sea past all sorts of eclectic shops and eateries takes you to the slow-moving main road. You head down Market Lane past Manor Farm, the high school and then onto the tree-lined gravel track south to the low rise of Gallow Hill. Hard left here and the flinty track will take you another couple of very enjoyable, rapid-rolling ‘rough stuff’ miles up and over the Wells and Walsingham Light Railway line to Warham. Rolling past flint cobble farmhouses you’ll turn south at the church towards Wighton. Look out for a metal gate on the right after 800m, where you’ll find the path to Warham Fort. Icenic Iron Age appetite sated, you’ll wiggle through Wighton and then into the pretty green of Great Walsingham, before

Wells and Walsingham Railway scooting through the broad ford and up past more half-timbered buildings and an ancient shabby-chic farm to Little Walsingham. Loop past the nunnery and through the quaint and quirky village centre with its pepperpot well house and welcoming, traditional pub. You’ll then scoot past the friary gatehouse and towards the priory ruins down a wonderfully preserved medieval street of cantilevered half-timbered houses before popping out into the rolling countryside again. Watch out for free range – and sometimes barefoot – worshippers as you head down past the Slipper Chapel and big basilica before looping up, down and around to East Barsham with its fancy hotel and stunning Tudor manor house.

This is the shortest section of the Rebellion Way, but looping inland and then back to the seaside, it’s also the hilliest (in comparative Norfolk terms), and has more gravel than the previous section.

Walsingham

Approaching from the north, Walsingham just seems like another picture-perfect Norfolk medieval village from the Rebellion Way playbook. If the signs to the ruined priory and friary, the current nunnery and monastery, several Christian relic and book shops plus the four churches (including a Russian Orthodox one in the old railway station) aren’t a giveaway, the amount of nuns, priests and pilgrims might be a sign things just got seriously sacred. That’s because the lady of the manor had a vision of the Virgin Mary here in 1061 who instructed her to build a model of the House of the Annunciation in Nazareth. This made it the second most popular pilgrimage site in the UK after Canterbury, attracting pilgrims from all over Europe. It still attracts an average of 250,000 every year and you’ll often find pilgrims walking the ‘Holy mile’ from the Slipper Chapel and Basilica to the village barefoot, so mind you don’t run over any devout digits. Even if visions of Mary aren’t your thing there’s still a whole lot to explore around the narrow medieval and Georgian streets and some great places to eat (including the excellent farm shop) in Walsingham, making it one of the highlights of the whole trip.

The Slipper Chapel

The Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham was built as the last chapel on the pilgrimage route to Walsingham in 1340. This small but charming building escaped destruction during Henry VIII’s church ‘Reformation’ and was reused as a forge, poor house and cowshed before being recognised and restored in 1863. It’s now the centrepiece of ‘The Nazareth of the UK’ which attracts quarter of a million visitors per year, so be careful of pilgrims and the coaches delivering them as you pedal past.

East Barsham Manor

East Barsham Manor is a very early and very important example of a Tudor ‘Prodigy house’, so called because of their deliberately ornate decoration and architecture. In East Barsham’s case that included castellations, coats of arms moulded into the brickwork and ten chimneys. It was visited many times by Henry VIII and his wives, but after falling derelict in the 19th century it was restored in the 1920s. Unfortunately it’s a private house now so you’ll have to be content with peeping over the wall.

Walsingham Bridewell

The Bridewell, or House of Correction, was a prison built in 1787 which operated until 1861. During the 1830s several inmates were imprisoned there for ‘riotous behaviour’ following Norfolk’s version of the ‘Swing’ riots (named after ‘Captain Swing’, the fictitious name often signed on threatening letters to figures of authority). Unhappy with increasing mechanisation which was putting them out of work, workers broke into paper mills and destroyed machinery. The prison is open to the public – ask at the Shirehall Museum for the key.

Thursford

Snoring and steaming

You’re now back onto properly deserted, grass-centred lanes too, heading east through Great Snoring and past the weird and wonderful steam-powered attractions of Thursford. You then hop over the main road onto more deserted lanes and gravel sections, past the luxury landscaped gardens of Gunthorpe Park and the National Trust historic woodland nature reserve of Bullfer Grove.

Peak rural romanticism continues through Sharrington, back over the main road and up to the artisan, semi-amphibious and ultra-aesthetic joys of Glandford with its farmyard shopping centre and broad river crossing. Then it’s over the gentle hump of Bayfield Brecks before rolling into the historic heart of Holt through a time-travel architectural transition from modern villas to Georgian terrace.

St Andrew's church

Great and Little Snoring

Not actually named for their rural drowsiness but after Snaer, the Anglo-Saxon who helped found them. A medieval church and Tudor manor house are the historical highlights, but a WWII airfield also sits between the two villages from where Mosquito, Lancaster and Beaufighter aircraft flew attack missions over Europe.

Thursford

Named after the Giant or Demon’s Ford, this picturesque village is now best known for the Thursford Collection. This museum is a celebration of all things steam, with a massive collection of hot-water-powered machinery from steam and traction engines to fairground organs, roundabouts and the fourth-largest Wurlitzer organ in Europe. It also has Christmas Spectacular and Santa’s Magical Journey attractions if you’re riding past at Rudolf time.

Glandford

The tiny hamlet of Glandford is still big enough to be home to an eclectic selection of shops, a coffee roaster and a delightful shell and fossil museum. The broad ford it’s named after is also pretty enough to look like an Old Master’s painting, but don’t worry: there’s a footbridge if you don’t fancy wet feet.

Holt

Sitting on the main road to Cromer and packed with shops and places to eat, the largely Georgian town of Holt is a popular and vibrant spot as well as a great place to stop for a break yourself. That does mean the narrow streets can be busy with traffic, so go carefully.

Back to the sea

While the centre of Holt is a bustling and busy place, things quieten down quickly as you turn right at the war memorial and then duck through the main road underpass. A few hundred metres later it’ll feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere as you drop down through dense woods past the deserted watermill. A gentle climb takes you up to Baconsthorpe, a classic medieval linear village of low whitewashed and ivy-covered cottages before turning up Castle Lane for a quick detour if you want to visit the 15th century moated ruins with their unusual story.

A web of forgotten lanes and gravel shortcuts take you to the bustling market town of Holt, followed by a loop up to seaside Sheringham before tackling the only notable climb on the whole route to enjoy panoramic coastal views.

There’s also a large mural alongside the award-winning beaches depicting the area in prehistoric times when mammoths roamed what’s now the coastline.

Baconsthorpe Castle

While it’s called a castle and the square walled site with tall surviving gatehouse and broad moat certainly look like a castle, Baconsthorpe is really a fortified hall. The intrigue continues as it wasn’t started by a titled aristocrat but by a very successful 15th century merchant and his lawyer son who made enough powerful enemies to justify adding fortifications. His son and subsequent generations swapped law and politics for sheep farming and wool, and the site ended up as part country house and part weaving mill.

Sheringham Hall

The gradual climb continues to the top of Bodham Hill, where a solar farm and twin transmitter masts make the most of the dizzying elevation at 98m above sea level. Then it’s a quick shimmy through West Beckham with its large medieval barn and ornate village sign before you cross the main road opposite the entrance to Sheringham Hall. From here it’s a rare chance to enjoy a proper descent in Norfolk as you curve right then left through the sweeping corners of Upper Sheringham. Don’t get too carried away, though, as the edge of town is quite busy, especially around school opening or closing time. Head straight across at the junction when you get the green light and you’ll hump over the North Norfolk Railway line to finish your roll into town. Be ready on your brakes here as drivers tend to get confused about which way they should go when they get to the shopping area. On a bike you can go straight ahead but in summer it probably makes more sense to walk rather than cycle the last few hundred metres to the seafront. That’s not only because it’s a deservedly busy destination any day of the year, but there always seems to be something on at Sheringham bringing extra visitors to the charming maze of streets (it was a Morris dancing festival when we rode the route recce).

View over Sheringham

Sheringham

This former Saxon and medieval fishing village burst into life as a very popular holiday destination when the railways arrived in the 19th century. Thankfully it’s stayed traditional rather than tacky, with a wonderful selection of cafés (seafood is unsurprisingly a speciality) pubs and a particularly eclectic selection of shops. There’s a lifeboat and coastal life museum and it’s a stop on the North Norfolk heritage railway which connects it to the national network. There’s also a large mural alongside the award-winning beaches depicting the area in prehistoric times when mammoths roamed what’s now the coastline