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Norfolk - Cromer

Kelly's Directory for Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk, 1883, pp. 282-283.

CROMER is a town, parish and bathing place on the sea coast, terminus of a branch railway from Norwich and polling place for the Northern division of the county, about 10 miles east-north-east from Holt, 9 north-north-west from North Walsham, 11 north-by-east from Aylsham, 22 north from Norwich and 130 from London, in North Erpingham hundred, Erpingham union, Holt county court district, rural deanery of Repps, archdeaconry of Norfolk and diocese of Norwich: this fashionable bathing-place is picturesquely situated on the cliffs, which are a considerable height above the beach, and the town is sheltered on three sides by an amphitheater of hills, partly covered with wood. Cromer was once a chartered town, but for a very long time the charter has been lost and there is no market place: the town is well supplies with poultry, butter, eggs and fruit: Cromer has at different times suffered from the incursions of the sea, which in the time of Henry IV. swallowed up the town of Shipden, in which parish Cromer was then situated: in 1825 and 1832 large portions of the cliff fell into the sea, so as to endanger the old lighthouse, and in 1845 the old jetty was washed away and other damage done, but in 1845 an Act of Parliament was obtained for the purpose of raising money to build a jetty and breakwaters, and also for erecting a sea wall extending along the whole front of the west end of the town, with an esplanade for the use of visitors: the works have been completed at an expense of about £7,000: it is hoped they will be an effectual barrier to the force of the waves. The church of SS. Peter and Paul is a large Gothic building of cut flint with stone dressings erected, as it is supposed, in the region of Henry IV.: it consist of nave and aisles, with an embattled tower, 150 feet high, containing a peel of 6 bells and clock: the whole edifice was richly ornamented with sculpture: the west entrance is a beautiful piece of architecture: the north porch was, until recently, much dilapidated; it is lighted by two windows and is now used as a vestry: the font is a copy of a beautiful one in Yaxham church in this county: the chancel has been in ruins for many years. The register dates from the year 1689. The living is a vicarage, nett yearly value £200, with house, in the gift of the Bishop of Norwich and held since 1852 by the Rev. Frederic Fitch M.A. of Christ's College, Cambridge. Here are places of worship for Wesleyans, United Methodist Free Church and Primitive Methodists. The cemetery, which was opened in 1860, is situated on the Holt road, about a quarter of a mile west of the town; it is under the control of a Burial Board of 9 members. The town lands, of 13 acres, produce £18 yearly, which is distributed to poor widows. Cromer has some comfortable and respectable hotels and lodging houses for visitors: the beach has a fine firm and level surface, which affords a delightful promenade several miles in length: on the beach are bathing machines, and there are also warm baths in the town. A pleasure fair is held on Whit Monday.. The chief business of the town is the coal trade and the fisheries for herrings, cod, whitings, lobsters and crabs. Ships are continually seen passing on the North Sea, but the coast being extremely dangerous, there are five lights between this and Yarmouth. In 1868 a life boat, with a life boat house and slipway, was presented to the town by B. Bond-Cabbell esq. at a cost of upwards of £2,000. A short distance from the town, in the parish of Overstrand, is situated the lighthouse, 52 feet in height and 250 above the level of the sea, and crowned with a lantern lighted by 3 patent lamps, in finely-plated reflectors, which revolve upon an upright axis: the oil expended annually is about 1,400 gallons. Cromer Hall is a fine Gothic mansion, erected by the late G. T. Wyndham esq. the first husband of the Countess of Listowel: it consists of a central tower with two wings, and was commenced in 1827, but partially burned down before it was finished in 1829: Mrs. J. Bond-Cabbell is lady of the manor land owner of the Hall and of the greater part of the land in the parish. Colne House is the sea of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton bart. D.L., J.P. Cliff House that of Samuel Hoare esq. M.A. J.P. The area is 851 acres; rateable value £7,369; the population in 1881 was 1,568.

Parish Clerk

POST, MONEY ORDER & TELEGRAPH OFFICE, Savings Bank & Government Annuity & Insurance Office.--John Fox, postmaster, Jetty street. Mails arrive at 7 a.m. & 3 p.m.; letter-box closes at 11.30 a.m. 3.45 p.m. & 7 p.m.; sundays at 3.15 p.m. Hours of attendance at post office on sundays from 8 till 10 a.m.

COUNTY MAGISTRATES FOR NORTH ERPINGHAM PETTY SESSIONAL DIVISION.

Chairman

Clerk