Caister-on-Sea
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Caister-on-Sea, also known colloquially as Caister, is a large village,
seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...
and
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in the English county of
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
. Caister is located north of
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...
and east of
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
.


History

Caister's history dates back to Roman times. In around 200 CE a fort was built here as a base for a unit of the Roman army and navy. However its role as a fort appears to have been reduced following the construction of the Saxon Shore fort at
Burgh Castle Burgh Castle is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Burgh Castle is located south-west of Great Yarmouth and east of Norwich. The parish was part of Suffolk until 1974. History Burgh Castle was likely the site of a ...
on the southern side of the estuary in the latter part of the third century. The name "Caister" derives from the
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
word "ceaster", meaning "Roman fort". In the 1950s, a building near the south gate at Caister was excavated in advance of a housing development. These buildings do not appear to be military as they include a
hypocaust A hypocaust () is a system of central heating in a building that produces and circulates hot air below the floor of a room, and may also warm the walls with a series of pipes through which the hot air passes. This air can warm the upper floors a ...
and painted wall plaster as well as female jewellery, and it has been suggested that this building may have been an officer's house, or possibly a ‘seamen's hostel’ which may be a polite name for a brothel. The site appears to have been abandoned in the 5th century, but 150 Saxon burials have been found to the south of the enclosure. The remains excavated in the 1950s are now managed by
English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
and are open free of charge to the public as Caister Roman Site. In the Fifteenth Century, Caister Castle was built as a residence for Sir John Fastolf. The castle has an attached Motoring Museum and is still open to visitors. There has been an offshore lifeboat in the area since 1791. It was used by a beach company to salvage ships wrecked on the sand banks. Between 1856 and 1969 lifeboats were operated by the
RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...
. In the 1901 Caister lifeboat disaster, nine crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. At the time it was said, "If they had to keep at it 'til now, they would have sailed about until daylight to help her. Going back is against the rules when we see distress signals like that". A monument to the men lost in the disaster bearing the inscription "Caister men never turn back" stands in the village cemetery, unveiled in 1903 and was listed Grade II by
Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
in 2020. A pub called the " Never Turn Back" is named after the incident. The village was served by Caister-on-Sea railway station until it was closed in 1959. The nearest railway station is now , to the south. Today, Caister is also host to a National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) Station.


Geography

According to the 2021 census, Caister-on-Sea has a population of 8,616 people which shows a decrease from the 8,901 people recorded in the 2011 census.


Amenities

There is a Haven caravan and holiday park near the coast. The oldest holiday camp in the United Kingdom, it began as the "Caister Socialist Camp" i
1906
In the 1950s and early 1960s, it used to be on both sides of the road. Opposite the beach was a dining room, paper shop, sports facilities and tourist chalets. These facilities were sold to a property developer who turned it into housing in the 1970s. In the 1980s a new holiday camp was opened, under the ownership of
Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...
, which was sold to Warners in the 1990s. Caister FC is the village football team, who play at the King George V playing field. The wind farm at Scroby Sands has thirty 2–megawatt wind turbines, offshore.


Church of the Holy Trinity

Caister's parish church is dedicated to the
Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
and dates back to the Thirteenth Century. The Church of the Holy Trinity is located on Ormesby Road and has been Grade II listed since 1947. The church was heavily restored in the late-Nineteenth Century and is home to East Anglia's largest Medieval
font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
. Stained glass in the church includes a memorial to the men killed in the Caister lifeboat disaster by Paul Woodroffe as well as a depiction of Christ the Shepherd by Alfred Wilkinson. Furthermore, there is a set of royal arms that are dated from the reign of King George III, though they could be a repurposed work from the reign of King Charles I.


Notable Residents

* Sir John Fastolf KG – (1380–1459) knight and landowner, lived and died in Caister. * Sarah Martin – (1791–1843) prison reformer and philanthropist, lived in Caister. * James Haylett – (1825–1907) lifeboatman, lived in Caister. * John Healing – (1873–1933)
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
cricketer, died in Caister. * Len Holland – (b.1888–???) golfer, brought-up in Caister. * Ron Hansell – (1930–2013)
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
and
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
, died in Caister. * Terry Anderson – (1944–1980)
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
and
Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
footballer, landlord of the Castle Hotel, Caister. * Dale Gordon – (b.1967)
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...
and Rangers footballer, born in Caister.


Governance

Caister-on-Sea is divided into the
electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ''ward (subnational entity), ward'' is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil pa ...
of Caister North and Caister South for local elections and is part of the
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
of
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...
. The village's national constituency is
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...
which has been represented by Rupert Lowe MP since 2024.


War Memorial

Caister-on-Sea's war memorial are several brass plaques inside Holy Trinity Church. The conflicts of the Twentieth Century had an extremely heavy toll on Caister, the fallen from the
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
are listed below: And: Walter E. Haylett. And, the following for the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
:


References

http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Norfolk/Caister%20next%20Yarmouth


External links


Great Yarmouth - the Golden Mile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caister-On-Sea Villages in Norfolk Populated coastal places in Norfolk Seaside resorts in England Beaches of Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Borough of Great Yarmouth