Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

on the north coast of the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

. It is north of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

, north-northeast of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and east of

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is an English seaside town within the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban Dist ...

on the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coastline. The local government authorities are

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer. The population at the 2011 Census was 101,149. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972. It was ...

District Council, whose headquarters is on Holt Road in the town, and

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the top-tier local government authority for Norfolk, England. Its headquarters are based in the city of Norwich. Below it there are 7 second-tier local government district councils: Breckland District, Broadland Dist ...

, based in Norwich. The civil parish has an area of and at the 2011 census had a population of 7,683. The town is notable as a traditional tourist resort and for the Cromer crab, which forms the major source of income for local fishermen. The motto ''Gem of the Norfolk Coast'' is highlighted on the town's road signs.

History

The town has given its name to the ''

Cromerian Stage The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian (german: Cromerium), is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian t ...

'' or ''Cromerian Complex'', also called the ''Cromerian'', a stage in the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

glacial history of north-western Europe. Cromer is not mentioned in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' of 1086. The place-name 'Cromer' is first found in a will of 1262 and could mean 'Crows' mere or lake'. There are other contenders for the derivation, a north-country word 'cromer' meaning 'a gap in the cliffs' or less likely a direct transfer from a Danish placename. It is reasonable to assume that the present site of Cromer, around the parish church of Saints Peter and Paul, is what was in 1337 called Shipden-juxta-Felbrigg, and by the end of the 14th century known as Cromer. A reference to a place called Crowemere Shipden can be seen in a legal record, dated 1422, (1 Henry VI), the home of John Gees. 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 small pleasure steamer called ''Victoria'' struck the remains of the church tower, and the rock was subsequently blown up for safety. In the present day, members of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of ...

sub-aqua club dived at the site, and salvaged artefacts from both the medieval church and the wreck of ''Victoria.'' Cromer became a resort in the early 19th century, with some of the rich Norwich banking families making it their summer home. Visitors included the future King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

, who played golf here. The resort's facilities included the late-

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

Cromer Pier, which is home to the Pavilion Theatre. In 1883 the London journalist

Clement Scott Clement William Scott (6 October 1841 – 25 June 1904) was an influential English theatre critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'' and other journals, and a playwright, lyricist, translator and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century ...

went to Cromer and began to write about the area. He named the stretch of coastline, particularly the

Overstrand Overstrand is a village (population 1,030) on the north coast of Norfolk in England, two miles east of Cromer. It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe. In the latter part of the 19t ...

and

Sidestrand Sidestrand is a village and a civil parish on the coast of the English county of Norfolk. The village is north of Norwich, south east of Cromer and north-east of London. The nearest railway station is at North Walsham for the Bittern Line whi ...

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 grow) at the roadside and in meadows. Cromer suffered several bombing raids during the Second World War. Shortly after one raid, Cromer featured as the location for an episode of ''An American In England'', written by

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the ...

with the narrator staying in the ''Red Lion Hotel'' and retelling several local accounts of life in the town at wartime. The radio play first aired in the United States on 1 December 1942 on the CBS/Columbia Workshop programme starring Joe Julian. The account mentions some of the effects of the war on local people and businesses and the fact that the town adopted a , . On 5 December 2013 the town was affected by a

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

which caused significant damage to the town's pier and seafront. In 2016, the Cromer shoal chalk beds, thought to be Europe's largest chalk

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic processes—deposition (geology), deposition of ...

, were officially designated as a

Marine Conservation Zone A Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) is a type of marine nature reserve in UK waters. They were established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) and are areas designated with the aim to protect nationally important, rare or threatened habi ...

Economy

Traditionally, Cromer was a fishing town. It grew as a fishing station over the centuries, and was a year-round fishery into the 20th century, with crabs and lobsters in the summer, drifting for longshore herring in the autumn and long-lining, primarily for cod, in the winter. The pattern of fishing has changed since the 1980s, and it is now almost completely focused on crabs and lobsters. The town is famous for the Cromer crab, which is now the major source of income for the local fishermen. In 2016, about ten boats plied their trade from the foot of the gangway on the east beach, with shops in the town selling fresh crab, whenever the boats go to sea. By 2018, experienced crabmen were having difficulty attracting young people to the business, perhaps because of the long working hours required during the season. Lobster trapping was also continuing. Teal_blue_sea_(20578198155)

Tourism developed in the town during the Victorian period and is now an important part of the local economy.Market Towns Survey, 2013

, 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2015. The town is a popular resort and acts as a touring base for the surrounding area. The coastal location means that beach holidays and fishing are important, with the beach and pier being major draws. Visitor attractions within the town include

Cromer Pier Cromer Pier is a Grade II listed seaside pier in the civil parish of Cromer on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk, due north of the city of Norwich in the United Kingdom. The pier is the home of the Cromer Lifeboat Station and ...

and the Pavilion Theatre on the pier. Close to the town's pier the

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

Henry Blogg Museum is housed inside the early 21st century Rocket House. The museum has the Cromer Lifeboat ''H F Bailey III'' (ON 777) as its centrepiece and illustrates the history of the town's lifeboats and lifeboatman

Henry Blogg Henry George Blogg"Henry Blogg, the Greatest of the Lifeboatmen", Jolly, C., Pub: Poppyland Publishing, new edition 2002, GC BEM (6 February 1876 – 13 June 1954) was a lifeboatman from Cromer on the north coast of Norfolk, England, and the ...

's most famous rescues. The

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

n themed Amazona

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

park opened to the public in 2006 and is to the south of the town. The park covers of former

brick kilns A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured co ...

and woodland on the outskirts of the town and includes animals including

jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

and puma.

Culture and community

For one week in August the town celebrates its Carnival Week. Attractions include the crowning of a 'royal family' including carnival queen, a street parade and a fancy dress competition. The event's 50th anniversary was held in 2019. Cromer is twinned with Nidda,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and

Crest Crest or CREST may refer to: Buildings * The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York *"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York * Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switze ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. The town has an

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including ...

Squadron and an

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence and the British Army. Along with the Sea Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps, the ACF m ...

Platoon, based at Cromer High School. The town has a Friday market and a number of independent retailers in its centre. Cromer Hospital provides services across the North Norfolk area. It includes a minor injuries unit and is run by the

Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS Foundation Trust which runs Cromer Hospital and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, both in Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in Ea ...

. Cromer Museum opened in 1978 and is housed in a former fisherman's cottage adjacent to the parish church on Church Street. The museum managed by

contain items relating to the history of Cromer, including paintings and

Poppyland Overstrand is a village (population 1,030) on the north coast of Norfolk in England, two miles east of Cromer. It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe. In the latter part of the 1 ...

china. It has two permanent galleries on the pioneering photographer,

Olive Edis Mary Olive Edis, later Edis-Galsworthy (3 September 1876 – 28 December 1955), was a British photographer and successful businesswoman who, throughout her career, owned several studios in London and East Anglia. Known primarily for her studio ...

- Britain's first female war photographer. A mock-up of a Victorian cottage and galleries contain geology and fossil remnants of the area which include part of the

West Runton Mammoth The West Runton Mammoth is a fossilized skeleton of a steppe mammoth (''Mammuthus trogontherii'') found in the cliffs of West Runton in the county of Norfolk, England in 1990. The find is the largest nearly complete mammoth skeleton known, and is ...

Landmarks

Cromer stands between stretches of coastal cliffs which, to the east, are up to high. According to palaeontologist Dr James Neenan, from the

Oxford University Museum of Natural History The Oxford University Museum of Natural History, sometimes known simply as the Oxford University Museum or OUMNH, is a museum displaying many of the University of Oxford's natural history specimens, located on Parks Road in Oxford, England. It ...

, the cliffs are part of a Norfolk coastline area rich in

fossils. In 2017 a prehistoric rhino was found in

West Runton West Runton is a village in North Norfolk, England, on the North Sea coast. Toponymy The villages name means either, Runa's farm/settlement' or 'Runi's farm/settlement'. Overview West Runton and East Runton together form the civil parish, pari ...

, dating back 700,000 years to the

Cromerian Interglacial The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian (german: Cromerium), is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian t ...

dominates the sea front and is long. It features the Pavilion Theatre and dates from 1901. Cromer Lighthouse stands on the cliffs to the east of the town. The tower is tall. and stands above sea level. The light has a range of . Cromer Church 23rd Oct 2007

The Church of St Peter and St Paul dates from the 14th century and is in the centre of the town. After falling into disrepair it was rebuilt in the late 19th century by architect,

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

. At the Bell tower is the highest in the county. Also, of note are the vast stained glass windows which commemorate various members of the

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen ...

crew and other features of the resort. The

Hotel de Paris A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

was originally built in 1820 as a coastal residence for

Lord Suffield Baron Suffield, of Suffield in the County of Norfolk, is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Great Britain. The barony was created in 1786 for Sir Harbord Harbord, 2nd Baronet, who had previously represented Norwich as Member of Parliament i ...

. In 1830 the building was converted into a hotel by Pierre le Francois. Norfolk-born architect

George Skipper George John Skipper (1856–1948) was a leading Norwich-based architect of the late Victorian and Edwardian period. Writer and poet, John Betjeman said of him "he is altogether remarkable and original. He was to Norwich what Gaudi was to Bar ...

extensively remodelled the building between 1895 and 1896. Today, the hotel which occupies an elevated location overlooking the town's pier still provides accommodation to visitors. Other notable hotels include the 17th century Red Lion Hotel, the Victorian Sandcliff Hotel and the Edwardian Cliftonville Hotel.

Cromer Hall Cromer Hall is a country house located one mile south of Cromer on Holt Road, in the English county of Norfolk. The present house was built in 1829Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East, By Nikolaus Pevsner and Bill Wilson, Cromer entry, page 120. b ...

is located to the south of the town in Hall Road. The original hall was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt in 1829 in a Gothic Revival style, by Norfolk architect William John Donthorne. Henry Baring, of the Baring banking family, acquired the estate around this time.

Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, (; 26 February 1841 – 29 January 1917) was a British statesman, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as the British controller-general in Egypt during 1879, part of the international control whic ...

was born at the hall in 1841. In 2010 the building was the home of the Cabbell Manners family. In 1901, author Arthur Conan Doyle was a guest at the hall. After hearing the legend of the

Black Shuck In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog which is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia, one of many such black dogs recorded in folklore across the Briti ...

, a ghostly black dog, he is thought to have been inspired to write the classic novel ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in '' The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is se ...

''.

The

Old Town hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

, which was once the main public events venue in the town, was completed in 1890.

Lifeboat station

The fishermen also crewed Cromer's two lifeboats. Most famous of the lifeboatmen was

, 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. Rowing lifeboats were stationed there through the 19th century. In the 1920s a

lifeboat station A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crew and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine. Lifeboats may be rigid, inflatable or rigid-inf ...

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 large, as there is 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 Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household c ...

25 miles (40 km) to the west. Today the offshore lifeboat on the pier performs about a dozen rescues a year, with about the same number for the inshore lifeboat stationed on the beach. The

Duke of Kent Duke of Kent is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, most recently as a royal dukedom for the fourth son of King George V. Since 1942, the title has been held by Prince Edw ...

officially named the town's new lifeboat, ''Lester'', in a ceremony on 8 September 2008.

Transport

The railway came to Cromer in 1877, with the opening of Cromer High railway station by the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

. Ten years later, a second station, Cromer Beach, was opened by the

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated i ...

, bringing visitors from the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area tradi ...

. The second station, now known simply as

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are N ...

, remains. Direct services were operated from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, Leicester,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, but today a service between

and

on the

Bittern Line The Bittern Line is a railway branch line in Norfolk, England, that links to . It passes through the Broads on its route to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the north Norfolk coast. It is named after the bittern, a rare bird found in t ...

is all that remains. The closed

Cromer tunnel The Cromer Tunnel was built by the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway to take their Cromer Beach to Mundesley line under the Great Eastern's Cromer High to Norwich line. Both portals of the tunnels are open but undergrowth and modern housing ...

linked the Beach station with the

Mundesley Mundesley /ˈmʌndz.li/ is a coastal village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is north-north east of Norwich, south east of Cromer and north east of London. The village lies north-north east of the town of Nort ...

line to the east. It was the only railway tunnel to be built in Norfolk. Bus and coach services are provided by several companies which link the town to destinations including Norwich, Sheringham,

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

, King's Lynn and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

. The

A140 The A140 is an 'A-class' road in Norfolk and Suffolk, East Anglia, England partly following the route of the Roman Pye Road. It runs from the A14 near Needham Market to the A149 south of Cromer. It is of primary status for the entiret ...

links to Norwich, the A148 (direct) and A149 (coast road) to

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, ...

, and the A149 to the

Norfolk Broads Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North ...

and

. The B1159 is a coastal road out towards

. The nearest airport is

Norwich International Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Hellesdon, Norfolk, England, north of Norwich. In 2017, Norwich Airport was the 28th busiest airport in the UK and busiest in the East Anglia region. Norwich Airport has a CAA Public Use Ae ...

. A private airfield, Northrepps Aerodrome, is south-east of the town.

Education

Cromer Academy is the town's only high school. It educates children aged 11 to 16. For sixth-form education, children travel to

Paston College Paston College (previously Paston Sixth Form College) is a sixth form college located in the town of North Walsham, Norfolk. The college has been part of City College Norwich, following a merger of the two colleges, since 1 December 2017. History ...

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. Demography The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the pa ...

, or

. The town also has a junior school educating children from 5 to 11 years of age, an infants school (Suffield Park infants) and an attached nursery.

Sport and leisure

Cromer has sports clubs and leisure facilities. Situated on the cliffs between the town and

to the east, the Royal Cromer Golf Club was founded in 1888 and given royal status by the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

, one of the founding members, in the same year.Royal Cromer Golf Club
Today's Golfer. Retrieved 17 October 2015. The course was originally designed by

Old Tom Morris Thomas Mitchell Morris (16 June 1821 – 24 May 1908), otherwise known as Old Tom Morris, and The Grand Old Man of Golf, was a Scottish golfer. He was born in St Andrews, Fife, the "home of golf" and location of the St Andrews Links, and died ...

Royal Cromer, England
Top 100 golf courses. Retrieved 17 October 2015. and hosted the

British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of the ...

in 1905, before which an unofficial match was held between British and American ladies, the first international golf match to be played.McKinley. S.L, The vital weapons for the hunt, ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'', 1961--5-08
available online
. Retrieved 17 October 2015.Mallon. B, Jerris. R
Historical Dictionary of Golf
p.xxvi. Retrieved 17 October 2015. The club, which is the second oldest in Norfolk, has hosted PGA events.Region’s stars are set for Royal Cromer Golf Club challenge
''

Eastern Daily Press The ''Eastern Daily Press'' (''EDP'') is a regional newspaper covering Norfolk, northern parts of Suffolk and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is published daily in Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of whi ...

'', 24 May 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015. Cromer Cricket Club is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

amateur

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

club that is based on The Norton Warnes Cricket Ground on Overstrand Road. Cromer CC have 2 Saturday senior XI teams that compete in the Norfolk Cricket Alliance League, a Women's softball team in the NCB Women’s Softball Cricket League, and a junior section that play competitive cricket in the Junior Tier Groups of the Norfolk Cricket Alliance League. Cabbell Park has been the home of

Cromer Town F.C. Cromer Town Football Club is a football club based in Cromer, Norfolk. Established in 1997 by a merger of Cromer Town and Madra United, they are currently members of the and play at Cabbell Park. History Cromer Town Cromer F.C. were first re ...

since 1922. The long established club plays in the Premier Division of the

Anglian Combination The Anglian Combination (known as the Hadley & Ottaway Anglian Combination under the terms of a sponsorship deal) is an English football league that operates in the East Anglia area. The league specifically covers Norfolk and northern Suffolk w ...

. The town's tennis and squash courts are located at Norwich Road and are open to the public. The

Norfolk Coast Path The Norfolk Coast Path is a long-distance footpath in Norfolk, running 83 miles (133.5 km) from Hunstanton to Hopton-on-Sea. It was opened in 1986 and covers the North Norfolk Coast AONB ( Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). It links w ...

passes through the town and is also the termination of the

Weavers' Way The Weavers' Way is a long-distance footpath in Norfolk, England. Much of the Weavers’ Way footpath follows the old trackbed of the Aylsham to Great Yarmouth railway line, which was operated by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway a ...

. The Norfolk Coast Cycleway runs parallel to the coast and passes through a mixture of ''quiet roads'' and country lanes to link the town with

Kings Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

to the west and

in the east. Sea angling is popular and mixed catches including

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not c ...

can be made from the town's beaches. The pier provides the opportunity to capture specimen sized

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

. Established in 2007, the North Norfolk Surf Lifesaving Club (North Norfolk SLSC) has its clubhouse on the town's main promenade. Surfing is also carried out on the town's beaches close to the pier. Equipment and lessons can be hired in season.

Cultural references

The town is featured as a location in the novels

Emma Emma may refer to: * Emma (given name) Film * ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown * ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow * ''Emma'' (1996 TV film), a British television film starring Kate B ...

'' by Jane Austen and

North and South North and South may refer to: Literature * ''North and South'' (Gaskell novel), an 1854 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell * ''North and South'' (trilogy), a series of novels by John Jakes (1982–1987) ** ''North and South'' (Jakes novel), first novel ...

'' by

Elizabeth Gaskell Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (''née'' Stevenson; 29 September 1810 – 12 November 1865), often referred to as Mrs Gaskell, was an English novelist, biographer and short story writer. Her novels offer a detailed portrait of the lives of many st ...

. ''

'' by Jane Austen Chapter XII ''

'' by

Chapter XLIX

Edward Lear Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal a ...

includes a

limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

about Cromer in his '' Book of Nonsense''.

Film media

In a ''

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over fo ...

'' episode first shown in 1970 (Series 2, Episode 9, Skit: Cosmetic Surgery), the name on the "desk" of Professor Sir Adrian Furrows indicates that the character has a

B.Sc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

from, among sundry other places, Cromer. In '' The Three Doctors'', a 1972–1973 serial in the long-running

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

television series '' Doctor Who'', the doctor's ally,

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, generally referred to simply as the Brigadier, is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', created by writers Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln and p ...

mistakes the surface of an alien planet for the town, famously uttering, "I'm fairly sure that's Cromer". Actor

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. ...

improvised the line, name-checking the place where he got his first professional job as an actor-cum-assistant stage manager. The final scenes of the 2013 film '' Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa'' were filmed on Cromer Pier. Filming took place in the town during November 2014 of the

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

series '' Partners in Crime''. A BBC short fantasy – ''Wonderland'', first aired 1 December 2018, was filmed in Cromer featuring the pier. It depicts the distant personal relationship between a busy mother's lifestyle working with IT bizarrely crossed-over to her son's video-game-driven lifestyle, causing the screens of both to display corrupted fragments of each other's content, and everyone else's real-time frame to freeze, allowing mother and son to enjoy unique quality time together. The

musical theme In music, a subject is the material, usually a recognizable melody, upon which part or all of a composition is based. In forms other than the fugue, this may be known as the theme. Characteristics A subject may be perceivable as a complete mu ...

Emmy the Great Emma-Lee Moss (born 4 November 1983), known by her stage name Emmy the Great, is an English singer-songwriter. She has released four studio albums, '' First Love'', ''Virtue'', ''Second Love'' and ''April / 月音''. She sings in English and ...

’s ''Lost in You''. Several scenes in the 2018 TV series '' Angry Birds on the Run'' were filmed in Cromer.

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Drôme Drôme (; Occitan: ''Droma''; Arpitan: ''Drôma'') is the southernmost department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. Named after the river Drôme, it had a population of 516,762 as of 2019.

, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes,

* Nidda,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

Notable people

Edward Bach Edward Bach ( ; 24 September 1886 – 27 November 1936) was a British medical doctor, bacteriologist, homeopath, and spiritual writer, best known for developing the Bach flower remedies, a form of alternative medicine inspired by classical home ...

, creator of Bach flower remedies *

, most decorated lifeboatman of the

. *

Benjamin Bond Cabbell Benjamin Bond Cabbell FRS FSA FGS DL (1782/83 – 9 December 1874), was a British politician and philanthropist. Life He was educated at Westminster School in London. He studied at Oriel College, Oxford from June 1800, but left the universit ...

, politician and philanthropist * Henry "Shrimp" Davies, longest-serving coxswain of the lifeboat *

Emily Wilding Davison Emily Wilding Davison (11 October 1872 – 8 June 1913) was an English suffragette who fought for votes for women in Britain in the early twentieth century. A member of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and a militant fighter ...

, women's rights campaigner. *

James Dyson Sir James Dyson (born 2 May 1947) is a British inventor, industrial designer, farmer, and billionaire entrepreneur who founded Dyson Ltd. He is best known as the inventor of the dual cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the princip ...

, creator of

Dyson Dyson may refer to: * Dyson (surname), people with the surname Dyson * Dyson (company), a Singaporean multinational home appliances company founded by James Dyson * Dyson (crater), a crater on the Moon * Dyson (operating system), a Unix general-pu ...

vacuum cleaners *

John Henry Gurney John Henry Gurney (4 July 1819 – 20 April 1890) was an English banker, amateur ornithologist, and Liberal Party politician of the Gurney family. Life Gurney was the only son of Joseph John Gurney of Earlham Hall, Norwich, Norfolk. At the age ...

, banker and amateur ornithologist *

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in ...

, veteran actor had a home close to the town *

Charles William Peach Charles William Peach ALS (30 September 1800 – 28 February 1886) was a British naturalist and geologist. He discovered fossils in Cornwall, after it had been stated by the geologists William Conybeare, that there were no fossil-bearing rock ...

, British naturalist and geologist *

Malcolm Sayer Malcolm Sayer (21 May 1916 – 22 April 1970) was an aircraft engineer during wartime and later automotive aerodynamist. His most notable aerodynamic work being responsible for the engineering body development of the E-Type Jaguar and early s ...

, designer for Jaguar cars * Simon Thomas, television presenter * Liam Walsh, the boxer is based in the town. *

Charles Mayes Wigg Charles Mayes Wigg, born at Nottingham, England on 13 January 1889 and died at Eastbourne on 2 March 1969, was an English artist. Biography The eldest son of Mayes Wigg, a bank manager, and Agnes Wigg (formerly Sudbury), he grew up at Watton and ...

, artist

Freedom of the Town

The following people and military units have received the

Freedom of the Town The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...

of Cromer.

Individuals

* Anthony "Tony" Shipp: 15 August 2022.

References

External links

Cromer Town Council
{{authority control North Norfolk Seaside resorts in England Towns in Norfolk Port cities and towns of the North Sea Populated coastal places in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk Beaches of Norfolk