Trimingham is a coastal village and a civil parish in the

North Norfolk North Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Cromer, and the largest town is North Walsham. The district also includes the towns of Fakenham, Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Shering ...

district 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 ...

, England. The village is north of

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. The town is located south of Cromer and Norwich is south. Demography The civil parish has an area of ...

, east of

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. It is north of Norwich, northwest of North Walsham and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local ...

, north of the city and

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

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 ...

, and is on the

B1159 The B1159 is a road in Norfolk, England, running for about between Cromer and Caister-on-Sea, parallel to and at a short distance from the northeastern coast of Norfolk. From north to south the road passes through: * Overstrand *Sidestrand * ...

coastal road between Cromer and

Mundesley Mundesley /ˈmʌn.dzli/ is a coastal village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is north-northeast of Norwich, southeast of Cromer and north-northeast of the town of North Walsham. The nearest airport is Norw ...

. The villages name means 'Homestead/village of Trymma's people'.

Parish church

Trimingham parish church is named for

St John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

's Head. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The dedication dates to the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period, when a life-size

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

head of the saint was kept at the church. St John's shrine altar was visited by

pilgrim The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

s who came to the church rather than make the journey to

Amiens Cathedral The Cathedral of Our Lady of Amiens (), or simply Amiens Cathedral, is a Catholic Church, Catholic cathedral. The cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Amiens. It is situated on a slight ridge overlooking the River Somme in Amiens, the administra ...

in northern France, where a relic, said to be the real head of John the Baptist, was kept. The alabaster head did not survive, and although it is unknown exactly what happened to it, it has been suggested that it was probably destroyed by

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

reformers A reformer is someone who works for reform. Reformer may also refer to: * Catalytic reformer, in an oil refinery *Methane reformer, producing hydrogen * Steam reformer * Hydrogen reformer, extracting hydrogen *Methanol reformer, producing hydrogen ...

as a result of the 1538 injunctions against images during the reign of King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

. Another theory is that the head was destroyed as a result of a further injunction which was rigorously imposed in 1547, during the early weeks of the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

. Today an alabaster head survives in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in London, and it is thought that the head at Trimingham was exactly the same. The village hall is called 'pilgrim shelter' as a reminder of Trimingham's past as a site of pilgrimage. The church has a squat tower which is thought to be unfinished. It has heavy

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es on the west elevation which suggest that a fault in the construction of the church may well have been the reason for the unfinished tower. The nave to the east cuts around the buttress to embrace it. This peculiarity may be partly the result of a restoration by

Thomas Jeckyll Thomas Jeckyll (1827 Wymondham, Norfolk – 1881 Norwich) (baptised on 20 June 1827) was an English architect who excelled in the creation of metalwork and furniture strongly influenced by Japanese design, and is best known for his planning in ...

in the 1850s. Pevsner states in his county survey book that Jeckyll completely rebuilt the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, of which the most notable feature is the way that the tower buttresses on the east side project into the nave.Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East, By

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

and Bill Wilson The church's

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

has four figures on either side of the entrance to the chancel: St Edmund with his arrow, St Clare with her book and

monstrance A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharisti ...

, St Clement with his anchor and

crozier A crozier or crosier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholi ...

, and

St James Saint James or St. James may refer to: People Saints *James, brother of Jesus (died 62 or 69), also known as James the Just *James the Great (died 44), Apostle, also known as James, son of Zebedee, or Saint James the Greater *James, son of Alphaeu ...

in his pilgrim's robes. On the south side are St Petronella with her book and keys, St Cecilia with her garland of flowers,

St Barbara Saint Barbara (; ; ; ), known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian Greek saint and martyr. There is no reference to her in the authentic early Christian writings nor in the original recension of Sai ...

with her tower, and

St Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian priest, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known for his translation of the Bible i ...

with his hawk. The east window of the church is credited to H Wilkinson and dates from 1925; the window depicts Christ in Majesty flanked by

St Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

and St Gabriel, with the symbols of the four Evangelists surrounding them.

Trimingham "golf ball"

At Trimingham was an air defence radar station

RAF Trimingham Remote Radar Head Trimingham or RRH Trimingham is a former TPS-77 radar station situated on the coast in the English county of Norfolk. The site is located on the coast road between Cromer and Mundesley, 1 kilometre east of the village of ...

, a satellite station of

RAF Neatishead Remote Radar Head Neatishead ( ), and commonly abbreviated RRH Neatishead, is an air defence radar site operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It is located approximately north-east of Norwich in the county of Norfolk, England. Originally kno ...

inland, which had a structure shaped like a giant golf ball and was on the edge of the cliff on the coastal road.This structure was removed in early 2023. Having previously denied problems, the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

said, in November 2006, that it would consider claims for compensation after an inquiry found the Type 93 radar spinning inside the dome was ''"out of alignment"''. The MoD stated that the radar had been out of alignment between November 2005 and February 2006, causing car engines and lights to cut out, and speedometer dials to swing up to 150 mph as motorists drove past. A local garage owner who ran the nearest garage at

, said he had dealt with 30 calls over a couple of months.

Trimingham beach

Trimingham has a beach that is used by

surfers Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suita ...

jet ski A personal watercraft (PWC), also called Jet Ski or water scooter, is a primarily recreational watercraft that is designed to hold only a small number of occupants, who sit or stand on top of the craft, not within the craft as in a boat. P ...

ers, dog walkers and night-fishermen. It is reached by a steep one-vehicle only road accessed along a lane just past the building that used to be the Ingleside

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, now a private residence. The

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

face at Trimingham has the youngest

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

in the United Kingdom; it contains shells,

bivalves Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed by a calcified exoskeleton consis ...

crinoids Crinoids are marine invertebrates that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that remain attached to the sea floor by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms, called feather stars or comatulids, are ...

and

oysters Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of Seawater, salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in Marine (ocean), marine or Brackish water, brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly Calcification, calcified, a ...

, and is subject to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

. A now derelict tramway was built on the beach some time between 1945 and 1973. Its exact use was unclear, but it was probably used for bomb disposable after

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...

and was used to construct the 1973 sea defences on the beach. It was partly buried later that year by a landslide from the nearby cliff.

Transport

The nearest railway station is at Gunton for 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 Eurasian bittern, bittern, a r ...

which runs between

Sheringham Sheringham (; population 7,367) is a seaside town and civil parish in the county of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. . The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District ...

, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is at

Norwich International Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Norfolk, England, north of the city of Norwich. In 2023, Norwich Airport was the 25th Busiest airports in the United Kingdom by total passenger traffic, busiest airport in the UK and busiest in ...

. Trimingham was once served by Trimingham railway station on the

Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway (NSJR) was a British joint railway company. The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (MGNJ) and consisted of two distinct sections: a line betwee ...

between

and

. It closed in 1953.

Sport

The village has a football team called the Trimingham Pilgrims, also known as "The Trimms".

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Populated coastal places in Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk North Norfolk Beaches of Norfolk Coastal erosion in the United Kingdom