Sheringham is a small traditional sea side town on the North Norfolk Coast. with a long sandy beach.
A concrete walkway extends for about a mile along the sea front, also serving as a sea wall. The top of the beach is mainly pebbles but with sand lower down. Groynes help prevent long shore drift. At the eastern end of the promenade are a row of brightly coloured beach huts.
Sheringham was made up of 2 villages - Upper Sheringham, a farming community and Lower Sheringham, a farming and fishing settlement on the coast. There was no harbour and the boats had to be pulled up onto the beach and launched from there.
A few boats still fish from the beach, mainly catching crab and lobsters for the London markets.
Sheringham fishermen’s wives were renowned for their knitted ganseys. If men were lost at sea and later washed up on the beach, they could be identified by their gansey.
When the railway arrived in 1887 it it provided a direct link to London and its markets. It also brought visitors and Lower Sheringham grew rapidly from a small fishing village to a thriving and fashionable sea side town. Upper Sheringham just over a mile away is still a small village with a few houses clustered around the church.
Sheringham retains its traditional High Street with small family owned shops and alleys and courtyards.
The Clocktower dates from 1862 and was originally built as a reservoir with water piped from a spring into troughs for animals to drink from, and for townspeople to collect water for domestic use. The clock was added in 1903 and it was adapted as a shelter.
Sheringham War Memorial in the centre of a traffic island was designed in the style of an Eleanor Cross.
The original Parish Church of All Saints’ was in Upper Sheringham. As Lower Sheringham began to grow rapidly, St Peter’s Church opposite the Town Hall, was originally built as a Chapel of Ease, in1895. A local family, the Upchers, donated the land and money towards the building costs of £800. When completed it could seat 700 people. It became a parish church in 1953.
St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on Cromer Road was designed by Gilbert Scott and is a massive brick building towering over neighbouring buildings.
The modern Lifeboat Station is at the far western end of the promenade with a ramp to the sea. The original lifeboat station was a brick and flint building in the centre of the town and has now been fully restored and opened as Oddfellow’s Hall, a function venue.
The Fisherman’s Lifeboat Museum (originally known as the Fishermen’s Heritage Centre) is close to Oddfellows Hall. Before Sheringham, had a lifeboat station, the Upcher family provided two lifeboats. The museum tells the history both boats and the people who crewed them.
The lifeboat theme is continued in Sheringham Museum at the Mo where four of the original RNLI lifeboats are displayed. There are also examples of fishing boats as well as ganseys. It also houses the Sheringham Shoal Windfarm Visitor Centre, with interactive items and films covering climate change and renewable energy as well as the development, construction and operation of the offshore wind farm.
The Peter Coke Shell Gallery is completely different and is a collection of over 100 creations made from shells by Peter Coke. Shell art became popular among Victorian ladies who used colourful shells to make into small decorative sculptures, especially of flowers. Peter Coke developed this art form to a high level of sophistication.
Sheringham can boast two railway stations next to each other. The original station is now the terminus of the North Norfolk Railway.
When the line to Melton Constable was closed in 1965, the M&G Preservation Society bought the track and leased the station building. The line was reopened as the North Norfolk Railway. British Railways had to build a replacement platform
which is the terminus for the Bittern Line that goes to Norwich.
During the summer, Sheringham is always busy with visitors. It has a very relaxed family atmosphere.
website
Sheringham map
A concrete walkway extends for about a mile along the sea front, also serving as a sea wall. The top of the beach is mainly pebbles but with sand lower down. Groynes help prevent long shore drift. At the eastern end of the promenade are a row of brightly coloured beach huts.
Sheringham was made up of 2 villages - Upper Sheringham, a farming community and Lower Sheringham, a farming and fishing settlement on the coast. There was no harbour and the boats had to be pulled up onto the beach and launched from there.
A few boats still fish from the beach, mainly catching crab and lobsters for the London markets.
Sheringham fishermen’s wives were renowned for their knitted ganseys. If men were lost at sea and later washed up on the beach, they could be identified by their gansey.
When the railway arrived in 1887 it it provided a direct link to London and its markets. It also brought visitors and Lower Sheringham grew rapidly from a small fishing village to a thriving and fashionable sea side town. Upper Sheringham just over a mile away is still a small village with a few houses clustered around the church.
Sheringham retains its traditional High Street with small family owned shops and alleys and courtyards.
The Clocktower dates from 1862 and was originally built as a reservoir with water piped from a spring into troughs for animals to drink from, and for townspeople to collect water for domestic use. The clock was added in 1903 and it was adapted as a shelter.
Sheringham War Memorial in the centre of a traffic island was designed in the style of an Eleanor Cross.
The original Parish Church of All Saints’ was in Upper Sheringham. As Lower Sheringham began to grow rapidly, St Peter’s Church opposite the Town Hall, was originally built as a Chapel of Ease, in1895. A local family, the Upchers, donated the land and money towards the building costs of £800. When completed it could seat 700 people. It became a parish church in 1953.
St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on Cromer Road was designed by Gilbert Scott and is a massive brick building towering over neighbouring buildings.
The modern Lifeboat Station is at the far western end of the promenade with a ramp to the sea. The original lifeboat station was a brick and flint building in the centre of the town and has now been fully restored and opened as Oddfellow’s Hall, a function venue.
The Fisherman’s Lifeboat Museum (originally known as the Fishermen’s Heritage Centre) is close to Oddfellows Hall. Before Sheringham, had a lifeboat station, the Upcher family provided two lifeboats. The museum tells the history both boats and the people who crewed them.
The lifeboat theme is continued in Sheringham Museum at the Mo where four of the original RNLI lifeboats are displayed. There are also examples of fishing boats as well as ganseys. It also houses the Sheringham Shoal Windfarm Visitor Centre, with interactive items and films covering climate change and renewable energy as well as the development, construction and operation of the offshore wind farm.
The Peter Coke Shell Gallery is completely different and is a collection of over 100 creations made from shells by Peter Coke. Shell art became popular among Victorian ladies who used colourful shells to make into small decorative sculptures, especially of flowers. Peter Coke developed this art form to a high level of sophistication.
Sheringham can boast two railway stations next to each other. The original station is now the terminus of the North Norfolk Railway.
When the line to Melton Constable was closed in 1965, the M&G Preservation Society bought the track and leased the station building. The line was reopened as the North Norfolk Railway. British Railways had to build a replacement platform
which is the terminus for the Bittern Line that goes to Norwich.
During the summer, Sheringham is always busy with visitors. It has a very relaxed family atmosphere.
website
Sheringham map
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