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Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England.Ordnance Survey, Explorer Sheet 252, Norfolk Coast East, It is north of Norwich, northwest of North Walsham and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is on Holt Road in the town, and Norfolk County Council, 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 Cancer pagurus, 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.
Cromer is not mentioned in the Domesday Book 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 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, who played golf here. The resort's facilities included the late-Victorian era Cromer Pier, which is home to the Pavilion Theatre. In 1883 the London journalist Clement Scott went to Cromer and began to write about the area. He named the stretch of coastline, particularly the Overstrand and Sidestrand area, "Poppyland", Poppyland - Strands of Norfolk History, Stibbons and Cleveland, Pub: Poppyland Publishing, Fourth ed. 2001, 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 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 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, were officially designated as a Marine Conservation Zone.
Tourism developed in the town during the Victorian period and is now an important part of the local economy. Market Towns Survey, 2013, Norfolk County Council, 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 and the Pavilion Theatre on the pier. Close to the town's pier the RNLI 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's most famous rescues. The RNLI Henry Blogg museum . Retrieved 12 February 2010.
The themed Amazona zoo park opened to the public in 2006 and is to the south of the town. The park covers of former Brick Kiln and woodland on the outskirts of the town and includes animals including jaguar and cougar. Amazona zoo park. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
Cromer is twinned with Nidda, Germany and Crest, France. The town has an Air Training Corps Squadron and an Army Cadet Force 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.
Cromer Museum opened in 1978 and is housed in former fishermen's cottages adjacent to the parish church on Church Street. The museum managed by Norfolk County Council contain items relating to the history of Cromer, including paintings and Poppyland china. It has two permanent galleries on the pioneering photographer, Olive Edis - Britain's first female war photographer. A mock-up of a Victorian cottage and galleries containing geology and fossil remnants of the area which include part of the West Runton Mammoth.
Cromer Pier 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 .
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. 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 crew and other features of the resort. The church of St Peter and St Paul . Retrieved 3 February 2010. Norfolk churches. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
The Hotel de Paris was originally built in 1820 as a coastal residence for Lord Suffield. In 1830 the building was converted into a hotel by Pierre le Francois. Norfolk-born architect George Skipper extensively remodelled the building between 1895 and 1896. (1997). 9780300096071, Penguin. ISBN 9780300096071 Today, the hotel which occupies an elevated location overlooking the town's pier still provides accommodation to visitors. Hotel de Paris. Retrieved 8 February 2010. Other notable hotels include the 17th century Red Lion Hotel, the Victorian Sandcliff Hotel and the Edwardian Cliftonville Hotel.
Cromer Hall 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 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, a ghostly black dog, he is thought to have been inspired to write the classic novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. Literary Norfolk. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
The Old Town hall, which was once the main public events venue in the town, was completed in 1890.
In the 1920s a lifeboat station 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 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 officially named the town's new lifeboat, Lester, in a ceremony on 8 September 2008. North Norfolk News report. Retrieved 9 September 2008.
The railway came to Cromer in 1877, with the opening of Cromer High station by the Great Eastern Railway. Ten years later, a second station, Cromer Beach, was opened by the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway, bringing visitors in from the East Midlands; only this station remains today and it was renamed Cromer in 1969, following the closure of Cromer High station. Direct services were operated from London, Manchester, Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, Peterborough and Sheffield. The now-closed Cromer tunnel linked Beach station with the Mundesley line to the east; it was the only railway tunnel to be built in Norfolk.
Bus services are provided by Sanders Coaches, which link the town with local destinations including Norwich, Sheringham, Holt, Wells-next-the-sea and North Walsham.
The A140 links Cromer with Norwich, the A148 (direct) and A149 (coast road) to King's Lynn, and the A149 to the Norfolk Broads and Great Yarmouth. The B1159 is a coastal road out towards Mundesley.
The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport. A private airfield, Northrepps Aerodrome, is located south-east of the town.
Local radio stations are BBC Radio Norfolk on 95.6 FM, Heart East on 102.4 FM, Greatest Hits Radio East (formerly North Norfolk Radio) on 103.2 FM, and Poppyland Community Radio, a community online based station which broadcast from the town.
The town is served by the local newspapers, North Norfolk News and Eastern Daily Press.
Cabbell Park has been the home of Cromer Town F.C. since 1922. The long established club plays in the Premier Division of the Anglian Combination. Cromer Town Football Club. Retrieved 22 February 2010. The town's tennis and squash courts are located at Norwich Road and are open to the public. Cromer Lawn tennis club . Retrieved 23 February 2010.
The Norfolk Coast Path passes through the town and is also the termination of the Weavers' Way. 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 to the west and Great Yarmouth in the east. Norfolk Coast Cycleway . Retrieved 24 February 2010.
Sea angling is popular and mixed catches including cod can be made from the town's beaches. The pier provides the opportunity to capture specimen sized bass. Sea fishing. Retrieved 25 February 2010. Established in 2007, the North Norfolk Surf Lifesaving Club (North Norfolk SLSC) has its clubhouse on the town's main promenade. North Norfolk Lifesavers Retrieved 18 January 2012. Surfing is also carried out on the town's beaches close to the pier. Equipment and lessons can be hired in season. Surfing in Cromer Retrieved 6 March 2012.
Emma by Jane Austen Chapter XII
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Chapter XLIX
Edward Lear includes a limerick about Cromer in his .
In The Three Doctors, a 1972–1973 serial in the long-running BBC television series Doctor Who, the doctor's ally, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart mistakes the surface of an alien planet for the town, famously uttering, "I'm fairly sure that's Cromer". Actor Nicholas Courtney 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 David Croft and Jimmy Perry sitcom You Rang, M'Lord? were filmed on Cromer beach, shortly after the characters of Alf Stokes (played by Paul Shane) and Ivy Teasdale (played by Su Pollard) had left their jobs as butler and maid respectively to Lord Meldrum and had returned to their earlier careers in music hall theatre. The stage and audience seating are set up on the beach and Cromer town and Pier can clearly be seen in the background of some shots.
The final scenes of the 2013 film were filmed on Cromer Pier.
Filming took place in the town during November 2014 of the BBC 1 series Partners in Crime. Eastern Daily Press news report Retrieved 8 April 2015.
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. BBC's Christmas ad freezes time for one magical day by the seaside Campaign Live, 1 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018 The Theme music is Emmy the Great’s Lost in You. Seaside town is 'star' of Christmas TV BBC News, 2 December 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018
Several scenes in the 2018 TV series Angry Birds on the Run were filmed in Cromer.
"Norman and Norma got married in Cromer, April 1983"
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