Exploring Hunstanton

During the Victorian period, going to the sea to take the water and air became very popular for wealthy people who had the time and money to travel. Henry L’Estrange Styleman le Strange, whose family home was Hunstanton Hall in Old Hunstanton, realised the potential of the coast around him and proposed the idea to build a new town next to the sea, a discrete distance way away from his own home!

The new town was going to be of high standard, built from local Carstone rock, and with all the amenities wealthy travellers required. Building started in 1846, but it wasn’t until the railway arrived in 1862 that the new town’s growth accelerated rapidly. The new town was called Hunstanton St. Edmund’s, but is now just called Hunstanton, or “Sunny Hunny”.

The Coastguard Lookout was built in 1906 as a Marconi Wireless Station and was used during both World Wars to listen to German radio transmissions and help trace their fleet and zeppelin flights. In 1943, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the listening post with their two daughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. It has now been converted to a comfortable holiday cottage which you can rent through Booking.com.

There has been a lighthouse on the site of the present Old Hunstanton Lighthouse since 1665 to aid sailors into the safer water of The Wash and on towards the major ports of King's Lynn and Boston. The lighthouse has been replaced many times since then and the lighthouse of 1776 became the first in Britain to use oil lamps instead of a coal fire, and the first in the world to use a parabolic reflector. Work started on the current lighthouse in 1836 and the lantern was lit for the first time in September 1840. Not surprisingly, due to the great views from above cliffs, the lighthouse soon became the new town’s first tourist attraction. It was in use until 1922 when the lantern was finally extinguished after improvements were made to the Inner Downsing Lightship. The “Old Lighthouse” is now a holiday cottage.

And just to complete the story, the Inner Downsing Lightship has been fully restored and is now a bed and breakfast near Rochester in Kent. It can be booked through Booking.com.

Only ruins remain of St. Edmund’s Chapel, which was built around 1272 in memory of St. Edmund who was King of East Anglia and one-time patron saint of England. Fourteen-year-old Edmund was the last member of the Wuffing (Waffa means wolf in old English) family who'd ruled East Anglia for over 200 years. He had spent his childhood in Saxony and landed below the Hunstanton cliffs in 855 to claim his kingdom. After 14 years of peaceful rule, he was captured near Thetford while battling Viking raiders. King Edmund was tied to a tree where, due to his refusal to surrender his Christian faith, he was whipped, beaten, shot by arrows, and beheaded. The Vikings left the body and ran off into the forest to hide his head, denying Edmund a Christian burial.

Legend has it, that while Edmund’s followers were searching for his missing head, they heard his voice call “Here, here, here” to them from within the forest where they found a large grey wolf standing guard over Edmund’s head. After putting the head beside his body, they found that the head and body fused perfectly together and believed this to be a sign of sainthood and the first of many miracles connected with St. Edmund.

Centuries later, in Bury St Edmunds where Edmunds body rests in the Abbey, a small stone coffin was found. The bones inside the coffin were identified as belonging to a wolf. Were these the remains of the great grey wolf?

The Lookout gives an opportunity to take in the glorious views along the Hunstanton coastline, and if the weather is clear, across The Wash to Lincolnshire. Its elevated position is an excellent place to get a clearer look along the cliffs if the tide is high and there is no beach access. There are a couple of benches to sit on and take in the sea views, a map which points out things of interest on the horizon, and a telescope. And, strangely, if you’re here as the sun goes down you may get to see a beautiful sunset as Hunstanton is the only east coast resort that faces west!

You walk through the Esplanade Gardens on the Reis Leming Way, named for the American airman who was awarded the George Medal for his bravery while rescuing people during the great flood of January 1953. These pretty gardens include bowling greens, crazy golf, play areas, the Cenotaph, Flood memorial, and colourful planted areas all with a great view out to sea.

The Green is a triangular grassed area that has a prominent position within Hunstanton and more fine views out to sea. This was the heart of the new town of Hunstanton. Around the edges of The Green are some of the first buildings of the new town.

The Golden Lion Hotel was the first building built in Hunstanton in 1846. It was originally called The New Inn. Next door to the hotel is the Town Hall which was built in 1896 and now includes the Tourist Information Centre.

One thing that has disappeared from the landscape is the 800-foot-long pier which would have stood directly below The Green but was washed away in a fierce storm in January 1978. That’s the second wild weather event I’ve mentioned that happened in January. Perhaps it’s wise to avoid visiting Hunstanton during January!

On the Green are the town sign which shows the towns coat of arms and the image of the Saxon King Edmund and a grey wolf, a statue of Henry L’Estrange, the founder of Hunstanton, and an ancient cross that is thought to have come from Snettisham.

The colourful striped cliffs of Hunstanton are a favourite attraction and were formed millions of years ago when this area was at the bottom of a warm tropical sea. Even to my untrained geologist’s eye there are three distinct layers, the youngest being the white chalk layer at the top of the cliff.

Believe it or not, this white chalk layer was created about 93 to 99 million years ago from the remains of microscopic organisms that lived in a deep warm sea. The purity of the chalk hints that the sea was a long way away from land as there is no staining from landside debris being swept out to sea.

The next layer down is red chalk which is roughly 99 to 108 million years old. Here the chalk has been contaminated by limonite, a form of iron ore, to give the chalk its red colour.

The oldest layer, exposed at the bottom of the cliff, is the red/brown Carstone which was laid down around 108 to 112 million years ago. This rock is made up from sand particles bonded together with iron oxide. The presence of small, rounded pebbles within this layer implies that the sea was shallow, and waves lapped and polished the pebbles.

Although the cliffs are beautiful and offer great fossil hunting, they are also dangerous as rubble can fall at any time. There is plenty of debris on the beach for fossil hunting and there are also some great rock pools to search for sea life. Happy hunting!

The shipwreck of ST Sheraton can be seen during low tide on the beach below Hunstanton cliffs. This once proud trawler was built in 1907 and was part of the fishing fleet operating from Grimsby in Lincolnshire. She was a strongly built steel ship, about 130 feet long and 23 feet wide, and was made to withstand the often-rough conditions of the North Sea. During the two World Wars, she was commandeered by the Royal Navy and used for minesweeping and anti-submarine missions. At the end of WWII, ST Sheraton was robbed of valuable parts, painted brightly, anchored in The Wash, and used for target practice by the Royal Air Force. After a storm in April 1947, she broken away from her mooring and came to rest on the beach in Hunstanton. There’s only part of the hull left now, but all kids, big or small, would love to see a shipwreck!

Hunstanton's railway station opened on the 3rd of October 1862, just a few months after the death of Henry L’Estrange. It had taken just ten months to build the 15-mile railway line from King's Lynn, allowing passengers to travel directly from London, and it went on to be one of the most profitable branch lines in England. The line was also used by Royalty and Heads of State, who would disembark at The Royal Station Wolferton when they visited the Sandringham Estate. Hunstanton reached the peak of its popularity in the 1950’s when 22 trains a day arrived from all over the country!

The railway probably survived the 1960’s Beeching cutbacks because of its Royal connection with Sandringham. However, after the Royal Family agreed to use King’s Lynn station and the increase in car use, the last train left Hunstanton on the 3rd of May 1969.

All that is left of the railway is a small coal office and a  memorial garden. Much of the station area, sidings, and engine sheds has now been turned into car parking.

Boston Square Sensory Park is an easy access garden that is split into different rooms representing the geography around Hunstanton. There are shingle and water features inspired by the beach, grass lawns contoured to look like waves, and meadow grassland from the chalk cliffs. It’s all finished off with colourful planting, trees, and a stone circle!

The town planners of Hunstanton stuck to their guns and continued to use highly regarded architects to design new buildings. People such as George Skipper and Herbert George Ibberson designed some of the Arts and Crafts buildings around the 1900’s. The features they added included chequerboard patterns, archways, circular windows, and sloped chimneys with local Carstone used to highlight the detail.

We believe that fish and chips taste better when sitting next to the sea and treat ourselves to this tasty English take away when the opportunity arises. We’ve tried several of Hunstanton’s fine fish and chip shops, but on our last couple of visits, Five Frying Fish has been our choice and we sat on a bench near the bandstand overlooking the sea with our bounty.

Sea Holly House
Blakeney
Sleeps 6

Ludham Hall Cottage
Ludham
Sleeps 4

The Old Forge
Binham
Sleeps 4

The Goldern Lion Hotel
Hunstanton

Blakeney House
Blakeney

Chalk & Cheese
Shouldham