![Cley next the Sea church St Margaret](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Cley_next_the_Sea_church_St_Margaret.JPG)
Cley next the Sea (, , is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
on the
River Glaven
The River Glaven in the eastern English county of Norfolk is long and flows through picturesque North Norfolk countryside to the North Sea. Rising from a tiny headwater in Bodham the river starts miles before Selbrigg Pond where three sma ...
in
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 ide ...
county of
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 No ...
, north-west of
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 ...
and east of
Blakeney. The main
A149 coast road runs through the centre of the village, causing congestion in the summer months due to the tight, narrow streets. It lies within the
Norfolk Coast AONB (
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and the North Norfolk
Heritage Coast.
History
The village's name is of
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
origin and derives from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
for a settlement close to the sea with an abundance of clay.
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 ...
, Cley is recorded as a settlement of 38 households located in the
hundred of Holt. The village formed parts of the
East Anglian
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom of the Kingdom of East Anglia, East Angles, ...
estates of
King William I.
A ruined building on the marshes is known as
Blakeney Chapel
Blakeney Chapel is a ruined building on the coast of North Norfolk, England. Despite its name, it was probably not a chapel, nor is it in the adjoining village of Blakeney, but rather in the parish of Cley next the Sea. The building stood on ...
; despite its name, it is in Cley parish, and probably never had a religious purpose. It is a
Grade II listed building and
scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
which was likely an old iron smeltery.
Cley was once one of the busiest ports in England, where grain,
malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as " malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, wh ...
, fish, spices, coal, cloth, barley and oats were exported or imported. The many
Flemish gable
A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a ...
s in the town are a reminder of trade with the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. But despite its name, Cley has not been "next the sea" since the 17th century, due to
land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamati ...
. Some of the buildings that once lined the
quay remain, notably the 18th-century
Cley Windmill
Cley Windmill is a Grade II* listed tower mill at Cley next the Sea, Norfolk, England which has been converted to residential accommodation.
History
Cley windmill was built in the early 19th century. It was not marked on William Faden's map of ...
. The
windmill, a five-storey towermill, was owned by the family of singer
James Blunt
James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...
for many decades
and operated as a
bed and breakfast. The mill was sold in 2006, but continues to operate as a bed and breakfast on a non-profit making basis. It was used as a backdrop of the 1949 film ''
Conspirator'' with
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
. Cley Mill has often been depicted by local artists and was the subject of a painting by the 20th-century English landscape artist,
Rowland Hilder
Rowland Frederick Hilder OBE (28 June 1905 – 21 April 1993) was an English landscape artist, and book illustrator.
Early life
He was born in New York to Roland and Kitty Hilder (née Fissenden). Following the outbreak of World War 1, Hild ...
.
After the silting up of the port, Cley had to find another industry; in the late 19th century, it became a holiday resort. The poet
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915)The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. was an En ...
was staying in Cley with classics professor
Francis Macdonald Cornford and his wife, the poet
Frances Cornford
Frances Crofts Cornford (née Darwin; 30 March 1886 – 19 August 1960) was an English poet.
Life
She was the daughter of the botanist Francis Darwin and Newnham College fellow Ellen Wordsworth Crofts (1856-1903), and born into the Darwin ...
, early in August 1914 when news came that Britain had entered what was to become the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Brooke had dreamt about the war and woke to find it a reality. He did not speak to his hosts all day until Frances Cornford said, "But Rupert, you won't have to fight?" to which Brooke replied, "We shall all have to fight".
Geography
In the
2011 Census, Cley was recorded as having a population of 437 residents living in 358 households.
Cley falls within the
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
of
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 a ...
and is represented at
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
by
Duncan Baker of the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
.
Parish church
St Margaret's, Cley
St Margaret's is the Church of England, Anglican parish church of Cley next the Sea, Norfolk, in the deanery of Holt, Norfolk, Holt, the Archdeaconry of King's Lynn, Lynn and the Diocese of Norwich. The dedication is to Margaret the Virgin, St Mar ...
is of
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
origin and is dedicated to
Saint Margaret of Antioch
Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the Western Rite Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism, ...
. The great
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 ...
was completed in the 14th Century with contributions from the
de Vaux family
de Vaux (Vans, Vance, Vallibus) is the surname of an old Norman noble family.
French origin
The family held Norman estates as Lord Vaux.
England
Robert and Aitard de Vaux followed in the retinue of Roger Bigod during William of Normandy's in ...
. The church is
Grade I listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Cley Marshes
![Cley Mill, Norfolk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Cley_Mill%2C_Norfolk.jpg)
The marshes around Cley are internationally important for their populations of rare breeding and visiting birds. Cley Marshes bird reserve has been in the care of the
Norfolk Wildlife Trust
The Norfolk Wildlife Trust (NWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts covering Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man and Alderney. Founded in 1926, it is the oldest of all the trusts. It has over 35,500 members and eight local groups and it mana ...
since 1926, making it the oldest county Wildlife Trust reserve in Britain.
Among resident breeding birds are
avocet,
bearded tit,
bittern,
marsh harrier
The marsh harriers are birds of prey of the harrier subfamily. They are medium-sized raptors and the largest and broadest-winged harriers. Most of them are associated with marshland and dense reedbeds. They are found almost worldwide, excluding o ...
and
spoonbill
Spoonbills are a genus, ''Platalea'', of large, long-legged wading birds. The spoonbills have a global distribution, being found on every continent except Antarctica. The genus name ''Platalea'' derives from Ancient Greek and means "broad", refe ...
. Winter visitors include
brent goose,
Eurasian wigeon,
pintail and many species of
wading birds. Cley, like neighbouring
Salthouse
Salthouse is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the salt marshes of North Norfolk. It is north of Holt, west of Sheringham and north of Norwich. The village is on the A149 coast road between ...
is ideally situated at the apex of the North Norfolk coast as a staging ground for passage migrants, vagrants and rarities of all kinds. A new eco-friendly visitor centre opened in 2007 containing a café, shop, viewing areas (including viewing from a camera on the reserve), exhibition area, interpretation and toilets. The view from the visitor centre across the marsh to the sea is breathtaking. Cley Marshes is the home of the Bird Information Service, publishers of ''
Birding World''.
The shingle bank holds large numbers of
yellow horned poppy.
Sea defences
The
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
and
fresh water marshes used to be very well protected. However the cost of replenishing the shingle spit grew too much for the village to sustain. Once the repairing stopped, it became easier for waves to get through; in 1953 a large storm, measured at above ordnance datum (see
North Sea flood of 1953
The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed, causing extensive flooding.
The storm and flo ...
) hit the
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 a ...
coast and the shingle ridge was mostly destroyed. A further storm surge in 1978 measured above ordnance datum and the protection measures confined flooding to the marshes and A149 coast road. The North Norfolk Shoreline Management Plan introduced by the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
has proposed a number of strategies in the light of continual erosion and predicted
rising sea levels
Rising may refer to:
* Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique)
*Elevation
* Short for Uprising, a rebellion
Film and TV
* "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...
caused by
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
: these include ''Advance the line'', ''Hold the line'', ''
Managed retreat'' and ''Do nothing''. Even after extensive public consultation there is widespread local concern that the marshes will be lost to the North Sea.
Notable residents and appearance in media
William Jones was a merchant here in the 18th century. His daughter,
Charlotte Jones, became a noted Royal
miniature portrait
A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century el ...
painter.
[Annette Peach, 'Jones, Charlotte (1768–1847)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200]
accessed 17 Jan 2015
/ref>
James Blunt
James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After l ...
spent time, in his early years, at his grandfather's and later his father's windmill in the village.[
Cley Old Hall was used as a location in the 1982 film '']The Ploughman's Lunch
''The Ploughman's Lunch'' is a 1983 British drama film written by Ian McEwan and directed by Richard Eyre which features Jonathan Pryce, Tim Curry, and Rosemary Harris.
The film looks at the media world in Margaret Thatcher's Britain around th ...
''. In July 1997 the BBC filmed one of its BBC One
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, p ...
balloon idents, which ran from 1997 to 2002, in the village.
War memorials
Cley's war memorials take the form of two carved stone tablets located inside St Margaret's Church. It lists the following names for the First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
:
* Second-Lieutenant Raven Cozens-Hardy (1886-1917), 4th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Sergeant Ernest W. E. Gibbs (1889-1916), 2nd Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Stoker-First Class Herbert W. Ellwood (1879-1918), '' H.M. Tug Desire''
* Stoker-Second Class James G. Elvin (1900-1918), '' HMS Vivid''
* Deckhand George W. Grimes (1894-1916), '' H.M. Trawler''
* Gunner Charles A. Gidney (1894-1914), Royal Horse Artillery
* Mate James W. Grimes (1885-1916), '' HMS Invincible''
* Private Herbert Holman (d.1918), 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment
The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a Line infantry, line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. After centuries of service in many conflicts and wars, including both the World War ...
* Private William E. Barnes (1893-1916), 2nd (British Columbia Mounted Rifles) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force
The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was the expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division ...
* Private John E. Barnes (1894-1916), 18th (Western Ontario) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force
* Private Ralph Barnes (1886-1915), 1st Battalion, Essex Regiment
* Private Frederick J. Bishop (d.1916), 10th Battalion, Essex Regiment
* Private Cecil J. Bolton (1897-1917), 1/5th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Private Cecil A. Gathercole (1898-1917), 9th Battalion, Royal Norfolk Regiment
* Private Frederick W. Brett (1886-1916), 1/4th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers
* Private Albert G. Jeary (d.1916), 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...
* Private Robert W. E. Gibbs (1893-1917), 11th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
* Private George H. Drinkwater (d.1917), 13th Battalion, East Yorkshire Regiment
* Robert Leeder
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cley Next The Sea
Cley next the Sea
Villages in Norfolk
Populated coastal places in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Beaches of Norfolk
North Norfolk