Happisburgh () is a village
civil parish in the
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 ...
county of
Norfolk. The village is on the coast, to the east of a north–south road, the
B1159 from
Bacton on the coast to
Stalham
Stalham is a market town and civil parish on the River Ant in the English county of Norfolk, in East Anglia. It covers an area of and had a population of 2,951 in 1,333 households at the 2001 census, the population increasing to 3,149 at the 20 ...
. It is a
nucleated village. The nearest substantial town is
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district.
Demography
The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the pa ...
to the west.
[Ordnance Survey (2002). ''OS Explorer Map 252 - Norfolk Coast East''. .]
The place-name 'Happisburgh' is first attested in the
Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Hapesburc''. The name means 'Hæp's fort or fortified place'.
Happisburgh became a site of national archaeological importance in 2010 when flint tools over 800,000 years old were unearthed. This is the oldest evidence of human occupation anywhere in the UK.
In May 2013, a series of
early human footprints were discovered on the beach at the site, providing direct evidence of early human activity at the site.
The civil parish shrank by over in the 20th century by the erosion of its beaches and low cliffs. In 1968,
groyne
A groyne (in the U.S. groin) is a rigid hydraulic structure built perpendicularly from an ocean shore (in coastal engineering) or a river bank, interrupting water flow and limiting the movement of sediment. It is usually made out of wood, concr ...
s were constructed along the shore to try to slow the erosion. In the
2001 census, before the separation of
Walcott parish to the north-west, the parish (which also includes the settlements of Happisburgh Common and Whimpwell Green) had a population of 1,372 in 607 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish is in the
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
of
North Norfolk.
[Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). ]
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes
'. Retrieved 2 December 2005.
Governance
Happisburgh
electoral ward includes the parishes of Happisburgh,
Lessingham
Lessingham is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is 16.3 south-east of Cromer, 17.6 miles north-east of Norwich and 136 miles north-east of London. The village lies 9 miles south-east of the town of North ...
,
East Ruston,
Ingham,
Honing and
Brunstead
Brumstead (or Brunstead) is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is north-east of Norwich, south-south-east of Cromer and north-east of London. The village lies north of the town of Stalham.
History
...
. The ward boundaries were altered for the 2019 elections. The previous ward had a population of 2,386 in 1,085 households.
Local features
St Mary's Church
In 1086 the incoming Norman aristocracy had a simple church built on the site of the current tall stone one. It was demolished and rebuilt in the 15th century. The tall tower of St Mary's church is an important landmark to
mariner
A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship.
The profession of the s ...
s as it warns of the position of the treacherous nearby
sandbanks. A new staircase was added to the top of the tower in 2001, in memory of the Happisburgh schoolboy Thomas Marshall, who was murdered in nearby
Eccles on Sea
Eccles-on-Sea (also called Eccles-by-the-Sea) is an ancient fishing village in north-east Norfolk, now virtually all swept into the North Sea. The population is included in the civil parish of Lessingham.
History
The placename Eccles comes f ...
in 1997. There is also a plaque to his memory; he is buried in the churchyard.
In 1940 a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
bomber released a trapped bomb from its bays during its return to Germany, and some
shrapnel from the bomb can still be seen embedded in the aisle pillars of the church. The church's octagonal font, also of the 15th century, is carved with figures of
lions and
satyr
In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, σειληνός ), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exa ...
s.
[''AA Illustrated Guide to Britain'', London, 5th edition, 1983, p. 285.]
Lighthouse
The red-and-white striped
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mark ...
, to the south of the church is the only independently operated lighthouse in Great Britain and is the oldest working lighthouse in East Anglia having been constructed in 1790. It is open to the public on occasional Sundays during the summer.
Lifeboat station
In 1866 the first lifeboat house was built, by the
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...
(RNLI), on the cliffs above Old Cart Gap at a cost of £189. Its building here was prompted by its proximity to the treacherous
Haisborough Sands. It closed in 1926 and the lifeboat was withdrawn.
A small boathouse was built in a similar site () in 1965 to house a
D-class inshore lifeboat that went into service in June of that year. In 1987 the boathouse was replaced by a new, more modern building with better facilities for crews. This was further extended in 1998. A new D-class lifeboat, ''Colin Martin'', was placed on service on 13 September 1994.
In December 2002 the lifeboat launching ramp was washed away due to massive erosion. A temporary station was opened within three months at Old Cart Gap. The original station is now used for training and souvenir sales.
On 22 October 2003 a new D-class lifeboat ''D-607 Spirit of Berkhamsted'' was placed on service.
The station has been honoured with an
RNLI Silver Medal, awarded in 1886 to Coxswain John Cannon in acknowledgment of his long and valuable service.
Happisburgh Manor or St Mary's
The main land use is a private garden to the homes here, forming an ornate 19th-century estate on the site of fields until the middle of that century. The estate is central and towards the coast from the kinked village street. The main house which was thatched from local reeds was worked up by
Detmar Blow
Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...
from an initial detailed design by
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputatio ...
with whom Blow had collaborated at
Stoneywell. Blow was responsible for practical architectural changes to the initial design and overall architectural management of the build during the period 1900–1902 with his 'leading man' Frank Green from East Knowle supervising on the spot. It is pretty certain that Gimson supplied the interior timber fittings and in particular the complicated timber roof structure. It is mainly a grade II listed (starting category)
listed park and garden, having been designed as an
Arts and Crafts movement garden by Detmar Blow to accompany the butterfly-plan summer home for wealthy landowner Albemarle Cator, seated at
Woodbastwick Hall
Woodbastwick Hall is a country house at Woodbastwick in Norfolk.
History
The house dates back to circa 1600. In 1807 the house and estates were acquired for £76,000 from the trustees of Thomas
Allday Kerrison by John Barwell Cator (nephew of Joh ...
,
Woodbastwick
Woodbastwick is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located on the River Bure between Cockshoot Broad and Salhouse Broad, within The Broads and close to Bure Marshes NNR ( national nature reserve). The city of N ...
, who decided to build homes or gatehouses for his family. The north end of the largest, his home, was destroyed by a bomb, and was restored by Christobel Tabor (née Cator) after the war. The Cators sold the site in 1969, at which time the three houses of St John's, St Anne's and St Mary's came into separate ownership. The restored main home is Grade II* listed, which is the middle category.
Coastal erosion
The coastal part of the village is subject to frequent
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 waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...
: houses that in 1998 had been over from the sea now sit at the edge of a cliff and are expected to fall into the sea.
Sea defences
The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
were built in 1959 to slow the erosion. Changes in government policy mean that coastal protection in Happisburgh is no longer fundable from central government. Beach Road that leads into the sea is being constantly eroded, and the houses nearest the sea were demolished in 2012 as a part of a coast management scheme. Initiatives in the town to adapt to
climate change and
sea level rise have included a government-funded
relocation scheme for owners of threatened homes.
Archaeology
In 2010, Simon Parfitt and colleagues from
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = � ...
discovered flint tools near Happisburgh.
The tools were dated to "somewhere between 866,000 to 814,000 years ago or 970,000 to 936,000 years ago", around 100,000 years earlier than the finds at
Pakefield. The flints were probably left by hunter-gatherers of the human species ''
Homo antecessor'' who inhabited the flood plains and marshlands that bordered an ancient course of the
river Thames. The flints were then washed downriver and came to rest at the Happisburgh site.
In May 2013 the
Happisburgh footprints
The Happisburgh footprints were a set of fossilized hominid footprints that date to the early Pleistocene, over 800,000 years ago. They were discovered in May 2013 in a newly uncovered sediment layer of the Cromer Forest Bed on a beach at Hap ...
, the oldest human footprints found outside of Africa, being more than 800,000 years old, were reported to have been discovered on the beach.
Folklore
There is a local legend dating from the 16th century that Happisburgh is haunted by the ghost of a murdered smuggler. The ghost was reported as having no legs, and its head hanging behind its back by a thin strip of flesh. The legend says that the smuggler's mutilated body was found in a well.
Notable residents
*
Charles William Peach
Charles William Peach ALS (30 September 1800 – 28 February 1886) was a British naturalist and geologist. He discovered fossils in Cornwall, after it had been stated by the geologists William Conybeare, that there were no fossil-bearing rocks ...
,
naturalist and
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alth ...
*
Richard Porson
Richard Porson (25 December 1759 – 25 September 1808) was an English classical scholar. He was the discoverer of Porson's Law. The Greek typeface '' Porson'' was based on his handwriting.
Early life
Richard Porson was born at East Ruston, n ...
,
classical scholar
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
See also
*
Genetic history of the British Isles
The genetic history of the British Isles is the subject of research within the larger field of human population genetics. It has developed in parallel with DNA testing technologies capable of identifying genetic similarities and differences betwee ...
*
List of human evolution fossils
The following tables give an overview of notable finds of hominin fossils and remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the human and chimpanzee lineages) in the late Miocene, rou ...
*
List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
There are many prehistoric sites and structures of interest remaining from prehistoric Britain, spanning the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Among the most important are the Wiltshire sites around Stonehenge and Avebury, which are designate ...
*
Prehistoric Britain
*
List of irregularly spelled places in England
Local offshore sandbanks dangerous to shipping:
*
Hammond's Knoll
*
Haisborough Sands
Gallery
File:Saint Mary's Church (Happisburgh).jpg, Saint Mary's, Happisburgh
File:Happisburgh lighthouse uk.jpg, The lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mark ...
at Happisburgh
File:Happisburgh Lifeboat Station and RNLI Shop.jpg, Happisburgh's lifeboat station and Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...
shop
File:Happisburgh Manor c1992.jpg, Happisburgh Manor (1992)
File:Happisburgh coastal erosion.jpg, The precarious position of houses due to the effects of 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 waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...
File:Happisburgh stone tools.jpg, Stone tools discovered at Happisburgh
References
External links
Information from Genuki Norfolkon Happisburgh.
Village websitefrom the Literary Norfolk website
by the
British Geological Survey
The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research.
The BGS he ...
The earliest humans outside Africaby the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...
's Nicholas Ashton
{{authority control
North Norfolk
Villages in Norfolk
Populated coastal places in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Stone Age sites in England
Paleoanthropological sites
Beaches of Norfolk