Overstrand is a village (population 1,030) on the north coast 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 ...
in England, two miles east of
Cromer
Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline.
The local government authorities are Nor ...
. It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe. In the latter part of the 19th century it was catapulted into prominence, and became known as “the village of millionaires”.
History
The village's name means 'ridge shore', or perhaps 'narrow shore' to contrast with nearby
Sidestrand
Sidestrand is a village and a civil parish on the coast of the English county of Norfolk. The village is north of Norwich, south east of Cromer and north-east of London. The nearest railway station is at North Walsham for the Bittern Line whi ...
.
The London journalist and travel writer
Clement Scott
Clement William Scott (6 October 1841 – 25 June 1904) was an influential English theatre critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'' and other journals, and a playwright, lyricist, translator and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century ...
came to Overstrand in 1883, christened the area ‘’Poppyland’’, and wrote about the church tower on the cliff edge and its “Garden of Sleep”. While in Overstrand he stayed at the Mill House with miller Alfred Jermy and his daughter Louie, who became “the Maid of the Mill” in his articles about ‘’Poppyland’’.
Scott had many London contacts in the theatrical world, and his writings led a number of them and others from London society to come to Overstrand. Some bought land in the village and had houses built there, and for a while the village was the place to visit. A large hotel was built on the cliff edge, though this slid into the sea in the 1950s.
The Edwardian architect
Sir Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memoria ...
worked at Overstrand, designing
Overstrand Hall
Overstrand Hall is a country house in Overstrand, Norfolk, England, designed by Edwin Lutyens for Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon, a partner in Glyn, Mills & Co. Bank. It was built between 1899 and 1901 and is Grade II listed as of ...
for
Charles William Mills, 2nd Baron Hillingdon, The Pleasaunce for
Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea
Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea (30 August 1843 – 27 November 1907) was a British Liberal politician and patron of art.
Background and education
Flower was the third of 18 children (the second of 12 sons) of Philip William Flower, of Furze ...
and the Methodist Church. The large houses of the gentry have largely passed from private ownership to other uses.
Overstrand railway station was on the
Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway
The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway (NSJR) was a British joint railway company.
The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (MGNJ) and consisted of two distinct sections: a line betwee ...
between
Cromer
Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline.
The local government authorities are Nor ...
and
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 ...
. It is now closed.
The
Overstrand
Overstrand is a village (population 1,030) on the north coast of Norfolk in England, two miles east of Cromer. It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe. In the latter part of the 19t ...
biplane bomber
A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...
was named after the village, having been made at the
Boulton & Paul
Boulton & Paul Ltd was a British general manufacturer from Norwich, England that became involved in aircraft manufacture.
Jeld Wen Inc. bought Boulton & Paul (along with another joinery company John Carr) from the Rugby Group plc in 1999 to ...
aircraft factory in Norwich in the early 1930s.
In popular culture
Season 1, episode 2 of the
BBC TV
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 19 ...
series ''
Screen Two
''Screen Two'' was a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1985 to 1998 (not to be confused with a run of films shown on BBC2 under the billing ''Screen 2'' between April 1977 and March ...
'' was called "Poppyland" (1985). Directed by
John Madden
John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pl ...
, it took place in Overstrand and tells the story of
Clement Scott
Clement William Scott (6 October 1841 – 25 June 1904) was an influential English theatre critic for ''The Daily Telegraph'' and other journals, and a playwright, lyricist, translator and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century ...
in his travels there.
Coastal erosion
As with much of the Norfolk coast, erosion was and continues to be a major problem. Clifton Way is an experimental site; its sea defences include
riprap
Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...
(at £1,300 a boulder, predominantly shipped from Norway), wooden
groynes
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, concre ...
,
revetments
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water a ...
,
gabions
A gabion (from Italian ''gabbione'' meaning "big cage"; from Italian ''gabbia'' and Latin ''cavea'' meaning "cage") is a cage, cylinder or box filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building ...
and
Offshore Reefs. The cliffs of soft
boulder clay
Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists o ...
slump because of the water running through the clay, and the resulting material on the beach is removed by the succeeding high tides. In the neighbouring village of
Sidestrand
Sidestrand is a village and a civil parish on the coast of the English county of Norfolk. The village is north of Norwich, south east of Cromer and north-east of London. The nearest railway station is at North Walsham for the Bittern Line whi ...
, the church was moved back from the cliff edge in the 19th century, though the tower of the church was left standing on the cliff top.
Sport and leisure
![Thatched cricket clubhouse, Overstrand (geograph 4037731)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Thatched_cricket_clubhouse%2C_Overstrand_%28geograph_4037731%29.jpg)
Overstrand Cricket Club is an
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 ...
amateur
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
club. The club was established in 1946 and is based on Overstrand Sports Ground.
Overstrand CC have 2 Saturday senior XI teams that compete in the Norfolk Cricket League,
and a Sunday 1st XI side.
![-2018-11-17 Bowling club, Overstrand (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/-2018-11-17_Bowling_club%2C_Overstrand_%282%29.JPG)
Overstrand Bowls Club is also situated on Overstrand Sports Ground, but it's origins predate the current site to at least the 1920s.
The club participates in two leagues: The Norfolk Federation County League and the Norfolk Afternoon League.
Media
Poppyland Radio, a
digital community radio station
Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...
for
North Norfolk broadcasts from the town. Launched in February 2022, it claimed a silver medal at the 2022
Community Radio Awards.
References
# Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council, 2001"
Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes"
English place names, Overstrand
Further reading
*''Poppyland – Strands of Norfolk History'', Stibbons and Cleveland, Pub: Poppyland Publishing, Fourth ed. 2001,
*''Poppyland – in Pictures''
External links
Overstrand Life - Janet's Diaries- Village resident's blog, plus information about the area, where to stay etc.
Overstrand village websiteHistory of village in photographs and text.
Overstrand in the Great War
{{authority control
North Norfolk
Villages in Norfolk
Populated coastal places in Norfolk
Civil parishes in Norfolk
Beaches of Norfolk