Bacton, Norfolk

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bacton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated on the Norfolk coast, some 20 km south east of Cromer, 40 km north west of Great Yarmouth and 30 km north of Norwich. Besides the village of Bacton, the parish includes the nearby settlements of Bacton Green, Broomholm, Keswick and Pollard Street.^[1]

Bacton is a minor seaside tourist centre with a sandy beach and several campsites. The UK terminal of the Interconnector gas pipeline is located to the west of the parish, straddling the boundary with the adjoining parish of Paston. In the east of the parish can be found the ruined Cluniac Bromholm Priory.

The civil parish has an area of 9.45 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 1130 in 474 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk.^[2]

Several notable features of the village include:

The Duke of Edinburgh Public House
Gooch's Fish & Chip Shop
The Ship Public House, Bacton, Norfolk
Castaways Caravan Park
The Keswick Hotel
Bobby's restaurant
Coastal fish and chip shop
Ocean Liner Public Bar

One of the main characteristics of Bacton is its profile as a non-typical sea-side village. While many British seaside towns have a large percentage of migrating residents (using houses as second or weekend/holiday homes), Bacton has maintained a solid base of local residents while mixing occasionally frequent near-local residents.

Much of Bacton's layout is composed into estates of houses and bungalows, such as Castways Caravan Park or Seaview Estate, which provide those on holiday proximity to the beach, local towns and Norwich.

One other key feature of the village (and surrounding coastline) is the amount of man-made sea defenses which were erected to prevent further coastal erosion. Reaching along much of the coast, these concrete walls along the cliff-side help guard against further deterioration of the coast-line, from both the natural elements and human development.