Wells-next-the-Sea

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Map sources for Wells-next-the-Sea at grid reference TF9143

The quay from the sea wall.

The harbour mouth from the sea wall; the lifeboat house can be seen in the distance.

Inland Wells, with view to harbour.

Looking out to the quay on a sunny August 2006 day.

Wells-next-the-Sea, known locally simply as Wells, is a town, civil parish and seaport situated on the North Norfolk coast in England.

The civil parish has an area of 16.31 km² and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,451 in 1,205 households. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North Norfolk.^[1]

1 Origin of Name
2 Geography
- 2.1 Railways
3 Lifeboat disaster
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Origin of Name

The name derives from spring wells of which Wells used to have many, rising through the sand and marshland of the area. The town was known as Wells-next-the-Sea in the early 1800s to distinguish it from other places of the same name. The name Wells-on-Sea seems to have come into use with the coming of the (now closed) railway in 1857. In 1956 the town council took the decision to (re-)adopt the name Wells-next-the-Sea, and this has been the official name since then.^[2]

[edit] Geography

Lying only a mile from the North Sea, much of the land around Wells was reclaimed from the sea. The town has long thrived as a seaport and is now also a seaside resort with a popular beach that can be reached by a narrow gauge railway that runs partway alongside the mile-long sea wall alongside the harbour. The beach is known for its long flat terrain, abstract sand dunes and varied unique beach huts. The old harbour lies considerably closer to the sea and is now a landlocked freshwater pool called Abrahams Bosom that is used for pleasure boating and canoeing. The beach is backed by dense pine woods and a nature reserve. The pine woods are home to rare birds and a unique species of Corsican Pine.

More pinewoods exist to the east of the Beach over the shipping channel at an area called the East Beach. This can be accessed on foot at low tide though all of the tidal sands in the area are extremely dangerous due to the speed and currents of the rising tide.

Wells is situated approximately 15 miles (24 km) to the east of the resort of Hunstanton, 20 miles (32 km) to the west of Cromer, and 10 miles (16 km) north of Fakenham. The city of Norwich lies 32 miles (51 km) to the south-east. Nearby villages include Blakeney (famous for its bird sanctuary), Burnham Market, Burnham Thorpe (the birthplace of Horatio Nelson), Holkham (with its famous stately home Holkham Hall), and Walsingham (a major mediaeval pilgrimage site).^[3]

The town stretches nearly a mile inland. The majority of shops and other such businesses are now found on Staithe Street but up to the 1960s commercial premises were also to be found along High Street which continues south towards St Nicholas Church. The maritime tradition of the town meant it used to have a remarkable number of public houses for a town of its size although many of these have since closed.

[edit] Railways

Wells used to be connected to the national rail network by two lines, but the line westwards towards King's Lynn was never reinstated after damage in the 1953 East Coast Floods, while the line to Norwich via Fakenham, Dereham and Wymondham was a victim of the "Beeching Axe" of the 1960s.

[edit] Lifeboat disaster

In 1880, Wells was the scene of the Wells lifeboat disaster, in which 11 of the 13 lifeboat crew drowned, leaving 10 widows and 27 children without a father. A memorial to the crew stands adjacent to the old lifeboat house, now used as the harbour offices, at the western end of the quay. The current lifeboat station, housing both an all-weather lifeboat and an inshore recue boat, is located at the harbour entrance.

[edit] Trivia

A famous local delicacy is Samphire, or Glasswort, commonly Salicornia europaea, an edible plant. Rock samphire Crithmum maritimum is a different plant.