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 is Guella in the Domesday Book (Latinized from Anglian Wella, a spring). This derives derives from spring wells of which Wells used to have many, rising through the chalk of the area. In 1580, there were 19 ships over 16 tons burden operating out of Wells, making it the major port in the area: the main trade was corn[1]. The town was known as Wells-next-the-Sea in the early 1800s to distinguish it from other places of the same name. When the Wells and Fakenham Railway was opened on 1st December 1857, the terminus was given the name of "Wells-on-Sea"[2]. In 1956 the Wells Urban District Council voted to (re-)adopt the name Wells-next-the-Sea, and this has been the official name since then.^[2]

[edit] Geography

The town is now a mile from the North Sea, as a result of the silting of the harbour. The Holkham Estate reclaimed some 800 hectares of salt-marsh north-west of Wells, and this was completed with the mile-long sea-wall in 1859[3]: this reclamation reduced the tidal scour and is itself a further cause of silting. 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 north of the harbour. The beach is known for its long flat terrain, abstract sand dunes and varied unique beach huts. A land-locked brackish pool called Abraham's Bosom 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's Church. The church burned after a lightning strike in 1879: the exterior shows the original stonework, but the interior is sparse and lacks interest. John Fryer, Captain Bligh's sailing master on HMS Bounty was born at Wells, and is buried in the churchyard.

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. The northern end of the town used to be notable for parallel "yards", narrow rows of cottages similar to the northern "ginnels", which could be relics of Danish occupation. These were largely lost in the terrible 1953 flood damage, and subsequent "slum clearance".

A feature of the town is the area known as The Buttlands - a name suggesting archery practice historically - which is a large green ringed by lime trees. Large elegant Georgian houses overlook The Buttlands, as do the Crown Hotel, Globe Inn and the Wells Catholic Church. If you exit The Buttlands down the hill at its south west corner you can see what appears an old house but which was rebuilt over a period of years from the 1970s because a lady brought with her to Wells when she moved from Ware in Hertfordshire!

[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. The Wells and Walsingham Light Railway, a 10¼inch-gauge railway (the longest of such a gauge in the world), now uses part of the track-bed.[4]

[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.