Blazing beacons and lanterns warned ships of dangerous sandbanks in The Wash centuries before the first lighthouse in 1666.The present lighthouse on the Hunstanton cliffs was built in 1844 and ceased operations in 1921 when it was first replaced by a lightship, then by a remote control fog buoy. It is now a holiday home.
Designed by J.W. Wilson, the 830ft pier opened on Easter Sunday 1870. Sadly on 11th January 1978, a storm destroyed most of the pier and a small section at the end was removed by the council some weeks later.
The shoreward end amusement arcade survived, along with one set of piles, to remind people of what had arguably been East Anglia's finest pier.
Seahenge is a unique display of a Bronze Age wood circle.
Discovered in 1998, it was carefully moved from its site at Holme-next-the-Sea, just along the coastline from Old Hunstanton, a year after being discovered. 55 oak posts in a circle with a central stump - sat unnoticed and undisturbed off the Norfolk coast for almost 4,000 years.
Archaeologists at the Bronze Age Centre, believe between 50 and 80 people may have helped build the circle, possibly to mark the death of an important individual.
Seahenge became exposed at low tides after the peat dune covering it was swept away by winter storms.
If you've ever spent time delving into the local history of a coastal area, you'll sooner or later have come across notes to the effect that 'everybody in these parts is a smuggler'!
Despite the stereotype of the sailor-smuggler, smuggling operations employed far more men on land than they did at sea. If convoys of wagons and horses rolling along these roads attracted too much attention, old superstitions provided plenty of ways of discouraging further interest: Old Shuck the ghost dog is a persistent Norfolk legend that the smugglers exploited. Shuck is an enormous black dog with one glowing eye, and fiery breath. Anyone who sees Old Shuck is sure to die within a year. Norfolk smugglers took advantage of the gullibility of the villagers and tied a lantern round the neck of a black ram, sending it running off to frighten nosey locals when a smugglers run was due.
The antagonism between the Norfolk smugglers and their opponents in the revenue services ran much deeper than punch-ups on the beach and harmless tricks involving horses. A visit to the church of St Mary the Virgin at Old Hunstanton illustrates this. In the graveyard are buried two soldiers who were killed in battles with smugglers. The epitaphs read:
‘In memory of William Webb, late of the 15th D'ns, who was shot from his horse by a party of smugglers on the 26 of Sepr. 1784’
‘Here lie the mangled remains of poor William Green, an Honest Officer of the Government, who in the faithful discharge of his duty was inhumanely murdered by a gang of smugglers in this Parish, September 27th, 1784’.
Two smugglers were caught in the battle that killed Webb, and when brought to trial there was, according to contemporary accounts 'no doubt' of their guilt. Nevertheless, against all the evidence, a jury found them innocent. The prosecuting counsel demanded and got a new trial, but again the new jury displayed its sympathy with the smugglers and returned a second not guilty verdict.
The famous red and white cliffs of Hunstanton are visited by hundreds each year simply to see this spectacular natural geological feature. The red rock and white lower chalk is rich in fossils including echinoids, fish, shark, bivalves and brachiopods, ammonites and more.
Important safety note
At certain times it it easy to be cut off by the tide, before heading out please ensure you have checked the tide times.
During bird nesting season, rocks can crumble from the high cliffs, ensure you stay away from the cliff edge.
