Cley next the Sea

Weybourne, Norfolk

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• published: 10 Mar 2011
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SEE MY TRAVEL PAGE ON FACEBOOK : https://www.facebook.com/motorhomefulltime This film shows the village of Weybourne on the north Norfolk coast, on the A149 coast road 5km west of Sheringham. Weybourne is mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is called Wabrume. The remains of an old Augustinian priory founded around 1200CE by Sir Ralph de Meyngaren (Mainwearing) stand on the site of a simpler Saxon church. By 1494 only one prior and three canons lived there: one canon complained that the priory was so poor it was unable to pay him his 20 shillings of annual pocket money. At a visitation in 1514 there was only one prior and one canon and this situation remained until King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of monasteries and priories. Weybourne has long been considered a possible site for invasion, one reason being the deep water offshore. During the Second World War defences were constructed around Weybourne as a part of British anti-invasion preparations of World War II. The beaches were blocked by landmines and extensive scaffolding barriers; further inland there were pillboxes, barbed wire entanglements, a long anti-tank ditch and other defences. During the Second World War, Weybourne Camp was a highly secret site and was an Anti-Aircraft Artillery range. This, along with a complementary camp at Stiffkey, represented the main live firing training ranges for ACK-ACK Command in World War II. Here the Norfolk coastline became a controlled zone by the British forces. This controlled zone extended 10 km deep into the North Sea around Norfolk. Weybourne Camp was a vital part of this zone. Weybourne Camp was visited twice by Winston Churchill in 1941. These visits took place immediately after the Dunkirk evacuation when British defences were on high alert. During his first visit, a demonstration of projectile firing was carried out, but the result was most unsatisfactory. The Prime Minister gave the commandant just seven days to improve the standard. On the second visit, each demonstration repeatedly ended in failure until finally, a Queen Bee pilotless target aircraft was shot down and crashed close to the VIP enclosure. History has it that all the senior staff were replaced the following day. We can see the windmill in this film. First built in 1850, it has been restored but not to working condition. During the Second World War, suspicions arose in the village about the couple who lived at the mill: there were rumours that the residents were spying for the Germans. The man living in the mill was a Mr Dodds. His wife apparently had a strong foreign accent, which locals described as "like German or Austrian". One night two local policemen were walking down the lane from the old coastguard cottages towards the mill when they saw a light flashing from the top of the mill out towards sea. Apparently no action was taken - oddly, given the wartime conditions and the closeness to Weybourne Camp - but seemingly it bothered one of the policemen and he went back a couple of nights later and saw lights again. Some time later, Mrs Dodds left her bicycle unattended outside the tennis court. The bicycle fell over and a bag fell out of the basket. A local picked the bicycle up and then the bag. He took a look inside and found a radio transmitter. He told the police and a day or two later the authorities arrived and took the lady and her husband away. Nearby is the Muckleburgh Collection: the largest privately owned collection of tanks, armoured cars and other military vehicles used in wars across the globe. Another local attraction is the North Norfolk Railway which runs from Sheringham through Weybourne to Holt. Also known as the "Poppy Line", this well preserved steam railway cuts through the countryside to the east of Weybourne and passes through the carefully preserved country station, which also houses a locomotive shed with a carriage maintenance and restoration centre. At Weybourne the coast has an unusually steep shingle beach which was regarded as vulnerable to the threat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The village was also a well-used location for smuggling items such as over-proof gin and pressed bales of tobacco. The coast between Sheringham and Weybourne was popular for landing goods because ships could anchor closer to the shore than anywhere else in the area. There was also a convenient gap in the cliffs through which goods could be easily transported. Local folklore says that the miller at the local windmill would stop the mill's sails in the form of a cross to warn the smugglers that the customs or coastguards were on to them; when the coast was clear he would set the sails going once more.