A Monthly Publication

Dick Melton

 
I have been writing for The Hunstanton Newsletter since it began.  I have had a great deal of feedback.  Now more and more people are stopping me in the street or ringing me up to ask about the town and the surrounding area.

One such person asked me about the whereabouts of the Methodist Chapel in Old Hunstanton.  This I did not know but I knew someone who did!  Mrs Margaret Lake was able to tell me that it had been located down a small lane called The Drift – opposite number 16 Sea Lane, Old Hunstanton.  This area of land now has new buildings on it.  I cannot find out when the Chapel was demolished, just the approximate dates from 1958-1962.  I’m sure there is someone who knows the exact date! – Perhaps you could let me know.

Mr Clive Dellino asked me about a verse that he had heard many years ago that ended with the words: ‘and seven Burnhams by the sea’.  Well, I had heard of it but did not know much about it or where it had come from, so I got hold of my good friend, Mr Keith Skipper, and he told me that it is a cryptic reference to the medieval riches of the now silted up North Norfolk Ports and the rhyme says this:

‘London, York and Coventry,

and seven Burnhams by the sea’.

When I was doing my research into this rhyme I found that you could, in fact, have eight Burnhams as Burnham Market is split into two areas.  The eight are as follows:  Burnham Ulph; Burnham Westgate; Burnham Thorpe; Burnham Norton; Burnham Sutton; Burnham Deepdale; Burnham Overy Town and Burnham Overy Staithe.

There was a nice photograph and article in the August Newsletter about one of the fragments from the legs of the old pier that has now been given pride of place with a small plaque by it on the Lower Green.  Many people have asked me about the night when the pier was washed away.  As you hear a great deal about the Great Flood of 31^st January 1953 you don’t hear too much about the flood of 11^th January 1978 (not 1979 as printed in the article).  I can remember this very well, as I can that of 1953.  It was a Wednesday.  It had been a rough old day with very strong gusts of wind coming in from the North-West.  I worked for Brooke and Brooke (Kit-Kat) at the time and the Company also owned the Wimpy Bar near Johnson’s slipway.  In the afternoon sand bags were put in front of the Wimpy Bar to try to keep the sea out if it came over.  This did not work as the weight of water smashed the windows and completely destroyed the whole of the interior of the Wimpy Bar.

The first signs of flooding came when the sea crashed into the Fair Ground and the southern  wall of the boating lake.  It was realised that large timber planks were being washed through the fair by the sea and that the only place they could have come from was the pier.  It was not until first light the following day that the reality of that night’s destruction could be seen.  There, out to sea, was the seaward end of the pier standing on its own, like lonesome oil platform marooned from the land.  Not only had the pier been washed away but a length of the promenade had been damaged near to the boating lake and the Fairground had suffered a great deal of damage.

Just over The Hump, at the Hunstanton/Heacham boundary, four beach bungalows were washed away – one of them being ‘Pendennis’ which had stood up to the fury of the 1953 flood.  Many caravans at Heacham were blown over and smashed up by the wind and the whole area was in a right old mess.  Thankfully there was no loss of life as there had been in the 1953 flood when 31 people were drowned in Hunstanton 16 of them being Americans who were living on South Beach at the time.  The experts said that in 1978 the tidal surge was bigger that that of 1953, so we were very lucky to get away with no loss of life and even more damage than we had.

As we all know, the old pier was 830 feet long and had been built in 1870.  About 1890 it was closed down for a year so that all the wooden planks could be replaced as it was said that the original ones were not strong enough.  It survived the great gale and flood of 1953 and I, myself – and this is only my opinion – think that it would have survived in 1978 but for one thing.  After the 1953 floods, a top wave wall was constructed from Johnson’s slipway to the cliffs.  The idea of these wave walls is that they are shaped like a half moon or crescent and they help to push the waves back as they hit them.  The walls do not break up the waves like steps do.  Therefore, from 1953 until 1978 – 25 years – the waves were hitting the pier on their way in and again after they bounced off the wave wall.  If that wall had not been there, would Sunny Hunny still have a pier?  We shall never know.

On Sunday 9^th August, this year, we had an Open day and Fun Day at the United services Club in Homefields Road.  What a day it was!  It was open from 10.30am until midnight with something for everyone.  The weather could not have been better.  Thanks to all the people who gave things or sponsored us.  I am very pleased to say that we raised over £2000 for the Special Care Baby Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn.  Our new function room upstairs has been refurbished and it can now be hired for Wedding Receptions, parties or meetings.  Please do come and take a look at what can be offered.

There was a very controversial letter in the Lynn News a month ago from a lady who used to live in Hunstanton.   She said that she came back from time to time and felt threatened by people drinking and being drunk in the streets of the town.  I am out and about in the streets and am on the beach morning, noon and night.  I have yet to see these drunks or be threatened, so what do you, the people of Hunstanton who read the Newsletter, feel?

Well, that’s all for this month.  The year has gone so quickly and winter will soon be here so don’t forget to get a good stock of rabbits in the freezer to see you through the cold weather.