Weybourne, Norfolk

Weybourne is mentioned in the Domesday Book where it is called Wabrume. The remains of the Augustinian Weybourne Priory, founded around 1200 AD by Sir Ralph de Meyngaren (Mainwearing), stand on the site of a simpler Anglo-Saxon church. By 1494 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.

The Ship public house

There is a shop, Weybourne Stores, and The Ship public house, which serves ales and hot food most lunchtimes and evenings. A few minutes walk from the village centre is the Maltings Hotel, which provides bar and restaurant meals as well as accommodation.

The Muckleburgh collection at Weybourne Camp

A popular attraction is the Muckleburgh Collection: the largest privately owned collection of tanks, armoured cars and other military vehicles used in wars across the globe.

Weybourne railway station

Weybourne railway station

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 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. The railway offers a 10.5-mile round trip by steam train, or vintage diesel trains on some journeys, through an area of North Norfolk designated as being of outstanding natural beauty.

Weybourne railway station is about 1,000 yards from the village centre, signposted from the coast road opposite the church. The main station was built in 1900; other structures of the appropriate era, such as the signal box, waiting room and footbridge have been imported from other locations. On the closure of the line, British Rail lifted the track and rased the station, apart from the main station building. It was used as the location for the filming of the Dad's Army episode, "The Royal Train", and is frequently used by film-makers and artists. On the station there is a small shop, buffet and picnic area. At weekends, there is a bookshop selling a wide range of old railway books and magazines, railway videos and CDs commemorating times past.

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[8] 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 would stop the windmill'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. On Weybourne beach there was so little cover for the waiting land party that the men were reputed to bury themselves neck-deep in the shingle until the smuggling vessel appeared on the horizon. This story perhaps stretches credulity, but the fact that it is also told of Suffolk locations adds at least a little weight. In the 1800s, William J. Bolding, the owner of Weybourne watermill and much of the inland areas at Weybourne, reputedly turned a blind eye to goods landed on the beaches bordering his property, and was rewarded with contraband left discreetly on his doorstep. In February 1837, a Lieutenant George Howes and his men from Weybourne intercepted a large gang of armed smugglers at nearby Kelling. Many shots were exchanged and the coastguards recovered five horses with carts carrying 540 gallons of brandy and around 4,000 pounds of manufactured tobacco.

Volunteers manning the Rocket House saved the lives of many seafarers from the ships wrecked along the Weybourne coast. The crew of the coal ship Emily however were not so lucky when it was lost: they all lost their lives except the master who survived. In 1823 a brig from Naples, carrying a cargo of olive oil broke up, but six of her crew were saved. When the Norwegian barque Ida was wrecked carrying pit-props to Cardiff, all the crew was rescued using a rocket line. The crew and some villagers salvaged some of the pit-props and it is said that many of these timbers survive in barns and cottages around Weybourne. In January 1915 the bodies of six sailors from the SS George Royle were washed up on Weybourne beach; there is a tombstone in the churchyard to their memory.[9] The Rocket House still stands but is now a private residence.

Changes in government policy have led to the discontinuation of management of coastal erosion in North Norfolk.[10]

• Benjamin Pulleyne, Vicar of Weybourne, 1845–1861, was also headmaster of Gresham's School[11]
• Sir John Major, KG, CH, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997, owns a house in Weybourne.[12]

• Spring Beck
• North Norfolk Railway
• Weybourne Windmill
• RAF Weybourne

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Weybourne, Norfolk.

• Weybourne Village Online Guide
• "WW2 Coastal Defences". Archived from the original on 10 January 2010.
• Weybourne Towermill
• North Norfolk Railway
• Weybourne Station Webcam
• The Muckleburgh Collection