Happisburgh

I  have known the village of Happisburgh (pronounced Hays-bruh) in Northeast Norfolk since I was a child and we used to holiday in nearby Eccles-on-Sea but it must be about 10 years since I have visited. It’s famous for its lighthouse, once repainted by Anneka Rice (with a bit of help).

 

 

 

Happisburgh is also (in)famous for coastal erosion. Even so it was striking how much of the place had disappeared since I was last here. At the end of Beach Road there were a few buildings and a metal stairway from the clifftop to the beach below. This is the end of the road now.

 

 

 

To get to the beach now there is a steep earthen ramp from the Community Carpark leading down to a long shallow bay beneath the cliffs.

 

 

 

 There never used to be a bay here. When I was a child there was a road, or at least the remains of a road along the clifftops from Happisburgh to Cart Gap near Eccles-on-Sea. This would have bee some way to the left in the following photo. Those posts in the sea are the remains of sea defences that were once on the beach at the foot of the cliffs.

 

 

 

 The lifeboat station that was at the end of Beach Rd. has had to be relocated to the car park at Cart Gap and many clifftop properties along here have been lost to the sea. From Cart Gap south the land is protected by a strong concrete sea wall backed by sand dunes constructed after the North Sea flood of 1953.

 

 

 

On the other side of Happisburgh village there used to be a large static caravan park. This has moved inland now that a large part of it fell in the sea and the rest was no longer safe to use. The roadway that ran around the site now stops rather abruptly.

 

 

 

At the time of writing this Google Maps still shows where the road went even though the satellite image shows the caravan site has gone. 

 

 

 

I was surprised by how much Happisburgh has changed since I first came here. The coastal erosion isn’t likely to stop any time soon, so enjoy a visit while it’s still there.