Cromer - A history of the town and it's people

Tudor to the end of the Stuart reign

During this period in history, constant effort was made to keep the pier in working order. Camden in his Britannia of 1536 said that Cromers "inhabitants endeavoured at great cost to maintain a small harbour here, but in vain."

The problem had not been helped by the Kett Rebellion of 1549. The rebellion had hit Cromer hard, all it's ammunition had been used up and the damage done had threatened the fishing industry, transport and the harbour. Sir Edmund Wyndham brought their plight to the council who helped in re-establishing Cromer as a fishing port.

By 1565 the number of householders in Cromer had risen to 117, 48 of which were mariners or fishermen. Queen Elizabeth later in 1582 granted letters to the people of Cromer to export 20,000 quarters of wheat, barley, and malt for the upkeep of their own, and towards the building of an "ould decayed peere" there.

Very little reference is made to Cromer from the various sources during this period in history, but during the reign of Elizabeth various Dutch ships ran ashore close by. In 1623 a ship carrying poet John Taylor was made to land at Cromer due to adverse weather and the town's folk mistook them for invaders and took everyone prisoner.

One of the worst incidents in Cromer happened during a storm in 1692, where over 1000 people were reputed to have perished in about 200 ships, off of the coast. The first lighthouse built in Cromer was one of five paid for by Sir John Clayton in 1669, but due to the fact that ship owners refused to pay him any money the fire was never lit. A beacon was lit on a column attached to the church tower for many years and served as the main light up until 1719.

The Church during this period had become a ruin and the Rev. Thomas Gill Rector of Ingworth blew up the chancel in 1681 and had the end bricked up. It was to stay in a dilapidated condition for the next 86 years.