Hunstanton
Hunstanton, often pronounced by locals as 'Hunston', and also known colloquilly to locals as 'Sunny Hunny', is a
seaside town (population 4961
[Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council, 2001. "Census population and household counts for unparished urban areas and all parishes."]) in
Norfolk, England, facing
The Wash. The classification of Hunstanton as "east coast" makes the town unique in that it is the only east coast seaside resort in England where the sun can be seen to set over the sea. Hunstanton is also well known for its
stratified, fossiliferous cliffs: lower reddish
sandstone is topped by a white
chalk.
The town is of prehistoric origin. In
1970, evidence of neolithic settlement was found.
In
1846, Henry Styleman Le Strange, a local landowner, decided that he'd like to turn Hunstanton into a holiday resort. Many new buildings were built, mostly in warm Norfolk carrstone. Following the death of Henry Le Strange, the project was successfully continued by his son. Hunstanton today is home to a fairground, aquarium and seal sanctuary, leisure pool, theatre, large caravan parks with amenities (Searle's Holiday Park opened in
1936), a number of amusement arcades, and a long promenade. In good weather, boats run by Searle's carry tourists out to view
grey seals which have colonised
sand bars both in The Wash and to the north of Norfolk. The centrepiece of the town is a large sloping green, which runs from one end of the high street to the promenade. Until gutted by fire in
1972, a pier also connected to the green.
The original, pre-Le Strange settlement of Hunstanton is now known as Old Hunstanton, adjoining the north of the larger resort. The quiet character of Old Hunstanton remains distinct from and complements that of its busy sibling, with clifftop walks past a disused
lighthouse and the ruins of St. Edmund's Chapel, built in
1272.
Although summer crowds tend to flock to Hunstanton in smaller numbers now than are evidenced in
1980s postcards of the promenade and beach, the popularity of the town as a tourist destination for
day-trippers and holidaymakers has nevertheless endured, weathering the decline of the British seaside resort. Indeed, during the
1990s, businesses in villages south of Hunstanton (
Dersingham,
Ingoldisthorpe and
Snettisham) complained of a loss in trade after being
bypassed by the A149, which carries heavy Hunstanton-bound traffic; while in 2004, the Hunstanton
lifeboats were the busiest in Norfolk [
1].
The town is notable for several stately Victorian squares, perhaps most notably Boston Square, which enjoys fine views across The Wash to Boston, Lincolnshire. On a fine day, one can see
Boston Stump.
The countryside surrounding Hunstanton is hillier than most of Norfolk, and as sparsely populated, the only nearby large settlement being
King's Lynn, 12 miles to the south. The
catchment area of Hunstanton's day-trippers includes the remote
Fenland of South-West Norfolk, South
Lincolnshire and North
Cambridgeshire, and the
Midlands beyond it. Holidaymakers are attracted by nearby
Sandringham (the
Queen's winter residence),
Castle Rising, the Burnhams (birthplace of
Lord Nelson) and the
RSPB reserves at nearby
Titchwell village and
Snettisham.
In
1910, a book "The Rocks of Hunstanton and its Neighbourhood" by J.F. Jackson was published by The Premier Press.
