My Adventures 3: Burnham Overy Staithe

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On the 13th June 2023 Ian and I left home at 0600 hours and drove up to Burnham Deepdale to continue our Norfolk Coast Path Journey. We parked up at the same spot as before in the layby by the church and we walked back down The Drove and back onto the Coast Path, as we do a Red Kite soars above.

We pass the houseboat in front of us turning right and follow the marshland again.

The path now follows a raised bank with marshland on both side this passes the Burnham Deepdale Sluice and the Mow Creek, this seems to stretch on for ever.

It’s already hot but it is nice to have the sea breeze. Oystercatchers cry out in the water and skylarks rise up from the grass with their ascending beautiful song.

The Burnham Overy Staithe Windmill looms in the distance but is a long way off yet.

The raised bank winds round a loop and now heads inland and we pass the River Burn on our left. This creek winds off with boats moored with views over to Burnham Overy Staithe.

But first we have to follow the path as it winds it way from the town and along a creek.

We cross the creek and walk towards the Windmill again as we approach Burnham Overy Staithe.

All the fields in the local area are filled with lovely poppies.

We reach the Windmill now.

Burnham Overy Staithe Mill was built in 1816 for Edmund Savory, a miller who was running a watermill on the River Burn known as the Lower Mill. Savory worked the mill until his death on 9 February 1827, when it passed to his son John.

John Savory worked the mill until his death on 27 September 1863, and the mill passed to his son, also named John. In 1869, a law was passed that all trade horses should be licensed. John Savory was convicted in 1870 and fined £5 for having one more horse than he held a licence for. He was again convicted in 1873 and fined £5 for the same offence. The mill was offered for sale by auction on 23 June 1888 at the Norfolk Hotel, Norwich. The premises comprising a steam mill powered by a 16 horsepower (12 kW) steam engine driving four pairs of millstones, the watermill driving three pairs of millstones and the windmill, also driving three pairs of millstones. As well as the mills there was a 25-coomb maltings, granaries and various other farm buildings, together with over 40 acres (16 ha) of land. The lot was unsold, and Savory worked the mill until 1900 when it was sold to Sidney Dewing. In 1910, the mill was sold to Sidney Everett, a maltster of Wells-next-the-Sea. In 1914, the mill was tailwinded. It was last worked in 1919. In 1926, the mill was sold to Hugh Hughes, an architect from Grantchester, Cambridgeshire. Hughes had the mill, which had been stripped of machinery by this time, converted to holiday accommodation owned by the National Trust.

We walk down Tower Road into Burnham Overy Staithe.

The villages name means 'Homestead/village on the River Burn' or perhaps, 'hemmed-in land on the River Burn'. 'Overy', meaning 'Over the river', was added to distinguish it from the other Burnhams in Norfolk.

Between Burnham Overy Staithe and the sea, the river spreads out into multiple tidal creeks through the salt marshes that fringe this stretch of coast, and finally reaches the sea by passing through the fronting sand dunes at a gap near Gun Hill locally known as Burnham Harbour. Small boats can reach Burnham OveryStaithe through this gap and creek. Today Burnham Overy Staithe, and the associated harbour, is a recreational sailing centre. It is also the point of departure for seasonal ferries to the Scolt Head Island National Nature Reserve.

Historically Burnham Overy was the port for the surrounding villages of the Burnhams. Both settlements lie on the River Burn, and until the end of the Middle Ages trading ships were able to reach the village (now Burnham Overy Town). With the silting of the river, commercial traffic switched to the downstream Staithe. With the coming of the railway to the Burnhams in 1866, commercial shipping declined and the last cargo is believed to have been shipped from the Staithe soon after the end of the First World War.

Burnham Thorpe, the birthplace of Horatio, Admiral Lord Nelson, lies 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south-east. According to various letters and documents, Nelson learned to row and sail a dinghy at Burnham Overy Staithe, at the age of 10, two years before joining the Navy. The village’s only pub is called “The Hero” in his honour.

It was shortly after the Hero pub where we should have continued onto the Coast Path, but we missed this and we walk on down the A149. We pass the turning for Gun Farm and further down we join a path that leads us down through the Holkham Nature Reserve and eventually back onto the path alongside the River Burn.

Looking back we hadn’t miss much at all, neither of us saw an acorn sign to point us in the right direction.

We stop on the bench for a drink and some food before we walk on.

We follow another raised bank for a while until we follow the path over the sand dunes and onto the Holkham Beach.

The path follows its way through the dunes, but it is easier going out on the beach on the firm sand the tide has left behind as it is still a very long way out.

One of the great sights to come and watch on this beach in July is the Household Cavalry.

They come here annually, bringing their horses to exercise them on the beach. It is a wonderful sight if you manage to time it right, usually at the beginning of July.

The Household Cavalry have been coming to Norfolk for more than 23 years now for their annual training. As operational soldiers, they are based in London for 11 months of the year and their trip up to Norfolk allows them a little bit of relief from their full-on schedules. These are the soldiers who play a large part in ceremonial duties in London as well as serving abroad.

It's fun to watch some of the horses who haven't been in the sea before and the skilled horsemanship of the soldiers riding bareback when they go into the water.

After a long way along the beach, the sand becomes soft and its now hard going under foot, we pass through the Holkham Nudist beach. Where Ian says “Just my luck, just a naked man to look at!”

I have a chuckle then suggest we make our way over to the Pine Forest called Holkham Meals where I hope the ground will be firmer.

We lose the path again due to poor signage but we trek from our path through the trees and emerge back onto the Coast Path be it a lot further away from the coast than we were.

Ian emerging from the trees, back on the path now!

We stop on a bench for more water before following the path through the blazing heat.

We walk pass Abrahams Bosom Lake and into a Car Park and out to the Wells-Next-The-Sea Café.

Out onto the path we turn left to see the RNLI lifeboat Station and the Coastguard Lookout with views over the beach.

There has been a lifeboat at Wells for over a hundred and fifty years; the first RNLI lifeboat was stationed here in 1869. Its greatest test was in 1880, when it was launched to help the several vessels including the Ocean Queen. The conditions were appalling, and 11 of the 13 crew lost their lives after being hit by a huge wave. A memorial can be found by the Harbour Offices.

We turn back and walk along the path into Wells-Next-The-Sea.

We pass a harbour with its many boats.

We follow the bank alongside East Fleet into Wells.

The Harbour is on the North Norfolk Coast. It is used by a small fishing fleet and by visiting commercial and fishing vessels, including vessels engaged in surveys, crew transfer or safety boat operations. The harbour also caters for a growing number of leisure craft which are both local boats and an increasing amount of visiting craft.

There has been a port at Wells for over 600 years. The harbour is protected by salt marshes behind a sand bar. Because it is a natural safe haven from the unpredictable North Sea weather the Port of Wells was one of England's major harbours in Tudor times and a thriving, centre for shipping and maritime industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its greatest period of prosperity was probably from 1830 to 1860. The stone quay side was constructed in 1845 following an Act of Parliament the previous year. The coming of the railway in 1857 marked the beginning of decline though there was a resurgence from 1960 to 1989 when coasters bringing fertilizer and animal feed came in some numbers. The Granary with its distinctive gantry was built around 1904; it has now been turned into apartments. The gantry allowed grain to be transferred between the building and ships without disrupting road traffic. The railway closed in 1964 and in 1976, the Wells Harbour Railway was constructed to link the town with the beach and Pinewoods Holiday Park. It replaced a withdrawn bus service.

Mentioned in Domesday Book, the town derives its name from the many clear spring wells, at one time over 180 of them, in the town. Early on it became both a fishing port, sending its small ships as far as Iceland, and a supplier of grain to London as long ago as the 1300s. It was a major importer of coal in the 1500s supplying the miners of the north east in return with wheat for their bread and malt for their beer.

One reason why it is has preserved its character is that it was until recent times a manufacturing town, once supplying huge quantities of malt to the Dutch and then latterly to London breweries. It was, in the eighteenth century, nationally important as a producer of malt. The iconic maltings and granaries, now turned to new uses make its working quay a fascinating place to visit. An impressive feature of the harbour is the large granary building with its distinctive overhanging gantry. Built in 1903, the granary has now been turned into luxury flats with magnificent views of the harbour.

As a commercial port, Wells’ high point was in the 19th century when large wooden sailing vessels, some over 300 tons were built here, some 170 or so of them. It was then that the stone quay was built. There were two shipyards in Wells, situated in the East End (where now only house names give away their location). Shipwrights were supplied with locally made ropes, spars, sails and iron work made by local blacksmiths. It was the arrival of the railway in 1857 that marked the beginning of the decline in the sea-going trade of Wells, though those who came to Wells fifty years ago would have seen a huge if short lived revival of commercial shipping.

As many as eight cargo vessels, double banked would have been seen at the quayside in the 1970s and 80s having brought fertiliser and animal feed from abroad. Eventually vessels became too large to be accommodated and latterly only the Dutch sailing barge the Albatros continued the trade.

Into the town from the quay, is the charming Staithe Street with its traditional shops, part of a delightful network of narrow streets, old alleys and yards. Some of the buildings in the town are hundreds of years old, including former coaching inns and public houses. Many are now listed buildings. At the top of the town, lies the Buttlands, a wide green space, fringed by lovely lime trees and surrounded by some impressive Georgian and Victorian houses.