[Sea] Palling - Norfolk - Pictorial Village Signs on Waymarking.com

More info re sign on this link :http://www.colin.cunliffe.btinternet.co.uk/signs/s_signs/index.htm
which also gives the two names PALLING on the sign but listed under Sea Palling, which is also shownon the map as Sea Palling..


"The Village signpost, carved by Henry Barnett and depicting a lifeboat with crew. It was refurbished in 2002.
Its story has been inextricably linked to the sea since pre-history. The town of Waxham Parva disappeared under the waves together with its church and the large estate of Gelham Hall.[when?] One of the earliest accounts was written by John of Oxendes, a monk at nearby St Benet's Abbey, in which he relates the destruction wrought by the great storm of 1287:

the sea, agitated by the violence of the wind, burst through its accustomed limits, occupying towns, fields and other places adjacent to the coast ... it suffocated or drowned men and women sleeping in their beds, with infants in their cradles ... and it tore up houses from their foundations, with all they contained and threw them into the sea with irrevocable damage.

Several more incursions occurred over the centuries and by 1604 neighbouring Eccles on Sea had lost 66 houses and more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of land. Three years later Palling's defences were breached and Waxham was flooded in 1655 and 1741. Lack of proper maintenance of the dunes led to continuous breaches and it was not until the nineteenth century that a programme of sea defence work was started. The North Sea flood of 1953 took the lives of sevsn villagers - some of the 100 who perished in Norfolk alone. A memorial plaque is in St Margaret's Church. Following this tragedy the sea wall was extended in 1986 and in 1995 the Environment Agency undertook a multi-million pound project erecting nine barrier reefs.

The sea also provided opportunities for the villagers - smuggling being one which reached its peak in the mid 1770's. Revenue cutters patrolled the coast and there were seizures of tea, Geneva and other spirits on several occasions and it is reputed that Palling was the headquarters of a band of armed smugglers. To counter this a Coastguard service was established in 1822 and a station built at Palling, which contributed to a decline in smuggling. Alongside this there was also salvage work. Local fishermen became organised into companies and bought themselves fast sailing yawls. There were two beach companies based at Palling, known locally as the Blues and the Whites. It was a perilous occupation and the demands for exorbitant payments may be excusable given the dangers involved. The companies prospered with the increase in maritime shipping and by 1838 had brick built sheds for storage and a lookout built to watch over the Haisborough Sands. On 16 December 1842 one of the boats was lost with five crew and a few weeks later a yawl went down with the loss of seven crew. The impact on the village was immense as most of the drowned were young men with families.

The coast is still hazardous and in December 1948 a steamer "The Bosphorous" was ensnared on the offshore Haisborough Sands and its cargo of oranges was jettisoned. To a populace emerging from the privations of war, the sight of the beaches strewn with loose and crated oranges was "miraculous" and revived another Palling custom that of plunder. The inhabitants of 1948 could trace this pastime back for centuries when the scavengers of wrecks were known as "pawkers", despite the attempts of the Lords of the Manor to claim all shipwreck. Perhaps the greatest coup was the wreck of "Lady Agatha" in 1768 with a cargo valued at £50,000 - none of which was recovered by authorities."

details from wikipedia

Sign Date: 01/01/2002 Location: on High Street in front of a row of houses Plaque: no Construction Material: wooden painted on a wooden pole Artist: Henry Barnett Web Address: [Web Link] Occasion Commemorated: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
To log a visit, a photograph of yourself or your GPSr by the village sign is required. Some description of your visit would be welcome.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.