Trimingham
Encyclopedia
Trimingham is a village and a civil parish in the English
county of Norfolk
. The village is 5.9 miles (9.5 km) north of North Walsham
, 6.3 miles (10.1 km) east of Cromer
and 24.8 miles (39.9 km) north of the city of Norwich
. The village straddles the B1159
coastal road between Cromer and Mundesley
. Near-by road communications with Gimingham are the A140
to Norwich. The nearest railway station is at Gunton
for the Bittern Line
which runs between Sheringham
, Cromer and Norwich.The nearest airport is at Norwich International Airport
. It is very close to the village of Overstrand
and has a small church.
The spireless parish church of Trimingham is called St John the Baptist's Head. This strange dedication to John the Baptists head dates from the medieval period. During this time a life size alabaster
head of the saint was kept at the church and pilgrim
s in this country came to the church to the shrine alter, rather than make the journey to Amiens
Cathedral were a relic said to be the real head of John the Baptist was kept.
The alabaster head did not survive and although it is unknown exactly what happened to it, it has been suggested that it was probably destroyed by Anglican reformers
as a result of the 1538 Injunction
against images during the reign of Henry VIII
. Another theory is that the head was destroyed as a result of a further injunction which was rigorously imposed in 1547, during the early weeks of the reign of Edward VI. Today an Alabaster head survives in the Victoria and Albert Museum
and it is thought that the head at Trimingham was exactly like the head in the museum collection. To this day, the nearby Village hall is called pilgrim shelter as a reminder of Trimingham’s past as a site of pilgrimage.
The church has a short tower which is thought to be unfinished. It has heavy buttress
es on the west elevation which suggest that a fault in the construction of the church may well have been the reasoning for the unfinished tower. The nave to the east cuts around the buttress to embrace it. This peculiarity may be partly the result of a restoration by Thomas Jekyll in the 1850s. Pevsner
.
states in his survey book, that Thomas Jekyll completely rebuilt the nave
of which the most notable feature is the way that the tower buttresses on the east side project into the nave. The churches rood screen
is very small with four figures on either side of the entrance to the chancel. The figures are St Edmund with his arrow, St Clare
with her book and monstrance, St Clement
with his anchor and crozier, and St James in his pilgrim's robes. On the south side are St Petronella with her book and keys, St Cecilia
with her garland of flowers, St Barbara with her tower, and St Jeron with his hawk. The east window of the church is credited to H Wilkinson and dates from 1925. the window depicts Christ in Majesty flanked by St Michael
and St Gabriel, with the symbols of the four Evangelists surrounding them.
Trimingham is home to RAF Trimingham
(RAF Neatishead
), a remote air defence radar station shaped like a giant golf ball on the edge of the cliff on the coast road. In November 2006, the Ministry of Defence
admitted that the Type 93 radar spinning inside the dome had been out of alignment between November 2005 and February 2006, causing car engines and lights to cut out, and speedometer dials swung up to 150 mph as motorists drove past. Having previously denied problems, the MoD said it will consider claims for compensation after an inquiry found the radar was "out of alignment". A local garage owner who runs the nearest garage at Mundesley
, said he dealt with 30 calls over a couple of months.
ers, dog walkers and night-fishermen. It is reached by a steep one-vehicle only road accessed via a lane just past the Ingleside public house
. The cliff
face at Trimingham has the youngest chalk
in the United Kingdom
and it is possible to collect shells
, bivalves, crinoids and oysters from here. The chalk has been prevented from washing out to sea although it remains very dirty and poorly exposed. The cliffs at Trimingham are suffering badly from coastal erosion
.
on the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway
between Cromer
and North Walsham
. It was closed in 1953.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. The village is 5.9 miles (9.5 km) north of North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England in the North Norfolk district.-Demographics:The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 11,998. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North...
, 6.3 miles (10.1 km) east of Cromer
Cromer
Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...
and 24.8 miles (39.9 km) north of the city of Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
. The village straddles the B1159
B1159 road
The B1159 is a road in Norfolk, England, running for about between Cromer and Caister-on-Sea, parallel to and at a short distance from the northeastern coast of Norfolk.From north to south the road passes through:*Overstrand*Sidestrand*Trimingham...
coastal road between Cromer and Mundesley
Mundesley
Mundesley is a coastal village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is 20.3 miles north-north east of Norwich, 7.3 miles south east of Cromer and 136 miles north east of London. The village lies 5.6 miles north-north east of the town of North Walsham. The nearest...
. Near-by road communications with Gimingham are the A140
A140 road
The A140 is an 'A-class' road in Norfolk and Suffolk, East Anglia, England partly following the route of the Roman Pye Road. It runs from the A14 near Needham Market to the A149 south of Cromer. It is of primary status for the entirety of its route. It is approximately 56 miles in length...
to Norwich. The nearest railway station is at Gunton
Gunton railway station
Gunton is a railway station on the Bittern Line which connects the city of Norwich to the North Norfolk coastal towns of Cromer and Sheringham in East Anglia, England. There is no village of this name, the station being actually situated in the parish of Thorpe Market...
for the Bittern Line
Bittern Line
The Bittern Line is a railway line from Norwich to Cromer then Sheringham in Norfolk, England. It is one of the most scenic in the East of England traversing the Norfolk Broads on its route to the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the North Norfolk Coast. The line is part of the Network Rail...
which runs between Sheringham
Sheringham
Sheringham is a seaside town in Norfolk, England, west of Cromer.The motto of the town, granted in 1953 to the Sheringham Urban District Council, is Mare Ditat Pinusque Decorat, Latin for "The sea enriches and the pine adorns"....
, Cromer and Norwich.The nearest airport is at Norwich International Airport
Norwich International Airport
Norwich International Airport , also known as Norwich Airport, is an airport in the City of Norwich within Norfolk, England north of the city centre and on the edge of the city's suburbs....
. It is very close to the village of Overstrand
Overstrand
Overstrand is a village on the north coast of Norfolk in England, two miles east of Cromer. It was once a modest fishing station, with all or part of the fishing station being known as Beck Hythe...
and has a small church.
The Parish Church
Alabaster
Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...
head of the saint was kept at the church and pilgrim
Pilgrim
A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...
s in this country came to the church to the shrine alter, rather than make the journey to Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
Cathedral were a relic said to be the real head of John the Baptist was kept.
The alabaster head did not survive and although it is unknown exactly what happened to it, it has been suggested that it was probably destroyed by Anglican reformers
Protestant Reformers
Protestant Reformers were those theologians, churchmen, and statesmen whose careers, works, and actions brought about the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century...
as a result of the 1538 Injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
against images during the reign of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. Another theory is that the head was destroyed as a result of a further injunction which was rigorously imposed in 1547, during the early weeks of the reign of Edward VI. Today an Alabaster head survives in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
and it is thought that the head at Trimingham was exactly like the head in the museum collection. To this day, the nearby Village hall is called pilgrim shelter as a reminder of Trimingham’s past as a site of pilgrimage.
The church has a short tower which is thought to be unfinished. It has heavy buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es on the west elevation which suggest that a fault in the construction of the church may well have been the reasoning for the unfinished tower. The nave to the east cuts around the buttress to embrace it. This peculiarity may be partly the result of a restoration by Thomas Jekyll in the 1850s. Pevsner
Pevsner
Pevsner is a surname, and may refer to:* Antoine Pevsner , a Russian sculptor* Sir Nikolaus Pevsner , a German-born British scholar of the history of architecture;** ....
.
states in his survey book, that Thomas Jekyll completely rebuilt the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
of which the most notable feature is the way that the tower buttresses on the east side project into the nave. The churches rood screen
Rood screen
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...
is very small with four figures on either side of the entrance to the chancel. The figures are St Edmund with his arrow, St Clare
Clare of Assisi
Clare of Assisi , born Chiara Offreduccio, is an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi...
with her book and monstrance, St Clement
Pope Clement I
Starting in the 3rd and 4th century, tradition has identified him as the Clement that Paul mentioned in Philippians as a fellow laborer in Christ.While in the mid-19th century it was customary to identify him as a freedman of Titus Flavius Clemens, who was consul with his cousin, the Emperor...
with his anchor and crozier, and St James in his pilgrim's robes. On the south side are St Petronella with her book and keys, St Cecilia
Saint Cecilia
Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians and Church music because as she was dying she sang to God. It is also written that as the musicians played at her wedding she "sang in her heart to the Lord". St. Cecilia was an only child. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Anglican,...
with her garland of flowers, St Barbara with her tower, and St Jeron with his hawk. The east window of the church is credited to H Wilkinson and dates from 1925. the window depicts Christ in Majesty flanked by St Michael
St Michael
St Michael was a brand that was owned and used by Marks & Spencer from 1928 until 2000.-History:The brand was introduced by Simon Marks in 1928, after his father and co-founder of Marks & Spencer, Michael Marks. By 1950, virtually all goods were sold under the St Michael brand...
and St Gabriel, with the symbols of the four Evangelists surrounding them.
Trimingham "Golf" ball
RAF Trimingham
RAF Trimingham is a type 93 radar station situated on the coast in the English county of Norfolk. The site is located on the coast road between Cromer and Mundesley, 1 kilometre east of the village of Trimingham. The radar station is a satellite station of RAF Neatishead...
(RAF Neatishead
RAF Neatishead
RRH Neatishead, is a Royal Air Force military radar station in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia, and was established during the Second World War. It consists of the main technical site, and a number of remote, and sometimes unmanned sites....
), a remote air defence radar station shaped like a giant golf ball on the edge of the cliff on the coast road. In November 2006, the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
admitted that the Type 93 radar spinning inside the dome had been out of alignment between November 2005 and February 2006, causing car engines and lights to cut out, and speedometer dials swung up to 150 mph as motorists drove past. Having previously denied problems, the MoD said it will consider claims for compensation after an inquiry found the radar was "out of alignment". A local garage owner who runs the nearest garage at Mundesley
Mundesley
Mundesley is a coastal village and a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The village is 20.3 miles north-north east of Norwich, 7.3 miles south east of Cromer and 136 miles north east of London. The village lies 5.6 miles north-north east of the town of North Walsham. The nearest...
, said he dealt with 30 calls over a couple of months.
Trimingham Beach
Trimingham has a secluded beach that is popular with surfers, jet skiJet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The name is sometimes mistakenly used by those unfamiliar with the personal watercraft industry to refer to any type of personal watercraft; however, the name is a valid trademark registered with the...
ers, dog walkers and night-fishermen. It is reached by a steep one-vehicle only road accessed via a lane just past the Ingleside public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
. The cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
face at Trimingham has the youngest chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and it is possible to collect shells
Seashell
A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers...
, bivalves, crinoids and oysters from here. The chalk has been prevented from washing out to sea although it remains very dirty and poorly exposed. The cliffs at Trimingham are suffering badly from coastal erosion
Coastal erosion
Coastal erosion is the wearing away of land and the removal of beach or dune sediments by wave action, tidal currents, wave currents, or drainage...
.
Railways
Trimingham was once served by Trimingham railway stationTrimingham railway station
Trimingham railway station was a station in Trimingham, Norfolk on the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway line between Cromer Beach and North Walsham. It closed in 1953-External links:*...
on the Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway
Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway
The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway was a British joint railway company.The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway and consisted of two distinct sections: a line between North Walsham and Cromer via Mundesley, and a coastal section running...
between Cromer
Cromer
Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...
and North Walsham
North Walsham
North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England in the North Norfolk district.-Demographics:The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 11,998. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the district of North...
. It was closed in 1953.