Read Ebook: Observations upon the Town of Cromer Considered as a Watering Place and the Picturesque Scenery in Its Neighbourhood by Bartell Edmund

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THE situation of the town of Cromer. The parish church a beautiful specimen of architecture, in the time of Henry the fourth. The beauty of its proportions injured by the necessary manner in which it has been repaired. Accident of a bay falling from the steeple. Anecdote of Robert Bacon. Free School. Inns. The Fishery the chief support of the lower class of inhabitants,--also, a great source of picturesque amusement. Boat upset. Mercantile trade. Dearness of Coals,--the reason of it. Cromer an eligible situation for retirement. A description of the bathing machines, cliffs, and beach. Sea-shore a constant amusement to the artist. Picturesque effects of the storm and the calm compared. Sea-fowls. Light-house. Overstrand. Cromer Hall.

WALK to Runton. Cromer seen to advantage in the return from Runton. The battery.

EXCURSION to Holt--upper road to be preferred. Description of the country between Cromer and Holt. Churches or villages, seen through a valley, a very common species of landscape. Fine distance a circumstance of great beauty. Heath ground terminated by distance. Particular effect given to a distance. The influence which a distant prospect, under particular circumstances, has upon the mind. Holt. Return from Holt by the lower road. Beeston Priory. Remark of Shenstone's upon ruinated structures. Felbrigg beacon.

FELBRIGG. Grounds described. Oak,--its uses in the picturesque,--improved by age and decay. Shenstone's ideas of trees in general, particularly the oak. Felbrigg house, pictures and library. Beckham old church,--the loneliness of its situation greatly to be admired. Such scenes calculated to excite reflection.

CHURCH at Thorp-Market described. Stained or painted glass in windows,--its effect. Gunton Hall, the seat of the Right Honourable Lord Suffield. Offices very fine. Parish Church in the park. North-Walsham. Hanworth, the seat of Robert Lee Doughty, Esq.

RIDE from Cromer to Mundesley. Trimmingham beacon. Mundesley. The beach at Mundesley. View from it particularly affected by the state of the weather. Effects of partial lights, called by Mons. du Piles--"accidents in painting."

THE Cottage at Northrepps,--its romantic situation. Casual observations on planting. Echo at Toll's hill.

BLICKLING, the seat of the Honourable Asheton Harbord. Description of the house, pictures, etc. The park. Mausoleum. Parish church. Aylsham. Road from Aylsham to Cromer. Woody lanes frequently very picturesque.

WOOLTERTON, the seat of the Right Honourable Lord Walpole. Its situation. Ruin in the park.

SHERRINGHAM, Upper. Description of the grounds belonging to Cooke Flower, Esq. Shepherd's cottage, rural situation of. Thatch considered as the most picturesque covering to a cottage. Connection of objects necessary to produce a pleasing effect. Weybourn. Sherringham, Lower. Good situation of the inn. The beach. Thompson's description of a sun-set at sea.

CROMER.

THE town of CROMER is situated on the north-east part of the county of Norfolk, upon the edge of the british ocean, from which it is defended by cliffs of considerable height.

It must formerly have been a place of much more consequence than it is at present, as that which is now called Cromer, was in the survey made by the Conqueror, accounted for under the town and lordship of Shipdon, which has long given way to the encroachments of the sea, together with the parish church dedicated to Saint Peter.

At low water there are many large masses of old wall to be seen, which appear evidently to have belonged to some of the buildings of the old town; and at very low tides a piece of building is discoverable, which the fishermen call the Church Rock, it being generally supposed to have been a part of the old church of Shipdon, and I think with some probability of truth; though others have doubted it, supposing it impossible but that the constant action of the sea for so many ages, must long ere this have dissolved all traces of it.

The present church, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul, was probably erected in the time of Henry the fourth. It is a very handsome pile, built with flint and freestone, consisting of a body and two aisles, covered with slate; the tower, which is square, with an embattled top, is an hundred and fifty-nine feet in height.

The entrance at the west end, is a beautiful specimen of gothic architecture, now in ruins; as is the porch on the north side and the chancel. The flinting in many parts of the building, for the beauty of its execution, is, perhaps, scarcely any where to be excelled.

The inside of the church, which is kept in good repair, is capable of containing a very great number of persons; it is also tolerably well pewed; but except the double row of arches which support the roof and divide the aisles, very little of what it has been remains; these, however, are of beautiful proportions, and the windows which were formerly of noble dimensions, and probably ornamented with that most elegant of church-decorations, painted glass, are now in a great measure closed up by the hands of the bricklayer.

Amongst the repairs done to the church is one, which though it may be, and certainly is, in some measure beneficial, yet, as it affects the beautiful proportions of the middle aisle, the eye of taste must regret--I mean the flat ceiling, which diminishes the height of the building by cutting off the roof. Height when duly proportioned proportioned certainly adds much to grandeur. In churches and in most gothic buildings the roof terminates in a point corresponding with the other parts, and by the exclusion of which the proportion and beauty of the building is in a great measure destroyed.

There is something too in the dark and sombre hue of the roofs of churches, when the timbers are left in their original state, that is very pleasing.

Monuments there are none of any consequence,--one or two of the Windham and Ditchell families are all the church contains; but a well-toned organ has been placed in the gallery within these few years, for which the church is peculiarly adapted.

At about a third part of the height of the staircase, which leads up the steeple, is a door which opens upon the lead of a small turret, communicating with the stairs, from which a few years since, a boy, by the name of Yaxley, fell into the church yard, between some timbers which were laid there for the repairs of the church, without receiving any other hurt than a few slight bruises, and is now on board a ship in his Majesty's service.

Robert Bacon, a mariner, of Cromer, found out Iceland, and is said to have taken the Prince of Scotland, James Stewart, sailing to France for education, in the time of Henry the fourth.

The houses in general are indifferent and the rents very high; yet tolerable accommodation is to be found for strangers, from one to three guineas per week, some of which command a fine view of the sea, and are extremely desirable.

The want of a large and well-conducted Inn is amongst those few things which are chiefly to be regretted by those who pay a visit to Cromer. Parties are frequently formed for an excursion to a watering place by those who have neither time, nor inclination, to stay sufficiently long to make it worth their while to engage lodgings; of course they complain of the want of accommodation. The consequence is, they become disgusted with the place, and not unfrequently, I fear, leave it with a determination of coming no more, but also by describing to others the inconveniences they have experienced, deter them from making trial of a place where their neighbours have fared so indifferently.

Unfortunately the trade to an Inn-keeper is almost entirely confined to the summer season; therefore, unless the influx of company at that time was sufficient to carry him through the expences of the winter also, I very much fear such an Inn as is necessary for the situation could not answer. However, I should think the trial of it, though hazardous, might probably prove successful: with such an addition, Cromer would, perhaps, in the course of a few years, stand a chance of rivalling some of the more celebrated bathing places for the number, as well as consequence of its visitors; without it, it must to a certainty remain contented with its present acquisitions.

Lobsters, crabs, whitings, cod-fish and herrings, are all caught here in the finest perfection; the former are always eagerly sought after by all who arrive; indeed, coming to Cromer and eating lobsters are things nearly synonymous.

The lower class of people are chiefly supported by fishing; the herrings which are caught here are cured in the town, a house within three or four years having been erected for that purpose, which, I believe, answers well both to the proprietor and the fishermen, who now find an immediate market for any quantity they may bring in.

The fishery, independent of the pleasure we receive from the consideration of the support it brings to a numerous, hardy, and in many instances, an industrious set of people, is not without its effect in a picturesque point of view. The different preparations for a voyage; the groupes of figures employed in different ways,--some carrying a boat down to the water's edge,--some carrying nets, oars, masts and sails; while others, in a greater state of forwardness are actually pulling through the breakers, form a scene of the most busy, various and pleasing kind.

The return, also, of the fishermen from this little voyage, frequently affords a scene truly interesting; particularly in the herring season, which being in the autumnal equinox, is liable to wind, which sometimes suddenly bringing a considerable swell upon the beach, renders the coming in of the boats both difficult and dangerous; a circumstance which although it cannot fail in a great measure to take from the pleasure we should experience in being witness to such a scene unconnected with danger, yet the different attitudes of the boat as it is impelled over the billows, the exertions of the crew, the agitation of the water, and the expression marked in the countenances of the surrounding spectators awaiting their arrival--are all of them incidents so highly picturesque, that we can but behold them with admiration.

At one moment the little bark followed by a mountain of a sea hanging over its stern, every instant menacing destruction--the next thrown up aloft, ready to be precipitated into the gaping gulph below; alternately keeping the spectators and crew, trembling between fear and hope, till at last some friendly wave with dreadful force hurls it upon the shore.

Those faces which were but the moment before the most strongly expressive of the feelings of wife, mother, children or friend, under the most torturing anxiety for the safety of those who are most nearly allied to them, by the ties of affection or of interest, are in an instant changed to smiles and tears of joy, to thanks for their safety, and almost in the same breath to enquiries about the success of the voyage.

The mercantile trade here is small; the want of a convenient harbour where ships might ride in safety, will ever be an obstacle; there are, however, small exports of corn and imports of coal, tiles, oil cake, London porter, &c.

Perhaps there are few places, even at the distance of twenty miles from the sea, where coals are dearer than they are here; one principal reason of which is, the expence and hazard attending the unloading; to effect which the vessel is laid upon the beach at high water and when the tide is sufficiently ebbed, the coals are taken from the vessel by carts, each carrying half a chaldron, which is as much as four horses can well get up the steep and sandy road cut through the cliff.

Thus the business is carried on till the returning tide obliges them to desist till the next ebb. About two tides generally serve to complete the ship's unloading, which is seldom of greater burthen than from sixty to seventy tons.

From the loading and unloading the vessels arises another source of picturesque amusement from the combination of horses and carts, men and boys--these employed in their different departments compose various groupes, and give a new character to the scene, by connecting maritime with rural occupations.

There are no places of public amusement, no rooms, balls, nor card assemblies. A small circulating library, consisting chiefly of a few novels, is all that can be obtained; but still for such as make retirement their aim, it is certainly an eligible situation.

The bathing machines are very commodious, and the bather a careful, attentive man. The shore, also, which is a fine firm sand, not only only renders the bathing agreeable, but when the tide retires, presents such a surface for many miles as cannot be exceeded. The sea too is one of those objects that appears to have the constant power of pleasing. Other scenes by being seen constantly, either lose much of their power or become tiresome by their sameness;--it is not so with the sea--those who live constantly by the side of it, if their occupation lies within doors, seldom fail at the leisure hour of noon or eve, to pay their respects to it, even in the most stormy weather. This fondness can arise from no other source than the constant variety it produces. Its charms are various and incessant--whether its azure surface is dressed in smiles or irritated into frowns by the surly northern or eastern blast.

The cliffs in many parts are lofty and well broken, and their feet being for the most part composed of strong blue clay, are capable of making considerable resistance to the impetuous attacks of the sea; so that when the upper parts which are of a looser texture are brought down by springs, frosts or other accidental circumstances, and are carried away by the action of the tide, the feet still remain, opposing their bold projections to the fury of the storm.

It is very rare too, that there is a scarcity of shipping to adorn the scene; the trade from Newcastle, Sunderland and the Baltic, keeping up a constant succession. The different parties of pleasure, also, that assemble upon the beach in an evening, for walking, riding or reading, constitute variety and make it a very pleasant resort. But towards the close of a fine summer's evening, when the sun declining in full splendour, tinting the whole scene with a golding glow, the sea shore becomes an object truly sublime. The noble expanse of blue waters on the one hand, the distant sail catching the last rays of the setting sun, controlled on the other by the rugged surfaces of the impending cliffs, the stillness of the scene, interrupted only by the gentle murmurs of the waves falling at your feet or perhaps by the solemn dashing of oars, or at intervals, by the hoarse bawling of the seamen;--"music in such full unison" with the surrounding objects and altogether calculated to inspire so pleasing a train of thoughts to the contemplative, solitary stroller, that he does not awake from his reverie till

"black and deep the night begins to fall. A shade immense, sunk in the quenching gloom; Magnificent and vast, are Heaven and earth. Order confounded lies; all beauty void; Distinction lost; and gay variety One universal blot; such the fair power Of Light, to kindle and create the whole."

What can give a more adequate idea of the power of the divine Creator than such a scene? What can give a fuller comprehension of the compass of human invention than the intercourse which is maintained between nations through the medium of navigation? And to an Englishman can there be a more pleasing or exulting theme, than the wide extent of the commerce of Great Britain and the glory of the British Navy?--the bulwark of this happy land.

"This royal throne of Kings, this scepter'd Isle, This earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demy Paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself, Against infection and the hand of war; This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands."

To the artist, also, the sea furnishes an almost never-ending source of amusement; it is a constant moving picture capable of a thousand modifications, and of being treated on canvass in various ways; it admits too of the grandest effects of light and shadow, and in the hands of such a master as Vanderveldt of producing wonderful effect. But it is in the storm alone that the grand effects I am speaking of are to be found.

"When huge uproar lords it wide"

It wants at such times no adventitious aids to set it off. The calm on the contrary without some assistance, as rocks, fortifications or figures, will hardly be able to support itself. It is true you may place a vessel in the fore-ground, but a ship at anchor lying with her whole broadside to the eye, however noble it may be to contemplate or pleasing by the goodness of the painting, will always be a formal object. If you wish to make it picturesque you must compose your fore-ground of some projecting rock, or pier-head, a boat or two lying on the shore, and a few appropriate figures; remove the ship in the fore-ground to the second distance, with others in the last distance to mark the horizon, and with these materials, if well managed, a very pleasing picture may be formed.

But a storm at sea has in itself sufficient grandeur to support it; the vessel labouring with the sea, having all its formal lines broken by the disposition of its sails, and which being, as is often the case, strongly illuminated by the sun bursting through the gloom, with the whitening surges breaking upon the shoals or dashing against the sides of the vessel, doubly augmenting the blackness of the sea and sky, form a contrast so noble as to render all other aids superfluous.

Sea fowls as having a peculiar character of their own, and also as tending to mark that of a sea-coast view more strongly, have always been considered, and with the greatest propriety, as objects highly picturesque and amusing whether in natural or in artificial landscape. Mr. Gilpin has treated of them at large in his Forest Scenery, with that accuracy and elegance peculiar to himself; nor has another great master done them less justice.

"The cormorant on high Wheels from the deep and screams along the land; Loud shrieks the soaring hern; and with wild wing The circling sea fowl cleave the flaky clouds."

THOMPSON.

Most strangers pay a visit to the light-house, which stands on an eminence about three quarters of a mile to the eastward of the town, and commands an extensive sea-view, the inland prospect is confined by a range of hills forming an amphitheatre around it. The tower built of brick is only three moderate stories high, crowned with a lantern lighted by fifteen patent lamps, each placed in a large copper reflector three feet in diameter and finely plated on the inside; these placed round an upright axis are kept in continual motion by jack-work, wound up every five hours and a half, by which means a set of five reflectors are presented to the eye in a full blaze of light every minute, the axis being three minutes in performing its rotation.

The house was formerly lighted up with coals, which was not only an uncertain light, but also a fixed one and was frequently mistaken; it was therefore thought necessary to have it upon a principle differing from any other upon this part of the coast to prevent such mistakes, the consequences of which might prove so very fatal. The lamps all the year are lighted up at sun-set and extinguished at sun-rise; during the longest nights in winter, the consumption of the best oil each night is three gallons.

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