There is a special kind of magic in England’s oldest coastal pubs—a charm that fuses sea spray, centuries of local lore, resilient architecture, and often, the ghosts of generations past. These historic inns stand as witnessing sentinels to maritime adventures, smuggling escapades, shipwreck tragedies, creative genius, and the day-to-day conviviality of communities shaped by the sea’s temperament. Drinking in these …
England
Stiffkey Old Hall and St John & St Mary Church: Hidden History on the North Norfolk Coast
Stiffkey Old Hall Stiffkey Hall (now referred to as Stiffkey Old Hall) was begun by Sir Nicholas Bacon, Keeper of the Great Seal, in 1576 on the site of an earlier medieval manor house. The completed building was intended to be a home for his son Nathaniel, who had recently married one Anne Gresham. Sir Nicholas went to great lengths …
England
How British Romantic literature was sparked by a walk down the Somerset coast
A seven-foot bronze statue of an Ancient Mariner stands proudly on Watchet Esplanade in Somerset, a nod to the famous poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. British Romantic literature began in 1978 with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The opening poem in the original edition spanned across no fewer than 50 pages – The …
England
Binham Priory – A Medieval Time Capsule
One of the earliest records we have of a monastic presence at Binham comes from a text called the Miracles of St. Edmund. In 1091, William Rufus (r.1086-1100) summoned an army to march into Scotland. This was in response to the incursions by the King of Scots into northern England in the preceding months. A knight, of the Abbey of …
England
Doggerland: Part Three – Norfolk Now
From the time of Doggerland’s emergence from the ice rising see levels had already begun to claim some of the low-lying areas of this marshland. As the years rolled on and waters rose repeatedly the Mesolithic humans naturally migrated to the regions Highlands, such as Dogger Bank. A sand bank well known to modern day mariners for its proximity to …
England
Doggerland: Part Two – What the Sea has Given Back
The First Catch It was a wet and windy September’s day in 1931 – a few of those hardy souls that brave the angry seas were hard at work aboard the Colinda. THE COLINDA – was a British fishing trawler, one which was about to make a groundbreaking discovery. The ship was approximately 25 miles off the Norfolk coast in …
England
Doggerland: Part One – Understanding the Land Below the Waves
Picture the scene, you are out walking the Norfolk coast. The ground beneath you is firm, grassy, rivers and streams surround you. To the east, the land stretches on—no shoreline, no horizon broken by waves. You walk for days, following thick wooded valleys and mammoth tracks, crossing wetlands and climbing sloping hills. Eventually, without ever needing a boat, you set …
Wales
Porthgain, Pembrokeshire: An Industrious Harbour
Porthgain is a quiet little harbour hamlet found in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Sitting between St David’s and Goodwick it is a part of the Parish of Llanrhian. The onomastic evidence for the place name is debated, some have identified it as having been derived from the Welsh for ‘fair port’, but it is more likely to originate from …
Wales
The Church in the Valley: Cwm-yr-Eglwys
Cwm-yr-Eglwys meaning ‘Valley of the Church’ is a hamlet in a stunning cove on the eastern side of the Dinas Island Peninsula, so called because a stream separates it from the mainland. It features a sandy cove, with a stream running through the centre, providing tens of rock pools teeming with life. On the eastern side of the bay is …
Wales
Coast, Castle, Christianity and Community: The Village of Llanrhystud
The coastal village of Llanrhystud is a very small community built-up in a historic landscape which features the old village, the bridge over the River Wyre and modern business and housing developments at the fringes of town. It lies roughly 20 metres above the sea in a location where the valleys open out into a coastal flatland. The oldest part …