Hunstanton is a small Norfolk seaside resort that lies at the mouth of the Wash and is affectionately known, for obvious reasons, as “Sunny Hunny”. It is the best kind of resort with its award winning beaches that are among the safest in England, plenty of seaside sports and entertainments and a climate that boasts more sunshine and less rainfall that the great majority of resorts in Britain – What a combination!

A special bonus……………Thanks to Hunstanton being the only East Coast resort that faces West (check the map!), visitors can enjoy the extraordinary sight of the sun setting over the sea – a memorable experience.

Hunstanton’s motto is “Alios delectare iuvat” which freely translates to “It is our pleasure to please others”

We will come to the history later. First, what’s on offer?

For the sports minded, whether you like to take part or simply watch, we have swimming, sailing, wind surfing and waterskiing and an 18-hole championship golf course in the old village. You can add to that pitch and putt, tennis, bowls and croquet, even crazy golf and putting. But you may well prefer to dig sand castles on the beach, explore the rock pools, hunt for fossilised shell fish or simply sun bathe.

As regard entertainment amenities, Hunstanton has an all-weather leisure centre (The Oasis) with indoor and outdoor pools, squash court and bowling green, a theatre that doubles as a cinema, a sea-life sanctuary and a fairground, plus of course the inevitable bingo and amusement centres.

If you are of a wandering disposition you can always enjoy a walk along The Promenade or through the beautiful Esplanade Gardens and along the cliff top. Or why not take a boat ride along the coast and visit Seal Island?

The cliffs known world wide to geologists are made up of a thin band of red chalk sandwiched between layers of white chalk and brown sandstone known locally as Carrstone. Much of the town is built of Carrstone, but this comes not from the cliffs but from a quarry near by at Snettisham, dating back a thousand years or more.

West Norfolk, of which Hunstanton is part, offers nature reserves, bird observatories, the headquarters of Norfolk Lavender, historic King’s Lynn, Heritage properties at Castle Rising and Castle Acre and the Royal home at Sandringham.

This area of countryside and coastline has been designated an area of “Outstanding natural beauty”. What a testimonial!

As regards the numerous hotels, guest houses and self catering facilities which offer a friendly welcome and quality service, all the necessary information can be obtained from the Tourist Information Centre on 01485 532610. At the Southern end of the town Searle’s Leisure Resort and Manor Park Holiday Village provide their own highly specialised form of holiday accommodation by way of caravans and chalets.

Now to the history!

Let’s get the confusing bit over to start with. The village of Hunstanton was mentioned in the Domesday Book so it has a long history. The seaside resort, on the other hand, was created in the middle of the 19th Century by the Squire of Hunstanton Hall, the largest landowner in the area. In the early days it was known as “the sea-bathing station of Hunstanton St Edmund”

At the time there was nothing between the lighthouse and the neighbouring village of Heacham apart from an extensive sheep run, so when the resort’s oldest building, The Golden Lion Hotel, opened in 1846 it was nicknamed “le Strange Folly” But the critics were unaware that the Squire, who not only conceived but designed the resort, had made careful plans for the town’s development, plans that included a railway. When the line opened in 1862, the year that Henry Styleman le Strange died, the future was secure.

Officially Hunstanton embraces both the resort and the old village, but the latter is still known as Old Hunstanton.

The le Strange family have been associated with Hunstanton for nearly a thousand years. Indeed the present Squire lives in the town today. The family’s ancestral home, Hunstanton Hall, was sold in 1948 and converted into flats. It is reputed to have a ghost!

The le Strange’s came from Brittany after the Norman invasion and married into a leading Saxon family in the area. Probably the best known le Strange was Roger who translated Aesops Tales into English, fought unsuccessfully to dislodge Cromwell’s forces from King’s Lynn and, in 1663, produced the country’s first newspaper “The Public Intelligencer” earning him the title “Father of the English Press”.

Hunstanton has long been associated with Sir Edmund who, as King of East Anglia, led a small army against the invading Vikings, was captured and, after refusing to give up his Christian faith, was tied to a tree and shot by Danish archers. Legend has it that when St Edmund first came from Saxony in AD855 he landed near Hunstanton cliffs.


St. Edmund’s Chapel ruins with a view of the lighthouse behind

The ruined Chapel near the lighthouse was built in his memory in 1272. Nine stained glass windows depicting the life of the saint can be found in St Edmund’s Church.

The cross on the top Green is a bit of a mystery. It is assumed to be the reeded shaft of an ancient village cross that was moved from Old Hunstanton to the present position when the Golden Lion Hotel was built but its previous history is unknown.

Blazing beacons and lanterns warned ships of dangerous sandbanks in the Wash centuries before the first lighthouse in 1666. The present lighthouse, built in 1844, ceased operations in 1921 when it was replaced first by a lightship, then by a remote-control fog buoy. It is now a holiday home.

Some more bits of information:-

• There is a memorial in the Esplanade Gardens with the names of the 31 people (15 British, 16 American) who lost their lives in the great 1953 floods.
  
  
• The water tower at the top of Redgate Hill is now flats.
  
  
• A late Neolithic Early Bronze Age settlement was found when constructing Oasis Way off Redgate Hill.
  
  
• Hunstanton lost its 830 foot long pier in a heavy storm in 1978.
  
  
• The Hunstanton – King’s Lynn railway line was closed down in 1969.
  
  
• Hunstanton boasts the biggest tennis tournament in the U.K. with 1,350 entries in 2006.
  
  
• Hunstanton has played host to both world and British water-ski championships.
  
  
• The Princess Theatre was named in honour of Princess Diana who took her sons to the pantomime there.
  
  
• Hunstanton is 16 miles from King’s Lynn, 45 from Norwich and about 120 from London.
  
  
• Lord High Admiral of the Wash is the hereditary title which gives the le Strange family the rights of the North West Norfolk foreshore for as far as man can ride out to sea at the low tide and throw a spear.
  
  
• St. Mary’s Church in Old Hunstanton was built in the 14th Century. It has a Norman front.
  
  
• P. G. Wodehouse stayed regularly at Hunstanton Hall and typed out some of his stories while sitting in a punt on the moat.

In the words of the great poet: As U can C, Hunstanton is the place 2 B!!

For a more in depth history of Hunstanton, Ken Arnott’s excellent publication: 

Hunstanton,The Story of a Small Norfolk Seaside Resort

Is available from the Hunstanton Tourist Information Centre

Top of page