In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Hunstanton like this:
HUNSTANTON, a village and a parish in Docking district, Norfolk. The village stands on the coast of the Wash, about a mile from the terminus of the Lynn and Hunstanton railway, and 16 miles N by E of King's Lynn; occupies an eminence, with declivity to the E, opening into a fine valley; commands charming views of the sea; is a watering place, and a coast guard station; has a post office under Lynn, a railway station with telegraph, two hotels, and some lodging houses; and is undergoing considerable extension. ...
The parish comprises 1, 499 acres of land, and 795 of water. Real property, £4, 276. Pop., 490. Houses, 105. The manor has belonged, from a remote period, to the family of Le Strange. Hunstanton Hall, now the seat of H. S. Le Strange, Esq., underwent restoration subsequently to 1836; was partially burned in 1853; and has a gate house of the time of Henry VII. St. Edmunds point, a little S of the village, was the place where Edmund, King of East Anglia, landed; consists of chalk, green sand, and oolite; has an altitude of 60 feet; commands a view of the Lincolnshire coast to Boston church; and is crowned by a lighthouse, originally erected in 1165, completed in its present form in 1840, and showing a fixed light visible at the distance of 13 miles. The cliffs of the coast are said to have lost 30 feet of their height in 70 years. Sands stretch away from their base; lie bare, at low water, to the breadth of averagely 1, 000 yards; and terminate there in what is called the Oyster-Sea, where fish of all kinds bound. The living is a vicarage, united with the sinecure rectory of Ringstead Parva, in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £330. * Patron, H. S. Le Strange, Esq. The church is early decorated English; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with porch and tower; was partially restored in 1865; and contains a Norman font, a brass of E. Greeve of 1490, and a triple canopied brass or altar tomb of Sir Roger Le Strange of 1509. The chancel of a new church was built in 1866, at St. Edmunds, at a cost of about £1, 260; and is in the early decorated style. There are an endowed school for boys, and a school maintained by Mr. Le Strange for girls.
Hunstanton through time
Hunstanton is now part of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk district. Click here for graphs and data of how Kings Lynn and West Norfolk has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Hunstanton itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Hunstanton in Kings Lynn and West Norfolk | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/697
Date accessed: 24th April 2024
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