Life's a beach....

In the sweet by-and-by.....

We've been spoiled.  Who needs sun-burnt mirth?  Who needs a beaker full of the warm south? When we, here on the north Norfolk coast, have our own Helios, our very own Phoebus-Apollo, born at the foot of Mount Cynthus on the island of Delos, but happily driving his chariot across our skies.....

Yes we may have clouds, and breezes, but this summer has been exceptional, and the coast from the Wash to Wells-next-the-Sea has equalled, if not surpassed, many popular holiday destinations that have been fringed by forest fires, or at the least burnt by the baking sun.  We have been swimming for a couple of months now.  The water may be cool, but along the north coast, it is clean and refreshing, and vast stretches of sandy beaches are free for you to spread your wings and breathe the untainted air.

The land here is designated by Natural England as National Character Area 76, and the name ‘Good Sands’, often applied to the eastern half of this area, derives from the fertility of the versatile light soils which distinguish the area from the low-fertility sands of Breckland to the south. Many of the villages are centred on greens or ponds and built from local vernacular materials – carstone and chalk in the west with flint becoming characteristic further east, reflecting the underlying geology [from the Natural England website].

The coastline, however, is designated National Character Area 77, the North Norfolk Coast, and almost the whole area is a Special Area of Conservation under the Habitats Directive, a Special Protection Area under the Birds Directive and a Ramsar site, and there are eight Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). Much of the coastline is owned or managed by conservation organisations, with the majority of sites being National Nature Reserves..... The exceptional beauty, tranquillity and wildness of the coast are reflected in its designation as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and definition as a Heritage Coast. [Natural England website]

Summer is only a part of the story.  As I look out today it is grey and windy and swimming is not on the agenda, for me at least, and I wonder if the sun will shine again..... so I think about the seasons and the variety of attractions we have here. Many people come here for the bird life.  At Snettisham RSPB you can see amazing flocks of waders, mainly knot, but others get whirled up in the melee - dunlin, oystercatchers, plovers, sanderlings, godwits et al:

Tens of thousands of birds take off from the mudflats of the Wash as the tide rises, their wingbeats uniting in reverberations as they hurry overhead to roost on the islands in the lagoons created by the shingle extractions for the airfield runways in Lincolnshire in WWII.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/snettisham

At Snettisham, in the winter, you can also see straggling skeins of pink-footed geese heading inland at dawn or back to roost on the Wash at dusk.  Their winking calls alert you to them even in the dark or cloudy skies, as tens of thousands of them fly high overhead:

And sometimes, at the end of the day, there are spectacular sunsets over the Wash.  It is the only place in Eastern England where you can see the sun going down over the sea, and it can take your breath away as you wait for the green flash.....

Even at low tide, or under grey skies, this coastline is beautiful, the unpolluted light a gentle setting for the aerial wildlife:

While grounded creatures may leave their tracks in the - admittedly quite rare - snow:

At Hunstanton, under the chalk and carstone cliffs, at low tide you can find the remains of the SS Sheraton which drifted ashore in a storm in 1947.

And then the cliffs decline beyond the old lighthouse towards the sands of Old Hunstanton Beach which lead on towards Holme-next-the-Sea:

And along the coast concrete remains of military buildings from wartime sit empty amongst the grasses:

Near swathes of sea thrift, one of the many beautiful plants that thrive here:

While out at sea the windmills of the wind farm off Skegness wave at the Don Quixote in me:

The sea is alive here, and after rough weather sometimes there are masses of razor clam shells on the beach.  

At other times it may be baby clams or crabs or starfish, and sometimes, as just recently, a Sowerby's beaked whale, or a dolphin, or a grey seal, as these breed along this part of the coast:

I love the variety here.  Swallows in late spring and summer:

Sea Buckthorn in the early autumn:

Snow bunting over-winter here:

And there's always a sense of space.  Brent geese here skim the deserted beach at Brancaster, near the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club:

Which looks even more isolated at sunset:

Also at Brancaster Staithe (a word of Scandinavian origin, in Norfolk usually used for a wharf, often associated with coal shipments) there are a few fishing boats (though there are many more recreational craft):

And at Thornham Staithe there is the old Coal Barn, here awash at a spring tide, where coals from the north were off-loaded for distribution to the villages:

And also submerged here are the ancient stakes of a grain wharf:

Just offshore here lies the jewel in this coast's crown - Scolt Head Island.  Jon Brown will take you across on the high tide from Brancaster Staithe. With a life time's experience of the water and wildlife here he is an excellent guide and a cruise on the Laura May with him is a brilliant way to learn just how wonderful this part of the world can be:

https://www.brantacruises.co.uk/

You can also reach the island from Burnham Overy Staithe, on the Island Ferry in summer or the Welcome Ferry all year round.

The Branta Cruises website is a good place to find out something about the island, but Baz Scampion's website is another mine of information:  

https://www.scoltheadisland.co.uk/index.html

Although Scolt Head Island is as old as time, it once belonged to the Holkham Estate but it was sold to the National Trust and designated a Nature Reserve in 1923, and it is now a National Nature Reserve leased and managed by Natural England.  It is a beautiful, unspoiled, dynamic island, continually evolving as longshore drift piles sand and shingle up in curls on the western end, and salt marshes and creeks fill with natural vegetation.  

There are two buildings on the island, one being the warden's hut, the other a Grade 2 listed 1920's hut which is used as a base for scientists and naturalists who come to study the habitats and wildlife here.  Apart from that the island is uninhabited.  

The island is a sensitive place, and visitors must be respectful.  

It is a wonderful oasis of natural beauty where peace and reflection are the ideals. Leave worries behind, and meditate on how balance and harmony are good for the soul...

Sometimes the sea is high, and you can appreciate its force looking east across Burnham Harbour to Gun Hill and beyond.

Further east along the coast there is Holkham National Nature Reserve and Beach. Backed by an extensive stand of pines, the bay is vast, and while it can seem like Goa (without the palm trees) at other times the wind whips the sand around your ankles, flash floods of grains scouring the surface.....

Then, a mile or two further on there is Wells beach, a holiday destination par excellence in the splashy summer warmth:

Although it is blissfully quiet in winter:

Wells-next-the-Sea itself is busy town, with an active harbour, Life Boat and Coast Watch stations.  A small fishing fleet operates from the port and many leisure boats make use of the dredged approach.

All in all this part of the English Coast, traversed by the Norfolk Coast Path, which carries on through Wells as far as Hopton-on-Sea, beyond Yarmouth, is a rich area of outstanding natural beauty.  Whether swimming on a sunny day, or walking into the bitter winds of winter, it is a wonderful place to be.  

So, perhaps, 

In the sweet by-and-by

We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

Ira D Sankey

1840 - 1908

Shiver me timbers

The Ghosts of Lynn

Goodnight, sweet prince,

And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

Hamlet

 Act 5, Scene 2

The town of Lynn, once Bishop's Lynn and then, thanks to Henry VIII, King's Lynn, might possibly be related to Dublin and Lincoln, through their connection with pools of water, which may have been used to collect salt. It probably isn't related to Linford Christie, Gary Winston Lineker, my old cock linnet, or Der Lindenbaum, 

Am Brunnen vor dem Tore,

Da steht ein Lindenbaum;

Ich träumt’ in seinem Schatten 

So manchen süssen Traum,

But those are other stories.....  What you may be surprised to know is that there is a very plausible connection to William Shakespeare, probable author of such witticisms as:

We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

The Tempest 

Act 4, Scene 1

And what, I hear you cry, is this? The Swan of Avon, washed up on the banks of the Great Ouse?

Sweet Swan of Auon! what a sight it were

To see thee in our waters yet appeare,

And make those flights vpon the bankes of Thames,

That so did take Eliza, and our Iames!

Ben Jonson

Yes, well, the likelihood is giant. And its footprint is in King Street, in St George’s Guildhall, which is owned by the National Trust and managed by King’s Lynn Borough Council and which is now confirmed to be the oldest working theatre space in the country.....

Until recently the interior of St George's Guildhall looked like this:

Currently, it looks like this:

And you may visit it any day (except Sundays) until August 31st to see and hear about the history of the building (built in 1419 and containing the largest area of 15th century timber floor in the country).  

So, what's this got to do with his Bardship, you moan? Well, this is the thing. Tim FitzHigham, Creative Director of the archaeological project to restore the theatre, has this to say: These are the boards used by Shakespeare’s company during the plague closures of 1592/3, making it a site of international cultural significance.....

And for proof we have....?  Well, this is what the Guildhall's website has to say:

There has been a long tradition that Shakespeare played at the Guildhall in King’s Lynn. People in King’s Lynn were told this by their parents who were told this by their parents and grandparents. This is not new. For example, in 1766 the pub next to the Guildhall (now called Shakespeare House) was named the Shakespeare Pub and had a picture of Shakespeare on the front of it to reflect these links. There are several things which support the oral tradition of the town. In 1592/3 the company associated with Shakespeare, the Earl of Pembroke’s Men, were paid to play in King’s Lynn when the theatres in London were shut due to the plague. At this time Shakespeare was an actor as well as a writer according to a work by Robert Greene of 1954 [1594?   Ed.] calling Shakespeare an ‘upstart crow’ [Not to be confused with D Mitchell's creepy smug TV stuff.  Ed].

Shakespeare’s comedian Robert Armin [Not to be confused with his grate nuncle, Idi.  Ed]  was born in King’s Lynn one street from the theatre..... Armin was a very close collaborator of Shakespeare’s and was the first person to play many of the most famous comedic roles Shakespeare created ['Til Deaf us do part; Dad's Barmy; Faulty Powers; et al. Ed]. Documents from Shakespeare’s lifetime reference an event that occurred in the theatre in ‘Linn, Norfolk’ which is said to have inspired Shakespeare to write part of the plot of Hamlet....

So, it is more than a random chance that Shakespeare actually ducked through this doorway (notwithstanding the semblance that they could be bricked up - Crollalanza era un mago!):

And maybe even this one:

Peered out of this window:

Stepped through this passageway:

And took the air (or had a pipe) in this courtyard:

Which includes an Art Gallery in memory of Lord Fermoy, whose wife provided for the until recent theatre seating, thereby ensuring the survival of the building through the latter part of the twentieth century and into the current secolo..... 

If it be now, ’tis not to come: if it be not to come, it will be now: if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.

Hamlet

Act 5, Scene 2

All the world's a stage

And all the men and women merely players.

They have their exits and their entrances; 

And one man in his time plays many parts.

As You Like It

Act 2, Scene 7

So, what else was there in Lynn 400 or so years ago?

The Minster and Priory Church of St Margaret, St Mary Magdalene and all the Virgin Saints was founded as a Benedictine Priory in 1101 by Herbert de Losinga, the first Bishop of Norwich. For 400 years it was the monks’ home as well as the Parish Church for the town. It was always known as St Margaret’s and would not have been very different, despite efforts by H8 [You mean Henery the Eighth; not hate, surely?  Ed] in Shakespeare's time from what we see now:  

I am one who loved not wisely but too well.

Othello

Act 5, Scene 2

[No.... that's a different story....Ed.]

So we also have the largest chapel-of-ease in England, St Nicholas Chapel (rebuilt between 1380 and 1410 but currently closed because of a problem with one of the roof beams [Elf and Safety gone mad?  Ed]) which would have been architecturally (if not from a glassware point of view) much as it is now.

Another building that was definitely here in the time of WS, is the Red Mount Chapel. It was built in 1485 as a wayside chapel for pilgrims landing at King's Lynn; a place to stop and pray before undertaking the overland journey to Walsingham, or to pray before leaving England after a visit to the shrine. It was/is known as the Chapel of Our Lady of the Mount, and is to be found in The Walks.

Then, although wrecked and suppressed (in 1538) by Enery and his 'enchpeople there would have been at least the Tower of the Greyfriars' Priory:

And while in the late 16th century the Trinity Guildhall housed a prison, the finely windowed first floor would have been there.....

And below stairs in several of the riverside buildings there were cellars which originally may have had direct access to the quayside or even to the river with the potential for rewarding import/export businesses.....

And all compacted into a relatively small area alongside the Great Ouse, making Lynn one of the most important ports in England.  From the 13th century Lynn had been a part of the Hanseatic League, and, though trade had declined by Shakespeare's time it was (and still is) an active port.

With narrow lanes leading to the riverside.

Out, out brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Macbeth

Act 5, Scene 5

Back in the undercroft of the St George's Guildhall, it isn't hard to sense the spirit of Crollalanza in the blind arches and niches, in the ancient timbers and hand-made bricks. Is that the ghost of Banquo?

Prithee, see there. Behold, look! How say you?

Macbeth

Act 3, scene 4

Or does King Hamlet lie there?

Whither wilt thou lead me? Speak. I’ll go no further.

Hamlet

Act 1, scene 5

So....  What does this add up to?  Does it matter?  Well, in my 'umble opinion, yes it does.  We need to recognise our past and to learn from it.  Without history and heritage we are lesser creatures, with little reference by which to gauge our actions. Whether William Shakespeare himself ever actually drew breath in Lynn is, in itself, not necessarily going to alter what we do or think, but to register the continuity of human endeavour and to recognise the achievements, and the mistakes, of our forebears, inevitably makes us richer in many ways.  And had St George's Guildhall been pulled down and turned into a car showroom, for example, we would all be, in some ways, poorer.

Is this nothing?

Why then the world and all that’s in’t is nothing:

The covering sky is nothing, Bohemia nothing,

My wife is nothing, nor nothing have these nothings,

If this be nothing.

Leontes

The Winter's Tale

 Act 1, Scene 2

So, if you can get to see the exposed timbers and be guided round St George's Guildhall you won't regret it. Then, perhaps in 2028, we will all be able to enjoy performances in the restored oldest working theatre in England.  

The rest [For now. Ed] is silence.

Hamlet 

Act 5, Scene 2

*****

For further information, please see:

https://stgeorgesguildhall.com/heritage/

Dedicato alla memoria della nonna di CJS 

(ed anche a CJS stessa)