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| Trimingham | |
|---|---|
 Church of Saint John the Baptists' Head | |
  Trimingham Location withinNorfolk | |
| Area | 2.33 km2 (0.90 sq mi) |
| Population | 485 (IncludingSidestrand parish, 2011 census)[1] |
| • Density | 208/km2 (540/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TG275387 |
| • London | 139 miles (224 km) |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Norwich |
| Postcode district | NR11 |
| Police | Norfolk |
| Fire | Norfolk |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| 52°53′49″N1°23′13″E / 52.897°N 01.387°E /52.897; 01.387 | |
Trimingham is a coastal village and a civil parish in theNorth Norfolk district ofNorfolk, England.[3] The village is 5 miles (8 km) north ofNorth Walsham, 4 miles (6 km) east ofCromer, 20 miles (32 km) north of the city andcounty town ofNorwich, and is on theB1159 coastal road between Cromer andMundesley.
The villages name means 'Homestead/village of Trymma's people'.[4]
Trimingham parish church is named forSt John the Baptist's Head. It is a Grade II*listed building.[5][6]
The dedication dates to themedieval period, when a life-sizealabaster head of the saint was kept at the church. St John's shrine altar was visited bypilgrims who came to the church rather than make the journey toAmiens Cathedral in northern France, where a relic, said to be the real head of John the Baptist, was kept. The alabaster head did not survive, and although it is unknown exactly what happened to it, it has been suggested that it was probably destroyed byAnglicanreformers as a result of the1538 injunctions against images during the reign of KingHenry VIII. Another theory is that the head was destroyed as a result of a further injunction which was rigorously imposed in 1547, during the early weeks of the reign ofEdward VI. Today an alabaster head survives in theVictoria and Albert Museum in London, and it is thought that the head at Trimingham was exactly the same. The village hall is called 'pilgrim shelter' as a reminder of Trimingham's past as a site of pilgrimage.
The church has a squat tower which is thought to be unfinished. It has heavybuttresses on the west elevation which suggest that a fault in the construction of the church may well have been the reason for the unfinished tower. The nave to the east cuts around the buttress to embrace it. This peculiarity may be partly the result of a restoration byThomas Jeckyll in the 1850s.Pevsner states in his county survey book that Jeckyll completely rebuilt thenave, of which the most notable feature is the way that the tower buttresses on the east side project into the nave.[7] The church'srood screen has four figures on either side of the entrance to the chancel:St Edmund with his arrow,St Clare with her book andmonstrance,St Clement with his anchor andcrozier, andSt James in his pilgrim's robes. On the south side areSt Petronella with her book and keys,St Cecilia with her garland of flowers,St Barbara with her tower, andSt Jerome with his hawk. The east window of the church is credited to H Wilkinson and dates from 1925;[7] the window depicts Christ in Majesty flanked bySt Michael andSt Gabriel, with the symbols of the four Evangelists surrounding them.[citation needed]
At Trimingham was anair defence radar stationRAF Trimingham, a satellite station ofRAF Neatishead inland, which had a structure shaped like a giant golf ball and was on the edge of the cliff on the coastal road.This structure was removed in early 2023. Having previously denied problems, theMinistry of Defence said, in November 2006, that it would consider claims for compensation after an inquiry found the Type 93 radar spinning inside the dome was"out of alignment". The MoD stated that the radar had been out of alignment between November 2005 and February 2006, causing car engines and lights to cut out, and speedometer dials to swing up to 150 mph as motorists drove past. A local garage owner who ran the nearest garage atMundesley, said he had dealt with 30 calls over a couple of months.[8][9]
Trimingham has a beach that is used bysurfers,jet skiers, dog walkers and night-fishermen. It is reached by a steep one-vehicle only road accessed along a lane just past the building that used to be the Inglesidepublic house, now a private residence.
Thecliff face at Trimingham has the youngestchalk in the United Kingdom; it containsshells,bivalves,crinoids andoysters, and is subject tocoastal erosion.[10]
A now derelict tramway was built on the beach some time between 1945 and 1973. Its exact use was unclear, but it was probably used for bomb disposable afterWorld War 2 and was used to construct the 1973 sea defences on the beach. It was partly buried later that year by a landslide from the nearby cliff.[11][12][13][14]
The nearest railway station is atGunton for theBittern Line which runs betweenSheringham, Cromer and Norwich. The nearest airport is atNorwich International Airport.
Trimingham was once served byTrimingham railway station on theNorfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway betweenCromer andNorth Walsham. It closed in 1953.[citation needed]
The village has a football team called the Trimingham Pilgrims, also known as "The Trimms".
Media related toTrimingham at Wikimedia Commons