August 2010
NORFOLK’S
COASTAL HERITAGE
NEWSLETTER – ISSUE 4
Ancient Human Occupation in Happisburgh
As many of you will be aware, the results of the
Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project’s
excavations on Happisburgh beach were published in
early July. The main article can be found in the journal
Nature and information on the project and its results,
including some impressive photographs of the
artefacts discovered, can be found on the British
Museum website:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/
Nick Ashton exhibiting worked
flint from the beach
(Photo: Jim Whiteside)
The excavated evidence suggests that humans were
occupying the area between 780,000 and 950,000
years ago – about 80,000 years earlier than we
thought previously – and that at that time the ancestral
river Thames flowed into the North Sea through
Happisburgh.
The excavation leader, Nick Ashton, will be returning to Happisburgh to give a free
lecture on the results of the project on the evening of Wednesday 3rd November
2010, time and venue to be confirmed.
Photographs of Happisburgh
Oral History Workshop
Those of you who regularly visit the
Happisburgh website (now re-branded the
Happisburgh-on-Thames website) will
have noticed the introduction of a gallery
of old and new photographs of the village:
Jonathan Draper from the Norfolk Sound
Archive at the Norfolk Record Office will
be giving a two-hour session on how to
conduct oral history interviews in the
Church Rooms, Happisburgh, from 7–
9pm on Thursday 2nd September.
http://www.happisburgh.org/gallery
Photographs have been grouped into This session is aimed at prospective
galleries and many have accompanying interviewers and also those who might
be interested in being interviewed.
explanatory texts.
Anyone with images that they would like The workshop is free and open to all, but
to see added to the website should there is a limit of 15 places, so please
contact Jim Whiteside in the first instance: contact the Project Officer (details
overleaf) if you would like to attend.
jim@happisburgh.org
Tour and Building Recording at Happisburgh Manor
Amazing Retreats, the company which recently bought Happisburgh Manor/St
Mary’s, have granted us access to the property on Saturday 13th November 2010.
This will be a unique opportunity to explore this very interesting Arts and Crafts
house, originally built in 1900, as well as giving a small group of volunteers the
chance to conduct a photographic survey of the building.
Places are limited and anyone interested in attending the tour or conducting the
survey should contact the Project Officer (details below) to book their place.
The façade of Happisburgh Manor (Photo: www.amazingretreats.com)
Exhibitions in Coastal Libraries
The touring Coastal Heritage exhibition will be in Stalham Library until 30th August,
and will be in Sheringham library from the 31st August until 10th September. The
Project Officer will be answering questions in Sheringham library from 11am on 3rd
September.
The exhibition transfers to Dersingham library on 13th September, with an
accompanying lecture being given in the library at 2pm on 14th September, before
transferring to Hunstanton library, where a talk will be given on 7th October at
6:30pm.
For further details of the Coastal Heritage
Project and to sign up for activities or regular
updates please contact:
For further details of North Norfolk District
Council’s Coastal Change Pathfinder
Programme please contact:
Richard Hoggett
Marti Tipper
Coastal Heritage Project Officer
Coastal Management Team
Norfolk Landscape Archaeology, Union House,
Gressenhall, Norfolk, NR20 4DR
North Norfolk District Council, Holt Road,
Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9EN
Telephone: 01362 869277
Telephone: 01263 516004
richard.hoggett@norfolk.gov.uk
coastalmanagement@north-norfolk.gov.uk
If you need this document in large print, audio, Braille,
alternative format or in a different language please contact
Richard Hoggett on 01362 869277.
Previous newsletters and other project information are available from the Coastal Heritage page of the
North Norfolk Pathfinder website: http://www.northnorfolk.org/pathfinder/happisburgh_heritage.asp