Cromer (/ˈkroʊmər/ KROH-mər) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk.

[3] The town is notable as a traditional tourist resort and for the Cromer crab,[4][5] which forms the major source of income for local fishermen.

[8] There are other contenders for the derivation, a north-country word 'cromer' meaning 'a gap in the cliffs' or less likely a direct transfer from a Danish placename.

[7] A reference to a place called Crowemere Shipden can be seen in a legal record, dated 1422, (1 Henry VI), the home of John Gees.

In 1888 a small pleasure steamer called Victoria struck the remains of the church tower, and the rock was subsequently blown up for safety.

In the present day, members of Great Yarmouth sub-aqua club dived at the site, and salvaged artefacts from both the medieval church and the wreck of Victoria.

[10] Cromer became a resort in the early 19th century, with some of the rich Norwich banking families making it their summer home.

He named the stretch of coastline, particularly the Overstrand and Sidestrand area, "Poppyland",[11] and the combination of the railway and his writing in the national press brought many visitors.

Shortly after one raid, Cromer featured as the location for an episode of An American In England, written by Norman Corwin with the narrator staying in the Red Lion Hotel[12] and retelling several local accounts of life in the town at wartime.

The radio play first aired in the United States on 1 December 1942 on the CBS/Columbia Workshop programme starring Joe Julian.

The account mentions some of the effects of the war on local people and businesses and the fact that the town adopted a Bangor-class minesweeper, HMS Cromer.

[16][17] By 2018, experienced crabmen were having difficulty attracting young people to the business, perhaps because of the long working hours required during the season.

The town has an Air Training Corps Squadron and an Army Cadet Force Platoon, based at Cromer High School.

It includes a minor injuries unit and is run by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The museum managed by Norfolk County Council contain items relating to the history of Cromer, including paintings and Poppyland china.

A mock-up of a Victorian cottage and galleries containing geology and fossil remnants of the area which include part of the West Runton Mammoth.

According to palaeontologist Dr James Neenan, from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, the cliffs are part of a Norfolk coastline area rich in Pleistocene fossils.

Also, of note are the vast stained glass windows which commemorate various members of the lifeboat crew and other features of the resort.

[27] Today, the hotel which occupies an elevated location overlooking the town's pier still provides accommodation to visitors.

The original hall was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt in 1829 in a Gothic Revival style, by Norfolk architect William John Donthorne.

A number of notable rescues carried out between 1917 and 1941 made the lifeboat and the town well known throughout the United Kingdom and further afield.

[32] Cromer railway station is a stop on the Bittern Line, which provides generally hourly services between Norwich and Sheringham.

Bus services are provided by Sanders Coaches, which link the town with local destinations including Norwich, Sheringham, Holt, Wells-next-the-sea and North Walsham.

[34] The A140 links Cromer with Norwich, the A148 (direct) and A149 (coast road) to King's Lynn, and the A149 to the Norfolk Broads and Great Yarmouth.

[55] The town is featured as a location in the novels Emma by Jane Austen and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.

[56]North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Chapter XLIX There was no Spain for Margaret that autumn; although to the last she hoped that some fortunate occasion would call Frederick to Paris, whither she could easily have met with a convoy.

She needed bodily strengthening and bracing as well as rest.Edward Lear includes a limerick about Cromer in his Book of Nonsense.

[59] Actor Nicholas Courtney improvised the line,[60] name-checking the place where he got his first professional job as an actor-cum-assistant stage manager.

[63] A BBC short fantasy – Wonderland, first aired 1 December 2018, was filmed in Cromer featuring the pier.

It depicts the distant personal relationship between a busy mother's lifestyle working with IT bizarrely crossed-over to her son's video-game-driven lifestyle, causing the screens of both to display corrupted fragments of each other's content, and everyone else's real-time frame to freeze, allowing mother and son to enjoy unique quality time together.