Sea Palling, also historically spelled Pawling and Pauling,[2] is a village and civil parish covering 11.05 km2 (4.27 sq mi) in the English county of Norfolk.

The nearest railway station is at North Walsham for the Bittern Line, which runs between Sheringham, Cromer, and Norwich.

[5] One of the earliest accounts was written by John of Oxendes, a monk at nearby St Benet's Abbey, in which he relates the destruction of the great storm of 1287: In the dense darkness...the sea, agitated by the violence of the wind, burst through its accustomed limits, occupying towns, fields and other places adjacent to the coast.

Issuing forth about the middle of the night it suffocated or drowned men and women sleeping in their beds, with infants in their cradles and all kinds of cattle and fresh water fishes; and it tore up houses from their foundations, with all they contained and carried them away, and threw them into the sea with irrevocable damage.

Two severe floodings occurred, one in neighboring Eccles on Sea that cause the loss 66 houses and more than 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of land, and a second in 1607 near Palling.

In December of the same year, the lack of funding and proper maintenance of the sand dunes led to yet another breach, causing flooding and property damage.

[9] William Dutt recorded in his book The Norfolk and Suffolk Coast (1910)[10] a local story that Palling was once the headquarters of armed smugglers.

[13] In December 1948, a steamer called the Bosphorous ran aground on the offshore Haisborough Sands, and its cargo of oranges was jettisoned.

To a populace emerging from the strict rationing of World War II, the sight of crates of oranges on the beach seemed miraculous.

Crews had gained four RNLI silver gallantry medals, with a replica of the one awarded to Tom Bishop still on show at St Margaret's Church.