Sheringham, Norfolk Genealogy

England   Norfolk

Parish History
The town of Sheringham is on the north Norfolk coast, with houses and shops down to the edge of the sea. But the ancient town of Sheringham, today known as Upper Sheringham, is the settlement listed in the Domesday book of 1086. The town was then know variously as Silingham, Siringham or Schyringham. As with many of Norfolk's town and villages, the name is of Scandinavian origin, meaning the 'home of Scira's people.'

Until the 17th century, Beeston was the primary settlement, being the location of the Augustinian Priory, founded in 1197. Pilgrims on route to the national shrine at Walsingham would make a stop at Beeston. Parts of the Priory have survived to the present day, though much was lost at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries.

In medieval times the men of Upper Sheringham, or rather 'Upper Town', made their way to the hythe on the coast to launch their fishing boats. There was a convenient gap in the cliffs for them to reach their vessels, the smaller boats of the type still used today, and the 'great boats', the sailing luggers in which they would sail further afield. Gradually they began to establish more permanent housing amongst the huts where they kept their fishing kit, eventually creating today's community.

By the second half of the 19th century the town of Sheringham boasted nearly 150 boats working from the town. The fishing boats brought in cod, skate and whiting, as well as the lobsters and crabs which the town is well known for today. Businesses in the town supported the fishing, such as the fish curers. Around the town, particularly Upper Sheringham, were farms, though two were well within was is now the main town of Sheringham.

The coming of the railways from the Midlands in 1887, followed by the linking up with London via the Great Eastern railway in 1906 greatly increased the number of visitors to the town. The neighbouring town of Cromer has become extremely popular in the 1880s, and the number of visitors were more than that town could cope with. Lower Sheringham, with the sea on one side and the woods of Pretty Corner and the Roman Camp on the other soon established itself as a holiday centre in its own right. The town had a building boom and many of the houses in the town centre date from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.

All Saints church in Upper Sheringham served as the parich church from its building in the mid to late 14th century. The present parish church St Peter in Lower Sheringham, built at the end of the 19th century, only took on senior status in 1953.

All Saints an Ancient Parish in Repps deanery of the Dioces of Norwich. .

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.


 * Erpingham 1837-1938
 * North Walsham 1939-1974
 * The Register Office, 18 Kings Arms Street, North Walsham, NR28 9JX. Tel/Fax: 01692 406220. E-mail: registration.nwalsham@norfolk.gov.uk

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Images of the parish registers may be viewed online in Historic Records (formerly Record Search) Norfolk Record Office reference PD 580

The historic records images contain an error in the existing waypoint for the baptism marriage and burial register PD 580/1 which begins in 1670 and not as way pointed.

Non-Conformist churches
One architectural landmark in Sheringham is the Church of St Joseph, on Cromer Road. This Roman Catholic Church was designed by the renowned architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, whose other work includes Battersea Power Station, Liverpool Cathedral, and the Red Telephone box and many other noteworthy and significant buildings both in the UK and abroad. In 1901 a donation of over £3,000 by Catherine Deterding, the wife of the then managing director and founder of the Shell Oil Company, enabled the purchase of land around the existing chapel to build a new church. Work began in 1902 and the first section St Joseph's chapel was completed in 1908. In 1910 the second section opened, which comprises the sanctuary, the nave and the porch. Later the church was completed by extending the nave and adding a new porch. The complete building was consecrated on the 25 March 1935. From the outside it is possible to see the join between the two buildings clearly with the northern two-thirds opened by the Bishop of Northampton, Frederick William Keating, in 1910, and the southern extension completed in 1935. This large red-brick church towers over its neighbours, and is reminiscent of Scott's Bankside power station in London, now Tate Modern. The north end, liturgical east, has a high rose window, the north and south sides being flanked by sets of three vast Perpendicular-style windows. The church is entered through a porch and into a nathex on the south west corner of the building. Behind a grilled area to the east there is a large framed icon of the Blessed Virgin. Inside the church the height and narrowness emphasizes the arcades which are also of a good height and have arches of alternate sizes. The décor is a mixture of both the arts and crafts movement and industrial Gothic, a signature of Gibert Scott’s style. The font is a replica of the Little Walsingham seven sacraments font and is of a medieval style. There are some good pieces of early 20th century devotional art much of which was imported from the studio and workshop of Ferdinand Stuflesser in the Austrian Tyrol. There is a rood screen above the entrance to the sanctuary. During the fitting out of the church, the Stations of the Cross, ordered from Stuflesser, spent the First World War in the hold of a German freighter impounded at Genoa. Because of the historic nature and importance of this church, it is the only listed building in Sheringham

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/sheringhamrc/sheringhamrc.htm for images of the church Norfolk Churches website

Christian Scientists, St Peter's Road. Salvation Army Citadel, Cremer Street. Society of Friends (Quakers), Cremer Street. Sheringham Baptist Church, Holway Road. Sheringham Methodist Church, Cromer Road. Cromer Baptist Church, Church Street.

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Norfolk Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions
Erpingham      http://www.institutions.org.uk/workhouses/england/norf/erpingham_workhouse.htm

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.
 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
http://www.achurchnearyou.com/upper-sheringham-all-saints/ for information about the Ancient parish church in Upper Sheringham

http://norfolkcoast.co.uk/churches/ch_uppersheringham.htm for history and images of the church

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/309282 for images of Sheringham All Saints

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barryslemmings/281310430/ for image of B-42 bomber memorial in the churchyard

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/uppersheringham/uppersheringham.htm Norfolk Churches website Sheringham All Saints

http://www.achurchnearyou.com/sheringham-st-peter/ for information about the later parish

http://www.at-sheringham-norfolk.co.uk/stpeters.php for guide to St Peter church

http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/sheringhamcofe/sheringhamcofe.htm Sheringham St Peter

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tinstaafl/ for link to Norfolk Baptism project