NHER 38942 (Monument record) - Site of post medieval telegraph station

December 2004. Norfolk NMP.
The site of a post medieval telegraph station is depicted on historic maps ranging from 1826-1886 in date (S1). A group of earthworks visible on aerial photographs, situated on the extreme edge of the cliffs to the north of Cromer lighthouse, appears to relate to this site (S7-9). The earthworks include a series of banks and ditches that appear to define the former enclosure and internal structures on the cliffs. The site is centred on TG 2318 4154. The telegraph station and the associated earthworks were located on a knoll on the cliffs. The northern part of the site has already been lost to cliff erosion.

Telegraph stations were used from the 1790s onwards, however the 1797 edition of Faden's map does not depict the Telegraph station (S1), indicating that it was not present at the time of survey (1790-4). The first map that definitely marks and labels the telegraph station is Bryant’s 1826 map (S2). The undated, but pre-1833, map by William Butcher depicts a flag or semaphore shutter projecting from a tower (S3). By 1835 the Gunton Estate map shows a rectangular property boundary with two internal structures, but no obvious depiction or labelling of a telegraph station (S4). A rectangular enclosure, with internal divisions and a structure is marked on the 1846 Cromer Tithe map (S5). By the time the First edition Ordnance Survey map was surveyed (1879-86) only the rectangular enclosure was depicted (S6). It therefore seems likely that in the early part of the nineteenth century a telegraph station was erected on the Cromer cliffs. This station presumably then went out of use and the enclosure may have been used for another purpose, with the structures eventually going out of use towards the end of the nineteenth century.

In the location of the telegraph station enclosure on the historic maps a series of earthworks are visible on aerial photographs (S7 to S9). The main component of the site consists of a broad ditch running from approximately TG 2314 4154 to TG 2318 4152. This earthwork appears to be up to 7.5m wide. This boundary has narrower and perpendicular ditches projecting to the north, up to 17.5m long. The intersection of the eastern ditch roughly corresponds with the southwestern corner of the rectangular enclosure depicted on the Tithe and First edition maps (S5-6). To the north of this broad ditch are a series of banked boundaries. These are all aligned on the same axis of the main enclosure. These banks are likely to have defined the internal divisions and structures. At TG 2321 4154 is small rectangular area, measuring 8.5m across, may be being defined.

To the south west of the main enclosure at TG 2314 4153 is an area of closely set bank, approximately 4.5m apart. The area in-between the western banks forms a sunken hollow. A further ditch is visible to the east. The origin of these earthworks is unknown, although it is possible that they relate to the telegraph station or the later use of the enclosure, or they may be agricultural. They do not appear to be related to the later golf course or the World War Two activity on the site (NHER 38940). Similar earthwork parallel ditches have been mapped 130m to the west, see NHER 39177 for details.

Additional earthworks and features were visible on aerial photographs from 1969 (S9). However these could not be definitely discerned on earlier aerial photographs and therefore weren’t mapped as the golf course has seen a lot of alteration and development since the Second World War.
S. Massey (NMP), 29 December 2004.