Weybourne, Norfolk

Weybourne is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it is called Wabrume. The remains of the Augustinian priory, founded around 1200 AD by Sir Ralph de Meyngaren (Mainwearing), stand on the site of a simpler Anglo-Saxon church. By 1494 one prior and three canons lived there: one canon complained that the priory was so poor it was unable to pay him his 20 shillings of annual pocket money. At a visitation in 1514, there was only one prior and one canon and this situation remained until King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of monasteries and priories.

At Weybourne, the coast has an unusually steep shingle beach which was regarded as vulnerable to the threat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The village was also a well-used location for smuggling items such as over-proof gin and pressed bales of tobacco. The coast between Sheringham and Weybourne was popular for landing goods because ships could anchor closer to the shore than anywhere else in the area. There was also a convenient gap in the cliffs through which goods could be easily transported. Local folklore says that the miller would stop the Weybourne Windmill's sails in the form of a cross to warn the smugglers that the customs or coastguards were on to them; when the coast was clear…