This elegant Victorian sea side resort is famous for its “Stripey” cliffs in Old Hunstanton and is a great place to go fossil hunting. It has spectacular sun sets over The Wash as the town faces West (the only place in East Anglia). Old Hunstanton is where Edmund the Martyr landed in England to claim his title King of East Anglia around 855. The remains of St Edmunds Chapel (built 1272) are near the Lighthouse. He was brutally killed in battle by a vast heathen army of Vikings in 870 and his remains were placed in a wooden chapel nearby. Later this place was replaced by a stone chapel and became Bury St Edmunds. He became Patron Saint of England before the more popular St George took over. However some English still celebrate him as our true Patron. The area only became popular in the Victorian era thanks to Sir Henry Styleman Le Strange efforts. He decided to turn the village into a bathing resort and got investors to fund the railway from Kings Lynn to Hunstanton. He visioned a large green space sloping towards the Wash with the Royal Hotel (now Golden Lion Hotel) at the top. The Victorians flocked and it remains a popular holiday destination today.
