A summer scene with the beach full of activity, east of the gangway. The last of the jetties stand in the background; its angled piles had been driven into place in 1846 and suffered damage in 1854 when the "Marsingale" was driven ashore. Her crew being saved, she was later driven against the jetty. It spite of various incidents over the years, the jetty would survive until 1897 when another gale sealed its fate.

The bathing machines, from a time when beach clothing and bathing from the beach was more restrained, were brought down for the summer months and operated over the years by various local families. They would be rolled down to the water's edge so that the bather could enter the water largely unobserved. Lines of bathing costumes can be seen, hung up to dry ready for the next bathers to hire.

Various other stalls operated on the beach and a set of swing boats are seen on the sands.

A group of fishermen take a break - and some take the time for a pipe - at the foot of the gangway. Cromer photographer and chemist Daniel Davison took a selection of glass plate photos of the Cromer fishermen; we can date them approximately as several of them have the pier (opened 1901) in the background but it does not yet have the pavilion (built 1905).

The names of these fishermen are recorded at Cromer Museum. They are seated on one of the benches used for helping visitors who wanted to take a ride to sea on board one of their boats without getting their feet wet. Several wear their leather sea boots and there's a variety of head gear; at the right hand end he wears a "chummy", a style favoured by a number of the fishermen.

The double-ended crab boats on the right have been drawn up on the cobbles, well above tide level. At this time the boats were rowed and sailed; engines had not yet been fitted in the Cromer boats. This made it possible for a group of four, with the oars pushed through the "orrucks" (oar-holes) on opposing top strakes, to pick up the boats and carry them up the beach.

At sea, it's a competition for the best catch; on the beach its cooperation to pick the right time to launch and to see everyone safely away. The fisherman's day is traditionally an early start; even through the summer months it is first light and so 3-4am. Here we have a committee meeting in front of the Rocket House cafe.

While tide tables and weather forecasts are a great help, the occasion can mean a wait for the sea conditions to be right, the tide and sea state being reasonable for a safe launch. There can be a lot of waiting, then a keen eye as the first boat gets away and others decide they too can now go for it.

By mid-morning the day's time at sea can be over, the catch brought ashore and crabs and lobsters off to the boiling house - and fresh to market later in the day.

In the 1980s the crab fishing was from traditional double-ended boats, all engined and needing tractors to get them up and down the beach. Each boat was crewed by two and sometimes three. For a while Ben Gedge joined the fishing teams at Cromer and provided us with a valuable set of photographs. From the left Willy Cox, Brian Lee, (behind) "John-o" Lee, "Blonde" Billy Davies, "Tuna" Harrison, "Yacker" Harrison", Henry Davies, John Balls, Bedwin Evans.

It is probable that this photograph was taken by Daniel Savin, the earliest of Cromer's in-town photographers. On hearing that the three coalships had all beached together, he must have sped to find a good location to get all three into shot - a sight which is thought only to have happened once.

The three vessels are the "Wensleydale" the "Commerce" and the "Ellis". The best account of the three is given by Savin's son Alfred, who may well have seen the scene as a small boy.

The "Wensleydale", owned by Mr Cross of Cromer and Overstrand, was sold in 1879. The "Commerce" was owned by Mr Henry and then by W.G.Sandford of Cromer. She was last seen passing Cromer in a squall in 1876 and seems to have met her end, with the loss of her four crew, somewhere off Blakeney. The body of her master, Matthew Brooks of Cromer, was picked up off the Sunk Sand.

The "Ellis" plied her trade until 1887, when the coming of the second railway to Cromer contributed to her fate.

The chutes for unloading coal can be seen on two of the vessels and the horse or mule pulled carts stand beside the vessels, now that the tide has gone out. One of the Cromer streams runs down through the chine and the lifeboat house is just off-picture on the left. The photographer is not looking down the gangway but a few metres further to the east, possibly on the bridge that once cross the chine.

On January 9th 1917 Cromer lifeboat "Louisa Heartwell" had launched in the early hours to rescue the crew of the Greek vessel "Pyrin", in a heavy north-easterly gale. As the "Louisa" was beaching with the survivors, an explosion occurred as the passing Swedish vessel "Fernebo" struck a mine.

In spite of their exertions, the lifeboat crew helped get their boat back onto its launching carriage, and tried to get her away again through the surf. In the interim, a small boat with six men had got away from one half of the split "Fernebo", the men surviving their boat being capsized as it approached the beach. The "Louisa" made several attempts to launch but it was approaching midnight, with army searchlights picking out the other half of the "Fernebo", when they finally came alongside the stern of the vessel. They took on board eleven men and brought them ashore.

Henry Blogg, lifeboat coxswain, was awarded the gold medal of the Lifeboat Institution, his second coxswain William Davies the silver medal, and for the first time the RNLI awarded a bronze medal, for each member of the crew. Town council chairman Daniel Davison joined them for this photograph, civilian medals being worn on the right hand side. They are outside the boathouse, with the lifeboat "Louisa Heartwell" in the background. The picture is from the Randall-Salter magic lantern slide collection.

Since the invention of the line throwing mortar by Captain Manby at Great Yarmouth, coastguard stations had been equipped, initially with the mortars and then with rockets. Uniformed coastguard's are seen in the picture but most of the team is made up of volunteers from the town. For many years the rocket and line throwing equipment had been kept in a shed to the east of the gangway, hence the name Rocket House café.

The photo can be dated to 1902 - not the least because it has that date written on the back - but the pier was completed in 1901 and the pavilion has not yet been added. The bandstand and the canvas covering were replaced in 1905.

Occasionally photographs are seen of substantial poles set up on the beach - and in later years on the Runton Road car park. These had steps on the side, so that members of the brigade could climb up and attach the line, once fired with the rocket, to the top - as if it were the mast of a ship. For the practice, someone would play the part of a crew member being brought safely back to shore by breeches buoy.

The rockets were notoriously difficult to fire accurately. Immediately prior to the year in which this photo was taken, there was a successful rescue carried out by rocket lifesaving apparatus on the west beach, when the crew of the "Esras" were brought ashore. In that instance, the Sheringham brigade was first to get a line across the stricken vessel - so doubtless the Cromer men in this photo were anxious to improve their aim at this practice!

So far in the 21st century there have been two particularly serious storms. That of 2007 was thought to be perhaps the worst since the major 1953 floods. In December 2013 there was considerable damage along the seafront, with many beach huts destroyed.

Pier lights stayed on but high tide saw water almost up to pier deck level and waves coming over the sea wall. On the west promenade, because it is topped by concrete walls, water was trapped to a depth of one or two feet. The drain holes in the wall and the gaps at the access points were slow in allowing the water to drain back before the arrival of the next wave.

By morning and the next high water, the general sea level had dropped and the damage was not repeated to the same extent, though there was plenty to repair in the days following.

The "Ellis", last of the Cromer coalships, locally owned and crewed, lying on the beach in 1885. The coming of the second rail line from the Midlands to Cromer in 1887 would signal the end for these vessels. The schooners would come inshore on a high tide, laying out a kedge anchor and line astern. Sometimes a winch would help in getting her as far up the beach as possible. As the tide dropped back, the vessel would be high and dry and the coal could be unloaded - a horse or mule drawing the coal cart can be seen on the left.

By this time in the 19th century, coal was brought down to Hartlepool by rail from the East Durham coalfields to be transshipped for the coastal journey. The "Ellis", more commonly called the "Plumper" was broad in beam and flat bottomed for beach work. Owned by Mr Field of Runton, she was crewed by the Blyth family. Boys, as can be seen from the photo, liked to climb on board when she was on the beach. If the boys hankered for a life at sea, a voyage on the "Plumper" usually cured them of such a wish, her build being conducive to rolling a great deal!

This picture is cropped from an image with a scaffolded church tower in the background, enabling us to date it to 1885, the year of the tower restoration.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution had supplied Cromer with a lifeboat carrying the name "Benjamin Bond-Cabbell" in 1862. She was the standard self-righting design of the RNLI but the Cromer crew did not like her. As a result a new "Benjamin Bond-Cabbell" arrived in 1884, designed to a specification provided by the Cromer men, based on one of their earlier boats.

This hand coloured picture, from the Randall-Salter magic lantern slide collection, shows her with seven oars each side and a sweep oar at the stern. Once in deeper water, her rudder could be dropped into place, replacing the need for the sweep oar.The design became known as the "Cromer" type; she was built by Beeching at Great Yarmouth. The "BBC" would serve until replaced in 1902 by the "Louisa Heartwell".

A boathouse was provided from 1868, again paid for by Benjamin Bond-Cabbell, this boat was kept there during her stay at the station. A new boathouse, as seen today, had to be provided for the large "Louisa Heartwell". The picture shows that the first "BBC" needed planks across the beach in order to avoid her carriage sinking into the sand and stones. A rope can be seen between the wheels to operate a tipping system once the boat was in deep enough water.

The first defensive sea wall was built in 1838 and then greatly strengthened in 1846. This photograph dates form about 1865 and shows that wall in place - and a very low beach level. The promenade is relatively narrow; the Bath House, once standing directly on the beach, is not strengthened by the addition of the prom. The open area of the cliff in the foreground continues to be seen in the 21st century. The bow window of Peele House was prominent then, as it is today.

In the middle distance stands Beach House, again still recognisable. Over the years its roof has had an adventurous time, being substantially removed in one particular gale!

All the boats on the beach appear to be the standard crab boats of the time, without any tripping boats or larger luggers visible. In the distance the coastguard watch house can be seen, on the other side of the gangway, and behind that, is North Lodge.

The girls of the Buxton familiy were encouraged to learn to draw and it is thanks to their sketch books that we have several images of the seafront in the 1820s. This picture, part of an image drawn from the jetty, shows various boathouses or storage sheds; on the right is Ditchell's barn, together with its ramp for hauling goods up from the beach.

The bow window of Hastings house can be seen, as it can today. There is no promenade at this time; the first section was built - with a grass surface - in 1838 and then a further act of parliament was passed to enable expansion of the promenade in 1846.

To the left of the picture is a wall and possibly two towers. They appear in a least one other contemporary picture and may have been some form of fortification from the time of the threatened Napoleonic invasion. No Martello tower was built further north than Aldeburgh, but various contingency plans were made around the coast and local forces raised for defence.

The last of the traditional double-ended crab boats operating from Cromer beach has been the "Mary Ann". In this photo she stands at the foot of the gangway in 2000; even by then the transition to single-handed skiffs was well under way.

Behind is the Rocket House café, built in the years immediately after the second world war by Albert Woodrow. It would be replaced by the current Rocket House cafe and lifeboat museum about five years after this photo. Until the war Joyce's cafe had stood on the site, but the final bomb from a stick which straddled the centre of the town had landed on that café and demolished it.

Above are Brunswick Terrace and the Crescent, a series of buildings that had been developed in the 19th century. Early drawings show two storey houses, which would then have a further storey added. The morning summer sunshine and view is a great attraction; the downside is the tractors coughing into life in the early hours.