Thornham Coal Hut & Harbour aerial view - North Norfolk
This aerial photograph looks down on Thornham Harbour on the North Norfolk coast where a narrow tidal creek threads through saltmarsh and shallow pools then runs alongside the sea wall and the staithe track. The dark, branching rills in the marsh show how the tide drains off the flats while the greener fields to the right sit behind the embankment on reclaimed grazing marsh.
At the edge of the creek is Thornham’s Coal Barn, sometimes simply called the Coal Barn at Thornham Staithe. It is closely associated with the harbour’s late trading years when coastal craft brought coal in and carried local produce out. One of the best known figures linked to the port was the coal merchant Nathaniel Woods. His two masted cargo ship Jessie Mary is commemorated at All Saints’ Church, Thornham and its final voyage into the harbour is commonly given as 1914.
The working harbour landscape here sits on older foundations. Records for the area describe major marshland reclamation and embanking in the 1642–1643 period and the harbour continued to evolve with quays and buildings serving coastal trade for centuries. The great flood of 1953 is often cited locally as a turning point for North Sea coastal infrastructure and it is remembered at Thornham in the loss of former harbour buildings such as the old granary. Today the creek is used mainly for small boats and the Coal Barn stands as a distinctive landmark in a tidal landscape that is still constantly reshaped by wind, water and silt.
Thornham Coal Hut & Harbour aerial view - North Norfolk
This aerial photograph looks down on Thornham Harbour on the North Norfolk coast where a narrow tidal creek threads through saltmarsh and shallow pools then runs alongside the sea wall and the staithe track. The dark, branching rills in the marsh show how the tide drains off the flats while the greener fields to the right sit behind the embankment on reclaimed grazing marsh.
At the edge of the creek is Thornham’s Coal Barn, sometimes simply called the Coal Barn at Thornham Staithe. It is closely associated with the harbour’s late trading years when coastal craft brought coal in and carried local produce out. One of the best known figures linked to the port was the coal merchant Nathaniel Woods. His two masted cargo ship Jessie Mary is commemorated at All Saints’ Church, Thornham and its final voyage into the harbour is commonly given as 1914.
The working harbour landscape here sits on older foundations. Records for the area describe major marshland reclamation and embanking in the 1642–1643 period and the harbour continued to evolve with quays and buildings serving coastal trade for centuries. The great flood of 1953 is often cited locally as a turning point for North Sea coastal infrastructure and it is remembered at Thornham in the loss of former harbour buildings such as the old granary. Today the creek is used mainly for small boats and the Coal Barn stands as a distinctive landmark in a tidal landscape that is still constantly reshaped by wind, water and silt.