Sea Wall Defences Including Promenade And Cliff Retaining Walls From Opposite The Bottom Of Melbourne Slope To The Gangway

Sea Wall Defences, Promenade and Cliff Retaining Walls, Cromer

A series of sea wall defences, promenade and cliff retaining walls running from opposite the bottom of Melbourne Slope to The Gangway, constructed in several phases between 1836 and 1900.

The earliest section was built in 1836–8 by George Edwards of Lowestoft. It extended from The Gangway to near a jetty that had stood at a point east of the present pier, with a level grass promenade on top. After storm damage, particularly in 1845, the Cromer Protection Commissioners were established by Act of Parliament to manage the town's coastal defences. They commissioned a new sea wall and promenade to the west of Edwards' original wall, constructed in 1845–6 by John Wright for the Commissioners. Wright's work extended westwards from the jetty to a point below the present Melbourne Slope. His wall was built at the same level as Edwards' wall, providing a continuous promenade. It included a semicircular bastion as the starting point for a new jetty, of which a small section survives east of the pier. On the townward side of the promenade, Wright also constructed a coursed flint retaining wall. A semicircular bastion was added into Wright's wall west of the pier around 1900, possibly as part of the major improvement project then underway.

Between 1899 and 1900, William Tregarthen Douglass of the firm Douglass and Arnott undertook a substantial expansion. This included a western extension of Wright's wall, replacement of Edwards' wall, widening of the promenade behind it, and construction of an impressive new pier in place of the jetty. East of the pier, a new wall was built out from Edwards' original wall, initially without a torus moulding, which was added in the later 20th century. A small fragment of Edwards' original wall remains visible at the end of Douglass's wall next to The Gangway.

The sea walls face north towards the sea. The earlier sections are constructed in flint cobbles with coursed flint facing. The later sections are built in massed concrete, mostly cast in situ. The walls feature a battered outer face with a torus moulding near the top for most of their length to deflect the force of the sea. The top is rounded, and the inner face of the earlier section is of coursed flint. Three semicircular bastions are positioned at intervals along the entire length of the sea walls, with forecourt and bastion structures at the approximate mid-point by the pier. The promenade roadway runs behind the sea wall and, westwards beyond the Jetty Cliff and Bastion, is accompanied by a low cliff retaining wall in coursed flint on the town side of the promenade, which extends to a point below the top of Melbourne Slope. A small section of Wright's wall is visible in the eastern pier bastion.

The defences exemplify the continuing concern for coastal protection at Cromer. The earlier walls were built in the late Regency and early Victorian period as the town first developed as a resort. The major project at the end of the 19th century coincided with further expansion as a fashionable resort, marked by construction of large hotels, notably the Hotel de Paris above the pier, and many houses. These sea defences form a highly significant group on the sea front, standing alongside the pier and historic buildings lining the skyline above, as well as The Gangway and the Jetty Cliff and Bastion.