Description
Over the last 150 years, Wells-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast has changed from being an industrial town which ran its own affairs and which traded across the world by sea, to a community largely dependent on tourism and whose singular identity is at risk. There have always been comers and leavers, but how far the town changes people and how far people change the town is an intriguing question. Roger Arguile’s earlier book, Wells Next The Sea: A small port and a wide world covered the history of the town from the Norman conquest to the twentieth century. This volume deals with the last century and a half in much greater depth.
The period described is one covered by a huge amount of source material, much of which is kept by the Norfolk Records Office without the help of whose staff the book would not have been possible. The school records likewise provide a picture of much more than school life. The
later part of the period is also a time remembered by a number of local people, many of whom have been very generous with their time. John Tuck’s collection of pictures has been invaluable.
The book is for local people whose stories might otherwise be lost and also for visitors and newcomers who might want to know more about a place they have been attracted to for holidays or as a place to settle. Wells is much more than its landscape and buildings. The book
attempts to catch a glimpse of its people, what they have been and how they have come to be what they are.
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