Shipden / Scepedane / Scipedana / Shipedana / Shipen-juxta-Mere / Shipdene / Shippedene / Shypden by the Sea

There are four different entries in the Domesday survey related to Shipden, under the different spellings of Scepedane, Scipedana and Shipedana, transcribed and translated in Blomefield (1805-1810), none of which mentions either church or cleric in them, and, as this author notes: "The town of Cromer, is not mentioned in Domesday Book, being included, and accounted for under the town of Shipden, the lordships of which extended into Cromer." Blomefield (ibid.) notes: "There was formerly a church at Shipden, dedicated to St. Peter. In the reign of Edward I. Hugh de Odyngsels, lord of Shipden, was patron of it; it was a rectory, then valued at 12 marks, and the rector had a manse with 12 acres of land", it being the first mention of a church here, showing that it was established by the time of Edward I [i.e., 1272-1307]. By 1338, however, "In the 10th of Edward III. John de Lodbrok, rector of this church, John Broun, patron, and the parishioners having supplicated the King, that, whereas part of the churchyard was by the flux and reflux of the sea, so wasted, that it threatened ruin to the church, and could not be defended, the King grants license that an acre of land in the said village be granted to the said John, rector, to build thereon a new church, and for a churchyard; dated April 15. [...} The old church of Shipden seems to have been destroyed by the sea, in, or about the reign of Henry IV.; in the 14th of Richard II. patent was granted for 5 years, for certain duties to be paid for the erection of a certain pier for a defence against the sea; and in the 16th of that King Sir William Beauchamp, &c. aliened to the prior of the Carthusians, a piece of land in Shipden, adjoining to the rectory, with lands and tenements to the value of 10 marks per ann. so that about this time the present church, called Cromer church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, was probably erected, and is a vicarage", so, the church of Shipden was taken by the advancing sea sometime between 1399 and 1413. There are local reports dating from the 18th century of the ruins of the church being still partially visible in low tide, and of a tug or steamboat having struck the tower in 1888. After the accident the authorities blew up the remains of the tower in the interest of navigation safety.