Local History

Church Farm Cottage was originally part of a group of buildings known as Church Farm, which are believed to date from the early 18th century.

Church Farm which included all the buildings in the immediate vicinity was rented out by the Old Stortfordians (1913-1982) Among them were notable visitors the sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth who holidayed in Happisburgh in the early 1930s. The pair and their friends often visited the local beach to collect  'iron stones', while the holed flint may have proved inspirational to some of their work. 

Much earlier visitors to the beach may have been somewhat less cultured, but helpfully left some of the earliest known human footprints to be discovered in Northern Europe. The fossilised imprints exposed by rough seas at low tide have been the subject of a recent exhibition at the British Museum.

For more information on the village please visit the Happisburgh website.