Whalebone House

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 11 Jun 2008

This is a late 18th century house built from flint and brick, with stone quoins and pieces of bone inserted around the windows and eaves cornice. Adjoining it is Rocket House, dating from the 18th century also, with a 19th century porch. Present-day Cley is not in the same location as the medieval village of Cley used to be. This was located south of St Margaret's church > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/309410 and had a busy harbour, which was ruined by embanking in the 1640s by Sir Henry Calthorpe. A fire had already encouraged relocation in 1612. When Thomas Telford had been called in, in 1822, to advise on the problem of silting the Cley channel, his advice was ignored and the once busy port is now history. Many of the houses and cottages that line the narrow High Street (A149) through the village are built from flint and brick and date from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0