Caister-on-Sea, also known colloquially as Caister, is a large village, seaside resort and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Caister is located 2.8 mi north of Great Yarmouth and 18 mi east of Norwich.

History

Caister's history dates back to Roman times. In around AD 200 a fort was built here as a base for a unit of the Roman army and navy. However its role as a fort appears to have been reduced following the construction of the Saxon Shore fort at Burgh Castle on the southern side of the estuary in the latter part of the 3rd century. The name "Caister" derives from the Anglo-Saxon word "ceaster", meaning "Roman fort". In the 1950s, a building near the south gate at Caister was excavated in advance of a housing development. These buildings do not appear to be military as they include a hypocaust and painted wall plaster as well as female jewellery, and it has been suggested that this building may have been an officer's house, or possibly a ‘seamen's hostel’ which may be a polite name for a brothel. The site appears to have been abandoned in the 5th century, but 150 Saxon burials have been found to the south of the enclosure. The remains excavated in the 1950s are now managed by English Heritage and are open free of charge to the public as Caister Roman Site. In the Fifteenth Century, Caister Castle was built as a residence for Sir John Fastolf. The castle has an attached Motoring Museum and is still open to visitors. There has been an offshore lifeboat in the area since 1791. It was used by a beach company to salvage ships wrecked on the sand banks. Between 1856 and 1969 lifeboats were operated by the RNLI. In the 1901 Caister lifeboat disaster, nine crew were lost while attempting a rescue during heavy seas. At the time it was said, "If they had to keep at it 'til now, they would have sailed about until daylight to help her. Going back is against the rules when we see distress signals like that". A monument to the men lost in the disaster bearing the inscription "Caister men never turn back" stands in the village cemetery, unveiled in 1903 and was listed Grade II by Historic England in 2020. A pub called the "Never Turn Back" is named after the incident. The village was served by Caister-on-Sea railway station until it was closed in 1959. The nearest railway station is now Great Yarmouth, 2.5 mi to the south. Today, Caister is also host to a National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) Station.

Geography

According to the 2021 census, Caister-on-Sea has a population of 8,616 people which shows a decrease from the 8,901 people recorded in the 2011 census.

Amenities

There is a Haven caravan and holiday park near the coast. The oldest holiday camp in the United Kingdom, it began as the "Caister Socialist Camp" in 1906. In the 1950s and early 1960s, it used to be on both sides of the road. Opposite the beach was a dining room, paper shop, sports facilities and tourist chalets. These facilities were sold to a property developer who turned it into housing in the 1970s. In the 1980s a new holiday camp was opened, under the ownership of Ladbrokes, which was sold to Warners in the 1990s. Caister FC is the village football team, who play at the King George V playing field. The wind farm at Scroby Sands has thirty 2–megawatt wind turbines, 2.5 km off shore.

Church of the Holy Trinity

Caister's parish church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity and dates back to the Thirteenth Century. The Church of the Holy Trinity is located on Ormesby Road and has been Grade II listed since 1947. The church was heavily restored in the late-Nineteenth Century and is home to East Anglia's largest Medieval font. Stained glass in the church includes a memorial to the men killed in the Caister lifeboat disaster by Paul Woodroffe as well as a depiction of Christ the Shepherd by Alfred Wilkinson. Furthermore, there is a set of royal arms that are dated from the reign of King George III, though they could be a repurposed work from the reign of King Charles I.

Notable Residents

Governance

Caister-on-Sea is divided into the electoral wards of Caister North and Caister South for local elections and is part of the district of Great Yarmouth. The village's national constituency is Great Yarmouth which has been represented by the Reform UK's Rupert Lowe MP since 2024.

War Memorial

Caister-on-Sea's war memorial are several brass plaques inside Holy Trinity Church. The conflicts of the Twentieth Century had an extremely heavy toll on Caister, the fallen from the First World War are listed below: And: Walter E. Haylett. And, the following for the Second World War: