Coastal Group Of Parishes
Sea Palling and Waxham Parish
St. Margaret's Church, Sea Palling
The Parish of Sea Palling with Waxham is on the coast and is very popular for its sand dunes and lovely sandy beaches.
At Sea Palling there are man-made reefs just off the coast, which form shallow bays, making if safe for paddling and swimming. The slip-way makes easy access to the beach and attracts lots of jet skiers and people wishing to launch their boats as well as families with young children.
There are holiday cottages, caravan parks, 2 public houses, both serving food, a general shop with post office, cafes, amusement arcades and a village hall where various club meet. Although this is a small parish, there are lots of activities going on.
St. Margaret's Church stands in a small neat graveyard at the end of a narrow lane. There are large garden shrubs and buddleia planted on the south side attracting lots of butterflies during the summer. Inside the church you will see memorials on the walls commemorating the bravery of the lifeboat men who lost their lives while saving fishermen off the coast. There is also a memorial to seven people from the village who lost their lives in the 1953 floods. Four of them were from the same family, three of them being children.
Services are held here every Sunday, please click on monthly services page.
St. John's Church stands wide open to the weather amongst fields and dykes with the lovely sandy beach just the other side of the sand dunes. Nearby stand Waxham Great Barn which is the largest in East Anglia. It was built by Thomas Wodehouse in the late 16th century.
The inside of the church has plain creamy walls with Victorian floor tiles and there is a large memorial in the north wall with a painted inscription to Thomas Wodehouse. Services are held occasionally in St. John's in the summer and also in December for a service of readings and carols. The people here are always busy trying to raise funds for their churches. They hold coffee mornings, cake sales, jumble sales, Christmas Fayres and concerts in church throughout the year.
For further details of services held in St. Margaret's, please click on the services page.
