Our Lady of Refuge
The interior of Our Lady of Refuge, Cromer
Our Lady of Refuge is the Mother Church of North Norfolk. After the reformation Catholics were few and far between in Norfolk, and so when Clement Scott, the drama critic of the "Daily Telegraph" began to visit the area, which he dubbed "Poppyland", towards the end of the 19th cent., he was very disappointed to find that there was no Catholic church in the area. He set about to remedy this by writing to the then Bishop of Northampton pointing out the difficulties of Catholics visiting the area.
Thus began the process, which led, in time, to the building of a little chapel which now forms the nave of the church building. The project had its difficulties, since in those un-ecumenical times, the vicar of Cromer, was not happy to see a Catholic chapel built with in his parish. However, the present site was acquired from Lord Suffield - just outside the then Anglican parish boundary!
The chapel was opened in 1885 with the end boarded up against the time when it could be expanded. At the turn of the century a fine Presbytery was built adjoining the church. In 1902 the first permanent priest was appointed with a huge area which stretched from Weybourne to Horsey Mere and which included North Walsham, Sheringham, Aylsham and Holt. Over the last 100 years, churches were built in Sheringham, North Walsham and Aylsham so that Cromer is indeed the Mother Church of Catholic North Norfolk.
To celebrate the centenary, a hall was built also adjoining the church, and a booklet was published telling the story of the restoration of the Catholic Faith to North Norfolk. It is called, "The Catholic Revival in North Norfolk" and copies are available from the church.
In 2008 the parish in Cromer and that in Sheringham were joined into a new parish Our Lady and St. Joseph