On Saturday 24 June, Happisburgh unveiled its newly restored village sign. Carved by Harry Carter, and first erected in 1976, the sign depicts village landmarks and important people in village history (for details see description below).  

The proposal to inaugurate a sign was first mooted in 1975 when a small committee of local residents was formed to raise money for a village sign.    In 1976 the sign was erected on a site in the centre of the village loaned by the Rev and Mrs Michael Payne.   However, in 1990, when Michael and Christine Payne needed to use their land to open up an entrance drive to their property (The Monastery), they wrote to the Parish Council asking them to identify an alternative site.  

No other site could be found at that time, and the remaining members of the original committee decided to accept an offer from the Paynes to relocate the sign behind the flint wall in their garden overlooking the street;    the sign was moved and re-painted at the Paynes’ expense with a little help from the balance of the original sign fund.

Unfortunately, the change of site provoked controversy in the village and, in 1992, representations were made to the Parish Council to re-locate the sign on public land.   One location suggested was Lighthouse Close, the other outside the Monastery wall.  No satisfactory consensus could be reached and the matter was therefore dropped from the Parish Council agenda with a view to reconsideration when the Monastery changed hands. 

In 1993, a proposal was considered to transfer care of the sign to the Historical Society but nothing appears to have come of this. 

Sadly, despite some re-painting and rudimentary repair, the sign began to deteriorate as the years passed and, by 2005, it was in a sorry state. 

At this point the Parish Council decided to step in, and commissioned a survey to establish the cost of restoration.   The result was disappointing:  the sign was declared beyond economic repair, and the Council decided there was no option but to start fund-raising for a replacement.   When this proposal was announced, a group of volunteers from the village, some of whom had been involved in 1976, came forward and offered to restore the sign themselves.  They felt strongly that the original sign, paid for with money raised by volunteers, was now part of the village heritage and they wished to do everything possible to keep it.  Equally important, they were also able to offer a new site in a prominent position at the heart of the village conservation area provided by the owner of Camberley Cottage.   The Parish Council welcomed this public spirited proposal and agreed to pay for materials and other expenses.  

Unveiling of the sign took place as part of a Village Open Gardens Day organised by “Happisburgh in Bloom”.  

The sign depicts: 

• Edric Dane who held the Lordship of Happisburgh in the early 11th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066.
• Maud, the daughter of Roger Bigod and Wife of William d’Albini, Lord of the Manor after the Norman Conquest
• Rev Thomas Lloyd who arranged a baptism for 170 unbaptized children (see People – Section 11)
• The Church
• The Lighthouse
• The Lifeboat
• Ears of corn to show the importance of agriculture to the village