Gorleston-on-Sea

Gorleston-on-Sea (/ˈɡɔːrlstən/), historically and colloquially known as Gorleston, is a seaside town in the borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England. It lies to the South of Great Yarmouth, on the opposite side of the mouth of the River Yare. Historically in Suffolk, it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. It was incorporated into Great Yarmouth in 1836. Gorleston's port became a centre of fishing for herring along with salt pans used for the production of salt to preserve the fish. In Edwardian times the fishing industry rapidly declined and the town's role changed to that of a seaside resort.

The place-name 'Gorleston' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Gorlestuna. It appears as Gurlestona in the Pipe Rolls of 1130. The first element may be related to the word 'girl', and is probably a personal name. The name could mean "girls' town or settlement", or a variant similar to Girlington in West Yorkshire.

Historically, the town was in the county of Suffolk. In the Middle Ages it had two manors, and a small manor called Bacons. The medieval church of St. Andrew stands in the town and by historical association gives its name to the Gorleston Psalter, an important example of 14th-century East Anglian illuminated art that is now in the British Library in London. At the northern tip of the parish an area known as Southtown (also known as South Town or Little Yarmouth) grew as a suburb to Great Yarmouth, facing it across the Yare.

Gorleston Barracks were established in 1853. There were to be three railway stations in the town on the Yarmouth-Lowestoft Line. The stations on the line were Gorleston-on-Sea, Gorleston North and Gorleston Links which all closed between 1942 and 1970. The closest railway stations are now Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.

In the Great Storm of 1987, Gorleston-on-Sea experienced the highest wind speed recorded in the UK on that day, which was 122 mph (196 km/h).

The town is meticulously described in the novel Gorleston by Henry Sutton (Sceptre, 1995) and in Philip Leslie's novels The History of Us (Legend Press, 2009) and What Remains (December House, 2013). Both Sutton and Leslie employ the actual names of roads and retail outlets in their work.

In 2018 a newly built Wetherspoons pub, The William Adams, opened on Gorleston High Street. William Adams made his first rescue at the age of 11 and went on to save some 140 lives in total. The decision to name the pub after this local hero was determined by a public vote. The building is on the old site of GT Motors, formerly the site of the town's Methodist chapel, dating from 1807. Gorleston-on-Sea's Pier Hotel and beach feature as a key location in Danny Boyle's 2019 film Yesterday.

Gorleston was an ancient parish in Suffolk. Southtown was brought within Great Yarmouth's borough boundaries in 1668, whilst remaining part of the parish of Gorleston. The rest of the parish was added to the constituency of Great Yarmouth in 1832 under the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832. Great Yarmouth's municipal borough boundaries were adjusted to match the constituency from 1 January 1836 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, since when Gorleston has been administered as part of Great Yarmouth. The borough of Great Yarmouth straddled Norfolk and Suffolk between 1668 and 1891, with the original town north of the River Yare being in Norfolk and Gorleston south of the Yare being in Suffolk. The borough was placed entirely in Norfolk in 1891, although as a county borough Great Yarmouth provided its own county-level services, independent from Norfolk County Council.