Cromer cashed in on ‘Poppyland’ fame by producing Poppyland souvenirs such as postcards. Promoters of land around Cromer up for sale, the Cromer Hall Sale Particulars, also used Clement Scott’s articles by including quotes to help auction off land around that area; “The scene of Clement Scott’s famous ‘Poppyland’ and ‘Garden of Sleep’”. The auctioneer also commented on how Scott had “immortalised” Poppyland. Clement Scott helped in this way by unwittingly promoting the sale of land used to develop Cromer. Some of this land was used for houses and accommodation, while other parts of it was used for shops which advertised Poppyland and sold its souvenirs. More tourists visited Cromer in order to reach Poppyland, which created the need for more hotels and boarding houses for them to stay in.
Another very important factor in the development of Cromer into a seaside resort was the presence of the railways from 1877. They helped change Cromer in many ways, firstly by opening up Cromer and the North Norfolk coast to the rest of the country; the Midlands and the north where factory workers were looking for places to holiday away from city fumes, and also opening up the coast to people who previously could not afford a holiday: the lower classes. This meant that many more people had quick, easy access to Cromer and gradually more people visited, the numbers increasing from 32,071 passengers booked into the Beach hotel in 1894 rising to a peak of 68,714 in 1907. When the numbers of people travelling to Cromer continued to increase there was severe need for more accommodation and then entertainment for them. This led to much development of Cromer. If the lower class had not been able to reach Cromer then there would have been no need for so much development, not as many boarding houses, not as many bathing machines, and no lower class entertainment such as coin slot machines, tea rooms and band stands. Cromer would have only needed to accommodate the upper class and therefore would have not needed to develop the things the lower class required until the coast was easily accessible and visited by them. The railways were so important that Cromer would not have developed into a seaside resort even with the help of Clement Scott because it was the lower class who made Cromer their holiday destination and the fashionable gentry who made it a watering place. With the railways more people could go on holidays and the lower class were already visiting Cromer; Cromer was already developing the things it would need to become a seaside resort, without the help of the ‘Poppyland Papers’.
One thing it was developing was more accommodation, which it desperately needed, as a report in the Argus shows, stating that the accommodation was “woefully deficient” in 1877. The railways helped to bring in building equipment as well as encouraging development of land by arranging special trains for journalists covering the auctions of the 1880s.
The sale of land by Benjamin Bond-Cabbell and Lord Suffield allowed many new places to be built, until there were 125 apartments, 11 boarding houses and 12 hotels available; room enough for everyone. As a result of this more people could visit and stay longer in Cromer instead of being simply day-trippers, spending more money, helping Cromer’s trade and therefore allowing it to be able to afford such things as tearooms and the expensive developments to its sea front (£50,000) which helped to transform it into a seaside resort.
The pier and other seaside necessities were essential for Cromer to maintain its holiday resort image, but they were not very important in the development of Cromer. It was necessary for Cromer to have a pier in order to entertain the upper classes with promenades, and also because it was something that a seaside resort is supposed to have, but at the time the pier was built in 1901 the sale of ticket prices was on the increase and fairly near its peak at 51,705, suggesting that Cromer was already on its way to becoming a seaside resort, with or without a pier.
The final influencing factor in Cromer’s development into a holiday destination is the idea that was introduced by Dr. Russell in 1740, the idea that sea water could be very beneficial for your health, providing the same health giving properties as mineral water. This meant that Cromer could move slightly away from the fishing and coal trades and could start to cash in on the new medical ideas. It allowed the fashionable gentry to discover Cromer’s beautiful beach and first begin to visit, spreading news of its fine lobsters and entertaining fishermen around the upper class families. This was significant because it gave Cromer a reputation that attracted attention for it so that when people started to swim for pleasure as well as for health, as Mrs. Harmer did before 1914, Cromer already had a following.
After taking into account all these factors in the development of Cromer into a seaside resort, as well as taking into consideration Clement Scott’s contribution, I feel that the most important factor was the arrival of the railways. Although the ‘Poppyland Papers’ provided lots of publicity for Cromer, tickets sales proved that Cromer was already developing into a resort before the Papers were published, and Poppyland was simply used as a boost for the number of people visiting Cromer each year.
