West Runton

About

The village of West Runton is situated between Sheringham and Cromer. In the village these is a pub, bowling club, post office and a large hotel with a nine-hole golf course, a beach café and restaurants. Buses are frequent through both villages and there is a railway station at West Runton.

There are carvan sites in both West and East Runton as well as camping facilities. West Runton is home to a Blue Flag beach which is most well-known for the discovery of a Steppe Mammoth skeleton in 1990. The remains dated back to the Ice Age and is the most complete skeleton of a Steppe mammoth ever found in the world. More recently the Village Inn, has a blue plaque on the wall that recalls a concert played at the now-demolished Pavilion by the punk band the Sex Pistols.

The discovery of the mammoth, or West Runton Elephant as it is also known, was made in 1990 by when local residents. It was identified as a pelvic bone of a large Steppe mammoth. A year later more large bones were discovered and an exploratory excavation took place, followed by a serious three-month long excavation in 1995, carried out by the Norfolk Archaeological Unit. The exploration unearthed 85% of a mammoth skeleton, the most complete skeleton of a Steppe mammoth ever found in the world. The remains are very fragile and the majority of the West Runton Elephant lies in controlled storage at Gressenhall Museum, but there is a small display in the Norwich Castle and Cromer Museums.