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into local history
All the song lyrics, plus photos and history are compiled in this booklet which also contains the CD album and code for a digital download of the full album. This is available to buy directly from Jarrolds in Cromer or through my online store.
www.bertiebow.bandcamp.com/album/poppyland-songs-life-on-a-cliff-edge
'Poppyland'
A song inspired by those who lived and died here in Poppyland. I am playing it at the graveside of both sets of my grandparents, my little niece Ruby and gt gt aunt Kit. Louie, The Maid of the Mill mentioned in the song is also at rest in this tiny graveyard in Sidestrand.
St Michels of All Angels church used to lie half a mile seawards but by 1880, due to the ever fragile and collapsing cliffs, it had gotten too close to the cliff edge so they moved it, stone by stone leaving the tower and graves on the edge of the cliff which eventually would tumble down the cliff onto the beach and into the sea.
'Tower by the Sea' was a poem written by Clement Scott, the travel writer who bestowed the area with the name "Poppyland".