West Runton
West Runton from Incleborough Hill
Population	Expression error: "1,633 (parish, 2001 census)" must be numeric
OS grid reference	TG1843
Civil parish	Runton
District	North Norfolk
Shire county	Norfolk
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Sheringham
Postcode district	NR 26
Dialling code	01263
Police	Norfolk
Fire	Norfolk
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	North Norfolk
List of places UK England Norfolk

West Runton is a village in North Norfolk approximately ¼ of a mile from the North Sea coast. The village straddles the A149 North Norfolk coast road and is 2½ miles west of Cromer and 1½ miles east of Sheringham. The village is served by several public transport routes, with a bus service to Norwich, Cromer and Sheringham, and a rail service from its station, were the Bittern Line runs a frequent service between Norwich, Cromer and Sheringham. There are several shops in the village which include a Butcher, Newsagent/general store, a Post office/village store, café, furniture upholsterer, Garage and a Fancy dress/costume shop.^{[citation needed]}

The pub, called 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. There are also two Restaurants in the village Inn, but does not offer accommodation. camping and caravanning, including "The Links", famous for its golf course, designed by J. H. Taylor around the turn of the 20th century.^{[citation needed]} Another amenity of the village is Kingswood, situated in a former girls' private boarding school set in pine-fringed grounds. Kingswood is an educational activity centre which hosts residential school trips and educational visits throughout the year and a variety of programmes are available for key stage 2 and 3 students.^{[citation needed]}

Sea Defences at West Runton consist of revetments, angled sea wall and a rather prominent wooden groyne stretching out to sea. This does stop longshore drift but is used mainly as a wave break so the boats can enter the sea more easily.^{[citation needed]}

The Norfolk Shire-Horse Centre is a very popular^{[citation needed]} visitor attraction in West Runton. Established in 1982, The purpose of the centre is to bring together a collection of different breeds of draft horses[1] Some originated in this country and some are European breeds. The Shire horses are complemented with a number of breeds of ponies which are native to the UK, and some have foals which are also on display. The centre has assembled a unique collection of equine animals.^{[citation needed]} On the site there is also a collection of pre-war horse-drawn machinery, mowing machine, binders, toppler and wagons and carts. The centre also offers shire-horse pulled rides. There is also a stable and riding school where basic riding are taught and the dozen or so horses and ponies are worked throughout the year.^{[citation needed]} There is also a covered riding school. Trekking is arranged through some of the local countryside on the North Norfolk coast, through National Trust property, Forestry Commission pine woods and open undulating farmland with sea views.^{[citation needed]}

Fossils of animals, birds and insects regularly appear out of the eroding cliffs on the beach. The cliffs of West Runton were once part of the Cromer Forest Bed formation which is exposed at intervals along the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, from Weybourne to Kessingland. The forest bed ages between 700,000 to 500,000 years ago in the Quaternary period.

West Runton's most famous fossil from that period is the "West Runton Elephant". In 1990 the fossilised remains were first discovered down on the beach after winter seas had eroded the cliff. By 1992 at least 25% of the Elephant's skeleton had been recovered, and then in 1995 the Norfolk Archaeological unit, with a grant from the National Lottery and some commercial sponsorship, managed to recover almost the entire skeleton. The archaeologists were able to learn from the fossil that the elephant was a Mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) and male, stood about 4 meters high and weighed about 10 tonnes. He was about 40 years old, when he probably got stuck in a shallow swampy river channel.^{[citation needed]} His carcass was scavenged by Hyenas as there teeth marks were found on some of his bones.^{[citation needed]} The Mammoth's fossils have now been preserved and it is planned to return them to the village to form a display.^{[citation needed]} It is currently being prepared for display in Norwich Castle Museum.^{[citation needed]}

Evidence of early antiquity in West Runton is scant. However, evidence of Roman habitation were found just south of the village up on Beeston Regis Heath in 1859, when a complete set of Quern-stones were found dating from Roman times.^{[citation needed]} Quern-stones were used to grind materials, the most important of which was usually grain to make flour for bread-making. Up on Beeston Regis Heath there can be found circular pits called "Hills and Holes" (from the 1st edition of the Ordnance Survey map of the area), which are thought to date from prehistoric times.^{[citation needed]} During the Saxon-Norman to Medieval periods these pits were dug to obtain iron ore, which was then smelted in a furnace to produce iron. In the Domesday book, the settlement of Runton is given the name of Rugutune and Runetune.

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  The Blue Plaque recalling the Pavilion
• 
  Shire Horse pulling a Plough
• 
  A mammoth; this example is from an Ipswich museum.

• Parish Web-site
• West Runton Transmission Mast
• The Bittern Line
• West Runton Social Club
• Kingswood Activity Center
• Sex Pistols at the Links Pavillion
• West Runton Elephant
• West Runton - East Runton
• Photographs and more details about West Runton