In 1875 one of the chief concerns was the gradual disappearance of the parish into the sea, 300 feet below. Seven years previously there had been several large landslides, including the Rector's glebe land which showed that the process was no respector of persons. Since this time the cliffs have continued to fall, possibly at an even faster rate. What was the main road in 1875 has now fallen into the sea and so in a very real way the parish is smaller now than it was then!
The population, however, has doubled from 150 in 1871 to its present 350. This is largely due to the building of 50 houses on the site of the old railway station which wasn't even in existence in 1875, which goes to show how short lived some of our expensive transport systems can be.
The village school was open then with Emma Mann as school mistress. It was entirely supported by the Buxton family, the principal landowners of the parish.
The parish clerk in 1875 was Robert Olley, the wheelwright was John Hall, James Randell was the blacksmith and George Cubitt kept the Crown and Anchor which, glad to say, still remains - defying the North Sea winds and cliff falls. There were four farmers, Samuel Bates.
Samuel Cubitt, Stephen Gillam and Elizabeth Wright. The Rector at that time was Abraham Matchett.
The Church has the unique dedication of St. John the Baptist's Head and was a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, though it is most unlikely that the 'head' was genuine.
The mediaeval rood screen, recently restored and repaired, was said to have been found just over a hundred years ago by Archdeacon Cross in a farm barn and subsequently handed back to the parish.
In 1875 several men in the village would have been fishermen, probably getting down to the beach down Taylors Loke on the west side of the Crown and Anchor. Unfortunately, the beach is now inaccessible to all but the most daring. However, the North Sea still provides jobs for Trimingham men, as several of them now work at the Bacton Gas terminal.