Here you will find pictures of Stalham as it was almost a century ago together with, where possible, a view from the same position today. Very little of the main fabric has changed, the odd new building has appeared, the old ones renovated and repainted, but the main heart of the town is still alive as it was all those years ago.

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Stalham Staithe

Old Stalham Staithe	The Staithe Today
Pleasure boating, then and now

The public staithe (staithe = landing place) is in the background, free mooring for 24 hours and a short walk into town for food, banks, arts & craft and other services. If these moorings are full, then most boatyards have space available to moor, except Saturdays, which is the main turn-around day for the hire yards. There is a town map to the right of the staithe, showing the location of the important services etc.

Old Post Office

Postmistress Outside c1902	Now, general hardware
Only the shop front has changed

Mrs Emily Cattermoul outside the old Post Office, the picture was possibly taken by a local newspaper when she finally retired from business. There is quite a history to the family that ran the old Post Office, you can see the family graves, just inside St Mary's, churchyard next door. The shop the other side of the old Post Office, was damaged by fire in 1906 and rebuilt in its present form, which is now a supermarket.

Maids Head Public House

Mail Coach leaves	Just good food today
Now pink-washed and cars

The last mail coach left the Maids Head for Norwich in 1920, just down the road at the Baptist Church, the annex is called the "Stables", this was where the change of horses for the mail coach were housed. Today, the Maids Head serves good English fare, a roast Sunday lunch and on most Saturdays, there is live music. You will often see chickens running around in the High Street, these have escaped from the rear garden of the Maids Head, where there is a mini zoo.

The Old Granary

The Old Granary	Old Granary today
Now serves as a house and moorings

The old Granary has the date 1805 in the door lintel, the date when it was built or rebuilt in its present form. The grain trade has long since disappeared, it now all goes by road. Return journeys to the staithe usually brought coal for fuel, as peat digging (which created the "Broads") had also expired.

Looking down the High Street

Down the High Street c1907	Today
The cycle shop on the left is now a charity shop.

The area where the cycle shop was, is now a Charity Shop just above Pizza shop, the first building on the right, is the bakers, although when the old picture was taken, the bakers was further down the High Street, at the corner of Upper Staithe Road, now a shoe shop and cafe.

Railway Station

From the footbridge	Oh dear!
Now the Council yard

The railway reached Stalham in 1880 and was part of the M&GN Railway, running from Great Yarmouth, Beach Station (now the coach station), to North Walsham, Melton Constable, Kings Lynn and on to the Midlands for the holiday makers.

Just opposite the old station is the Weavers Way footpath which follows the old railway to North Walsham and on to Aylsham. The by-pass now covers the tracks to Yarmouth, but hints of the line can be seen all the way to Yarmouth, in fact, in the middle of a field, just outside Martham, is a bridge!.

Towards the chemists

C1920	Today
Wonder what the boys are saying?

The shop immediately on the right, is Stalham Craft shop, next door to which is the current chemists shop and then the old Town Hall. In the middle distance, is that the early telephone engineer at work with his ladder up the pole and his handcart of tools parked nearby?

Corner of Bank Street

c1930	Today
The postman cometh

The "Railway Hotel" on the right is long since gone to make way for "The Grebe" public house, which lays much farther back from the High Street.

Stalham Crossroads

c1906	Today
Is that the postman again?

Shows how little of the main fabric has changed, except for the car sales and a tarmac road, little else has changed.