The Hill House Inn

The Hill House Inn has a past steeped in history. The building originally comprised three Tudor cottages circa 1540. At some time in the early 1600's, the building was knocked into one and became an ale-house. Remnants of the brewery still exist under the back yard! In or around 1710 The Hill House Inn, then known as The Windmill Inn, became a Coaching Inn on the coast route between two big ports - Kings Lynn and Great Yarmouth. The Windmill gained a certain notoriety around this time, being frequented by beach-men and smugglers, possibly as a result of which it was renamed and became The Hill House Inn. During Victorian times it acquired a more desirable and notable reputation and attracted many distinguished visitors such as Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle, who stayed here and wrote the Sherlock Holmes story, 'The Dancing Men' which is now the name of our own Micro Brewery. More recent visitors include Henry Moore, the sculptor, and such friends as Barbara Hepworth. Most recently, during the days of television production at Anglia TV in Norwich, many well known actors and casts regularly visited The Hill House Inn. The Hill House Inn is a grade II listed building and will be preserved for as long as the sea does not engulf Happisburgh.