CLEY-NEXT-THE-SEA, or Clay, a village and a parish in Erpingham district, Norfolk. The village stands on the river Glaven, about a mile from the beach, 4½ NNW of Holt, and 8 E of Wells r. station. It has a post office, ‡ of the name of Cley, under Thetford; had formerly a weekly market; still has a fair on the last Friday in July; carries on a small coasting trade; and is frequented as a watering-place. Prince James, afterwards James I. of Scotland, was forced hither by stress of weather on his passage to France; made a prisoner by the villagers; and given up to Henry IV., who sent him prisoner to the Tower of London. The parish comprises 2, 198 acres of land, and 165 of water. Real property, £3, 857. Pop., 791. Houses, 216. The property is divided among a few. Part of the land has recently been re-claimed by embanking and draining. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Norwich. Value, £400. Patron, W. Bishop, Esq. The church is cruciform, curious, chiefly early decorated English; has a clerestory over the nave; contains a figured font and three brasses; and was recently restored. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))