Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Cromer crab is the local species caught by fishermen working from the east beach. It is now the primary source of income for the town's remaining fishing fleet, which in 2016 consisted of roughly ten boats. The shift toward crab and lobster fishing accelerated from the 1980s onward, replacing the older year-round pattern of seasonal herring, cod, and shellfish.
Henry Blogg was a Cromer lifeboatman, and the most decorated in RNLI history. He received the RNLI gold medal for heroism three times and the silver medal four times. His most famous rescues took place between 1917 and 1941 and brought the Cromer lifeboat station wide recognition. The RNLI Henry Blogg Museum, housed in the Rocket House near the pier, commemorates his career.
Shipden was a medieval settlement that predated Cromer. It now lies underwater, about a quarter of a mile northeast of the end of Cromer Pier. Its site is marked by what was called Church Rock, the remnant of a medieval church tower. In 1888 the steamer Victoria struck the rock, which was later blown up for safety. Sub-aqua divers from Great Yarmouth have since recovered artefacts from both the church and the wreck.
Poppyland is the name journalist Clement Scott gave in 1883 to the stretch of Norfolk coastline around Overstrand and Sidestrand, near Cromer. The name came from the abundant poppies growing at the roadside and in meadows. Scott's writing in the national press, combined with the new railway connection, drew large numbers of visitors to the area.
In 1901, Arthur Conan Doyle was a guest at Cromer Hall, the Gothic Revival country house south of the town. While there, he heard the local legend of the Black Shuck, a ghostly black dog. He is thought to have been inspired by this legend when writing The Hound of the Baskervilles.