Menu
CloseSafety Advice
The sands to the west of Wells harbour entrance now quickly get cut off by the incoming tide.
People walking on the sands right by the water's edge to the west of Wells harbour entrance at low water can easily be cut off when the tide starts to come in. This particularly effects people walking along the foreshore from Holkham beach or those walking right out across the sand down the side of the harbour channel from Wells beach.
Make sure you come back to the main beach when the siren sounds, the water starts to flow into the harbour or four hours before the time of the next high water! See our Sea Saftey Advice page for more information and tide times.
Find us
on Facebook
Wells Lifeboat is now
on Instagram too!
Welcome to RNLI Wells
The RNLI Lifeboat Station in Wells-next-the-Sea houses an all-weather lifeboat and an inshore lifeboat to save lives and assist with emergencies around Wells and off the North Norfolk coast. Manned by volunteer crews, the boats are ready to launch within minutes, 24 hours a day, every day of the year. This website will tell you more about the station and give you a taste of what we do and the traditions of the lifeboat service.
Shop Opening Times
Our new shop, visitor information centre and public viewing gallery are open Fridays-Mondays from 10-4 plus some additional weekdays... see below for latest info.
Shop and viewing gallery open 10-4 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Mondays.
Safety Warning!
A new sandbar means people walking by the water's edge to the west of Wells harbour entrance at low water can easily be cut off when the tide starts to come in. This particularly effects people walking along the foreshore from Holkham beach or those walking right out across the sand down the side of the harbour channel from Wells beach. Make sure you come back to the main beach when the siren sounds, the water starts to flow into the channel or four hours before the time of the next high water! See our Sea Saftey Advice page for more information and tide times.
Recent Services
20:03
Weather Cloudy Visibility Good Wind SW2 Sea Smooth
18:52
Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind W1 Sea Slight
14:53
Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind SW3 Sea Slight
18:42
Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind SW3 Sea Slight
16:19
Weather Cloudy Visibility Good Wind NW3 Sea Slight
16:19
Weather Cloudy Visibility Good Wind NW3 Sea Slight
02:18
Weather Cloudy Visibility Good Wind SW5 Sea Moderate
Shannon class lifeboat launches on service to the cruiser 'May Belle', 7/8/23
21:05
Weather Fine Visibility Good Wind WNW4 Sea Slight
Latest News
RNLI-911 Challenge calls in at Wells
Fri 1 Sep 2023
Wells RNLI was delighted to once again welcome Belinda and James Richardson and their bright red Porsche 911, 'Splash' on a flying visit to the station today. The couple have been fund-raising for the RNLI each year with various annual challenges in their Porsche 911 and intend to continue until next year's RNLI bicentenary celebrations when they hope to have raised sufficient funds to pay for a new D-class inshore lifeboat.
This year, the couple are driving the 911 3500 miles around the whole of England, including Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Isle of White, Isle of Man and the Isle of Scilly visiting all 116 lifeboat stations.
Belinda explained ‘Although we are not connected to the RNLI we are humbled by this unique organisation's 6,500 volunteers; be it the boat crews, land crew, lifeguards or fundraisers and wish to put our new found freedom to good use in supporting their gallant efforts by raising funds for a 'D' Class Lifeboat.’
Today, James and Belinda met up with Coxswain Nicky King, Mechanic Martin Emerson and several of the station’s volunteer crew. Matthew Lockwood of Porsche Centre Norwich, who have sponsored six station visits, also attended and presented the station with a plaque.
911 challenge first visited the station in 2018 when the objective was to drive to all 238 lifeboat stations in 911 hours. We thank them for their continued support and wish them luck on the road...
Follow and support the 911's journey here...62nd Annual Lifeboat Service
Wed 16 Aug 2023
Crew and lifeboat alongside for our annual lifeboat service at the quay
Our thanks to all who joined us on the quay on Sunday 13th August for our 62nd Annual Lifeboat Service, the first conducted from our new Shannon-class lifeboat RNLB 13-46 Duke of Edinburgh. Your support and donations are always appreciated but particularly at the end of a very long day for our volunteers which started just after 2am when the lifeboat was launched to assist a yacht into Wells harbour.
New 3D walkthrough tour of Wells lifeboat station
Mon 20 Mar 2023
Local photographer (and Sheringham lifeboat volunteer crew member) Chris Taylor has created an on-line 3D walkthrough tour of our new boathouse and our Shannon class all-weather lifeboat 'Duke of Edinburgh'. You can look round the building and even go on-board the Shannon from the comfort of your own screen and mouse. To start the tour, click on the link below. To move around, tap on the overlaid white circles... it is also possible to zoom in and out and turn round from any location.
Our thanks to Chris for his expertise and effort in making the tour and for making it available to all.
Wells Lifeboat Station - 3D walkthrough tourShop Opening Times
Our new shop, visitor information centre and public viewing gallery are open weekends from Friday to Monday and some extra weekdays from 10-4. Over the summer in good weather, the main boathouse doors may also be open. See below for latest times or our visits page for more information.
Shop and viewing gallery open 10-4 Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Mondays.
Viewing Day
Sunday 24 September 2023
Our Shannon-class all-weather lifeboat 13-46 Duke of Edinburgh will be on display outside in front of the boathouse from 10am-4pm on Sunday 24 September (unless, of course, she is required to launch for an emergency). There will be public access to walk around the boat and look at the 'Launch A Memory' names on the bow. The shop and visitor centre will be open and volunteers on-hand to chat about the work we do.
New Shannon lifeboat
and boathouse build
Latest update 28/11/2022
We've moved in... Wells RNLI is now operating from the new building. See the boathouse build pages for the latest information and the story of how the new station was built.
The new Shannon lifeboat was funded in part with a station appeal for £250,000 in 2014-15 and also by the Civil Service charity The Lifeboat Fund with its 150th Anniversary Appeal. We are hugely grateful to everyone who has donated, fund-raised, helped and supported us both locally and across the UK and further afield.
COVID-19
We're keen to protect our crew to ensure the lifeboats can be manned when needed. Please don't visit the station or shop if you or someone you have recently been in close contact with has Covid symptoms or a postive test.
Exercise Launches
You are welcome to watch the lifeboats launch on exercise from a safe distance on the beach bank or beach; please keep clear of the boats and launching vehicles and keep children and dogs under supervision. Exercises are roughly every two weeks and we try to post dates and times in advance when we can. All dates are subject to change or cancellation at short notice for operational reasons.
Thursday 28 Sep 2023 18:00
Regular exercise
Find us on Facebook
Wells Lifeboat is now
on Instagram too!
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is a charity, registered in England and Wales (209603) and Scotland (SC037736). This website is managed and maintained by local volunteers at Wells-next-the-Sea Lifeboat Station and is not the main RNLI site. All text and images copyright (C)2005-2021 RNLI Wells Lifeboat Station, or as indicated, and may not be downloaded, copied or reproduced elsewhere without prior permission of the station or the relevant copyright holder. Site Manager