The Cottage, now a country hotel, was built in 1793 as part of the Northrepps estate. Shuck's Lane, described as little-used, sunken, and tree-arched, seems to have been a local name for the narrow track now called Nut Lane, which runs to the east of the Cottage grounds, then arcs in a hairpin bend down to an area known as Shuck's Hill. It seems to be unconnected to the vanished route called Shuck's Lane running along the coast from Overstrand.

This particular beast may have been invented, or at least used, by smugglers to scare people away at night. In the early 1820s there was actually a battle fought in Shuck's Lane between smugglers and preventive officers, with two fatalities. This is the only two-headed Shuck I've come across, and the shape-changing makes it sound more like a 'bogey-beast', perhaps similar to the Padfoot of the north of England, which was sometimes known to appear as a "rolling wool-pack".

There's not enough information to record this as an encounter, but apparently the then-proprietor of the Cottage, a Mr. Hoy, told Alexandra Walker in about 1969 that he had seen a large black dog in his cellar, which had then disappeared.(2)

(1) Verily Anderson: 'The Northrepps Grandchildren', (Mallard Reprints 1979, orig. Hodder & Stoughton 1968), p.46, 153-4.

(2) Facebook post by Alexandra Walker, 7/9/2022, on the 'Norfolk Tales and Myths' page.