Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Wreck.
At least 15m (50 feet long), rivetted metal. Plates appear to be cast into ribs but rivetted to other plates. Double bottom. Said locally to be a ship called the Standon or similar name, launched in 1907 but date of loss unknown. Now a home for marine creatures exposed at low tide.
E. Rose (NAU), 27 May 1999.

The name of the ship was in fact Sheraton, a trawler used for boom defence work 1915 to 1918 and as a patrol vessel in World War Two. Wrecked in 1947 when being towed for use as a target hulk.
See press cutting (S1) in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 17 April 2001.

May-November 2004. Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey.
Inter-tidal survey (Environmental Zone 5), Context 26:
On the beach close to the base of the cliff.
The wreck of the Sheraton. Timber framed, with a metal outer casing, 38.5m long by 5.35m wide. Tile and cement ballast was seen towards the rear of the vessel; damage to the hull from its use as a military target hulk.
It was found 66m south of the location recorded above; this suggests that it may have moved recently.
Contexts 18-21, 23-24, 27-29, and 31-32:
Timbers found loose on the beach, with many wedged amongst rocks. All were probably from a ship, possibly the Sheraton.
Context 22:
Three iron objects were found embedded in the beach sand (between TF 67409, 42038 and TF 67410, 42031), but probably not in-situ. They may have come from the wreck of the Sheraton.
See assessment report (S2) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2017.421).
J. Allen (NLA), 13 April 2005. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 July 2019.

September 2007.
Requisitioned from the Port of Grimsby and fitted with a naval '6 pdr gun' during World War Two. Post-World War Two she was stripped of transferable major componants of value, the hulk was painted bright yellow and moored off Brest Sand to be used as target practice. Drifted on to the beach at Hunstanton during a gale in 1947. Part of her structure has been cut away by a salvage company.
See report (S3) for further details
H. White (NLA), 27 November 2008.

2008
The Sheraton was built by Cook, Welton and Gemmell in Beverley, Yorkshire in 1907. (S3) shows two rare photographs of the Sheraton at sea and beached at Hunstanton in 1947.
See (S4) for further details.
H. White, (NLA), 1 September 2009.

14 August 2011.
A photograph of the wreck of the 'Sheraton' shows the ship to be of steel hulled construction rather than timber framed as suggested in (S2). Steel hulls had died out by 1903 (S5), four years before the 'Sheraton' was launched.
See (S6).
Information from [1].
A. Beckham (HES), 27 March 2020.

Monument Types

• WRECK (Early 20th Century to 21st Century - 1901 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status - none

Sources and further reading

Related records - none