NHER 18726 (Maritime record) - The Happisburgh Foul Object
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Summary
Protected Status/Designation
- None recorded
Location
| Map sheet | TG43SW |
|---|---|
| Civil Parish | NORTH SEA, -, NORFOLK |
Map
Full Description
Letter (S1) in file refers to an object marked as a wreck at 52 degrees 50' 37 seconds north, 01 degrees 35' 13 seconds east on Admiralty charts.
Charts checked by E. Rose (NAU), 26 January 1983.
Wreck is more like 01 degrees 36' OO seconds, (but obviously the same object).
Writer of letter dived on object and states he found it not to be a wreck but a 'ruined castle-like building' although 2.06 sea miles offshore.
He thought it was a watch tower.
Composed of jumbled stone blocks in symmetrical fashion.
P. Lawrence (NCM) told E. Rose (NAU) that this might be a 'flint turtle' (a kind of natural formation).
However, a diver on the Mary Rose said this sounded like concretion round a wreck, the wreck itself having rotted away.
A. Gregory (NAU) states that the object might be a Roman fort of the Saxon Shore.
E. Rose (NAU), 28 January 1983.
E. B. Green (NCM) has been told by informant that this is the wreck of a ship carrying a cargo of building stone in about 1870.
Details to come.
E. Rose (NAU), 24 March 1983.
In fact February 7 1862, The Planter sailing from Goole to Dover with a cargo of stone, sunk in collision with the brig 'Matthew' of Sunderland bound for London.
Three drowned.
E. Green (NCM), February 1983 (to NAU July 1983).
However newspaper report (S2) says the mass is L-shaped, 68.5m by 182m (75 by 200 yards) and up to 12.2m (40 feet) high.
'Several thousand tons of stone; too much for a ship cargo'.
Suggests harbour wall of Whimpwell deserted medieval village. This seems unlikely.
Associated Sources (4)
- --- SNF57722 Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
- --- SNF8804 Secondary File: Secondary File.
- <S1> SNF68582 Correspondence: Simmonds, A., UEA. 1980. Letter to E. Rose (NAU). 9 January.
- <S2> SNF2890 Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1987. Divers' find could be sunken village. 30 September.
Site and Feature Types and Periods (2)
Object Types (0)
Related NHER Records (0)
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Record last edited
Mar 23 2005 11:55AM