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Patrick Hamilton
The playwright and novelist Patrick Hamilton lived in the
town for many years. He was famous for his play Rope
which was later filmed by Alfred Hitchcock and for novels
such as The Slaves of Solitude, Hangover Square and
20,000 Streets Under the Sky.
Patrick Hamilton
Martincross, Sheringham
However, by the end of his life his work had fallen out of fashion
and his drink problem had become critical. He died in 1962
at the age of 58 in a flat at Martincross on the corner of
the Boulevard and St. Nicholas Place - which he shared with
his wife La. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at
Blakeney. J. B .Priestley described him as 'an unhappy man
who needed whiskey as a car needs petrol'.
In 1919, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams lived and
worked at Martincross.
The Great Eastern Railway Line, which opened in 1883,
brought many Victorians to the North Norfolk coast -
including Clement Scott. Scott, who was a theatre critic
and writer, helped to popularise the area by referring
to it as 'Poppyland'.
The Sheringham to Holt section of the line was closed
during the Beeching closures of the 1960s - but was
reopened by volunteers in 1975. It is now
commonly known as 'The Poppy Line' - although poppies
are less evident these days due to the use of modern herbicides.
Sheringham was also the childhood home of Allan Smethurst
- aka the Singing Postman.
Humphry Repton - the landscape gardener - designed
Sheringham Hall Park and described it as his 'favourite and
darling child in Norfolk'.
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Supported
by Norfolk Tourism