Winterton-on-Sea

Winterton lies on the Norfolk coast between Hemsby and Horsey. The village is dominated by the tower of Holy Trinity Church which rises to the height of 132 feet. Winterton has a long history as a sea-faring and fishing village and also lies on a notoriously dangerous stretch of coast. The churchyard of Holy Trinity is littered with the graves of sailors who died at sea - and inside there is a Fisherman's Corner established by the Rev. Clarence Porter who, himself, drowned while attempting to save a choir boy.

Holy Trinity Church, Winterton

Winterton Ness
 

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)

In his A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724-6) Daniel Defoe was well aware of Winterton's reputation and wrote:
 

Daniel Defoe

It is no coincidence, then, that it is also at Winterton that Robinson Crusoe experiences his first shipwreck. Fortunately though he manages to reach the shore in a rowing boat and make his way back to Yarmouth on foot. Robinson Crusoe was first published in 1719 and is widely regarded as the first English novel.
 

Wilkie Collins (1824-1889)

While researching his novel Armadale (1866) - Collins visited Winterton and fell in love with a local girl called Martha Rudd - who later returned to London with him and became his partner.
 

Sam Larner (1878-1965)

The folk singer and fisherman Sam Larner lived in Winterton and there is now a blue plaque on the wall of his former cottage. Sam was discovered in 1956 by a BBC radio producer from Birmingham who recorded 25 of his songs. Sam learnt most of his songs - some of which were a bit risqué - from fishermen he worked with on the drifters. He is best known for Now Is The Time For Fishing. Ewan MacColl also wrote The Shoals of Herring about Larner's life.

Sam Larner's Cottage
 

The novelist Sylvia Townsend Warner visited Winterton frequently staying at the Hill House which was once owned by Valentine Ackland's family. The Hill House is now part of the rather bizarre holiday centre which includes African inspired thatched huts.

The Hill House today

Both Ackland and Townsend Warner wrote poetry inspired by the beach and dunes at Winterton. Here is Ackland on the subject: 'The dandling sea nursed me, the sand was soft and gentle./ Larks sang and I was unwatched for long hours of clear daylight.' The couple later became gay lovers and lived for a time at both Salthouse and Sloley.

Trezza Azzopardi

Winterton also provided the setting for Trezza Azzopardi's novel Winterton Blue. The two main characters in the book make separate journeys to the village looking for solutions to their problems.

Edwin Brock

There is a moving poem by Brock entitled Winterton:
 

A few memories remain:
the seal pup
dragging its wound up the beach
showing a ripped belly
and crying for help;
terns dive-bombing
the air above their nests;
the flotsam fox
bitten and chewed
scourged and scraped
but still recognisable

and always the grey North Sea
disappearing into a grey sky.

Beachcombing between the season's
limbs to discover
loneliness

or coming off the frost-crisp dunes
rejoicing in ownership.

Sixty-eight years should burst
the walls of a skull with this;
but mostly it drifts
like fine sand, or bangs
against the groynes whenever
the wind blows towards the land.

Links:

Holy Trinity Church

Sam Larner

Sylvia Townsend Warner