Dunwich is the iconic lost city ‘Atlantis of Suffolk’.
In the Roman period the shoreline was at least 2,000 metres further out.
In the early Middle Ages the town was one of the largest in England, and its outer walls stood nearly two miles beyond the present shoreline. It was a key economic and religious centre for the whole area as far as the Fens, including Aldeburgh.
Since then coastal erosion, and particularly several huge storms in the late 1200s and early 1300s.
The town’s slow death began in 1286 when a three-day storm which started on New Year’s Eve wrecked much of the settlement and blocked the river mouth.
Further storms silted up what had been an international port, destroying the town’s prosperity, and the erosion of the coastline was remorseless.
As recently as 1736 All Saints was a handsome church with a tall tower: By 1912 only the ruined tower remained teetering on the edge of the cliff,
Now nothing remains on dry land of the old town except the old Greyfriars Priory and a solitary gravestone survive of the old town and the cliff view of the sea that submerged the town shown in the Feature image above..
Replaced by large houses and tourism. And National Trust.
This is the location project I have worked on least so far. Visits from April onwards when campsite opens – a very convenient location for much needed family breaks away from Cambridge. Linked to Aldeburgh and Sizewell.
The main focus of this project will be a semi-documentary video looking at mixes of past, present and future time, combining my photographs and video with You Tube audio mix of enthusiastic ghost hunters, Sizewell radiation leak monitors and people just there for the bracing walk along the beach. Drawing on:
- discussions of the ‘weird and eerie’ from Mark Fisher, HP Lovecraft’s US Dunwich horror story and others who have worked on East Anglia ghost stories
- historical accounts of Dunwich from Celia Feines, Daniel Defoe and Sebald.
- evocative video footage on the shingle coast and Sizewell of Alan Scovell
- current accounts of Dunwich in the local museum – echoing the project on the ‘Lakeland Futures’ on the Mining Museum in Threlkeld, Lake District
I have many more photographs. Further visits 2022, including the museum, will probably identify further issues of interest. Possibly a draft textured history from the priory and leper chapel along the lines of ‘Moot Tales’ from Aldeburgh and/or draft work about the wood to link with Bramblefield and Hagg Wood.
Ghosts of Dunwich: video
Ghost hunter videos. And hunters for Sizewell radiation.
Alan Scovell.
