Addressing issues provoked by the sea tends to focus on the future implications of climate warming and subsequent erosion. As Geoghegan and Leyson discuss from a climatic change perspective, coasts are identified as having ‘unpredictable futures‘. However, recognition of the historic loss of towns to the sea has been left behind in public conversation. The sea ’embodies historical narrative’ of the human fight against physical coastal processes. The sea is a site that holds information of past communities that have been consumed by the sea, which has helped open a new field of research that can solidify assumptions, as well as advancing mitigation and adaptation strategies. Peter Murphy, an English heritage’s coastal survey expert stated the importance of recording our memory of place in highly vulnerable areas so that knowledge is remembered. The lost city of Dunwich in Suffolk, regularly referred to as Britain’s own Atlantis, has opened a conversation surrounding the relationship between the sea and the historical narrative of loss. As David Whiteley describes, it provides a ‘marvellous history‘ of coastal erosion, folklore and memory.
The disappearance of coastal locations, particularly on the east coast of England, is still prevalent today. Dunwich is located on a destructive coastline on the most easterly point of the UK, defined as a sleepy town with around 120 inhabitants. However, this is far from how it would have been described in the 11th century. Dunwich was the capital of the Saxon Kingdom, the tenth largest city in England, which thrived off the trade that was brought in from its port. However, the majority of this town’s prosperous port is located 30 feet under the waves. The treacherous storm surges that project upon this region are persistent and have caused a plethora of destruction. On the 1st January 1284 Dunwich was hit by a tsunami-sized surge that inundated the land and demolished the harbour. Two subsequent storms in 1285 and 1287 thew the port into demise, followed by the 1362 Saint Marcellu’s flood that altered the geological features of the coastline, destroying 400 houses, permanently changing the course of the river to the sea and draining the economic life out of Dunwich. The transition into the little ice age further intensified erosional processes.
As well as looking at Dunwich from a physical perspective, the human narratives are just as interesting. One of the dominant sources of Suffolk folklore originated from Dunwich in the 12th century, ‘The dark heart of Dunwich’, a story that still haunts the area; the abandonment of a maiden by her lover who made his way to sea, provoked her to cut out her heart and throw it into the sea. However, according to the piece of folklore she was unable to die and still haunts the area, specifically the beach. Another belief is that a wooden heart occasionally washes up on the coast, with the thought that whoever picks it up and keeps it has eternal misfortune. This fable supports the idea that the sea is vital for capturing myth and for creating relationships between the sea and humans. The ancient city was subject to further folklore: until the middle of the 20th century the ‘ringing bells‘ of the churches that had fallen to the seabed were said to be heard, commonly by locals, when the sea was rough. Nevertheless, in the 1970s this myth was disproven through the analysis of historical records, but the hope that the memory of Dunwich lived on beneath the surface continued.
The scientific advancements of conducting sub aqua dives in conjunction with sonar imaging are vital for discovering historical loss when considering the uniqueness of Dunwich as Britain’s own Atlantis. Originally, two projects in 1935 by Ipswich Museum and 1970 by The Suffolk Institute of Archeology and History confined their excavations to land. This was consumed by the idea that links the sea with the concept of out of sight out of mind, however this mindset among historians changed shortly after 1970. Although an exploration that should have been investigated sooner, the quest underwater, through multiple dives started promptly. Despite failing at first, due to the visibility and tidal conditions, the findings that followed were published in the book ‘The search for Dunwich, City under the sea’ in 1979 by Jean and Stuart Bacon.
In 2008 there was a scientific development as Bacon worked in collaboration with Professor David Sear from Southampton University, alongside team members, to further uncover the ancient city. This progress revealed the full extent of the Dunwich remains. The utilisation of sonar technology, whilst drawing upon historical maps, enabled the creation of 3D mapping, which had been undetectable to previous divers. The results of this investigation were vast, it uncovered six new ruins and seventy-four sites of potential architectural interest. The confirmation of the presumption of the boundaries of the city brought historical narratives to life and allowed locals to feel more connected to their ancestors, which were originally seen as fable. Contrary to this, some locals argue against uncovering Dunwich’s past through scientific methods, as accepting ancestral myths passed down throughout generations is more important for maintaining imagination. This can show how the sea is an important actor for telling stories but also for uncovering truth.
Professor Sear summarised the importance of the project’s discoveries as an example of the persistent ‘force of nature’ upon livelihoods and the control that the sea has on the human, even through the implementation of protection strategies. Whilst this can picture the sea as troublesome, it can also highlight how crucial the sea is for holding and restoring memory, whether perceived as fiction or fact. Future scientific advancements have the power to uncover further submerged communities with a plethora of historical narratives to be told.
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