Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Tuesday 23 February 2016

Dunwich


Ever since I first heard its story on television as a small boy I have been interested by the history and fate of Dunwich, the once sizeable Suffolk town which has been inexorably washed away by the North Sea.

Last Monday The Times had a report on the latest survey of the engulfed areas of the town. that I cannot link to, being unavailable without a subscription. However I have found a report on the latest work at http://www.touchingthetide.org.uk/our-projects/underwater-dunwich/ and there is a website devoted to the town and its history at Dunwich - The search for Britain's Atlantis

The Wikipedia article Dunwich is also a useful account, and like the others illustrated.

dunwich map 
The present village and the lost town of Dunwich

Image: dunwich.org


All Saints Church 1736 All Saints Church 1750 All Saints Church 1780 All Saints Church 1903 All Saints Church 1905 All Saints Church 1910 All Saints Church 1912 All Saints Church 1930
The demise of All Saints church Dunwich. The decay and collapse of this the last of the town churches, epitomizes the decay of Dunwich in the late 18th to early 20th centuries. The ruins
attracted the attention of artists (including Turner), writers and poets. The ruins of All Saints now lie covered by the inner sand bank with some exposed in the gully that lies between the beach and the bank.

Image: dunwich.org

Like the lost towns and villages of the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coasts the story of Dunwich is a reminder of how the coastline has changed in historic time.

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