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In the Anglo-Saxon period, Dunwich was the capital of the Kingdom of the East Angles, but the harbour and most of the town have since disappeared due to coastal erosion. At its height it was an international port similar in size to 14th century London. Its decline began in 1286 when a storm surge hit the East Anglian coast, followed by a great storm in 1287 and another great storm, also in 1287, until it eventually shrank to the village it is today. Dunwich is possibly connected with the lost Anglo-Saxon placename Dommoc.
Since the 15th century, Dunwich has frequently been identified with Dommoc – the original seat of the Anglo-Saxon bishops of the Kingdom of East Anglia established by Sigeberht of East Anglia for Saint Felix in c. 629–31. Dommoc was the seat of the bishops of Dommoc until around 870, when the East Anglian kingdom was taken over by the initially pagan Danes. Years later, antiquarians would even describe Dunwich as being the "former capital of East Anglia". However, many historians now prefer to locate Dommoc at Walton Castle, which was the site of a Saxon shore fort.
The Domesday Book of 1086 describes it as possessing three churches. At that time it had an estimated population of 3,000.
We set off and walk down Beach Road and into St James Street passing The Ship Pub.
A little further on we pass the Dunwich Museum but was shut until 1130am so maybe I'll pop in another time if I am back.
We reach St James Church, now having read a bit about it, I wished we took the time for a quick visit rather than walk by.
On the site of the leper hospital, the original church looked quite different to the one you see today. Built in 1832, it was in white brick with a round tower and cupola and certainly not to the taste of the village’s great benefactor Frederick Barne who thought only a Gothic church was fit for worship. By 1881 he had clad the walls in flint, had the tower made square, and added a new roof, chancel and windows.
The churchyard alone is worth a visit if only for the enigmatic ruins of the 12th century chapel of the Leper Hospital. You can see how the hospital might have looked in the Middle Ages. Also standing in the churchyard is the buttress of All Saints, the last medieval church in Dunwich, its remains finally disappearing over the cliff in November 1919 to join seven other churches engulfed by the sea.
We walk onto Westeton Road where we take a footpath.
We are now walking beside Dunwich Forest.
Dunwich Forest is currently undergoing a process of 'rewilding', with a long term plan to recreate and regenerate the natural landscape that existed prior to the conifer plantations.
We miss where the path changes direction and walk through someones large garden, hes shows us the way back to the path without having to backtrack on ourselves.
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We are now walking across Point Marsh.
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| A Tall Ship ot at Sea. |
We join Old Town Marsh.
We are now approaching Westwood Marshes Mill.
Westwood Marshes Mill was built in the late 18th century, possibly in 1798. It was worked by wind until 1940 and then damaged when used for target practice during World War II. The mill was repaired in the 1950s but in October 1960 it was burnt out in an arson attack. It remains standing in a derelict state.
We cross over a creek and we are nearly in Walberswick now.
We are now following the Beach into Walberswick on The South Coastal Path.
The village of Walberswick has a long sand and shingle beach backed back grassy dunes and surrounded by marsh and heathland.
We come to Walberswick Campsite right on the beach, no facilities such as Showers or Toilets but what a site. Listening to the sea as you drift off to sea, sounds bliss. The site is booked through http://www.hawwoodfarm.co.uk/about-us/walberswick-beach-campsite/
In front of the campsite are privately owned beach huts. One up for sale for £14,500. They can be rented here.. https://www.beach-huts.com/beach-huts-for-rent-county-suffolk.php
A little further on we see a Seal pup seemingly stranded on the beach,a nearby man told us he has called Seal rescue.
With a little encouragement from Pete and I, he managed to get himself back in the sea after much effort.
Here he is finally back to safety.
We walk into Walberswick with views across the other side in Southwold.
Coastal erosion and the shifting of the mouth of the River Blyth meant that the neighbouring town of Dunwich, 3 miles (4.8 km) to the south, was lost as a port in the last years of the 13th century. Following a brief period of rivalry and dispute with Dunwich, Walberswick became a major trading port from the 13th century until World War I. Almost half of the properties in the village are holiday homes.
The name Walberswick is believed to derive from the Saxon Waldbert – probably a landowner – and "wyc" meaning shelter or harbour. At the top of the village is the 15th-century St Andrew's Church, which has been reduced in size since its medieval heyday. The size of the remaining St Andrew's ruins demonstrate how large the parish church once was.
The name 'Walleburyswyke', appearing in a Latin legal record, dated 1440, may refer to the village.
The Nature Reserve, which follows the River Blyth estuary, covers over 1,000 acres, combining mudflats, meadows and marsh. It is home to otters, deer and a wide range of bird species.
Walberswick is the self-appointed capital of crabbing: the World Open Championships are held here every August, when the village is packed full of hopefuls bearing crab lines dangling bacon. Or you could just take along a bucket and a crab net for hours of fun.
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| Walberwick was full of kids crabbing today. |
We stopped on a bench to eat our lunch just watching the beautiful place, and the ferry run back and forth.
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| View across to Southwold Lighthouse. |
WALBERSWICK FERRY
Link here
Traditional rowing boat service operating across the River Blyth from Southwold to Walberswick in Suffolk.
Our wooden rowing boats are based on the Suffolk punt design and carry up to 12 passengers at a time. Occasionally our motor launch will be used as a ferry if conditions are unsuitable for rowing.
1st July until 27th September Daily 10-5
27th September until 25th October weekends only 10-5
26th October until 31st October Daily 10-4
31st October until 19th December weekends only 10-3 weather permitting
Christmas Opening-19th December until 3rd January Everyday except Christmas Day and Boxing Day 11-3 weather permitting. There will be a special guest driving the boat on the 23rd and 24th December.
We run on demand so will just take you across when you turn up, no need to book.
Prices
Adults £2
Children under 18 £1
Under 5's free
Bikes £2
Dogs welcome
Buggies and pushchairs welcome too
These times can change occasionally due to extreme weather and tide conditions.
We walked on a little further where we stopped in the garden at The Bell Inn , where Pete and I had a pint of Adnams Jack Brands Mosaic ale and Dan a pint of Adnams Kobold lager.
We left and made our way back to the beach, hoping the tide is now right to have exposed some sand below the shingle so we can walk back along the beach without trudging through heavy going shingle.
As we walk along the weather changes dramatically, Met Office said this wasn't until at least another 2 hours.
We wait for 15 minutes whilst Pete tried to put on a pair of waterproof trousers, it was like he has never dressed himself, funny to watch !!
We wait for 15 minutes whilst Pete tried to put on a pair of waterproof trousers, it was like he has never dressed himself, funny to watch !!
Now it was head down and march on back to Dunwich.
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| Sizewell Nuclear power Station in the distance. |
Sizewell B is a nuclear power station on the Suffolk coast. It is the UK’s only Pressurised Water Reactor.
Station Director: Jon Yates
Reactor type: 1 Pressurised Water Reactor
Total supply to the national grid: 1198 MW
Start of construction: 1988
Start of generation: 1995
Estimated decommissioning date: 2035
People: Approximately 520 full time EDF Energy employees plus over 250 full time contract partners.
We reach Dunwich, I drop my bag in the car and we walk off to see the Friary. Sadly the weather is too bad now for me to swim, wish I had swam first when the weather was better, but now the sea is too rough!
We walk down Beach Road and take a footpath up the cliff to Greyfriars.
We walk down Beach Road and take a footpath up the cliff to Greyfriars.
Greyfriars, Dunwich .
The friary was founded before 1277 by Richard FitzJohn and his wife Alice and dissolved in 1538. The original site, which had 20 friars in 1277 when it first appears in records, was threatened by coastal erosion and the friary was moved inland in 1289.
Many of the buildings are believed to have been destroyed on dissolution, with the remains used as a house, a town hall and a jail at various times. Modern remains consist of a precinct wall, two gatehouses and some two-storey walls believed to be the remains of a cloister building, possibly a refectory or infirmary building.
The site was partly excavated in the 1930s and 1990s, with geophysical surveys being carried out on the site. The site was surveyed in 2011 as part of a dig by archaeological television programme Time Team. A geophysical survey using ground-penetrating radar confirmed a range of wall features and other anomalies in the precinct and trenches uncovered carved medieval stonework and medieval window glass fragments. Geophysical surveys suggest that the friary church may have been up to 60 metres in length.
Some restoration work was carried out in 2008, including the strengthening of some buildings and repair of collapsed section of the precinct wall. The site was then placed on the Heritage at Risk Register, leading to a £250,000 restoration project in 2012 by English Heritage and Suffolk County Council. The management of the site was taken over by a local voluntary group, the Dunwich Greyfriars Trust, in October 2013.The transfer occurred after budget cuts by the county council meant that the running costs would no longer be met by the council.The remains are classified as a Grade II* listed building and most of the site as a Scheduled Monument.
The monastery was established by Franciscan monks, who first came to Dunwich in the 1250s and set up a monastic house near the harbour. A massive storm, on New Year's Eve in 1286, destroyed their building, along with much of the harbour facilities and many homes in the lower part of the town. The monks were then given land just outside the old town boundary to the west, half a mile from the sea, and started building the monastery whose remains you see today.
We do not know how many friars lived here, though it was probably a substantial community in the early years. Monasticism as a whole declined through the 15th century, and with Dunwich itself much impoverished after the destruction of the port, it is likely that only a handful of friars remained here by the time of the Dissolution in 1539. The site passed initially into the ownership of Richard Ingworth, Bishop of Dover, who had been Thomas Cromwell's chief lieutenant in dissolving all the friaries in England. All of the valuable items were removed, most of the stone (a scarce commodity in East Anglia), and the lead from the church roof, and the land turned over to agriculture. When the Downing family bought into the village in 1720 little more had survived than now remains. However the Downings used the structure as the basis for their own building, called The Place, and built a brick façade on the east face. This was successively used as a home, the Town Hall and a jail. The Barne family replaced the Downings in 1807 and demolished all the accretions of the previous century, leaving the central ruins much as they are now. They built a small stable block on the edge of the site, and rebuilt a substantial part of the south perimeter wall - this work is obvious, being in strips of flint and brick.
We are ow back at the car at a shade under 9 miles and we drive off home in the rain, a great walk despite the late bad weather!
