A LOST CITY OF EAST ANGLIA.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10596, 14 September 1896, Page 3

A LOST CITY OF EAST ANGLIA.

There are few sections of the British coast line which have been subjected to greater change and devastation than that of East Anglia, lying • between Aldeburgh and Lynn. Century after century the tea has' slowly but Surely .gained'its victories over the land, and to-day it carries on the siege with unbating energy. It is an unequal war, for the tea hag every advantage on its side. The East Anglian shores offer but' a frail barrier against the swinging North Sea rollers; offcau nothing bat a narrow ridge .of marram-grbwii^li'iUocka 6J drifted Sand lies between the fretting beach surf and the W-ljing march land, gtretobing inland for many miles. Already the ocean bed off Norfolk and Suffolk is strewn with the ruins ot villages, towns, and even cities that once were conspicuous landmarks of the coast, and fitted out many ships'to fight their country's battles'in England's early wars. Here tuid there, on the lonely cliff brow, tbete yet remains tome grey old church that could contain within its wall, the people of a score adjoining hamlets;; standing, often, far from cottage or homestead, it gives silent evidence of the ravage and desolation which have been wrought along the shore. . Betweeu South weld and Aldeburgh, on the Suffolk'coast, in an bnt-of-the-way corner of the county where the shriek and roar of the railway are as yet unheard, is a eparselypopitlated village ot about two score cottages, all that now remains of Dunwich, the old-time seat of government and capital of East Anglia, Once the largest and most flourishing city in Eastern England,, the residence of kings, the see of'a bishop, _ seat of learning, and a port : 'of censiderable trade, now its glory has. departed, its palaceßi churches, monasteries, streets, and markets have disappeared beneath the waves. Foe although many circumstances combined to make Dunwich an important centre, it was from the first doomed to ultimate downfall by it. physical Borrouadings, Before the Norman Conquest the sea had commenced its work of devastation, nor did it cosse its siege when the ruin of the great city was accomplished. ' : •-■■'■ There are grounds for belief that the old city of Dunwich stood on the site of a settlement of the Roman legions who conquered the Iceni and their queen, Boa'diceß. Lat«r on; when the Saxon adventurers landed on the East coast, Uffa, in 575, assumed the title of King oi the East Angles. Whether he made Dunwich his head-quarters is uncertain; bat we know that 50 years later Sigebert restored Chrfetianit _■ to the district by bringing Felix,' a Burguodian bishop, to the capital, who made it bis episcopal sac. JSubsoqueut to the Norm an invasion, it increased rapidly in population'and" prosperity. Ot the ii__>orta_ce of tha _Hace ia the time of Richard I. some idea may be'gained from the fact that it was fined 1000 marks for unlawful!}' supplying the King's euemies witll "corn, while Ipswicn and Yarmouth, now two of the three principal towns in E»st Anglia, were only ordered to pay t¥e sum of 200 iuurks each. lv j 4 the reign of Henry II "it becniae a demeiin'eof the Crown, and was a town of good note, abounding in much riches and sundry kinds 6E merchandises." At the beginuing J of his reigii King John granted a charter of liberties' to the town, by which its inh-bitsnts were' allowed t!> marry their sons and daughters as they pleased, and to give, sell, or dispose of their property as they thought fit. Uuder. this same charter, which cost the men of Duuwich 300 m&rks.'lO.falcons, and five gerfalcons, they were granted all "wrecks of these*." ;'■.-' About this time Dunwich was probably at the*height of its prosperity, and is described us a large city with many roads, streets, public buildings, and churches. Tbe greater part of it Stood upon a hill, the base of whioh was washed by the sea. Its town ball was an imposing building; its port was covered with shipping. In addition to numerous churchet, it had monasteries of the Franciscan and Dominican friars, each with its own church. In the reign of Edward I Dunwich sent two members to Parliament and continued to have its own representatives at Westminster until it was disfranchised by the Reform Act of 1832.. Ib had ll ships-of-war, 16 fair 'ships, and 20 barques, or vessels trading to the North Sea and.lceland. In the twentyfoarth year of the same king's reigu, it equipped 11 of the 60 ships: fitted out by the English people to assist their ruler sgainst the French. One historian relates that wnile Dunwich was the capital of East Anglia "strong walls and brazen gates enclosed a king's cbnrt, a bishop's palace, a mayor's mantion, 52 churches, and as many windmills, together with a spacious harbour in -which were ships as numerous as the churches." His figures in reference to the churches are undoubtedly exaggerated, but mention is made in local reeordß of a dozen different churches and three chantries. All this time, however, the sea was carrying on a ceaseless and irresistible siege of the coast. Each Bueceeding winter saw fresh breaches made in the sand-dunes between the beach'and j the marshes, and. frequent falls from the crumbling cliffs. On the night of January 1, 1286, a violent storm wrought great havoc upon the borders of the.town. The sea made extensive encroachments, ' and several churches were submerged. . Daring the next 20 years more than 400 houses, collapsed; later on the church of St. Leonard disappeared, and before the end of the century two other churches were undermined by the waves. St. John tbe Baptist's was the next to go, to be followed before the year 1600 by the chantries ] of St. Anthony, St. Francis, and Sb. Catherine, j By this time two of. the city gates—the South Gate and the Goldou Gate—had been wnfibed away, and only about a quarter of tha old town was lift xtandiug. Tho church and buildings ot the Knights-Templars, disappeared during the reigc of Charles I, and in 1677 tha soa reached the market place, when the tonntmen sold the materials of the old cross. At the beginning of the eighteenth century the gaol .fell a prey to the sea,.which in 1729 destroyed the last traces of the churchyard of St. Peter's, the church having previously fallen over the cliff. ■ : . .■ Of later-wrought destruction, we read that "in 1740 the wind, blowing very hard from the north-east, and continuing for several days, occasioned terrible devastation's; for a great part of the cliffs was washed away, with the remains of St. Nicholas's churchyard, as also a great road leading to the town. King's Holm, otherwise called Leonard's Marsh, was laid under water. Several foundations were uncovered, also pipe? of an ancient aqueduct. In the following year, when a trench was dug to drain the marshes, several gold ooins and curiosities were discovered." The collapse of the town hall and other pnblic buildings practically completed the ruin of the old town,. To-day, of its abbeys and churches, streets and markets, mills and houses, all that remain are the iyy-elad rains of Grey Friarg, the old Franciscan monastery^ the crumbling walls of AH Saints' Church,, and a few sosttered cottages. The church stands on the brow of the cliff, overlooking the ocean which has swallowod up the homes and been the graves of co many of its worshippers. Bare and roofless, buffeted by the sea winds, and with tbe dirge of the waves drawing mournful echoes from it« grey old walls.it awaits tho fate of the city which, like Babylon, has fallen. . . Such calamity ai has befallen Dulwich has overtaken many other places along the east coast. Lines of surf-swept shoals lying off the shore mark the sit«s of vanished towns and hamlets, and dense woodlands where the ancient Briton hid from the Roman invader. The sea's siege is still carried on—old landmarks are year by year disappearing.; cliffs, and sandhill bßrriers are being undermined and swept away. Here and thers; nothing but a.fragile bank keeps out the flooding tide from - the marshland. Who, ahull say what fntnre years will see P—Pall Mall Gazette. — A curious incident occurred afc St. Wilfrid's ■Catholic: Church, Blyth. on _" recent Sunday. The Pvev. J. B. Mac-inlay was delivering his sermon, in the course of which he took occasion to give' an eloquent description of the natural perfection and beauty of a bird, and as he concluded with the phrase, "Tliiu is a,bird!!' there immediately flew in from the trindqw: a perky sparrow, which at once became the cynosure of all eyes as it flew round the churon chirruping loudly.—Shields Daily Gazstte: . ' " ' — What is probibly the largest vein pi coal in the world occurs at the stripping* near Shenandoah, Pa. It is 50ft thick, and so near Mie surface that it i» simply quarried like stone. 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