The Past Historic land and seascapes, Reclamations and Realignments The Wash landscape reflects the history, settlement patterns and most importantly the local communities of The Wash - they have helped over the centuries to shape the land as it appears today. The historic environment comprises all past traces of human existence. It includes evidence of past environments, archaeological sites, historic buildings and the historic aspects of the wider landscape. These assets are unique and, once damaged or destroyed, cannot recover or be re-created. They are of value as repositories of evidence of human activity over millennia; for their contribution to landscape character, sense of place and community identity; and as economic assets which underpin leisure and tourism. In its current form, The Wash is an embayment of the North Sea, which has been progressively submerged by rising sea level over the last 10-12000 years. Offshore there are submerged peat and land surfaces, with associated human artefacts. The submerged sediments are basically continuous with the reclaimed areas of the fens, although in places early deposits have been eroded by deep channels. It is likely that many historic wrecks are preserved beneath the seabed, but these remain undiscovered due to the shifting nature of the sands and mud of The Wash. The Wash and its hinterland are made up of many metres of sediments that have been gradually deposited since Mesolithic times (from around 5400 BC) due to a combination of estuarine and freshwater conditions reflecting periodic sea level rise and fall across the original dry, wooded basin landscape. Across and within the deposits of the fens lies a record of human history, showing evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman habitation, industry and communications. Archaeological treasures include: pottery, flints and ceremonial monuments of Neolithic age (4500-2000 BC) and Bronze Age field systems, settlements and round burial barrows. During the Iron Age a salt production industry developed around The Wash. There is still evidence today of both the Car Dyke and the Fen Causeway which were built by the Romans, who were also responsible for extensively cultivating the fens. There is evidence of renewed colonisation of the fens from the Middle Saxon period (from around 650 AD).  The earliest sea defence  – The Sea Bank is thought to be of Late Saxon date.  By the Middle Ages the wetland resources of the fens were widely utilised and were a centre of productivity for fishing, wildfowling, grazing, peat extraction and salt production. Land reclamation has occurred for centuries in The Wash region:      Romans, Saxons and Danes all built banks to either provide shelter for villages and/or for grazing  cattle      Communal based large reclamations occurred in the 13th century. For example, an agreement was made in 1286 that led to a bank with drainage gutters and sluices being made between Holbeach and Whaplode      A series of storms and flooding events then slowed the process of reclamation for several centuries with a battle between man, land and sea being continually fought      Saltmarsh in The Wash in the early 1600s was up to 3 miles wide      In 1632 a Dutch engineer began the first really large reclamation e.g. 1,120 acres at Tydd St Mary on the Nene estuary      By 1660 in the Gedney to Moulton region over 17,374 acres had been reclaimed The last major reclamations in The Wash occurred in the 1970s and 1980s including land at Freiston on the north west of The Wash. The flood defence bank protecting this land was under direct wave attack and it was proving difficult and costly to maintain the flood defence. So an old defence landward side of the original bank was raised and strengthened. The outer bank was then breached. This is known as 'managed realignment.' The land is developing into saltmarsh which is a valuable wildlife habitat and will act as a natural sea defence by weakening wave action. Last year glasswort (samphire) covered the realigned area. The area is now being managed as a nature reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Historic Buildings There are many historic buildings and churches situated around The Wash, and some in it such as the lost medieval church of Skegness. This represents the importance of the area in past times to traders, believers, millers, farmers and the communities at large. They also provide evidence that the area was a once rich and powerful part of England – some may argue it still is. The following accounts just provide a taster of what buildings of interest are out there… Clock Tower, Skegness – Architect Edmund Winter of Liverpool designed the 56-feet Clock Tower. It was built by W.H. Parker & Son of Boston and unveiled by the Countess of Scarborough in August of 1899. This significant landmark of the seafront promenade commemorates Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubliee and cost £550 through public subscription. It still stands at the sea end of Lumley Road in the middle of a roundabout and the locals gather there twice a year for the turning on of the illuminations and at the turning of New Year where much dancing in fancy dress occurs around the tower. Magdalen College, Wainfleet – education prospered as the wealth of the area grew which in general related to the growth in trading that began in about the thirteenth century. The name of the on school house in Wainfleet relates to its connections with Magdalen College in Oxford. William of Waynflete (William Patten), Lord Chancellor of England and bishop of Winchester, founded the school in 1460 and ensure there was an income from the revenues of Magdalen College supporting it. He was also founder for some other prestigious national colleges; Winchester and Eton. The grammar school remained functional as a school until 1933. Through various grants the building has been restored and now functions as the local library and as a museum.   The Stump (St. Botolph’s Church), Boston – Completed in 1460 this town church dominates views for many a mile, being seen on a clear day from Lincoln and the Norfolk side of The Wash. The steeple reaches 272 feet which is crowned by an octagonal lantern that used to be lit at night as a beacon for ships heading towards the port of Boston. An example of the wealth the area had known in the hay-days of the wool trade. STILL TO COME: Moulton Mill, Moulton Greyfriar’s Tower, King Lynn Castle Rising, near King’s Lynn A blast from the past Past plans for The Wash have included many a grand scheme based on various reclamation or damning techniques, of which a few are covered below:      1751: turning the four main estuaries into two so a road could link Boston directly to Lynn. The proposal suggested cutting channels so that the Nene flowed into the Ouse which would then come out at Snettisham in Norfolk, and that the Welland flowed into the Witham which will come out at Wrangle. This would then allow the original estuaries to silt up providing 100,000 acres where a road could be built. It never happened – too costly I would imagine.            1839: to create Victoria county by channelling all of the four main rivers into one outfall in the middle of The Wash. The area behind would then gradual backfill to create ‘new land’ of 150,000 acres.            1929-30: The Wash Speedway was the conception of the Automobile Racing Association to construct a racing track, motorboat waterway, aerodrome, golf course, sand yaching course, stands for the public, etc, etc - where speed trials could be undertaken. It would have been England’s answer to Daytona Beach in the USA. The construction would have been from Gibraltar Point to Clay Hole near the mouth of the Witham protected from the sea by a 20-feet bank. The track would have been made of a substance that would be of no harm to fish and water, and the parking facility for 50,000 vehicles!! The technical feasibility of it all was not the reason it did not occur but the question of compensating the frontagers and the local fishermen, and the general lack of money in the 1930s for such a costly scheme.            1949 and 1966: to build a barrage across the mouth to form a freshwater reservoir and Europort. One sceptic of this idea pointed out it would end up the ‘world’s largest cesspool’ due to sewage outflow into The Wash. The latter date the barrage was porposed further into The Wash and would allow for a city with an airport to be built!            1972: a feasibility study commissioned by the Government to build a barrage across half of The Wash to capture the freshwater from the four main rivers, to improve navigation through sea locks, to provide recreational facilities and an area of land for a power station, etc. was undertaken. This led to the circular trial bank/bund being built to the east of Sutton Bridge and the Nene. The purpose of which was to act as reservoirs but the report concluded it would be too costly.       To borrow D. C. Stavely and D. Robinson’s words, “If such futuristic dreams were conceivable, the expenditure of ‘your and my gold’ would vastly exceed the amount of King John’s treasure, even allowing for 800 years of inflation.”