Sands of Time: The Norfolk Coastal Survey
In 2001 English Heritage commissioned the Norfolk Archaeological Unit to carry out a Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey of the Norfolk coast. Once methodologies and timetables had been agreed, preparation for the fieldwork began early in 2004. Every landowner, land manager and leaseholder along the 100 or so miles of the Norfolk inter-tidal zone was contacted. All were supportive and all agreed to allow access to their land. Special agreements were secured with English Nature, the RSPB and the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and promises were made not to visit sensitive wildlife sites during the bird-breeding season. Records of known archaeological sites were consulted, including the Norfolk Historic Environment Record (NHER) and the work of the Norfolk National Mapping Programme on aerial photographs. Safety equipment, including portable mini-flares and a VHF Marine radio, was bought.
Fieldwork took place between May and December 2004 and during 110 days, three team members surveyed the entire length of the Norfolk coast. Every beach, cliff face, and saltmarsh was visited, as were Norfolk’s two major estuaries (the River Great Ouse and Breydon Water). The beaches were surveyed using parallel linear transects, with adjacent cliff faces often treated as one transect. Before survey work began it was thought trying to walk transects through the saltmarshes would be dangerous, with hidden hollows, creeks and soft ground providing hazardous obstacles. On the first day in the saltmarshes transects were walked to test1 this theory. Unsurprisingly, it was found to be valid and all subsequent areas of saltmarshes were examined from sea banks, creek edges and bases and footpaths. As the sloping banks and bases of the estuaries were very soft and could not be walked on, they were also surveyed from sea banks and footpaths.
To ensure the greatest amount of the inter-tidal zone was visible, survey work was carried out in the few hours either side of low tide. As the time of low tides varied considerably throughout the summer and autumn work hours were variable. Lots of early mornings, often followed by late evenings, played havoc with all the team’s body clocks - seeing stunning landscapes, sunrises and sunsets made up for any sleep problems though!
In theory, working around low tide should have meant that the greatest amount of archaeology was visible. At many places this was the case, with visibility good and sites, features and/or finds relatively easy to find. However, factors such as poor weather conditions, sediment deposition and cliff falls meant that at some locations archaeology was concealed from the team. As the project allowed for each stretch of beach, saltmarsh or estuary to be visited once only, the results represent a snapshot of the sites present on the Norfolk coast.
Written, drawn and photographic records were made of all the archaeological sites encountered. An assessment of effect of coastal processes on each was made, along with judgements about condition, vulnerability and potential. All were then located on an Ordnance Survey map using a hand-held Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) Unit. This had an accuracy of 5m to 10m and provided detailed enough co-ordinates to allow each site to be relocated in the future.
The survey team recorded over 1000 archaeological structures, findspots, monuments and other features of potential interest. Of these, 104 were already recorded on the NHER and the information collected is useful as monitoring and management data. For 272 new NHER records were created. These are very important additions to Norfolk’s 500 or so previously recorded inter-tidal sites.
The earliest find recovered was a crested blade from Titchwell beach. Since the 1970s numerous Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic flint artefacts have been collected from the inter-tidal zone at Titchwell and in 1986 13 worked flints were found in-situ on a land surface dating to c.10000 to 8000 BP. At this time, the coast would have been 60-70km further to the north than today, with much of the North Sea a wide, open plain. The Coastal Survey artefact compares favourably with those collected previously and it may have originally come from the relict land surface (although this was concealed by the sea at the time of the survey).
Neolithic and Bronze Age flint artefacts were found at a number of locations all along the Norfolk coast. Perhaps the most interesting is proving to be the most enigmatic. This is a hand-axe, which was found loose on a cliff face at Hopton-on-Sea. Initially the survey team thought it was Palaeolithic in date, but once it went to specialists it became apparent it was not. Not only was it discovered at levels stratigraphically higher than Palaeolithic deposits, but it is very fresh in appearance and has not been damaged by time in Palaeolithic gravels. At the moment, it is thought either to be a Neolithic axe rough-out or the work of a modern flint knapper.
The only evidence of Roman activity was a part of a 1st or 2nd-century AD copper alloy bracelet discovered on a cliff face at Weybourne. The team had hoped to find evidence associated with the shore forts at Brancaster, Caister-on-Sea and Burgh Castle but did not, possibly due to changes in sea level and coastline since the Roman period. As the Essex and Suffolk Coastal Survey’s recorded red-hills, it was thought the Norfolk survey would. Unfortunately, none of these salt-making sites (where deposits were scorched red during the heating of salt-water) were found.
Saxon and medieval sites also proved elusive. Two as yet undated alignments of timber posts found near Brancaster could be Saxon fish-traps, similar to examples found in the Blackwater estuary in Essex. However, they could easily be post-medieval structures associated with shellfish farming. Features associated with a deserted medieval village at Eccles were excavated in the 1980s. Unfortunately during the survey any surviving archaeology associated with these was buried by at least 2m of sand.
The majority of the sites encountered were post-medieval in date and many of these were associated with Norfolk’s small coastal ports. During the post-medieval period ports at Brancaster, Burnham Overy, Wells-next-the-Sea, Blakeney and Cley-next-the-Sea thrived, with successful fishing industries, commercial shellfishing and coastal and international trade providing economic prosperity. Harbour facilities, such as timber quays, jetties and revetments were recorded at many of the ports. Although most are undated at present, at least one quay and jetty structure at Wells-next-the-Sea appears on a map dated 1782. A piece of 17th or 18th-century North Italian slipware was found close to a nearby quay and could provide a date for its use.
Two groups of timber-lined pits were recorded close to Brancaster harbour. These were used for storing shellfish after they had been collected from nearby saltmarsh creeks and before they were taken to markets. The pit groups are marked on an Ordnance Survey map from 1906 as ‘mussel pits’.
Post-medieval wrecks were encountered at locations all around the coast. Some were definitely sea-going vessels and could have been used in coastal and international trade. Others were smaller and may just have been used to travel short distances along the coast or saltmarsh creeks. The many individual wreck timbers found loose on the north coast beaches are testament to the many wrecks that are not presently visible, either because they are buried, offshore or have been destroyed by the sea.
During the late 17th century and early 18th century many large coastal landowners were keen to acquire more land by draining saltmarshes. To do so, large stretches of sea defence banks were built. Post-medieval examples were recorded throughout Norfolk’s saltmarshes. Perhaps the most visually dramatic was one north of Wells-next-the-Sea harbour. A saltmarsh creek cut straight through it, revealing its internal timber and flint super-structure.
In the early 1950s a set of earthworks in saltmarshes north of Cley-next-the-Sea were recorded. It was suggested that these were ‘Black Joy forte’, an Armada defence shown on a map of 1588. After the east coast floods of 1953, it was thought the earthworks had been destroyed. The survey team re-discovered the earthworks and re-opened the possibility that a 16th-century fort may still exist on the Norfolk coast. Other 16th-century defences, such as at Great Yarmouth and Weybourne, are known to have existed, but none are thought to survive.
One First World War pillbox was monitored, as were over forty Second World War examples. Other Second World War anti-invasion defences were encountered and included four coastal batteries, numerous anti-tank blocks, spigot mortar emplacements, remains of beach scaffolding and pieces of barbed wire. The majority of the sites had been recorded during the Defence of Britain project (BA 65, June 2002).
The results of the Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey have proved it an incredibly valuable exercise. Alongside the information gathered from Dorset, the Isles of Scilly, Kent, Essex and Suffolk, the survey contributes to a broad overview of inter-tidal archaeology in southern and eastern England. The results will inform management decisions made at local, regional and national levels. The techniques used were based on those employed by the earlier surveys and team members will feed into on-going debates concerning rapid survey methodologies. A report has been submitted to English Heritage and selected follow-up work is planned. The plans include more detailed recording and radiocarbon dating of specific sites and work to raise the public profile of Norfolk’s valuable coastal archaeology.
David Robertson was formerly a Project Manager with the Norfolk Archaeological Unit, for whom he managed the Norfolk Rapid Coastal Zone Archaeological Survey. He now works for Norfolk Landscape Archaeology as team leader on the Norfolk Heritage Explorer project.
July 2005
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