Dunwich, the Town Taken by the Sea
One of medieval England's busiest ports has fallen into the sea, church by church.
What was reported
In the early Middle Ages Dunwich, on the Suffolk coast, was a major port and one of the largest towns in England, with many churches and a busy harbour. Then the sea began to take it. Great storms in the late 1200s and in 1347 swept away buildings and blocked the harbour mouth.
Over the following centuries the cliffs kept falling. The last of its old churches, All Saints, toppled over the cliff edge between 1904 and 1919. Today Dunwich is a small village.
Explanations offered
The town was built on soft sand and gravel cliffs that the North Sea wears away. Divers and sonar surveys have since located the ruins of several churches on the seabed. Local legend says the drowned bells can still be heard ringing beneath the waves.
- When
- Lost from 1286
- Where
- Dunwich, Suffolk, England
- Witnesses
- Medieval records, and divers today
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.