Ashmolean Museum: British Archaeology Collections - Rationalisation and Enhancement Project - Collections

Medieval Collections : Dunwich, Suffolk

Dunwich, located on the coast of Suffolk, was a thriving medieval port of some importance in the twefth century, but over time has succumbed to coastal erosion. It had fine merchant houses and boasted several churches and three monastic establishments, including a leper hospital.

During the thirteenth century high spring tides swamped the town and silted up the harbour at the mouth of the River Blyth. The river is now merely a small stream. The people of Dunwich dug out the harbour and the town traded once again. Eventually the storms and further silting resulted in the shipping trade and its revenue moving to Walberswick. This was the beginning of the decline of Dunwich.

The churches were eventually abandoned; the last one in 1778. One buttress from the huge church of All Saints was moved and rebuilt in St James's churchyard, as a memorial to all that had been lost. An old postcard dating to 1904 shows All Saints as a large ruin on the edge of the cliff, but by 1919 all that was left was the buttress.

The sea has continued to take its toll and all that is left now are a few houses, a teashop and public house and an interesting museum, which has a model showing the town in the twelfth century and outlines the coastline as it was in the various centuries since then.

The Ashmolean Museum has a collection of artefacts from Dunwich dating to the medieval period. These form part of the John Evans collection and were found in the 1860s and 1870s.

the cliffs at Dunwich