Dunwich Heath
Dunwich
Heath is one of the few areas of coastal lowland heath remaining in eastern
England. It lies on the Suffolk coast, between
Dunwich village and the bird reserve at Minsmere.
Dunwich
today is a pretty coastal village with an attractive shingle beach:
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| Dunwich beach |
Dunwich
is a possible candidate for the location of Dommoc, where St Felix established
the bishopric of the Kingdom of East Anglia under the patronage of King Sigeberht
in the 630s.
In
the Middle Ages Dunwich was a major town and an international port, until a series
of fierce storms in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century destroyed
the harbour, silted up the river and swept large parts of the town into the
sea.
Dunwich
Heath is south of the village, a wide open space of sandy soils covered in
gorse, bracken and heather. In the time
of King Sigebehrt and St Felix, much of the Suffolk coast would have looked
like this. The heath is especially
lovely in late summer, when the heather comes into bloom and carpets the
landscape in purple flowers, alive with bees and other insects.
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| Dunwich Heath |
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| Close-up of heather flowers |
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Peacock butterfly
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5 comments:
Yes, the heath in bloom is always lovely. That's the one advantage of traveling later; some plces on Orkney should look beautiful now.
Love the heather. It's interesting it blooms in late summer, a treat for the eyes I would think.
Gabriele - Orkney might be a few weeks later, being so much further north. If you get a chance to visit northern Britain in heather season, it's well worth making a trip onto the moors.
Constance - Yes, a treat for the eyes indeed.
The shingle beach could only make me think "ouchouchouchouchouch!"
But I love the cloud pattern in the background! And of course the heather and peacock butterfly.
Rick - At least the stones in shingle are rounded, having been pounded around by the waves for however many thousands of years, so a shingle beach is not as painful as one might imagine (man-made litter excepted, of course).
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