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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