Terra Firma in Suffolk

Soft geology 

In a mummers' play version of "St George and the Turkish Knight" the (almost) slain villain says,

"I've been hurried, I've been scurried, I've been dragged from door to door, now here I lie on this squallid floor."

"Hit me a wallop, strike me a blow; where I'd have been if the ground had not caught me, I do not know!"

We used to talk about "solid ground" or terra firma, as though the land around us could always be relied upon to support us from the abyss below, but today we talk about continental drift and soft geology.

I came upon a fine illustration of the latter while walking on the Suffolk coast, north of Southwold where the road to the beach from the village of Covehithe simply leads you over a cliff. Thankfully that road is closed now, but I guess it is only a matter of time before the cliff erodes back to the village and the church.

This entire stretch of coast is sinking and has been for a long time. Where there is an inlet or an estuary the effect is like a slow rise in the tide, but on the exposed coast each new winter storm pounds ever higher up the beach, lapping at the foot of the soft cliffs and causing further collapse. Dunwich is the most famous local town to have disappeared beneath the waves and the heart of the village from the pub to the church would go under if the shingle bank was breached anywhere between them and Walberswick.


Most of the sand and gravel that falls from the cliffs is mobilised in the cloudy shallows close to the shore and carried southward by the current to be deposited in the lee of somewhere solid. That's how Orford Ness was formed.

Fishing is a characteristic industry of this coast but there is a shortage of accessible harbours. Most boats are pulled up onto the steep shingle beaches using static winches or aged, rusty tractors. The exception is at Southwold and Walberswick where the River Blythe runs deep enough to form a navigable channel that has been reinforced in various ways to form landing stages along a quayside.

On both sides of the river there are rows of black-tarred wooden huts that hold fishing gear for the boats that moor there.  Piles of nets, floats and ropes gather among clumps of white chamomile, sea campion and purple asters. A couple of larger premises are ships' chandlers and repair shops while some of the smaller sheds sell wet fish. There is also a grand old quayside pub called the Harbour Inn but it is getting some serious competition from some new ventures that include an excellent smokery and restaurant.

The Southwold harbour area still has a great deal of character and Walberswick has retained a lot of it's charm. Go there before it becomes almost too gentrified.