Windmills
One thousand years ago, the marshy landscape of the Broads was at its highest level. We know from the Domesday Book that sheep grazed on the nutrient-rich grasses providing the wool that drove Norwich’s wealth and prosperity. Over the ensuing centuries, the land began to sink while the sea level rose. In the mid to late 13th Century, John Oxnead, who was one of the brothers at St. Benet’s Abbey at Holm, began to record the increasing number of severe floods and tidal surges that destroyed life and property across the marshes. In 1287, the North Sea broke through the coast between Winterton and Waxham where the mouth of the River Thurne once discharged its waters. Records of similar flooding that year can be found in Friesland 160 miles to the east. Stories of people, horses and livestock crowding into small boats and into the churches built on higher ground can be found over the following decades. In 1601, the sea once again broke through the coast at Eccles. Salt water poured into the marshes killing every living plant and animal that depended on freshwater to live. Even worse flooding followed in 1608, affecting a region as widespread as Stalham on the River Ant, Coltishall on the River Bure, Norwich on the River Yare and St. Olaves on the River Waveney. Something had to change; the livelihoods of the local residents depended on the marshes for grazing and the rivers for fishing.
Size: 3992px × 2992px
Location: Thurne Windmill, Ludham, Norfolk, England,
Photo credit: © Jon Williamson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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