England's Historic Seascapes: Withernsea to Skegness
Museum of London Archaeology, 2010. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000104. How to cite using this DOI
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- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000104
- How to cite using this DOI
Cleethorpes to Mablethorpe Coast Character Area
Present Day Form
The Cleethorpes to Mablethorpe coast character area is part of the Lincolnshire coastal plain and Lincolnshire coastal grazing marsh, situated in the northeast part of the county. The geology of the area is the wave cut platform of Cretaceous Chalk overlain by glacial till (clay, sand and gravel debris deposited from ice sheets) called the Upper Marsh Till along with some early Holocene deposits of peat known as the Huttoft Beds. The Huttoft Beds formed in the hollows of the Mesolithic land surface which developed on the Upper Marsh Till. The early land surface was inundated by a marine transgression leaving a clay deposit known as the Ingoldmells Beds. The Beds have been dated to periods between the Bronze Age and the Roman period and represent localised marine flooding over the area as the sea level rose.
The action of the sea in this area causes accretion rather than the erosion seen on beaches further to the south between Mablethorpe and Skegness. As a result the coast is characterised by wide sandy beaches, dunes and salt marsh where lots of mariculture activities take place along with recreational activities. By contrast the beaches further to the south are regularly replenished and used almost solely for recreation purposes. These different sea actions have strongly influenced patterns of historic land/sea use in the area.
Sea Use: Present
This character area has perhaps the greatest number of overlapping sub character types in the study area. It has been judged as having an overall dominant character associated with seaside recreation activities, but it also has active links with major gas/oil industry and military practice areas. The area also has many ancient maritime industrial links, particular with fishing, some of which are still active. Much of the land falls within the flood risk area and much of it has been reclaimed from the sea over the medieval and post-medieval periods. This has led to sand dunes being trapped a far way in from the sea. These are preserved as important wildlife habitats.
There are many historic settlements in the study area that are strongly associated with fishing and salt making. Salt making is no longer carried out in the region but mariculture is still a very strong theme. Many of the settlements are now more strongly associated with rural settlement and tourism. Cleethorpes originated as a small fishing village but it has more recently been associated with seaside tourism. The town sits on the Humber estuary and the sea front provides views of the shipping traffic entering and leaving the Humber for the ports of Grimsby, Immingham, Hull and Goole. Two large WWII fortifications, the Humber Forts, are visible in the mouth of the river. On a clear day, the lighthouse situated on Spurn Point can be seen with the naked eye from the North Beach.
The villages of Conisholme, Somercotes and North Somercotes grew up because of the ancient salt making industry. More recently, Conisholme has become associated with renewable energy industry when the E-48 wind turbines for Fen Farm on Conisholme Fen were constructed. The turbines have the capacity to supply 24% of electricity needs in East Lindsey, with each producing 800kWe and a total of 16MWe, enough for 13,000 homes. They have a hub height of 65m, a blade length of 24 m and an overall height of 89m. Construction began in December 2007, and was finished in April 2008.
Saltfleetby was also associated with salt making and also has a fish dock. Today a section of the seashore is part of the Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe Dunes National Nature Reserve. Saltfleetby also has an onshore gas field. World War Two defences are visible around Saltfleetby. They include a large number of pillboxes and a Home Guard shelter in the field adjacent to The Prussian Queen.
A large gas terminal is situated at Theddlethorpe village which processes natural gas extracted from beneath the North Sea. The terminal was built in 1972 to receive gas from the offshore Viking gas field. The main site is owned by ConocoPhillips, with pipelines to National Grid's National Transmission System, and EON's Killingholme Pipeline System to the Killingholme Power Station. 10% of the UK's ever increasing gas requirements come from Theddlethorpe. The Lincolnshire Offshore Gas Gathering System (LOGGS) collects gas from the Jupiter, Saturn and V-field series of gas fields. Liquids from the refinery operation get transferred to the Humber Refinery next door to the Killingholme Power Station, twenty six miles away to the north-west of Theddlethorpe. The town of Mablethorpe is discussed in the next character area along.
Sea Use: Past
The area was originally important for salt making and fishing industries, which probably date back to the Prehistoric period. Map and documentary evidence indicates that many of the settlements originated in the Saxon and medieval periods. For example, the Danes are documented to have landed in Humberston fishing village early in the year 870 to begin their scourge and plunder of Lincolnshire. Many of the villages also contain very early churches.
This part of the coast has been strongly affected by sea level change and industrial processes such as salt making over the centuries and this is still visible in the landscape. It is possible to trace the ancient medieval shoreline, now situated a considerable distance in land, by looking at the location of the ancient villages with maritime connections, such as North Somercotes, Conisholme, Grainthorpe, Marshchapel, North Cotes and Tetney Lock. These villages would originally have been located on the shoreline, as evidenced by the fact that they all have historic connections with salt making and the fact that Grainthopre at least originally had a port. Tetney lock was also originally connected to the sea by its haven before reclamation took place. Ancient saltern mounds are visible in the landscape and these are situated in areas where reclamation took place in the medieval period, indicating that deposition of soil in mounds during the salt extraction process probably aided the reclamation process. A sea embankment was also constructed by the Anglo-Saxons in the 11th century which allowed much of the marsh in this area to be reclaimed (Hull University 1994).
This area of coast became a popular destination for tourists during the Victorian period because of a belief that visits to the seaside were medicinal and health giving (Cleethorpes history. Com). This was facilitated by the advent of the railways which made it possible for day-trippers to visit regularly. The tourist trade boomed on the east coast during the Victorian period (ibid). Many of the buildings and seafronts that exist in the seaside towns of this area today were constructed during this period.
The Louth Navigation canal ran from Tetney village until 1924. The canal cost �28,000 to build and it was able to carry seagoing boats. The coming of the railways led to a decline in the use of the canal and World War I stopped what traffic was left.
Archaeological Potential
The Cleethorpes to Mablethorpe coast character area has potential for the presence of archaeological deposits from the prehistoric periods onwards. Cleethorpes has potential for Neolithic and Bronze Age remains. The entire area has potential for survival of deposits relating to the salt making industry, dating from the prehistoric to the post medieval periods.
Permanent occupation of the area appears to date from the sixth century, when Danish settlers arrived, with substantial communities only appearing in the 9th century. The remains of a former Benedictine abbey survive in the village of Humberston.
Character Perceptions
The area is perceived as being important for recreation but also for industry.
References
W Foster (editor) (1920). "Introduction: Lost vills and other forgotten places". Final Concords of the County of Lincoln: 1244-1272. British History Online.
Cleethorpes - A Potted History". North East Lincolnshire Directory. http://www.nely.co.uk/cleehistory.html.
Samuel Lewis (editor) (1848). "Cleethorpe". A Topographical Dictionary of England. British History Online.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50882.
University of Hull, 1994, Humber Estuary and Coast, Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies, University of Hull, November 1994
