England's Historic Seascapes: Withernsea to Skegness
Museum of London Archaeology, 2010. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000104. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Historic England unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
David
Bowsher
Director of Research
Museum of London Archaeology
Mortimer Wheeler House
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London
N1 7ED
UK
Tel: 020 7410 2285
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 935
- ALSF Project Number: 4730
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000104
- How to cite using this DOI
Inner Dowsing Character Area
Present Day Form
The Inner Dowsing offshore character area is situated in the south-western extent of the study area adjacent to the Mablethorpe to Skegness coast. The geology of the area comprises chalk bedrock overlain by glacial till (clay, sand and gravel debris deposited from ice sheets) known as the Boulders Bank formation. The water depth across the area varies between 6 m and 13 m and the maximum tidal range is 6 m. The seabed of the area consists of a shallow sloping thin bed of sand, gravel and shells.
Sea Use: Present
The dominant character of the area is navigation because it contains various hazards including the inner dowsing overfalls and a gravel/sand ridge. The character area was the location of the last manned lightship station, which was replaced by the Dowsing lighthouse in 1991. The lightship was located 45 miles north of Cromer and 45 miles north-east of Mablethorpe (portcities.co.uk).
The area also contains an offshore licensed windfarm and a licensed aggregrate dredging area. The principal fishing activity in the area is long-lining and some netting for cod, roker, sole and brill, trawling for white fish by beam trawlers, crab and lobster potting and shrimp fishing for brown and pink shrimp. The area has spawning areas of Dover sole and lemon sole and is within nursery areas used by lemon sole and plaice. The area also contains an offshore recreational dive site.
Sea Use: Past
The Inner Dowsing character area has been shaped by thousands of years of dynamic sea level changes and erosion and deposition. The relatively shallow nature of the sea bed means that the area was dry land almost certainly in the Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and probably in the Neolithic periods. Marine traffic would have crossed this area on a regular basis from the Roman period onwards but especially in the medieval period when Wainfleet St Mary, a busy port on the adjacent coastline, was at its peak. Fishing activity would have been carried out in the area from the medieval period onwards (see above). The Albert Close fishing chart states that the area is 'mostly foul and in the south a mass of sandbanks' (1953).
Archaeological Potential
The Inner Dowsing character area has potential for the presence of drowned land surfaces resulting from the fact that sea level has fluctuated between -120 metres and +10 metres over the past 500,000 years. From the period 500,000 BP to 22,000 BP (before present), human population levels were low, and little more than stray finds may be expected, although these may still be of considerable archaeological importance. From 22,000 BP to 2100 BP parts of the North Sea were dry land and human population levels were higher. The area's position adjacent to the Ouse/Nene palaeochannel makes it prime habitation site. Consequently, there is some potential for surviving evidence of human activity within the area. Over the last 6000 years (if not more), humans have used sea faring vessels and so wrecks and related material may lie on the sea floor or be buried beneath the sea floor.
Character Perceptions
The area is perceived as an area that is hazardous to navigation but also has other uses like wind farm, aggregate extraction and a recreational dive site. These activites and perceptions are related directly to the morphology of the seabed in this area.
References
Close's Fisherman's Chart (UKHO 1953)
http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.64/chapterId/1506/Trinity-House.html
