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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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
Ower Bank Character Area
Present Day Form
The Ower Bank is an offshore character area situated in the southern extent of the study area. The geology of the area comprises a complex of Jurassic and Triassic bedrock overlain by glacial till (clay, sand and gravel debris deposited from ice sheets) known as the Elbow Formation. The water depth across the area varies between 15 m and 20 m in the deeps and 8 m to 10m on the shoals and the maximum tidal range is c3 m. The seabed of the area is characterised by the large sand mega ripples which are orientated NW - SE across the area and include the Ower Bank. This makes the area hazardous for navigation where a combination of low tide and high seas can cause breaking waves on the shoals.
Sea Use: Present
The dominant characteristic of the Ower Bank is navigation because the area contains numerous hazards and is a named area of seabed. Commercial shipping tends to avoid the area because of the dangerous shoals. A range of mega ripple sand and gravel banks are present including Haddock, Leman, Ower, Inner and Well Banks. The area also contains gas industry features such as Lancelot gasfield, Anglia gas field, Wherry gas field and Vulcan gas field. Leman gas field also extends partially into the area. The pipelines link the various areas together and pipe gas to the terminal at Theddlethorpe on the coast.
The principal fishing activity in the area is beam trawling in the deeps between the mega ripple shoals for cod, whiting, sole and plaice. Brown and pink shrimp is also fished. The area has spawning and nursery areas for herring, sand eel, sprat, plaice, dover sole and lemon sole.
Sea Use: Past
The Ower Bank 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.
Marine traffic would have historically avoided this area but numerous wrecks will be found here possibly dating from the Roman period onwards. Fishing activity would have been carried out in the area from the medieval period onwards. The Ower Bank is a named fishing ground on Close's Chart (UKHO 1953). The area is described as a good fishing ground in between the shoals. In the south, June to Sept are good months. Fish: Plaice Soles Cod and Dabs. Large lumps of coal are often taken in the nets (Close 1953). The trawling up of coal by fishing vessels is interesting. This suggests that this is either a geological phenomenon (the area does not seem to contain coal bearing bedrock) or the area may contain wrecks of sailing Colliers coming down the coast from the northeast to London which were regularly lost in this area.
Archaeological Potential
The Ower Bank 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, especially in the Mesolithic age. Finds dating to the Mesolithic have been found to a depth of 40m so any area of sea bed above that has potential for habitation.
Inundation of the North Sea landscapes occurred between 10,000 and 6,000 BP and the most likely evidence for human occupation would be, therefore, Mesolithic in date. Earlier Palaeolithic occupation is less likely to be found and later Neolithic occupation is likely to have been limited to the inshore and very highest of the banks and shoals such as the Dogger Bank. The areas position makes it a possible Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic 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 this area, because of it's dangerous shoals, is a prime area for wrecks and related material that may lie on the sea floor or be buried beneath the sea floor. UKHO and NMR data shows known wrecks exist in the area including a cluster of four smacks which were apparently captured and then sunk by German submarines in the Second World War.
Character Perceptions
The area is perceived as a dangerous shipping area and offshore fishing ground with active gas industry.
References
Close's Fisherman's Chart (UKHO 1953)
Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters (MAFF 1989)
