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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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
Sole Pit Character Area
Present Day Form
The Sole Pit character area is situated at the central part of the study area. The geology of the area is a complex anticline 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 15m and 25 m with a deep water pit (probably a Devensian palaeochannel) aligned NE - SW running to a depth of 80m to 100m with associated gravel terraces. The maximum tidal range is 6m. The seabed consists of a flat clean thin bed of sand and gravel.
Sea Use: Present
The Sole Pit character area contains an active gas production field; the Barque Field. The principal fishing activity in the area is trawling for cod, whiting sole and other flat fish. The area is moderately fished but is locally important, particularly for offshore vessels and for vessels following the more mobile fisheries, for example, pink shrimp. The area especially important as a spawning area of herring, Dover sole and lemon sole. It also contains nursery for herring, lemon sole and plaice.
Sea Use: Past
The Sole Pit 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 using the Sole Pit deep water channel. The Sole Pit was one of the famous sole fisheries first discovered during the early smack fishing days of the 19th century. These fisheries were exploited from Hull and Grimsby during the winter when sole would congregate in vast numbers in the deep water guts such as Sole Pit and the Silver Pit. The area is also a named fishing ground on Close's Fisherman's Chart (UKHO 1953) and is described as a good fishing ground for cod and soles. The area was also an important herring fishery.
Archaeological Potential
The Sole Pit character area has potential for the presence of drowned land surfaces resulting from the fact that sea level has fluctuated between -120m and +10m 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 adjacent to the Sole Pit 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. UKHO and NMR data show a total of 6 known wrecks in this area, 5 unnamed and 1 named, the Basto a general cargo vessel of 500 tons carrying a cargo of grain lost in 1988.
Character Perceptions
The area is perceived as an offshore fishing ground and also as a gas production area.
References
Close's Fisherman's Chart (UKHO 1953)
Fisheries Sensitivity Maps in British Waters (MAFF 1989)
