Thursday 31st of January is the 60th Anniversary of the 1953 Flood where 303 people died along the East Coast, and 37 people died during the night in Jaywick.
The flood water breached sea defences to the North West of Lee-Over-Sands where the sea-wall meets the high ground near Dumont Avenue in Point Clear - it then filled our area and washed across the low lying land from Lee-Over-Sands towards Jaywick on that fateful night.
This led me to ponder (as all Lee-Over-Sands residents do) about our relationship with the sea, our precarious historical reliance on the sea-wall (for those of us in "Wall Street") and how half of our community lies protected behind a sea wall that was bolstered after its failure in that fateful year.
Keith Simmonds, my girlfriend's brother in-law who grew up in the area remembers "Beach Road" in his childhood not having a tidal creek in front of the properties, the houses were actually "on the beach".
You can see evidence of this if you stand on the sea wall going towards Point Clear - between Lee-Over-Sands and the sewage works you can clearly see that even over the years the landscape has changed dramatically, why? Put simply - the land height is very different due to the sea defences blocking new sediment over decades.
The tidal action of the creek washing silt in twice daily is actually building a vast natural sea defence, and is forming a river delta - this may of course be why the environment agency is scaling back its protection and maintenance of our section.
The river delta is of course what is now known as our nature reserve, the formation of which has also created the second creek in front of the Beach Road properties.
You might think that this theory is rubbish, but don't forget that in Roman times, Colchester was actually not "inland" at all, and had a sea-faring port.
But how many years has this and height difference formed over?
We all know the sea wall height was increased after 1953, but how long was it here before that?
Although it doesn't go into precise details, there is mention of a sea wall in the area dating back to the 12th Century in the book - "The Great Tide", written to document the flooding and to explain what happened. In the extensive background information - there is record of local landowners petititoning the crown to be given aid and manpower to help protect farmland - although it doesn't go into details, with so many sea defences in the area it might not be our sea wall.
The difference in land height of course with the land behind the sea defences and the tidal creek nature reserve is now quite significant, approx 4 metres at least - which of course has either formed over hundreds of years or if Keith's story is considered, might even be less than a hundred years - Who knows - One day I'll investigate parish records or meet someone who remembers when the sea wall was first built.
I would love to see some older maps and compare more details over centuries if anyone has anything!
The flood water breached sea defences to the North West of Lee-Over-Sands where the sea-wall meets the high ground near Dumont Avenue in Point Clear - it then filled our area and washed across the low lying land from Lee-Over-Sands towards Jaywick on that fateful night.
This led me to ponder (as all Lee-Over-Sands residents do) about our relationship with the sea, our precarious historical reliance on the sea-wall (for those of us in "Wall Street") and how half of our community lies protected behind a sea wall that was bolstered after its failure in that fateful year.
You can see how Wall Street is protected during the spring tide!
Keith Simmonds, my girlfriend's brother in-law who grew up in the area remembers "Beach Road" in his childhood not having a tidal creek in front of the properties, the houses were actually "on the beach".
You can see evidence of this if you stand on the sea wall going towards Point Clear - between Lee-Over-Sands and the sewage works you can clearly see that even over the years the landscape has changed dramatically, why? Put simply - the land height is very different due to the sea defences blocking new sediment over decades.
The tidal action of the creek washing silt in twice daily is actually building a vast natural sea defence, and is forming a river delta - this may of course be why the environment agency is scaling back its protection and maintenance of our section.
The river delta is of course what is now known as our nature reserve, the formation of which has also created the second creek in front of the Beach Road properties.
You might think that this theory is rubbish, but don't forget that in Roman times, Colchester was actually not "inland" at all, and had a sea-faring port.
But how many years has this and height difference formed over?
We all know the sea wall height was increased after 1953, but how long was it here before that?
Although it doesn't go into precise details, there is mention of a sea wall in the area dating back to the 12th Century in the book - "The Great Tide", written to document the flooding and to explain what happened. In the extensive background information - there is record of local landowners petititoning the crown to be given aid and manpower to help protect farmland - although it doesn't go into details, with so many sea defences in the area it might not be our sea wall.
The difference in land height of course with the land behind the sea defences and the tidal creek nature reserve is now quite significant, approx 4 metres at least - which of course has either formed over hundreds of years or if Keith's story is considered, might even be less than a hundred years - Who knows - One day I'll investigate parish records or meet someone who remembers when the sea wall was first built.
I would love to see some older maps and compare more details over centuries if anyone has anything!
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