Anglo Saxon History Home Background Landscape Changing Landscape and Language Sea Levels in AD400(Pevensey) Sea Levels in AD400(The Wash) Sea level changes last 2000 years Andredsweald and Anderida Where are the Roman Roads History of the Romney Marsh The Great Storm 1287AD List of Landscape Documents Local The Haestingas The Cinque Ports 914AD Alfred the Great's fort in Hastings Battle Museum Battle History Society Villagenet Local Gazeteer World War 2 Tank database Simon the Piman(Raspberry Pi) Tourist Guides for the area Romans First Invasion 55BC Second Invasion 43AD Roman roads in Britannia Ptolemy Geographica Tribes MAP-Margary Roman Roads MAP-Roman Roads South East MAP-Roman Roads South West MAP-Roman Roads Wales MAP-Roman Roads South Midlands MAP-Roman Roads South Yorkshire MAP-Roman Locations Norfolk MAP-Roman Locations Essex MAP-Wealden Roads/Bloomeries Wealden Bloomeries 1st Century Wealden Bloomeries 2nd Century Wealden Bloomeries 3rd Century Wealden Bloomeries 4th Century MAP-Antonine Itinery I Roman Industry in the Brede Valley Decline in Roman Wealden Ironworking The Gallic Empire 260AD - 274AD Types of Roman Fortification List of Roman Documents Saxon Chronicles 449AD Hengest & Horsa arrive 455AD Hengest & Horsa defeat Wurtgern 457AD Hengest & Horsa take over Kent 460AD Hæstinga Saxons arrive 477AD Cymensora 485AD Suth Saxons Mercredesburnan 491AD Suth Saxons Pevensey 914AD Burghal Hideage Locations - 449AD Ebbsfleet Locations - 455AD Agelesþrep Locations - 485AD Mearcredesburnan Stede Locations - 914AD Eorpeburnan List of Saxon Chronicles Documents 1066 Battle Documentary Evidence Available Documents  1 Anglo Saxon Chronicles  2 Battle Abbey Chronicles  3 Bayeux Tapestry  4 Carmen Guy d'Amiens  5 Florence of Worcester  6 Henry of Huntingdon  7 Master Wace  8 Orderic Vitalis(Gesta)  9 William of Jumièges(Gesta) 10 William of Malmesbury 11 Quedam Exceptiones Reference to Locations Phases of the Events Phases 1066AD  1 Background 1066AD  2 In Normandy 1066AD  3 Channel Crossing 1066AD  4 The Landing 1066AD  5 Feast after Landing 1066AD  6 Building the Forts 1066AD  7 Raiding the Area 1066AD  8 Warning to Harold 1066AD  9 Stamford Bridge 1066AD 10 Harold returns to London 1066AD 11 William is Alerted 1066AD 12 Exchange of Messages 1066AD 13 Defenses 1066AD 14 Harold Reconnoitres 1066AD 15 Preparations 1066AD 16 The Night Before 1066AD 17 The Battle 1066AD 18 Harold is Killed 1066AD 19 The English Rout 1066AD 20 After the Battle 1066AD 21 The Malfosse Warriors, Weapons & Snippets Saxon - Huscarl Saxon - Fyrd(Fyrð) Senlac Hill The Malfosse The Hoar Apple Tree The Shield Wall Salt Production near Hastings The Battle of Jengland 851AD William's Ship List Norman/Viking Ships and stuff Norman bows and crossbows Harold was NOT killed by an arrow The Time Team view of the Battle 1066AD Landscape Details 1066AD Sailing from Normandy 1066AD Norman Landing 1066AD Possible Fort 1066AD to Pevensey and Hastings 1066AD Manors Wasted 1066AD Manors All 1066AD Warning to Harold 1066AD Harold to Hastings  List of 1066AD Documents List of 1066AD Weapons 1086AD Domesday Boundary of Anderida Domesday Hursts Post Domesday Hursts Domesday Manors Wasted UK Norfolk Salt Production Salt Production near Hastings The Wash at 1086 The Humber estuary at 1086 Domesday County details B Bedfordshire Domesday Population Berkshire Domesday Population Buckinghamshire Domesday Population Domesday County details C Cambridgeshire Domesday Population Cheshire Domesday Population Cornwall Domesday Population Domesday County details D Derbyshire Domesday Population Devon Domesday Population Dorset Domesday Population Domesday County details E Essex Domesday Population Domesday County details G Gloucestershire Domesday Population Domesday County details H Hampshire Domesday Population Herefordshire Domesday Population Hertfordshire Domesday Population Huntingdonshire Domesday Population Domesday County details K Kent Domesday Population 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Villages containing HAM Villages containing TON Villages containing CASTLE Sussex Locations with ING Domesday Sussex with ING Kent Locations with ING Sussex Locations with HURST Loads of Village Translations Res Landscape - The 1287AD Storm and its effect on the Kent and Sussex Coast   The Great Storm of 1287AD   There was a major storm in the English Channel on 4th February 1287AD, which had a profound effect on the Kent and Sussex coasts and on the Cinque Ports. For details of the Cinque Ports see our (The Cinque Ports and Southern England) page. For more on the Romney Marsh please see our (Landscape - The History of the Romney Marsh in maps(Pre-Roman to Modern times)) page. The Great Storm of 1287AD The landscape before the Great Storm The landscape after the Great Storm The river Rother - Roman times The river Rother - after the 566AD storm The river Rother - after the 1287AD storm The South of England and storms   The landscape before the Great Storm ▲   Before the storm: The landscape and coastline of East Sussex and Kent was significantly different especially relating to the area of the Cinque Ports. This map shows a representation of the area showing the high tide/sea levels for the period, together with the extended coastline now not visible due to erosion at about 0.8 metre/year at Hastings and a bit more on the chalk cliffs at the 'Seven Sisters' at Beachy Head and the 'White Cliffs' at Dover. The port of Hastings was in the current Filsham valley in a protected inlet and probably had shipyards producing vessels from the adjacent Forest of Andredsweald. (The Great Forest of Andredsweald - Anglo Saxon Chronicles) New Romney was a really important port, as shipyards up the river Rother near Appledore and Newenden provided the port with a very large number of ships, and Langport (the long port) was located at the river entrance. Hythe was less important than New Romney, however its ships were most likely provided by the shipyards behind New Romney. The port of Dover was protected more than at present as the cliff protected the port at the time, and this port was the least effected by the storm. Finally the port of Sandwich was protected by a shingle bank projecting up from the Deal and Walmer area.   The landscape after the Great Storm ▲   After the storm: The entrance to the port of Hastings was blocked by shingle from the Cliffs at Bexhill, effectively blocking the Filsham valley harbour, the Castle built just after the Norman Conquest that overlooked the harbour entrance was partially destroyed by a cliff fall, so Hastings as a port was in effect destroyed, and the ships moved to the current harbour area. Old Winchelsea(near Winchelsea beach) and Broomhill(near modern Camber) were completely washed away in this storm, forcing the remaining inhabitants to rebuild Winchelsea on its current headland. New Romney had about a metre of shingle thrown across the harbour mouth on the River Rother, which landlocked the great Langport and buried the church, this effect can be seen by going to New Romney church and walking down into the building. This also forced the River Rother to break through to the sea near 'Old Winchelsea' which is where it now reaches the sea. Hythe was damaged, but the majority of its vessels would have been beached on the shore, so probably less effected than the other ports as would only need ships replacing. The port of Dover was protected more than at present as the cliff protected the port at the time, and this port was the least effected by the storm. The sandbank protecting the port at Sandwich was extended to the Isle of Thanet and effectively blocked Sandwich harbour. The overall effect of this storm meant that the Cinque Ports to meet their obligations to provide ships for the King had to allow other smaller ports to join as limbs. Rye now had direct access to the sea, whereas prior to the storm the only access to the sea was via New Romney.   The river Rother - Roman times ▲   The river Rother in Roman times reached the sea at Hythe where the vast amounts of iron extracted from the Rother, Tillingham and Brede areas were exported to Boulogne. Behind the entrance to the sea was a harbour protected from the sea and which the great Roman fort at Port Lympne (Stutfall castle) was built to protect.   The river Rother - after the 566AD storm ▲   In about 566AD a massive storm hit the coastline of Kent and Sussex and blocked its entrance to the sea at Hythe. As the Rother's access to the sea was blocked, probably by vast amounts of shingle, driven along the coast from the Cliffs at Hastings, it now broke through to the sea at Old Romney, creating the port. As time went by Rother silted up and the port at Old Romney named Langport kept moving further out to sea until it became a permanent settlement and its name was changed to New Romney prior to 1066AD.   The river Rother - after the 1287AD storm ▲   After the storm, the Rother flowed out to the English Channel via Rye, and has since then remained flowing this route. The 'recent' 1987AD Storm although severe and which damaged a great deal of the local forests and buildings including many old windmills, did not effect the outflow of the Rother. This may have been due to the modern concrete sea defenses along the coast from Pett Level to Rye preventing the movement of vast amounts of shingle from the Pett Levels across the mouth of the Rother.   The South of England and storms ▲   Funnily enough, there was another great storm in 1987AD, but this did not have such a drastic effect as sea defences helped reduce its impact. Comment: 566AD major storm 1287AD major storm 1987AD major storm It seems a bit of a coincidence that these three storms are very close to 700 years apart. If this is actually a weather cycle, then we may see another great storm in the South of England about 2687AD, but I won't be here to see that !! For details of the Cinque Ports see our (The Cinque Ports and Southern England) page. For more on the Romney Marsh please see our (Landscape - The History of the Romney Marsh in maps(Pre-Roman to Modern times)) page. Copyright saxonhistory.co.uk 2013 - 2024 Contact Simon Author Simon M - Last updated - 2024-07-16 15:29:15 All pages on our site (Sitemap)