'UK's Atlantis' hidden under beautiful beach that could soon be lost forever
A beautiful seaside village dubbed the ‘UK’s Atlantis’ is being slowly swallowed up by the sea. The idyllic town of Dunwich may ring a bell for some horror fans - who may associate it with HP Lovecraft’s short story ‘The Dunwich Horror’.
But the East Anglia community is the opposite of a horror story in real-life, situated along a gorgeous stretch of Suffolk coastline, it’s home to just 86 permanent residents. However, the village has centuries worth of history lying just offshore of its sandy beaches.
The coastal town sits above what has been dubbed the 'UK's Atlantis' as the medieval and older parts of the village have been swallowed below the waves. The seas are slowly eating away at the local coastline, eroding cliffside and bringing residents and their homes ever closer to the sea.
One local leader said that Dunwich was once a major medieval settlement, but the erosion has been steadily making the village shrink and sucked centuries of history into the sea.
Dunwich has a long history, reaching back to Roman Britain but parts of the old village have been sucked under the waves - the ruins of Greyfriars Medieval Friary in Dunwich (Loop Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)Speaking to the Express, local leader Geoff Abell, the chairman of the Dunwich Greyfriars Trust and vice-chairman of Dunwich Parish Meeting, said that Dunwich was built “on a giant sandcastle”.
'Drowned and forgotten' UK village 'reappears like lost city of Atlantis'
He claimed they had been losing around a metre of coastline a year for centuries now.
Mr Abell added that people who bought a house in the area only had a leasehold.
He said: "When you buy a house in Dunwich, whatever your deeds, you know that you bought a leasehold. You don't necessarily know how long the lease is, but you've certainly got a leasehold."
Despite coastal defences at Dunwich, erosion is still a huge problem (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)He added: "We're a very, very ancient town. There was a Roman village, and during the medieval times, Dunwich was one of the 10 largest settlements in the UK."
He said that some of the history has now been snatched by the advancing coastal waters, with the medieval parts of the town "now under the sea". The medieval stretch of Dunwich has been described as the "UK's Atlantis", the Express reported, and has long been investigated by maritime archaeologists.
The little village, just south of Southwold, still attracts tourists despite its size. Mr Abell explained: "We see a lot of tourists, but not like a major resort because there's nothing to attract mass tourism here."
"There's a nice beach. There's good swimming. But not an array of rows and rows of fish and chip shops. That sort of thing that just doesn't exist [here]."
While the tourism scene isn't quite as extensive as Southwold, it is just right for the Dunwich community to survive, and Mr Abell said locals are "perfectly content" with their comparatively quieter community.
A café, the Flora Tea Rooms, sits on the beachfront, and further inland people can pick up a pint at The Ship pub. The area is also dotted with ruins and hosts a museum capturing the village's centuries of rich history.
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