CHAPTER 1: THE PAST ENVIRONMENT OF HAPPING

THE SEA LEVEL IN THE ROMAN PERIOD (+1.0m approximate).

The geology and geography of Happing have been shaped by past ice ages, sea incursions and rivers that have deposited material over the underlying chalk. The last ice sheet left Norfolk around 16,000 BC allowing Pine trees to colonise the region. Between 10,000 - 6,000 BC the climate became warm and dry allowing Alder, Oak, Elm & Lime into the region (1). The increasing temperature caused the sea level to rise and around 5,000 BC the North Sea was first connected to the English Channel via a narrow straight. Eventually there were wide inter-tidal estuaries around Norfolk (2), which started to deposit marine clay over the original peat in the Broadland area (3). Around 3000 BC the Norfolk coastline was roughly similar to today's outline (4), although the local estuaries started to silt up as spits of land formed across their mouths and further peat layers were laid down. These spits form by the erosion of the cliffs further north, such as at Happisburgh, and the sea depositing the eroded material further south to construct the sand dunes between Happisburgh and Winterton (5). However, some of this material goes to form the sand bar, a few Kilometers offshore, that runs parallel with the coastline and is a danger to local shipping. During the Bronze Age (2,500 - 800 BC) the climate slowly became cooler although the sea level continued to rise and around 750 BC the sea started to breach the spits across the estuaries and to deposit estuarine clay over the peat (6). This resulted in Happing becoming a large peninsular of land with numerous islands and waterways in the south and east. This peninsular would have made an ideal area for man to colonize with fresh water, fishing and reed (for thatch) in the west, sea fishing in the east, good farming land and its isolation would have offered some degree of defence. From the Iron Age to the end of the Roman period (800 BC - 410 AD) the climate became wet & cold (7) and locally the sea level probably reached about 1.0m above today's average (8). Around 500 AD (during the Anglo-Saxon period), spits of land started once again to exclude the sea from the local estuaries (9) and the south of Happing began to 'dry out'. These natural barriers have subsequently been maintained by man to protect the farmland behind. The coastal erosion around Happing has been estimated at an approximate rate of 1.0m per year (10) and accounts for the loss the medieval villages of Waxham Parva, Markesthorpe (near Eccles) and much of the villages of Eccles and Whimpwell (11).

RANWORTH BROAD BOREHOLE.

Details of the past vegetation and climate of Happing has been determined from borehole logs (and pollen analysis) such as at Ranworth Broad (12). Since the Roman invasion of 43 AD, an approximate 2.0Km wide strip of land has been lost from the coastline of Happing due to erosion. The sand dunes protecting the land behind have been breached various times in the 'recent' past, notably in 1287 (13), 1608 and 1938 (14). Various drainage schemes have been implemented to improve the land behind the sand dunes including changes to the river system (including reversing the direction of flow of the river Thurne) and drainage windmills. Up until the mid 1800s, Happing has been surrounded by marshes, intersected by numerous broads, connected by rivulets, flowing into the rivers Ant, Bure & Thurne, allowing direct navigation to Yarmouth for boats of 14 tons, from almost every part of this Hundred (15).

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