top of page
Search

Podcast Episode 2 (1607 Tsunami) out now!

Updated: 6 days ago


Episode 2 of the 'Mysteries of History' podcast is out now! You can listen to episode 2, titled '1607 Tsunami' here on this website or wherever you prefer to listen to your podcasts. It's quite unbelievable to realise that this event really did happen, but not many people know about it (apart from us now!).




A map of the affected area of the 1607 tsunami (Newport is highlighted. The town of Glastonbury can be seen to the south - the water reached here!)



Contemporary woodcut illustration of the 12th century St Mary the Virgin church at Nash in Newport, Wales. Note in the description that the county of Norfolk is mentioned - this county also had some flooding related to high spring tides and a storm surge.
Contemporary woodcut illustration of the 12th century St Mary the Virgin church at Nash in Newport, Wales. Note in the description that the county of Norfolk is mentioned - this county also had some flooding related to high spring tides and a storm surge.


A modern view of St Mary the Virgin church at Nash in Newport, Wales.

Martinevans123, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. A modern view of St Mary the Virgin church at Nash in Newport, Wales. Is the woodcut above exaggerating the height of the water level?


A commemorative plaque of the 1607 floods installed at Goldcliff Parish Church in Newport, Wales.

Robin Drayton / Flood plaque, Goldcliff Parish Church / CC BY-SA 2.0


The photo above shows a commemorative plaque installed at Goldcliff Parish Church in Newport, Wales. Interestingly, it marks the high water mark at 5ft. This is what is says (written in Old English of course!):


'1606

ON · THE · XX · DAY · OF · IANVARY · EVEN · AS · IT · CAME · TO · PAS · IT · PLEASED · GOD · THE · FLVD · DID · FLOW · TO · THE · EDGE · OF · THIS · SAME · BRAS • AND · IN · THIS · PARISH · THEARE · WAS · LOST · 5000 · AND · OD · POWNDS · BESIDES · XXII · PEOPLE · WAS · IN · THIS · PARRISH · DROWND

• GOLDCLIF { IOHN • WILKINS · OF · PILREW • AND


WILLIAM • TAP · CHURCH · WARDENS

1609'


Notice that is records the financial loss of £5000 before that of the loss of 22 parishioners!



This plaque records the 1607 Bristol Channel Floods at Kingston Seamore church in Somerset.

Anthony Wood, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. This plaque records the 1607 Bristol Channel Floods that occurred on 20th January 1606 using the old date format! The plaque is located in the south porch of Kingston Seamore Church in Somerset.


Further reading


For those of you who want some further reading, here is a link to the journal article written by Professor Simon Haslett and Dr Edward Bryant in 2004 about their fieldwork surveys and evidence to support the tsunami theory:


There is also a report from Risk Management Solutions who reviewed the 1607 'event' and prefer the storm surge theory. There are also some good maps that give you a sense of scale of the flooding and impacted area:




 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page