David EP Dennis
The medieval town of Old Winchelsea was destroyed by a great storm in 1287. Remarkably, it lasted for several hundred years on a shingle bank in the middle of Rye Bay in Sussex, England. This book describes the formation of the town, its incredible history of seaborne heroism, privateering and piracy, and its final destruction along with Dunwich in Suffolk, Old Romney, and Broomhill in a hurricane-like tide of massive proportions. The book describes the author’s two years of research into all of the causes of the climate change that led to the town’s demise. In recent times nuclear power stations have been built close to the site of Old Winchelsea and Dunwich. The author questions our readiness to cope with deadly storm surges in the face of global warming and sea level rises. The loss of this bustling town with its seven hundred homes, fifty inns, prisons, churches, salt pans, tide mills, royal apartments, and shipyards, is a salutary lesson for us today. What is the point of studying history if we don’t learn from it?
