Dunwich

Dunwich is a village on the North Sea coast in the County of Suffolk. It was the medieval port of Dunwic, which has now been lost to the Sea.
It is thought to have been the location for one of the Saxon Shore Forts but its name is not known. Several Roman roads radiate out from Dunwich indicating its former importance.

The Saxon Shore Forts were a chain of Roman Naval Forts in southeastern England that stretched from Portchester to the Wash, whose function was to defend the River estuaries and coastline from Pirate attacks by seaborne invaders.
The Forts date to the third century CE and are mentioned in a 4th century CE document known as the Notitia Dignitatum.

Being a natural deep water Port, it became one of the ten largest towns during the Medieval period, being famed for its 8 churches, a Knights Templar Church, a Dominican Monastery and a Franciscan Monastery.
It probably became the location of the See of Dummoc, the Anglo-Saxon Bishop, under the Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia between 629 – 673 CE, which continued to exist until the Viking raids of the 860’s CE. The Saxons consistently reused Roman Forts for ecclesiastical or monastic purposes.
In 1286 CE a great storm almost closed the harbour and another storm in 1328 closed it completely, ending Dunwich as a Port and turning it into a village.
Since then the coast has continually eroded and the old town lost to the sea.

Walton Castle
- Part of Saxon Shore Forts, the remains are just visible at low tide.

Dunwich Museum