Covehithe
Driftwood tells the story of ancestors
of the fallen.
Their bodies lie at the waters edge,
pulled at by the tide,
to return to its underlands.
Seaglass is rare,
However when found
reveals what was taken,
And now lost.
Towns and boats and forests
hide beneath brown waves,
occasionally making their way back
to shore.
Disguised among the sand and stones,
the lives of People long forgotten
Continue.
Covehithe is a small village on the coast of Suffolk, home to one of the fastest eroding cliff faces in the UK, with the cliffs retreating by 530m since the 1880s. Within the following 50-100 years, a further 800m of coastline could be taken by the sea, along with the mediaeval St Andrews Church and many buildings. What makes the land so fragile is the design of the cliffs - composed of clay, sands and deposits, they are prone to erosion from storm surges and the advancing North sea. For the people that live there this is a daily struggle, as the landscape constantly changes and is taken. Footpaths can disappear within a couple of months and agricultural fields now are ploughed right up to the cliff's edge, leaving less than a metre between the crop and precipice.
Many coastlines around the UK face the same problems, however sea defence design helps to slow the erosion. Hard engineering tactics such as the placement of sea walls protect the base of cliffs and villages, and Groynes trap sediment being carried by longshore drift. Soft engineering is also in place in many coastal areas, including the process of beach nourishment and reprofiling; however these are only temporary defences to the seas attack. All of these solutions are designed to protect the land and the inhabitants from the sea, however all come with limitations. In the case of Covehithe, there are no sea defences in place as it itself is acting as a defence for towns further down the coast that have been placed as a higher priority than this small village.
The Shoreline Management Plan said “The erosion of the cliffs provides a major supply of sediment to the coastal system and this is essential for maintaining defence to other parts of the coast”, unfortunately meaning the land shall continue to retreat at an annual rate of 4.5m, and the village, church and wildlife will be lost. This is much like the village of Dunwich that was taken by the ocean during the 13th and 14th centuries. The dynamism of the landscape will continue into the future given the natural design of the cliffs and the lack of implantation of coastal defence design. Covehithe will continue to be eroded for years to come, and will eventually disappear, like the villages and land before it.
References
Ministry of agriculture, fisheries and food, Beach management and design, 2000
Defalco, D, Covehithe - the Suffolk village that won't exist in 100 years, 06/2022
https://www.suffolklive.com/news/history/covehithe-suffolk-village-wont-exist-5717517