The Wash

For the 2001 film, see The Wash (film).

The Wash is the square-mouthed estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, "where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire". It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom. It is fed by the Rivers Witham, Welland, Nene and Great Ouse.

Geography

The Wash is a large indentation in the eastern coast of England, separating the curved coast of East Anglia from Lincolnshire. It is formed by a large bay with three roughly straight sides meeting at right angles, each about 25 kilometres (15 miles) in length. The eastern coast of the Wash is entirely within Norfolk, and extends from Hunstanton in the north to the mouth of the River Great Ouse at King's Lynn in the south. The opposing coast, which is roughly parallel to the east coast, runs from Gibraltar Point to the mouth of the River Welland, all within Lincolnshire. The southern coast of the Wash, which runs roughly northwest-southeast, connects these two river mouths, and is punctuated by the mouth of a third river, the River Nene.

Inland from the Wash the land is flat, low-lying, and often marshy: these are the Fens of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk.

Owing to deposits of sediment, the coastline of the Wash has altered markedly within historical times; several towns once on the coast of the Wash (notably King's Lynn) are now some distance inland. Much of the Wash itself is very shallow, with several large sandbanks—such as Breast Sand, Bulldog Sand, Roger Sand, and Old South Sand—exposed at low tide, especially along its south coast. For this reason, navigation in the Wash can be hazardous for boats. A lightship marks the entrance to the Lynn Channel, the one safe channel from the North Sea to The Wash's south coast.

Wash River

At the end of the latest glaciation, and while the sea level remained lower than it is today, the rivers Witham, Welland, Glen, Nene, and Great Ouse joined into a large river whose valley can be followed on marine charts as soundings (sea depth values) for 100 km (60 miles) northnortheast to the Silver Pit. This was broadly the pattern during the two preceding interglacials, the Hoxnian and the Ipswichian. Earlier than that, in the Cromerian the drainage pattern had been different so that the main river flowed near the border between Norfolk and Suffolk.

The deep valley off the Wash was formed, not by the interglacial river but by ice of the Wolstonian and Devensian glacials flowing southwards up the slope represented by the modern coast and forming tunnel valleys of which the Silver Pit is one of many. It was this process which gave the Silver Pit its depth (the chart soundings are in metres) and narrowness. When the tunnel valley was free of ice and seawater, it was occupied by the river. This kept it free of sediment, unlike most of the tunnel valleys. Since the sea flooded it, the valley seems to have been kept open by tidal action. During the Ipswichian interglacial, though the Wash river probably flowed by way of the site of the Silver Pit, the tunnel valley will not have been formed at this stage as its alignment seems inconsistent with the direction of the ice flow of the Anglian glaciation.

Wildlife

The Wash is a Special Protection Area (SPA) under European Union legislation. It is made up of very extensive salt marshes, major intertidal banks of sand and mud, shallow waters and deep channels. The seawall at Freiston has been breached in three places to increase the saltmarsh area, to provide an extra habitat for birds, particularly waders, and also as a natural flood prevention measure. This last aspect is an example of the recently developing exploration of the possibilities of sustainable coastal management by adopting soft engineering techniques. The same scheme includes new brackish lagoon habitat.

On the eastern side of the Wash, one finds low chalk cliffs with their famous stratum of red chalk, at Hunstanton, and gravel pits (lagoons) at RSPB Snettisham, which are an important roost for waders at high tide. This SPA borders onto the North Norfolk Coast Special Protection Area.

To the northwest, the Wash extends to Gibraltar Point, another Special Protection Area.

The partially confined nature of the Wash habitats, combined with the ample tidal flows, allows shellfish to breed, especially shrimp, cockles and mussels. Some water birds, e.g. Oystercatchers, feed on shellfish. It is also an important breeding area for Common Terns, and a feeding area for Marsh Harriers. Migrating birds, such as geese, ducks and wading birds, come to the Wash in huge numbers to spend the winter, with an average total of about 300,000 birds.

It was featured on the television programme Seven Natural Wonders as one of the wonders of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Historical Incident

The most famous incident associated with the Wash is the loss of King John's royal treasure. According to contemporary reports, John travelled from Spalding in Lincolnshire to Bishop's Lynn, in Norfolk, was taken ill and decided to return. While he took the longer route by way of Wisbech, he sent his baggage train, including his crown jewels, along the causeway and ford across the mouth of the Wellstream. This route was usable only on the lower part of the tide. The horse-drawn wagons moved too slowly for the incoming tide, and many were lost.

The present-day location of the accident is normally supposed to be somewhere near Sutton Bridge, on the River Nene. The name of the river changed as a result of redirection of the Great Ouse during the seventeenth century, and Bishop's Lynn became King's Lynn as a result of Henry VIII's rearrangement of the English Church.

Astronomical study, however, permits a reconstruction of the tide tables of the relevant day and it seems most likely, given travel in the usual daylight hours, that the loss was incurred in crossing the Welland estuary at Fosdyke.

There is also a suspicion that John left his jewels in Lynn as security for a loan and arranged their "loss". This looks likely to be apocryphal. However that may be, he passed the following night, that of 12 to 13 October 1216, at Swineshead Abbey, moved on to Newark-on-Trent and died of his illness on 19 October.

Landmark

The Boston Stump, a Lincolnshire landmark, can be clearly seen from the Norfolk side of the Wash.

References

A. L. Poole, "Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216" Oxford History of England. (1955) ISBN 0-19-821707-2. (p.485 gives the official version of John's last days.)
Cook, J. & Ashton, N. High Lodge, Mildenhall in Current Archaeology No. 123 (1991)
West, R.G. & Donner, J.J. The Glaciation of East Anglia and the Midlands in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London vol.112 (1955)

External links

Flood warning status