NHER 26761 (Cropmark and Earthwork record) - Post medieval sea defence and reclamation bank

January 2001. NMP.
A continuation of the bank feature NHER 26762 into Holme next the Sea is visible on 1945 aerial photographs (S1) between TF 7221 4419 and TF 7042 4384. This section of bank is also linear, but irregular, with various offshoots. At the west end of the feature, the bank becomes slightly fragmented, with two separate sections visible. They seem to be part of the same feature though. The bank is also visible in its entirity on 1971 aerial photographs (S2). As with the other part of this feature, it is visible in its modern form on the Ordnance Survey 2nd edition map (S3) and in a simplified form on the 1st edition Ordance Survey map (S4). On the 2nd edition map, one section of bank (TF 7042 4384 to TF 7057 4384) is marked as a 'British Encampment'. It seem unlikely that this is an antiquity, as the feature is marked as a bank/earthwork on earlier maps. Again on Bryant's map of 1826 (S5) and Faden's map of 1797 (S6), the feature is depicted in an embryonic form. The bank appears to have been more fragmentary in 1797, with three main sections. Although not clearly depicting a bank, there is a noticeable boundary between the marshes and the cultivated land on a 1722 map (S7). The main interest in this map is that in the area where the most westerly section of the bank is in the aerial photographs, there are two areas of land called 'The High Holmes' and 'The Low Holmes'. As an element of a place name, the name 'Holme' means an island, which would suggest that by 1722 these areas of land were islands of useable land in the marshes - possibly due to earlier efforts at reclamation. The bank feature is strongly connected with land reclamation, a process which appears to have been occurring in this area for a number of centuries.
As a whole, features NHER 26762 and 26761, from a major part of the sea defences and land reclamation process in this area - a process which started in the post medieval period, if not earlier.
A. Hunt (NMP), 24 January 2001.