You are stood looking at a Medievel Monument called Midsands Cross.
Looking around you this monument seems a little out of place, surrounded by mid 70's bungalows, yet in the middle is this Cross.
I propose to explain firstly what the monument is and why it is here which has a direct relationship to the ever shifting landscape.
There is a simple question to answer regarding the material used in the construction of the cross which is apparent when at the location.
The monument itself has been recorded as here since the 13th Century and marked the Northerly limit of the Borough of Great Yarmouth.The cross was on the Southern edge of what was known as Grubbs Haven. Grubbs Haven was the original route of the River Bure to the sea. Obviously some major geographical changes have occurred in order to now stand here and not see any water. Furthermore, that where there once was a river mouth are now people's homes.
Not only was this a river mouth cutting Great Yarmouth off from Caister (Or Caystre as it has been known in the past) but Yarmouth was once a sandy island. One Elizabethan cartographer (alledgedly Thomas Darnett) recorded a view of Yarmouth "Anno Domina Millesimo" in the year 1000 depicting the Yarmouth sand spit as an island with clear water to the North and the South and clear water behind the coastline.
Aerial photographic and environmental evidence suggest that in fact Breydon Water looked fairly similar to today (Coles and Funnell, 1981), and there is no physical evidence for a Northern mouth of the Bure. However, there is some circumstantial evidence: Thomas Nashe (writing in 1599), records that “some visible apparent tokens remain of a haven” (Nashe, 1985, 385), while Manship (1619) records that “many Hundred Years past it hath dammed up the Mouth of the river or Channel which passed forth on the North said of Yermouth” (Manship, 1854, 11). Within 400 years the river mouth has shifted and there are two causes at work here at the time.
Siltation is the main action
Siltation of a river bed -
Silt is a solid, dust-like sediment that water, ice, and wind transport and deposit. In this instance, water. It is made up of rock and mineral particles that are larger than clay but smaller than sand. Individual silt particles are so small that they are difficult to see. To be classified as silt, a particle must be less than .005 centimeters (.002 inches) across. Silt is found in soil, along with other types of sediment such as clay, sand, and gravel.
Silty soil is slippery when wet, not grainy or rocky. The soil itself can be called silt if its silt content is greater than 80 percent. When deposits of silt are compressed and the grains are pressed together, rocks such as siltsone form. The houses from this point towards Caister are built on such foundations.
Silt is created when rock is eroded, or worn away, by water and ice. As flowing water transports tiny rock fragments, they scrape against the sides and bottoms of stream beds, chipping away more rock. The particles grind against each other, becoming smaller and smaller until they are silt-size. Glaciers can also erode rock particles to create silt but as the closing of the Grubbs Haven has occurred in recorded history this is not the case here.
Other factors that are not responsible for the siltation here are wind which can transport rock particles through a canyon or across a landscape, forcing the particles to grind against the canyon wall or one another. All these processes create silt.
Silt can change landscapes. For example, silt settles in still water. So, deposits of silt slowly fill in places like wetlands, lakes and, in this instance, harbours. Floods deposit silt along river banks and on flood plains. Deltas develop where rivers deposit silt as they empty into another body of water. You would have expected that to appear here but this is not the case due to a second action which has acted upon Grubbs Haven.
Silty soil is usually more fertile than other types of soil, meaning it is good for growing crops and grazing land. There have been many historic disputes recorded from the 13th through to the 16th Century mentioning Midsands Cross as a boundary which possibly due to the desire for the rich fertile land. There were recorded court cases, from 1299 to 1523, but the majority of these refer to cattle grazing (the first, in 1299 refers to “goods and chattels to the value of 40l” and the last to the wreck of the Admiral Sluys, in 1522, presumably on the foreshore of the disputed territory) (Rye, 1962).
The position of the Northwest Tower suggests that the Bure had run its present course for some time before the building of the Town Walls. This section of walls was probably started around 1321 (Carter, 1980, 303). If the Bure had recently (i.e. within living memory) shifted to its present course from one exiting directly to the sea, it is unlikely that the town of Yarmouth would run the wall up to it as a permanent structure. It is more likely that the Bure had shifted long before the grant of murage in 1261, and Grubb's Haven remained as a relic place name frm then on.
To the south of Great Yarmouth, the river Yare exited between Corton and Lowestoft, about four miles south of its current position. The river mouth began to visibly silt up in 1337, and was impassable by 1347. A new haven was cut at Corton, in 1347. The new haven was frequently blocked, and became permanently impassable around 1375. A new, second haven was cut in 1393 "opposite the horse ferry". Swinden records the location as being "by the old Trench, in a line from the North end of Gorleston or Southtown, over the Denes, the place where the foot ferry is now used" (Swinden, 1772, 377). Ecclestone equates this with the location of the Lower Ferry (NGR 652622 305500 - TG 5262 0550), and suggests that works for the power station may have encountered physical evidence of this (Ecclestone, 1959, 94). however, the Lower Ferry is approximately 500m north of the old power station, and so it is unlikely that the power station works represent the remains of the second haven. The second haven became blocked by 1408, and was replaced by the third haven, at Newton Cross, between Gorleston and Hopton. The third haven was expensive to maintain, and was replaced by the fourth haven in 1508. The location of the fourth haven is unknown, except that it was closer to the town than the third haven. The fourth haven was, in turn, replaced by another haven, in 1528. This haven was built "very near if not in the very place, where now it hath issue" (Manship, 1854, 80). This haven silted up within 20 years, and was replaced by yet another haven, in 1548 (which was paid for by the selling of church plate and vestments). It was located 400m (1/4 mile) south of the South Gate, but this entrance was never really completed, and the haven was totally blocked by 1557. The (current) haven was begun in 1559, and completed in 1567.
- See more at: http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details?TNF439-Great-Yarmouth-The-Havens-(Urban-Summary)#sthash.I2486y8p.dpuf
What prevented a river delta here and instead the deposits of silt in the river mouth instead? There is another Earthcache nearby on North Beach Dunes which explains how longshore drift has moved and deposited sand along the Norfolk coastline (GC4P15H). Combined with the siltation from the river has meant the rate of closure of this rivermouth and it's recoursing has been advanced.
The Questions in order to claim this EarthCache......
Q1 - What stone not associated with siltation can be found in the monument itself and can you describe the composition of the stones in the monument?
Q2 - How many havens (river exits to the sea) were associated with the Yarmouth Town area?