Friends,

We're embarking on an all-new set of maps that are set firmly in the Early Phase of the GPC. To that end, we're interested in any and all articles on the way the English coast has changed over the last millennium or two. We've already drafted new silhouette of the island that shows major coastal differences at Hastings, the Somerset Levels, Romney Marsh and Cornwall/Lyonesse. If you know of any other illustrative (literally drawn) examples from anthropologists or geologists, we'd love to incorporate these insights into our process.

Please post any links you have to this thread. If you have a scan of a magazine or something in a digital format, please PM me so we can arrange an email. We're just about done with the outline unless I hear from you!


Best,


T.

A personal favourite of mine is the coast of East Anglia and, in particular, Burgh Castle and Caister Fort (one of which was probably Gariannum a Saxon Shore Fort).

The GPC has Yarmouth as a port in the Uther period but I've played out Yarmouth as being just a small settlement while the port is at Caister. In Roman Times the coastline was quite different and the spit of land that Yarmouth is on was much much smaller.

There's more information and a map here:
http://www.norfarchtrust.org.uk/burghcastle

Burgh Castle later had Norman Motte and Bailey so my in my mind as the GPC progresses that estuary will silt up, the spit will grow and the main settlement will shift from Caister, to Burgh and then finally on to Yarmouth.

Wow, thanks, Oly. That's exactly the kind of thing we're looking for!


Best,


T.

There's also the Isle of Thanet... The Wanstum Channel used to split the NE tip of Kent off to be an island. The channel was quite significant and used to to be the route to the continent. The Romans built two "Saxon Shore" forts (Richborough and Reculver) at either end of it suggesting it was an important thoroughfare. Richborough itself was the probably landing point of the Roman invasion and became a major port. The channel seems to have silted up in the middle ages but was navigable by Vikings in the 800s and for all I know some time beyond that. The sea receded at Richborough and it's now stuck about a mile or two inland on a slightly raised bit overlooking the flat land down to the present shore.

It's not really come up yet in my Pendragon games as Kent is still firmly Saxon, but I've got an interest in the Saxon Shore forts so it's bound to when I get the chance :)

There's some info and a map here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wantsum_Channel

Thanks, again, Oly. I do belive I've already incorporated this one into the new "silhouette."


T.

I have mentioned this in a different post.

In the 17th Century the River Don was re-routed.

It was a annual event for it to flood the low lands between Doncaster and the River Trent to the east.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Don,_South_Yorkshire

Thanks, Tanty. I wish I could use this, but I really need "before and after" maps to put this into pratice. If you know f any, by all means please post it here.


Best,


T.

here is a website i found a year ago selling antique maps of Ireland
Mercator, Gerard, Cumberland and North Umbri, Southwest England with Wales, Northhampton Shire, Hereford Shire, Middlesex, Nottingham Shire
Lincolnshire, Dorsetshire, all by Blaeu, Joan. & Guiljelmus, and Radnor County,The Fenns, Lincoln Shire, Mona Insula - Isle of Man - Isle of Wight, Duchy of Leicester & Rutland Shire, Merioneth & Montgomery, Cardigan Shire, Wales - Penbrochia, Gloucester Shire, by Janssonius, Joan. Thier are a lot more then that too I used this to portry my version of Huntington in the game with the maps Huntington Both Speed, John Huntington both Shire and Shire towne with the ancient citie ely described. As well as Northamton Shire, and Hereford Shire described with the true plot of the Citie Hereford as alsoe the Armes of thos Nobles that have bene intituled with that Dignitye.

Here's the link http://www.bergbook.com/htdocs/Cache517.htm

Thanks, Tanty. I wish I could use this, but I really need "before and after" maps to put this into pratice. If you know f any, by all means please post it here.


Best,


T.


I am looking for maps, but I did find this is nugget on the history of the with a good detail description of the river and some of the event and fish type in the river from 1066.
http://www.dcrt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/900-years-of-the-RDon-fishery-1.pdf

Maps of Anglo-Saxon England

The maps listed below were devised over the past 20 years to accompany particular articles or for use as handouts in lectures. The maps were drawn by Reginald Piggott, of Potter Heigham, Norfolk, whose distinctive style (represented by his elegant calligraphy, and by various aspects of cartographic design) can be seen in many books published in the last fifty years by various presses (notably the Cambridge University Press). All of the original maps (drawn on artist’s board) are available as image files, and may be downloaded for personal use from the links below. Should any map be wanted for purposes of publication, high resolution files are available on request. Production of the maps, over the years, has depended on the support given to its fellows by Trinity College, Cambridge, for purposes of teaching and research.

http://www.kemble.asnc.cam.ac.uk/node/79

Wow! That's some really cool stuff! Not exactly what i'm looking for in this thread, which is more about the physical geography, but a treasure trove nonetheless. Thanks for sharing!


T.

About Rivers...

Ermine Street crosses the river Lee at Ware in Hertfordshire (it was, I believe, a ford), Hertford is a few miles to the west. As Ermine Street is, I presume, the basis for the King's Road then that means that Hertford shouldn't be on the Kings Road. However by the 900s there was a ford there and the Saxon King built forts on either side of it.

So between Roman times and the late Saxon period something happened to kick the ford of the River Lee a few miles up stream, this in turn lead to Hertford becoming the shire town.

What happened?

One theory is King Alfred... He did "something" to the Lee to trap a raiding Danish fleet in either Hertford or Ware and some stories seem to say that he somehow "broke" the river. Or, more boringly, the Romans did some engineering at Ware to get over the marshland and over the centuries of neglect it failed and became impassable.

Either way some event seems to have happened that meant that the ford at Ware couldn't be used, the road to the north then diverted off to Hertfordshire where there was a new ford. At some point in the middle ages Ware built a bridge (that caused a lot of trouble with Hertford due to lost traffic) and the road diverted back.

I'll be doing this in Pendragon somehow, right now in the early stages Hertford is in my game just a small settlement isolated away from the King's Road. By the time of the early Boy King period the ford will have shifted and Hertford will be growing.

There's no real map needed for this, but there are plenty of sources that will show the roman road going straight over what is now Marshland just to the east of the present A10.

Maps of Anglo-Saxon England

An excellent resource! Thank you!

you guys are welcome.