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25
HAZARDOUS WINDS A’BLOWIN’
Coastal impacts of wind-blown sand in Medieval Britain
to Saint Adamnan as well as evidence for medieval
cultivation which is visible on aerial photographs. The
surviving community must have been forced to leave almost
immediately with their crops ruined and homes buried. By the
end of the 15th century a new church of Saint Adamnan had
been established six kilometres to the north at Leask, perhaps
where many of the refugees moved following the disaster.
PETER BROWN investigates how wind-blown sand
threatened medieval coastal communities
WHEN WE THINK about natural hazards facing the UK,
THERE IS A LITLE
VILLAGE ... AND A
CASTEL, BOOTH IN
RUINE AND ALMOST
SHOKID AND
DEVOURID WITH
THE SANDES THAT
THE SEVERN SE THER
CASTITH UP.
John Leland, describing the village of Kenfig,
written between 1536 and 1539.
wind-blown sand is probably far from the top of the list.
In truth, it is not the hazard that poses the greatest risk
today, but in the past wind-blown sand was responsible
for the devastation of many British coastal communities.
Prior to the rapid rise in sand levels at Forvie, sand may have
been making more gradual inroads as the archaeological
evidence demonstrates animal manure may have been
applied to the soil just before Forvie’s abandonment. This was
most likely a strategy to remedy the reduced fertility of the
soil caused by the movement of sand on to areas of arable
cultivation. By this point, however, it was probably too late.
Mitigation strategies to deal with the effect of strong winds on
large areas of sand dune are limited. Sands can be stabilised
by the establishment and maintenance of species such as
pine and marram grass which hold sand together, reducing
exposure to high winds and preventing movement. But to do
this effectively requires time and considerable resources.
Archaeology can highlight the endurance over time of
towns, villages, isolated settlements, and individual
buildings. With the additional evidence provided by
historical documents, the medieval period offers a
While the importance of vegetation cover may have been
appreciated throughout the Middle Ages, evidence for its
management only appears in the Elizabethan period when
Parish church ruin at Forvie.
Credit: Stephen Fisk.
laws were passed enforcing the protection of marram grass,
which was commonly used as thatch, around Newborough,
Anglesey. Similar laws were passed throughout the post-medieval
period in Denmark and Scotland. Therefore, it seems a failure
to appreciate the risk posed by the sands, or to organise the
community to enact preventive measures, must have occurred
at Forvie.
particularly rich dataset from which to illustrate the
hardships and abandonments precipitated by
wind-blown sand.
MEDIEVAL VILLAGE ABANDONED
IN ABERDEENSHIRE
AN EXAMPLE comes from the Aberdeenshire coast
where sand caused the village of Forvie to be completely
abandoned in the year 1413. A storm from the south
coincided with an extremely low tide resulting in more
sand than usual being exposed to the storm winds,
which deposited vast quantities across the village and
its surrounding agricultural lands. Past investigations by
researchers from Aberdeen University since the 1950s
uncovered the remains of the parish church dedicated
The former location of the village of Forvie is now part of the Forvie National Nature Reserve.