Easton Bavents c.1450-c.1680: a microstudy of the rise, fortune and decline of a maritime community experiencing dynamic coastal change

Kennedy, Louise Jane (2024) Easton Bavents c.1450-c.1680: a microstudy of the rise, fortune and decline of a maritime community experiencing dynamic coastal change. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to provide a detailed examination of Easton Bavents, a late medieval and early modern coastal community in rural Suffolk, experiencing the global issues of erosion, accretion and flooding. The micro-focused approach addresses the current lack of such a study with a structure driven by the surviving categories of documentation: wills; maps, sea charts and written navigational aids; lay subsidy returns; manorial records; and port and customs accounts.

Through a partial reconstitution, a definite correlation is established between fluctuations in Easton’s economic fortunes and topographical changes. Positive outcomes from coastal realignment allowed the development of a haven, resulting in the community’s remarkable economic and demographic rise in the mid to late fifteenth century, during a period of national and regional recession, decline and decay. Related to this was a concentration of entrepreneurial alien immigrants, many from Brabant and Zeeland, identified between c.1440 and 1524 who developed close kinship ties. Merchants and shipmen facilitated wide ranging maritime enterprises, including coastal trading, Icelandic fishing voyages and wool trading with the Calais Staple via London. A pilgrimage site dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, with associations to poet Osborne Bokenham, developed, along with an enlightened group of clergy. However, during the sixteenth century further dynamic coastal changes, related to the loss of a sheltering sandbank, resulted in severe accretion, erosion and flooding. A swift decline of the community followed.

Through the experience of the author’s archivist background this thesis offers research techniques applicable for the study of communities where physical remains and extant material are sparse. It enhances the growing knowledge base of England’s emergence as a global maritime power and highlights the economic importance of immigrants. Finally, reconstructing the complexities of dynamic coastal change and human responses in past times informs the current debate on coastal erosion.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of History
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	17 Jun 2025 08:22
Last Modified:	17 Jun 2025 08:22
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99568
DOI:

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