The Great Flood of 1607

THE GREAT FLOOD OF 1607

BARB DRUMMOND

BARB DRUMMOND

Copyright © 2024 by Barb Drummond

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Published 2024

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Cover design by Derek Bainton

978-1-912829-14-9 The Great Flood of 1607 Paperback

978-1-912829-15-6 Hardback

978-1-912829-16-3 ebook

CONTENTS

Introduction

1. Before the Flood

2. Records on the Ground

3. God’s Warning To His People

4. Lamentable News

5. Seyer’s Memoirs

6. Baker’s Account

7. Other Sources

8. The Great Flood Tracked to Cardiff

9. The Flood Tracked to Gwent Levels

10. Why Not Wye?

11. Severn Tidelands

12. Severn Crossings

13. Gloucester Storms

14. Bristol and Its Hinterland

15. The Great Flood in Somerset

16. Barnstaple and Beyond

17. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

'God's Warning to His People of England'

Upon Tuesday, being the 20th of January, 1607, there happened such an overflowing of waters, such a violent swelling of the seas, and such forcible breaches made in the firm land in the counties following ... Gloucester, Somerset, Monmouth, Glamorgan, Carmarthen, and divers and sundry other places of South Wales, the like never in the memory of man hath never bin seen or heard of. For about nine of the clock in the morning, the same being fayrely ceive afar off as it were in the elements huge and mighty hilles of water tombling one over another in such sort as if the greatest mountaynes in the world had overwhelmed the low villages or marshy grounds. Sometimes it dazzled of many spectators that they imagined it had bin some fogge or miste coming with great swiftness towards them, and with such a smoke as if mountaynes were all on fire, and to the view of some it seemed as if mylions of thousands of arrows had bin shot for the all at one time. So violent and swift were the outrageous waves that in less than five hours space most part of those countreys (especially the places which laye low) were all overflown, and many hundreds of people, both men, and women, and children, were then quite devoured by those outrageous waters — nay, more, the farmers and husbandmen and shepherdes might behold their goodly flockes and sheep swimming upon the waters dead. The names of some of the towns and villages which suffered great harmes and losses hereby were those viz., Bristoll, and Aust, all the countreyes along both sides of the Severn, from Gloucester to Bristol, Chepstowe, Goldclift, Matherne, Caldicot Moores, Redrift, Newport, Cardiffe, Swansey, Laugharne, Llanstephen. The foundations of many churches and houses were in a manner decayed, and some carried quite away, as in Cardiffe, in the countie of Glamorgan, there was a great part of the church next to the waterside beaten down with the water. Divers other churches lie hidden in the waters, and some of them the tops are to be seen, and some others nothinge at al to be seen, and some the steeples, and some of them nothinge at al.

D.M.C., Harleian Miscellany

INTRODUCTION

I enjoy visiting historic sites, and many years ago I discovered a church in South Wales with a marker recording the height of the Great Flood of 1606/7, about 5 feet from the ground. It drowned huge areas of coastal Wales and the West of England. In the small parish of Goldcliffe a bronze plaque commemorates the deaths of 22 people. If you multiply this number across the region, we are looking at a significant death toll, plus huge losses of livestock and crops, and substantial property damage.

From another source comes the following: The Avon, upon which Welford stands, … was nearly drowned by its flooding in July 1588, when the Armada was in the Channel, and as we said: God blew with His winds and they were not," and Shakespeare was 24 years old. That July storm which scattered Philip's ships would seem to be referred to in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', not in regard to its greater business, but as having flooded out Welford.

"The winds, piping to us in vain,

As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea

Contagious fogs, which, falling on the land,

Have every pelting river made so proud,

That they have overborne their continents.

The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,

The ploughman lost his sweat; and the green corn

Hath rotted, ere his youth attain'd a beard:

The fold stands empty in the drowned field,

The crows are fatted with the murrion flock;

The Nine-Men's Morris is fill'd with mud;

and the quaint mazes in the wanton green,

For lack of tread, are undistinguishable... ¹

This is terrifying, and may have been used by the Bard purely for dramatic effect. But what if he was writing from life? Welford-on-Avon is in Warwickshire, to the west of Shakespeare's home of Stratford. It lies in a large loop of the river, so floods must have been a frequent risk in winter. But it is in the heart of England, far from the coast and the Armada, suggesting the 1606/7 flood may have had an impact far inland.

What if Shakespeare and his peers had first-hand experience of extreme weather in an age when this was common? Welford is also described as an island in a great sea of meadow and orchard. This could easily apply to much of the land that borders the often-flooded River Severn.

One of the most famous images of the Elizabethan Age is that of the ice fairs on the Thames, in 1600–1814 as part of the Mini Ice Age which struck the Northern Hemisphere. The year 1683/4 was the harshest winter in memory across Europe. Lake Constance froze. John Evelyn described it in his diary, from 27 December as the most severe frost ever, and an ice fair where hogs were roasted, a printing press was set up to provide souvenirs, and a settlement was built that included a brothel.

This sounds like people were having a lot of fun. But there must have been a lot of suffering. Frozen water is not drinkable. People — especially the poor, the very old and the young — died of what is now known as hypothermia. Ships could not sail, roads were blocked, trade ceased. Wood was too hard to chop, the earth too hard to cultivate and many animals died, so suffering was widespread.

It seems the Great flood was not an isolated disaster. It arrived in the midst of decades of extreme weather in Europe. But it was the most spectacular as it carried the weight of God’s judgement on his people, which added to the horror, and possibly delayed the recovery of the region and of the victims.

CHAPTER 1

BEFORE THE FLOOD

The Glastonbury lake villages approximately coincided with the start of the Christian era, suggesting milder weather attracted missionaries to these islands, so it was apparently a pull rather than a push. The monks were skilled in agriculture and engineering which allowed them to drain the low-lying lands to expand settlements.

The Bristol Channel was also formed about this time. The River Severn and her tributaries carry large amounts of particles, mostly mud which fertilises farmlands. This was necessary as few trees grew there to provide firewood, so local people often burnt dried animal dung, frequently mixed with straw, for cooking and heating. About 80,000 tons of silt are carried downstream by the Severn and her tributaries each year, enough to build up the land level by 6–7 feet if spread evenly. Its regular flooding has helped to build up the waterside lands often known as 'wastes', i.e. regions which are sparsely settled but highly productive in agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry. The term 'waste' has a long history, defining regions that were not improved and/or built upon, such as what became Bristol's Queen Square. It was also applied to lands 'discovered' by Europeans to justify their seizure of them.

Before ships sailed, crews said prayers for their safe voyage, and on their safe return gave thanks to God and donations to maintain churches. Hailes Abbey was founded in 1246 by Richard of Cornwall in gratitude for surviving a storm at sea. ¹

Up to a century ago, the head of the star-shaped tidewater region of Carmarthen Bay was about 1 mile wide, with well-timbered flats on either side, rich with grass and fast-flowing streams. No matting weeds have time to gather or mud to settle in these translucent streams... and sweep in graceful curves through the fat pastures of the vale. ²

Large areas of dunes existed between Freshwater Bay in Pembrokeshire and Merthyr Mawr in Glamorgan. They seem to date from the early Iron Age, c.400 BCE, up to the Roman period. At Pennard on the Gower, the first castle was built about 1100; by c.1270 it was replaced and St Mary's Church was built. It seems the dunes existed in 1316 and by 1478 were recorded as a threat to settlement. The church was buried by 1528, but located again in 1861. The old church of St Nicholaston was also engulfed. The east of Swansea suffered worse encroachments. By 1205, dunes were recorded, and extended far inland by 1344.

Margam Abbey was threatened from 1336, mostly by losses to the sea; by c.1300 its hermitage was buried in the sand. Port Talbot was also engulfed, as an upright stone has been unearthed dating from 1626. The Via Julia seems to have passed through the north of the dunes and through the Kenfig Burrows, and a river crossing probably survived into the 9th century. There seems to have been no danger in the 12th century, as the castle was still in use in 1403. But by 1485 the king's highway to the north east was being engulfed and the region was often beset by storms. ³

Gerald of Wales wrote of a storm in winter 1171/2 in what is now Newgale, St Bride's Bay which laid bare... the surface of the earth, which had been covered for many ages, and discovered the trunks of trees cut off, standing in the very sea itself, the strokes of the hatchet appearing as if made only yesterday... By a revolution, the road for ships [i.e. channel] became impassable, and looked, not like a shore, but like a grove cut down... being by degrees consumed, and swallowed up by the violence and encroachment of the sea. ⁴ Thomas Pennant made similar claims of trees on the foreshore of Abergele near Denbighshire: The wood is collected by the poorer people and carried home and used as fuel. ⁵ This was in a region known for its shortage of woodlands, so the story makes sense. There was also evidence of a sunken forest when Cardiff Docks were being built, and at Port Talbot, peat beds were found 44 feet below the local flats. The same was found at Cornwall where deposits included tin and human skulls. ⁶

In c.1625 Richard James wrote:

"In summer places when ye sea doth bate,

Down from ye shoare, 'tis wonder to relate

How many thowsands of thiese trees now stand

Black broken on their rootes, which once drie land

Did cover." ⁷

To the far west in Pembrokeshire, desolate dunes, known as burrows, stretch inland, rising to 200 feet high towards the fertile valley of Castlemartin. ⁸ But North claims the term sunken forests should be replaced by the term 'sunken lands', as some of the peat layers are collections of vegetable debris and marsh plants that may have drifted into shallow water where they sank. ⁹

Historically, sea levels have varied widely in response to temperature changes, with extreme cold causing the formation of ice and snow on low-lying land, which lowered sea levels, especially at the poles. When the waters withdrew, the land dried out, so it rose again, and more land became available for agriculture and settlements, which were less subject to flooding. The historic height of this rise seems incredible. Shells have been found at the mouth of the Bristol Channel which would usually be found at a depth of nearly 60 fathoms.

Along the south east coast of Wales is a region with the name Wentloog, which suggests links with the Low Countries which in the 17th century provided these islands with engineers to drain the coastal levels. But this term derives from Llansanffaid Gwynllwg, the extensive peatlands which comprise much of the region. The landscape becomes linked with the Romans, based at Caerleon from where legions carried out much of the coastal drainage, but whose port is now lost beneath the waves. Over the ensuing centuries, walls and defences have been built, repaired and replaced.

In South Wales, the best-known floodplains are the Wentloog and Caldicot Levels, between Portskewett and Rumney, the modern Severn Crossings and the east of Cardiff which mostly date from the end of the last Ice Age. But they are below the levels of high spring tides so would still be at risk of flooding if they were not protected by flood banks. At the present time, the amount of deposition is about equal to erosion, so the system seems stable, but with the increase in sea levels from global warming, this could become a major concern. North claims that sea levels at the end of the last Ice Age were relatively lower than now, so areas of marsh and woodland extended into much of what is now the Bristol Channel.

The Great Flood of 1606/7 is often described as a storm, or more recently a tsunami. It swept in from the west, so the following history will start in the far west of Wales, travel up the River Severn, then follow the English coast southwards.

Normans settled as far west as Pembrokeshire and a source claims the wife of Henry I(1068-1135) was from Flanders; this seems to be his second wife, Adeliza of Louvain. Henry settled Flemings who had been made homeless by floods in their homeland. They were given asylum, but at a price: they were expected to defend the borders against the Welsh, which explains why so much of the region still speaks English. Another source claimed they arrived in 2 or 3 batches, to become so numerous that some were settled on the coast of Carmarthen and the Gower where they survived as pockets of English speakers such as in the small village of Flemingston. Wikipedia claims that in 1317 Flemingston was held by Philip le Fleming, so after the medieval warm period c.800-1300 and the start of the Little Ice Age. Further evidence of the Flemings comes from a list of 12 knights in Glamorgan includes Sir John Flemynge of Wenvoe, Lamays and Flemingston.10 Robert Fitzhamon granted St Donat's to the Stradlings, a family that survived for several hundred years. The first of them was Le Esterling, which suggests he was another refugee from the Low Countries. Another refugee there was Nicolas Breakspeare who became the first English pope, Adrian IV. Yet another sighting of Flemings is at Wiston, where a castle was founded about 1100 by a Fleming with the wonderful name of Wizo. ¹¹

These 'Flemings' thus provide us with some surprisingly modern history: of people apparently driven from their homes by extreme weather, forced to flee to safety in small boats. Were they the first climate refugees to arrive on these shores, or the first to leave records?

At Dinas in Pembrokeshire, a church built at sea level at Cwm-Yr-Eglwys was overthrown in the Great Storm of October 1859 when the Royal Charter ship was lost off Anglesey. ¹² The central churchyard is now protected by a sea wall, suggesting it was prone to storm damage, and like many other sites has lost any evidence it probably had of the 1606/7 flood.

Laugharne is between Carmarthen and the coast; it seems to be the most westerly site recorded as a victim of the Great Flood. Between the town and the coast is an area which had long been subject to considerable storms and shifting sands.

The traveller and royal clerk Gerard of Wales (c.1146–c.1223) wrote of a winter storm in Pembrokeshire which exposed ancient trees, claiming axe marks were fresh as if recently made and which provided plentiful firewood for the poor. But these same trees blocked the 'road for ships' so destroyed shipping in the port and bankrupted merchants.

Swansea Bay is now a huge expanse of golden sand lined by cottages, which rivals Bristol for having Britain's highest tidal swings. Plans were made to exploit this with a tidal barrage to generate green energy, but this failed to attract funding. Historically, it was so full of sand it became a forest which was drowned at the end of the last Ice Age. Stories are told of the bay being farmed up till the 17th century, so about the time of the flood, and extending to the Green Grounds of Mumbles Head, suggesting the area was fertile. ¹³ As recently as 1797 the bay was still described as boggy ground at the mercy of the gales and high water.

The sea continued to cause problems; as recently as 1818 people still spoke of the area between the flat land at the Mumbles to the low water mark being land before the sea made its inroads on the flat which now forms the admired bay of Swansea. A map is mentioned which showed the ancient lands under the sea. Surprisingly, this area is recorded on the Cassini Ordnance Survey map of 1830/31, which shows what appears to be sands with streams taking up about half the modern bay, the remainder being labelled as Inner and Outer Green Grounds which stretched past Mumbles Head into the main channel.

Thus the Great Flood was one of many extreme weather events; an account of the 1606/7 flood claims that at Swansea many great harmes were done, but unfortunately fails to provide details .14 It seems the 1606/7 flood thus caused permanent loss of ground, forcing locals to relocate inland.

Other areas on the south west coast of Wales suffered from sand being driven inland by storms, especially on the Gower Peninsula from 1554. An Act of Parliament was passed that year to deal with the hurt, nuisance and losses by reason of sand arising out of the sea, and driven to land by storms and winds, whereby much good ground is covered, especially in the county of Glamorgan. ¹⁵ Two churches were abandoned, at Penmaen on Oxwich Bay on the Gower and further inland to the east at Pennard. By 1650 land close to the sea owned by the lord of the manor was ruined by sand encroachment, so was abandoned to become common ground. ¹⁶ This shows the region struggled against storm damage for many centuries and that the 1606/7 flood was in the midst of a period of extreme weather. But this long struggle probably caused depopulation of the area, leaving fewer people to be victims of the 1606/7 flood or for their records to have survived.

This is from Rhys: [Kenfig] is a wild stretch of coast that runs westward now (1911) from the estuary of Ogmore River. Kenfig is near the coast west of Porthcawl, and it is hard to imagine it was a major international port with moorings for 24 ships, albeit they were small ones. It had a large pool which was said to be prone to flooding. But encroachment of sand forced the locals to build a new church inland, and by 1316 their pastures had been overwhelmed by driven sand. ¹⁷ A new road was built further inland and Leland described the settlement as being devoured by sands. This coincides with the surge in storms in the North Sea, so the problem was widespread. The extreme weather began in 1219 when the first St Marcellus Flood drowned many people in the northern Netherlands. It peaked in 1362 with the Grote Mandrenke, 'Great Drowning of Men' which carved out the Zeider Zee in what is now the Netherlands, and when unknown numbers of people died. It also created the harbour of Dunwich, in Suffolk then capital of the East Angles during northern Europe's 'Mini Ice Age', which coincided with — or drove — the emigration of the 'Flemings'. Kenfig is now a small village still being eaten by the sea.

"The battle between sea and land was fought there with endless change of fortune: the sea hurls up billows of