The Great Storm of 1171 or 1172

slowburner

Here is an interesting account of a great storm around 1172/3 which revealed axe cut trunks on the Welsh shoreline.
The account is a translation after Giraldus Cambrensis (c.1146 - 1223) in English History from Contemporary Writers. Strongbow's conquest of Ireland. Francis Pierrepoint Barnard. 1888

A.D. 1171 or 1172.-Of the storms.
Girald. Cambr. Expug. Hibern. Lib. I. cap. xxxvi.
Then were the barriers of the storm- winds burst
and the bowels of the sea uptorn; and with such force
and for so long did the tempest's rage endure, that
the whole drear winter through scarce a single bark
found its way across to Ireland, nor could aught of
news be heard from any source. Wherefore all men
thought that the wrath of God was upon them for
their sins.
It was about that time that from the unusual
violence of the weather the sand on the shores of
South Wales was washed away and the under soil laid
bare, and the face of the coast was revealed as it had
been in the far distant past. Trunks of trees appeared below high-water mark, still standing, but with their
branches broken off or lopped, and showing traces of
the axe as if of yesterday. The soil too was quite
black, and the wood of the dead tree-boles was of the
hue of ebony. Wondrous the changes wrought by
time : that where in former days tall ships could ride,
now no ship can go ; where was a level strand, we
see a sylvan grove ! Perchance during the flood of
Noah, but likelier long since that, though yet in ages
long ago, this forest was broken down by the fury of
the sea, and by degrees destroyed or absorbed as the
waters rose from time to time and encroached upon
the land.*

* One may see these ancient stumps of trees to-day in
Swansea Bay, and in other parts of Wales. Gerald's description
is absolutely accurate. The black soil is also still there, and
probably represents what is left of the foliage, branches, smaller
trees and undergrowth.

I wonder if the submerged tree stumps north of Bray harbour are a related feature?

cfuserkildare

Hi Slowburner,

Some-body mentioned the Bray feature a while ago on a post I had up about lost Islands and Hy-Brasil in particular.

Still have to go and have a look at the Bray thing. But if you look at Google Maps or Earth and look in particular at Wicklow's Murragh on the west side the land looks like submergance occurring in fields that may only be 100-200 years old.

Any opinions welcome on this as I am working on a theory relating to this very subject.

Cheers.

slowburner

Erosion is certainly a problem on the East coast, is this what you mean by submergence?
There is a thread here on the rapidly increasing erosion of Greystones' north beach.

cfuserkildare

Hi Slowburner,

When you look at Google Maps around Murragh in Wicklow it looks as though either land level is falling or sea level has risen. The "fields" along the water front look very man-made and now seem to be submerged.

Cheers.

slowburner

The Murrough is a shingle bank, so it's vulnerable to erosion and change.
The area was highly prized for its grazing, so a stone bridge was built across Broad Lough/Leitrim river, to the Murrough to facilitate access towards the end of the C.17th. There very probably were field boundaries there, and the Murrough itself was undoubtedly very much wider in the past.
I know very little about the formation of the Murrough, or how such a great shingle bank was thrown up to divert the natural course of the Vartry river from eastward to southward. Presumably a product of rising sea levels over the millennia, or might the bank have been thrown up in the great storm of 1171/2?

I'm just not seeing the submerged field boundaries you mention, apart from this linear feature, immediately north of the harbour.
I suspect it might well be a sewerage outflow.
If anyone knows, I'd be keen to hear what this shadowy feature is.


(Image from Google Earth 2010)

cfuserkildare

Hi Slowburner,

My fault as I should have said Broadlough instead of the Murragh, pretty much all of the west side looks like fields which are now beginning to sink.

slowburner

It's been like that as far long as I can remember. It's a tidal estuary, so it's subject to tidal forces, and is recognised as an important wildlife habitat.
Sea levels are rising in common with every else, which might be what you are seeing.

Jakub25

It's look like a mark of medieval stone harbour.
Have look at scottish one.