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The authors of Tidal Lands (s.p.b.s) write of ‘keying up’ in connection with the reinforcing of the seaward flood bank slope with blocks of stone, usually chalk in this region, sometimes other more available stone elsewhere. The skill of the worker(s) was to not just dump the stone from the barge on the side of the […]

Picture above taken from bedroom window showing short section of Humber Estuary clay bank, meadow in foreground, passing ship and north tower of Humber Bridge in distance. Clay banks, linear earthen banks to hold back tidal water, have clearly been constructed by Man for centuries along areas of lowland coast. The effectiveness of such a

Having considered Sunk Island the authors of Tidal Lands then describe the clay banks of ‘Holland’ in some detail. The background to this is that about 50% of the Netherlands is below one metre above sea level, 28% being below sea level. The techniques of reclaiming coastal lowlands have been pioneered by the Dutch since the

‘This art (the ‘inning’ of saltings and coastal marshes) is coeval with civilisation’ (Tidal Lands, p.121). The authors use the interesting term ‘slob land’ to define un-reclaimed coastal lowland marsh land (often saltmarsh) – whether the word ‘slob’ was first used in its human context or environmental context I have yet to find out, in neither

With being published in 1918 Tidal Lands (s.p.b.s) considers the reclamation of lowland foreshores to be an automatic good (waste land made productive), nowhere do the authors hint at any sense of loss when changing the shoreline ecosystem. The photo above (p. 167) shows the vegetated ‘high saltmarsh’ being grazed by horses and, in the

Of course not all linear flood defences are just banks of clay soil. For example, yesterday had a short walk along the ‘bank’ at Goxhill Ferry, with very clear views along the Estuary frontage of Hull, here the seaward slope of the bank is reinforced with natural stone blocks laid to fit together then bonded by a