A fierce storm surge swept away what was then the sixth-richest town in East Anglia, devastating hundreds of homes and community buildings including Greyfriars Monastery, established by Franciscan monks only thirty years prior on low-lying ground perilously close to the sea.
Inside Britain's 'Atlantis' - a sunken village forgotten for hundreds of years Hailed by some as Suffolk's answer to Atlantis is Dunwich, a village and civil parish on the North Sea coast.
Today, Dulwich's nature reserves and gravel beach make it an idyllic haven for birdwatchers, walkers and cyclists – but the quaint character of this one-road settlement, with its cosy pub, local museum, and monastery ruins, is only the most recent chapter in its awe-inspiring story.
According to author and social historian Rowland Parker in his Men of Dunwich, Dunwich merchants got "richer and richer" as maritime commerce intensified.
The harbour area was a hive of activity, teeming with merchants, sailors, and shipwrights flurrying about the wharves, shipyards and fish-curing sheds – hence successive kings' frequent calling on the "men of Dulwich" to provide ships for war and transport.
