Title: Brean : sea defences
Author: Environment Agency
Document Type: Monograph
Abstract:
This Environment Agency booklet aims to describe sea defences at the North Somerset resort of Brean. It lies on the coastline between Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-Super-Mare. The tidal range along the Severn Estuary is considerable and Brean is particularly vulnerable to severe westerly and south westerly winds whipping up the waves. Brean stands at the edge of the low-lying Somerset Levels and Moors and the whole area has been subject to a history of flooding from the sea. Archaeologists have found evidence of flooding as far back as the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. The dangers from the sea continued to be recognised and the tower of nearby Berrow Church was kept permanently whitewashed as a warning to ships coming up the Estuary. In the days of sail, many a ship met an untimely end on the sandbanks. To quote an old guide book,
"Shipwrecks were frequent and the lamentable spectacle of human carcasses floating to the shore was an ordinary occurrence".
Publisher: Environment Agency
Publication Date: [after 1996]
Publication Place: Exeter
Subject Keywords: Coasts; Flood defence structures; Engineering; Environmental management
Geographic Keywords: Brean; Severn
Extent: n.p. [4]
Permalink: http://www.environmentdata.org/archive/ealit:417
Total file downloads: 354
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