The remnants of fallen trees and stumps around
the coastline are perhaps the most enticing evidence we have for the existence of long lost
lands. They offer a tangible link to our ancestral landscape and have helped inspire numerous
myths and legends of cities and countries swept away by the sea. Indeed, before their true
nature was understood, they were believed to be the result of the biblical flood and were
referred to as ‘Noah’s Trees’. They are revealed at low tide at many locations
around the Welsh coast, from Rhyl and Abergele in the north, Borth and Newgale in the west
to Amroth and Newport in the south. The preserved stumps of willow, hazel, oak, pine and
birch are evidence of former woods and forests swamped by the encroaching tides and irrefutable
testimony to the devastating effect of climate change.
The tree stumps are rooted in peat levels lying below the marine sand and have been preserved
by the continuous waterlogged conditions. The sites around the Welsh coast do not represent a single phase of
inundation. The radiocarbon dates from the trees at Ynyslas, Cardigan Bay, suggest that they died around 5,500
years ago, while those just over a kilometre to the south at Borth died some 2,000 years later. The remains
of animals have been excavated from the deposits around the tree stumps, including auroch, red deer and brown
bear from Whitesands and pig from Lydstep, both in Pembrokeshire. Although observed and commented upon through
the centuries, including by Gerald of Wales in 1188 and Samuel Pepys in 1665 no serious study of the submerged
forests was made until 1913 when Clement Reid, a geologist, published a book on the subject. His Submerged
Forests was the first survey to put these trees into a wider archaeological context and to argue conclusively
that they were the result of a rise in sea level. Reid’s work to identify the extent of submerged land
led him to study the area east of the Humber, where bones from extinct animals had long been dredged up by fishing
trawlers. One area of the North Sea in particular caught his attention - Dogger Bank.
Rhyl Beach, Denbighshire (Photo Martin Bell)
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