Monument record WLB 009 - Oldtown Marshes (Med)

Med and PMed pottery scatter around the site of the Med port of Walberswick near Oldtown Marshes. Area of old town `dock', apparently timbers survive and can be seen at low tide - ?quay structure (S1). Not shown on Hodskinsons 1783 or later maps.
`Walberswick Old Church' and `Walberswick Old Key' marked in approximately this position on Joshua Kirby's 1753 copy of Ralph Agas's 1587 map of Dunwich. For alternative location for church see WLB 010 (possible) & WLB 012 (probable).
See also PMed.

An ancient thatched church once stood on the border of the marshes south of the present church. It was taken down in
1473 and the last visible remains removed in 1728 to clear the area for cultivation, though Bryant (2) says part of the shell is
still visible south of the town. (S3-4)

No trace of a church, though two sites are suggested. According to the church guide (a), it stood "three to four hundred yards to the south of" St Andrew's Church in the area TM 489743, now occupied by houses and gardens. Local tradition asserts that the church stood at TM 493741 in a field named Lamplands which was formerly church property. This accords with the description "on the border of the marshes". It may have been destroyed by erosion. (S5)