Monument record SLY 151 - A Post Medieval sea bank running along the western side of the River Orwell in Shotley parish

A Post Medieval sea bank is visible as an earthwork running along the western side of the River Orwell in Shotley parish on aerial photographs taken from 1944 onwards. The bank runs from TM 25233389 near Shotley Point to TM 24533606, south of Crane's Creek where a short gap is visible. The bank then continues from TM 24593621 to TM 23123729, where it terminates near Colton Creek, after covering a distance of just over 5km. A number of features along the bank are worth noting, including the short extra loop in the sea bank at TM 25363414 which may have been the site of a breech, the possible wooden revetting from an earlier sea bank at TM 24593691 and the later section of sea bank running from TM 24463704 to TM 24133720 which was presumably constructed to reclaim the small area of land at Collimer Point. The remains of the probable earlier sea bank are visible as earthworks on the reclaimed areas of land. (S1) (S2) (S3) A sea bank is depicted in the same position on the Ist and 2nd Edition Ordnance Survey 25" maps of circa 1884 and 1904, suggesting that the bank originates from the Post Medieval period. (S4) (S5)