Presentation by Professor Simon Haslett to the Geographical Association at King's College, Taunton, on Tuesday 15th November 2012. A presentation based on research featured in 'Killer Wave of 1607' as broadcast by BBC2 Timewatch. The flood of that year in the Bristol Channel and Severn Estuary was the worst ever recorded in the British Isles. The area affected stretched from North Devon, through Somerset and Gloucestershire, and along the South Wales coast from Monmouthshire to Carmarthenshire, some 570 km of coast! The coastal population was devastated with at least 2000 fatalities according to one of the contemporary sources. In some parts of the coast the population never recovered from the social and economic disaster. Simon and his co-worker have used documentary and fieldwork evidence to propose a new interpretation of its cause as a tsunami. The BBC produced a follow-up Timewatch programme entitled 'Britain’s Forgotten Floods' that followed Simon around the British coastline examining further evidence for tsunami impact.

1. The 1607 Flood
A tsunami in the Bristol Channel?
Lecture to the Geographical Association
King’s College, Taunton
15th November 2012
Professor Simon Haslett @ProfSHaslett
University of Wales
With Dr Ted Bryant, University of Wollongong

2. My co-author: Dr Ted Bryant
2001, Cambridge University Press

3. Our research is still topical!
• BBC2 Coasts
• Wales – Border to
Border
• Still being repeated at
present.
• Tsunami in Cornwall
in 2011!
• Also, featuring in the
nuclear power debate
as a risk.

4. Friday 11th March 2011
Japan Tsunami

8. Evidence of the 1607 flood 1
Contemporary historic
pamphlets giving the:
1. date (20th Jan 1606 =
30th Jan 1607)
2. timing (“about nine in
the morning” in
Somerset)
3. details of damage
(2000 deaths and
great economic loss).

9. Burnham 1607 tides (HW at 8.28am)

11. Evidence of the 1607 flood 2
• Commemorative plaques and inscriptions in/on
churches in South Wales and Somerset.

12. Evidence of the 1607 flood 2
Redwick Church, Gwent

14. Tsunami theory for the 1607 flood
Some contradictory
meteorological reports
e.g. “a violent sea wind”
(Camden, 1607) vs. “the
morning … so fayrely and
brightly spred” (Harleian
Miscellany, 1607).
Descriptions of a “wave”
reminiscent of a tsunami
rather than a storm e.g.
“wave’s furie”.
Extract from God’s warning
to his people of England

15. Extracts from Lamentable Newes out of
Monmouthshire
Wave velocity
Inland Penetration

16. Tsunami theory (cont.)
Enigmatic physical features:
1. Sand layers possibly deposited by “storms”
(e.g. Rumney and Hill; Allen, 1987, 1992).
2. Erosion of nearly all contemporary salt-marsh
in the Severn Estuary (Allen, 1987).
3. Land erosion (e.g. English Stones, Gravel
Banks and Oldbury, where seabanks were
reset in the early C17th when “environmental
change forced a substantial south-easterly
retreat of the edge of the alluvial outcrop”, Allen
& Fulford, 1992, pp. 96-97).

17. Click here to read paper.

18. Testing the tsunami theory:
The 2004 Field Season
• Visit key locations mentioned in the
pamphlets and gain background detail.
• Examine coastal landscapes and sample
sedimentary sequences for tsunami
signatures (e.g. Bryant, 2001).
• Investigate enigmatic sites identified by
Bryant & Haslett (2002) e.g. Rumney, Hill,
Oldbury and collect samples.
• Undertake laboratory analysis of samples.

19. Sampling the
Rumney sand layer

20. Measuring boulder
dimensions at
Dunraven Bay

31. Viewer’s letters examples
• 2.8 million viewers watched the 1st April
broadcast (5 million now for all broadcasts)!
• Hundreds of letters and emails received.
• Location of gravestones of 1607 victims.
• Location of a mass grave of 1607 victims.
• Other tsunami-like waves experienced in the
Bristol Channel (on fine days).
• Locations of unpublished sand layers.
• Forgotten historic documents (maps, parish
records, etc).
• Other academics initiating research in the area.
• Offers of help in the field!

32. Cause of a possible tsunami
• Submarine landslide off the continental
slope west of the British Isles: our
preferred cause, but discounted by others.
• Earthquake: Roger Musson, BGS (2005,
BBC2 Timewatch), favours activity along a
fault off south-west Ireland, which Bill
McGuire (2005, New Scientist) highlights.
• Volcanic eruption/comet impact possible?

33. Submarine slide
Source: GEBCO bathymetry

34. Further Reading
• Somerset Landscapes: Geology and Landscapes
• Case study: The 1607 flood
• Includes relevant bibliography
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