Historic timber-built seacoast piers of Eastern England : technological, environmental and social contexts
The aim of this thesis is to initially establish the existence of a class of monument, the timber-built seacoast pier, which has heretofore received virtually no investigation by archaeologists and been merely briefly referred to by a handful of historians. Data sources for this topic are diverse and include documentary sources, material remains, cartographic and pictorial evidence, coastal geomorphology and place-names. Investigation is perforce multi-disciplinary. This study will show that such structures were once quite widespread within the study area of eastern England, and indeed further afield. These structures were far from identical and the varying technical forms of the piers are determined and explanations sought to account for these. The physical backdrop to these piers was the varied and dynamic coastal environment of the eastern seaboard of the North Sea and it is not possible to gain a broad understanding of the piers without reference to this environment. Timber-built seacoast piers required enormous resources to construct. They were regularly subject to damage and destruction and they were costly to maintain. Given such circumstances, communities often struggled to maintain their piers. Occasionally,
Johnson, Mark Stiles
Historic timber-built seacoast piers of Eastern England : technological, environmental and social contexts. The aim of this thesis is to initially establish the existence of a class of monument, the timber-built seacoast pier, which has heretofore received virtually no investigation by archaeologists and been merely briefly referred to by a handful of historians. Data sources for this topic are diverse and include documentary sources, material remains, cartographic and pictorial evidence, coastal geomorphology and place-names. Investigation is perforce multi-disciplinary. This study will show that such structures were once quite widespread within the study area of eastern England, and indeed further afield. These structures were far from identical and the varying technical forms of the piers are determined and explanations sought to account for these. The physical backdrop to these piers was the varied and dynamic coastal environment of the eastern seaboard of the North Sea and it is not possible to gain a broad understanding of the piers without reference to this environment. Timber-built seacoast piers required enormous resources to construct. They were regularly subject to damage and destruction and they were costly to maintain. Given such circumstances, communities often struggled to maintain their piers. Occasionally,
historic timber built eastern_england technological environmental social_context aim initially establish existence class monument timber built heretofore receive virtually investigation archaeologist merely briefly refer handful historian data_source topic diverse include documentary_source material remains cartographic pictorial evidence coastal geomorphology place_names investigation multi_disciplinary study_show structure quite widespread within study_area eastern_england indeed structure far identical vary technical form determine explanation seek account these physical backdrop vary dynamic coastal environment eastern seaboard north_sea possible gain broad without reference environment timber built require enormous resource construct regularly subject damage destruction costly maintain given circumstance community often struggle maintain occasionally