Could be 1953/54

after the sea broke through several places along that stretch right down to Felixstowe in Jan and again in early Feb 1953.

That resulted in massive investment in sea defences along the East Anglian coastline. Sea Palling to Winterton being one major scheme.

As our Chief Engineer from the 70's used to say "the sea is a terrible monster". Have seen some amazing and some tragic instances of sea and river flooding during my time including jumping in a canoe to save the life of a typically stubborn donkey that would not move even though the flood water was gradually submerging it at Needham Mill. The Rock Star owner (and owner of the canoe) wasn't bothered but I was. Hit it on the backside several times to get it to higher ground and did the eskimo roll inadvertently a few times. Sheep got out but lambs died.

When the tide broke through at Wells in 1978 I was in charge of the outer most breach and we were surrounded by dead horses. Horrible job but rewarding when completed.

Posted By: Old Splat, Apr 9, 17:56:25