Photo 23 (Return)

Flood embankment faced with concrete paving, west Thorney peninsula, 2002. Total loss of a once near continuous protective Spartina anglica lower marsh has occurred allowing increased wave action at the shoreline that hastens the deterioration of the defence. The embankments were constructed originally in 1870 to enclose and reclaim an area of saltmarsh that formerly separated Thorney Island from the mainland. The low-lying reclaimed land now form a freshwater marsh - see reedbeds to the right.