‘Roman Bank’ medieval Sea-Wall, Newton, Wisbech

History of the Roman Bank

Notes from Proceedings of the CAS LXVII 1977.

Alison Taylor wrote: The Sea Bank is one of the most noteworthy archaeological monuments in the Fens, marking the seaward limit of land reclamation during the Middle Ages. Originally it consisted of a continuous bank around much of the Wash, built of earth and clay. It was built to protect against high tides and sea-floods. In the 17th century Sir William Dugdale referred to it as ‘Roman Bank’ without there being any evidence for such an early date.

The whole article can be found here:

https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1895-1/dissemination/pdf/PCAS/1977_LXVII/PCAS_LXVII_1977_063-066_Taylor.pdf