Going Down To The Sea

Off the usual beat today with a couple of brief items on the same subject with an added thought.

The Mail Online ran the story about Dunwich in Suffolk that was taken over by the sea from the 14^th Century onward.  Recent scans have revealed more of what lies below the waves.  Dunwich was once a major port.

The coastline has long been vulnerable to ordinary erosion especially in when severe weather conditions occur.  When the wind, tide and seasons come together adversely the funnelling effect in the North Sea can do a great deal of damage.

Rising sea levels also are involved since the last Ice Age given that once this area was connected to the European land mass.  The Mail Online story features the map above drawn up in later centuries.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2322087/The-streets-Britains-Atlantis-seen-time-3D-scans-reveal-lost-medieval-town-Dunwich.html

The Mail seems to have derived the story from Science Daily, where a good deal of its material originates in these fields and the link is below has other links in turn.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130509091118.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29

A question in my mind is one that is bound to annoy a great many people.  The 13^th Century philosopher John Duns Scotus, a Franciscan, first turns up in Northampton in England and in Oxford.  A birth in Duns, Scotland is assumed from the name.

But this has not stopped other claimants, notably Irish, from arguing for other places for other reasons.  But looking at the map there is something interesting.

It is that the Greyfriars Monastery, that of the Franciscan Order, has a Scott’s Lane leading up to it.  Moreover a merchant (alleged also pirate) family of Scott’s were prominent in Dunwich in the 13^th Century and feuding with a St. John family.

It is said that the Scott’s were the first recorded users of gunpowder in conflict in English history when they tried to blow up a St. John vessel.  This rather assumes interests in the practical sciences never mind philosophy.

There is a Wikipedia article on John Duns Scotus which is useful for brain stretching exercises.

Mind blowing in its way.