EAA Programme
This talk will take place on 5th Sept
ABSTRACT
LV4 - Maths Building 516
IMPACTS OF CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: THE EFFECTS ON COASTAL SALTMAKING IN
LINCOLNSHIRE, UK
Tom Lane
ECOSAL UK
Following the results of English Heritage sponsored Surveys, chiefly in the 1980s, and subsequent investigative works,
information is present about a series of past climate and environmental change events in the Fenland and coastal regions of
Lincolnshire, Eastern England, covering some five millennia. These changes have resulted both in coastal erosion in places and
elsewhere on the coast accretion. These altered landscapes affected not just coastal communities but those inland for up to
50km. Because of its specific natural resource requirements it is intended to view the issue through the coastal saltmaking
industry, which flourished from the Bronze Age through to the end of the 16th century. The mapped west –east movement of
the industry, and back again, reflects the displacement and movement of people, particularly the specialist saltmakers, and
considers how such specialists may fare when the environment and resources necessary for their craft/industry is no longer
available. The paper also considers human adaptability to such changes and asks what happened to people who were forced to
move and become, in effect, refugees in their own country. Also touched on are issues of individual and group identity and
cultural heritage of such groups.
A blog for those interested in the heritage and culture of traditional salt making in the UK.
