Dunwich 2009
New Sidescan Sonar Data of ruins
In June 2009, Wessex Archaeology teamed up with Professor David Sear to obtain new data from Dunwich. The survey used a Klien 3900 sidescan sonar to image St Peters, St Nicholas and the site of Blackfriars friary and some of the northern harbour area of the town. The survey also trialled the use of a magnetometer to detect magnetic anomalies which can be cuased by concentrations of metal objects or ruins containing stones with high metal content. The survey also included an Innomar Parametric sonar for detecting ruins buried beneath the covering sands. The survey was successful in acquiring new high resolution images of the ruins, including the site of what is likley to be St Katherines Chapel. This was lost c. 1550 and lay in the Parish of St John's church. It was one of the wealthiest of the chapels. The survey also found the possible remains of Blackfriars friary. Parametric sonar was capable of detecting buried ruins, offering the opportuntity to search for the remaining lost chuches from the early medieval town. Magnetometer survey revealed anomalies around the ruins of St Peter's church but not at St Nicholas. A large anomaly was also detected in the north of the town around the harbour / Dunwich river area. The course of the Dunwich river was revealed in the parametric sonar. More information on the 2009 survey can be found in the Final report and in Sear et al., 2010 published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.
Left hand side Multibeam image from 2008 survey of St Nicholas'. Right hand side, Klien 3900 Sidescan Sonar of St Nicholas' Church from 2009 survey.
