St Peter's Church
St Peters Church. This church collapsed down the cliffs during storms around 1688 - 1702. The last service held in the Church took place in 1654. The Church was dismantled much like All Saints Church, and so that what we can see on the seafloor are the ruins of ruins.
The Church ruins lie in a shallow tidal scour channel between the inner sand bank and outer Dunwich bank. The blocks of masonry walls are up to 5m in length and stand up to 0.6 m proud of the sea floor. The location of the ruins is shown slightly to the north and east of the position recorded on the map of 1587 (red lines) (a). This is due to a combination of mapping and survey error and the movement of the ruin during collapse and exposure to wave action while on the beach. Sidescan sonar images (b) of the site show linear features and blocks of masonry. The sea floor is covered in large flints and stones that have fallen out of the walls as the lime mortar dissolves over time. Divers have confirmed the presence of wall fragments made of flint and mortar and have recovered un-worked stones, including granite and flints that are typically used in local churches (c). These stones are often covered in small cold water sponges and barnacles. The divers have also reported smoothed, worked stones that indicate the site has the potential to reveal carved material that would help provide a date for the construction of the Church. The site lies some 337m from the present (2000 AD) cliff line, along St James Street. The ruins lie at a depth of 8.2 metres. The site covers an area of approximately 934 m2.
