Once a bustling port city, Dunwich in Suffolk is now a small coastal village, often referred to as the ‘lost city of Dunwich’ or ‘Britain’s Atlantis’.

In its heyday during the medieval period, Dunwich was a hub of international trade, even rivalling London. However, centuries of coastal erosion and storm damage have seen much of the former city’s buildings and land swept away by the sea.

The first recorded major damage occurred on January 1, 1286, when a storm surge reached the edge of the town, destroying several buildings. Until then, most of the damage had been confined to the harbour.

Over the centuries, the town has continued to lose buildings and land to the sea. One of the most recent losses was All Saint’s Church, the last of Dunwich’s ancient churches, which fell into the sea sometime between 1911 and 1922, with the cliff’s edge having eroded to the church in 1904.

By 2022, only one gravestone remained, perilously close to the cliff’s edge. This wasn’t the town’s first church to be lost, with Dunwich believed to have had at least 13 churches and priories throughout its history, reports the Mirror.

Only one still stands today, St James, built in 1832 after residents could no longer afford the upkeep of All Saints. The ruins of one Franciscan priory, Greyfriars, can still be seen on the cliffside, which is only getting closer and closer.

Local folklore had long suggested that much of the city remained intact beneath the waves, but it wasn’t until 1972 that this was proven when local marine archaeologist and diver Stuart Bacon discovered the tower of All Saints.

Further exploration revealed the ruins of another church, St Peter’s, which succumbed to the sea between 1688 and 1697.

Fast forward to 2008, a team of marine archaeologists utilised sonar technology during a dive and pinpointed several sites including a monastery and multiple churches. These were found exactly where they were marked on a Tudor-era map.