Banks

At sea, our waters are shallow with many named shoals and sandbanks. Some dry out such as Cork Sand, others lurk just below the waves. Inland, our rivers have many creeks and their banks have features worthy of mention. These come and go over time and the names change. How they change and the origin of the names can be of interest. As the same term often applies to both the bank and the channel, for example, the Ray Sand, some items are allocated to both categories.

There are many terms used for sea features, here is a selection:

Spit, Flats, Rocks, Horse, Flat, Falls, Ground, Napes, Ledge, Shelf, Bar, Patch, Heaps, Stone, Hole, Ridge, Shoal, Bank, Sand, Knock, Onion, Knob, Knoll, Knowl.

From Marine Estate Research Report Historical changes in the seabed of the greater Thames estuary. 

Use the map below to explore:

1841 A Walk on Gunfleet Sands

From: 1851 A Season at Harwich by W.H.Lindsey - there is also discussion of the channel passing north of Landguard ...

6:NW & SE Roughs Tower site and Rough Shoals

The current (2021) buoys in the area mark the Roughs Tower and not the shoal. 2021 Buoys and Tower The ...
Bloody Point from Harwich Shelf

Bloody Point at Shotley Spit

There is a 'Bloody Point' on the Orwell at Shotley. The Stour runs due west here and the Orwell northwest, ...

Cement Works, Mud Digging

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Portland Cement was made at Masons Cement Works in Waldringfield on the ...

Cork Sand

Cork Sand is situated between the Gullet/Stone Bank to the west, Roughs Shoals to the east, West Rocks or Goldmer's ...
Galleons WSC racing mark buoy facing Girling's Hard 2018

Galleons & Girling’s Hard

The Galleon's racing mark is most likely misnamed. The hard to the southeast was once known as Girling's Hard. There ...

Gunfleet Sand

Also see Gunfleet Old Light House and Beacon. Gunfleet Sand is a hard shingle bank extending from the Buxey Sand ...

Hams and Tips

This was an attempt by Robert Cobbold of Sutton to enclose 150 acres in the late nineteenth century. The 1845 ...

Maplin Sand

Maplin Sands stretch from Shoebury to Foulness on modern charts. The late eighteenth-century John Chandler Chart, refers to the large ...

Stone Bank

Stone Bank first appears, as 'Stone Banck', on Greenvile Collins' 1686 chart of the local coast. The Stone Bank buoy ...
Cuttings scaled cr FI

Waldringfield Cuttings

South of the sailing club along the seawall leading towards Hemley is series of regular cuttings in the saltmarsh extending ...

Waldringfield Horse and the Winkle

A Horse is a common feature in rivers. It is normally where the flow is fast and is usually associated ...

Waldringfield Island, Stonnor Creek and Burrell’s Long Wall

The Island: which some refer to as Waldringfield Island and others as Stonnor Island is a detached area of saltmarsh, ...

Notes

Questions

Sources

Footnotes

Image Sources and Credits

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