Monument record SUE 086 - Post Medieval flood defences on the western bank of the River Alde at Halfway Reach

Post Medieval flood defences are visible on aerial photographs as an earthwork bank, centred on circa TM44315115. The bank probably post-dates circa 1800 as it is not marked on a map of this time but is marked on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of circa 1884, thereby placing its construction in the late Post Medieval period (S1, S2). This bank is approximately 1000m long and connects two earlier, possibly later medieval lengths of sea bank to the north and south, at circa TM44185155 and TM44215066 (see SUE 085 and ORF 055 ). This extends the area of reclaimed land by an extra circa 5.5 hectares, although the newly enclosed land doesn't appear to have been ploughed until after 1955 (S3). It can be seen on aerial photographs from 1943 to 1972 (S4, S5).