Local flooding in the past woodcut print of East Anglia Floods in the 1600s
Goldhanger has not been affected by large scale flooding for many years. This could be due to the seawall being raised several times in the last century, the absence of a significant river nearby, and the relatively dry local climate. There have however been many flooding incidents in the past, both within the village and in the surrounding area. Some were caused by high tides combined with storm force winds, some were the result of unusually heavy rainfall causing the rivers, streams and ditches to burst their banks. Some were a combination of all of these. When individual houses are flooded it is extremely distressing for the family involved, and these days any form of flooding can have serious long-term implications for house insurance and property values. Fifteen incidents from between 1450 and 2021 are identified here in chronological order. Most did not affect the village itself. The list finishes with Recent developments and Going forward at the end of the page. go straight to a flooding incidents of... 1450 1736 1874 1894 1897 1928 1936 1953 1958 1979 1998 2001 2019 2020 2021
1450 Flooding at Heybridge In 1450 flooding from the Blackwater caused the St Andrew's Church tower in Heybridge to collapse and the 'ruined' church was restored into the present form later in the century leaving it without a bell tower... St Andrew's Church Heybridge
1736 The Great Tide In 1736 a great tide destroyed parts of the Goldhanger seawall, swamped the decoy ponds and caused in the death of five Goldhanger men working on the ponds and nearby. These two articles were in the Newcastle Courant. Select the articles to enlarge...
1874 High Tide from the Essex Standard... the Essex Standard in March 1874
Once the seawall has been breached, the water rushing in and out with the tide causes a large depression to form in the soil, which makes a repair difficult. The photo on the left below (probably from the 1953 floods) shows how difficult it can be. On many occasions in the past the solution was to build a new wall in a different location leaving a permanent kink in the seawall and evidence of this can still be seen today on the 1875 OS map (in the middle below) and today in the aerial photo (on the right below). This repair at Highams Farm, close to where there was once a duck decoy pond, was probably the result of either the 1736 or 1874.breaches...
1894 Maldon flooded by storm An Essex Herald report in this year describing that Maldon was flooded by huge storm...
1897 Floods The 1897 Floods became known as “Black Monday” and caused much havoc across Essex including Goldhanger. From the Essex Herald of Tuesday, 7th December, 1897. Select these three articles to enlarge...
1928 Floods to read the full article select and enlarge Serious flooding was reported in Heybridge Basin. From an article in the Essex Weekly News of January 1928... In the village of Heybridge Basin water poured over the sea walls and canal banks, and quickly rose to a dangerous height. Upwards of 30 houses were flooded The lock gates were forced open by the tide, causing a tremendous rush of water, and the canal banks being lower than the sea wall. The photo shows Rose Cottage, and shows food being handed up to a woman and her children in Rose Cottage, who had taken refuge upstairs... Rose Cottage, Heybridge Basin in 1928
1936 Floods around Witham and Maldon An Essex Newsman report in February 1936... In the 1930s Charles Stokes, who ran the petrol filling station and servicing garage in Church St. Goldhanger, was paid by local councils to regularly ride his bicycle or motorcycle along the seawall from Tollesbury to Maldon, checking on the condition of the seawalls and sluices.
1953 Floods There was no warning of the great tide on the night of 31 January 1953 and over 300 died in East Anglia. Two breaches of the seawall occurred near the village and within Goldhanger Parish: one near The Shoe and one near Decoy Point on Osea Rd. Bounds Farm was severely affected and the flood water came up fish Street as far as number 25. Flood waters swept along the inside of the seawall from Goldhanger to Heybridge following the route of the Goldhanger Road, and many caravans on the three caravan sites were destroyed. Here is one local news article about the incident...
Bounds Farmhouse		Bounds Farm fields					a Wilkin yacht stranded at Bounds
Wash Bridge in the news ( this same location flooded in 2019 shown here )		Barrow Marsh Caravan site ( within Goldhanger Parish )						repairing the wall at Decoy Point
site of the Osea Rd / Decoy Point breach and repair as it appears in recent times
Heybridge and Heybridge Basin were severely affected by the 1953 flood and the watermill there at Heybridge had to be demolished after severe flooding. However the Millhouse (on the right in the photo below) still stands...
Heybridge watermill and millhouse in the early 1900s						Heybridge Basin was severly affected
These maps show the extent of the 1953 floods. Select either of these maps to enlarge....
1958 Wigborough From the Essex County Standard of September 1958...
1979 High Tide This picture shows the estuary overflowing Bounds Hatch during an exceptionally high tide in 1979. The seawall close to the village has been raised by a metre since that time... Bounds Hatch overflowing
1998 Flooding along the Goldhanger Road, Heybrdge The Goldhanger Road at Heybridge has been a problem for many years...
2001 Goldhanger cottage flooded
2019 Flooding along the Goldhanger Road The short stretch of road near Wash Bridge still frequently floods after heavy rainfall at high tide. Further along the Goldhanger Road in Heybridge, it frequently still floods after heavy rain...
Goldhanger Road at Wash Bridge				Goldhanger Road in Heybridge
2020 Tollesbury Quay Tollesbury Quay is frequently flooded during spring high tides and visitors are often caught out in the summer months...
2021 Maldon The Hythe and the Prom in Maldon frequently still flood at spring high tides. Biulding barriers or walls is probably impractical here and as the ground in the town rapidly rises away from the Hythe, it seems more of a novelty rather than a serious risk to most locals...
Recent developments There has been some limited flooding in the village in recent years caused by excess surface water during heavy rainfall. This has been said to be due mainly to lack of maintenance of ditches and drains resulting from 30 years of exceptionally dry weather. The ‘water table’ in the area during that time has lowered significantly and also reduced the need to clear the ditches and drains. An ancient farmer/land-owner principle of “if you want a ditch cleared then do it yourself” seems to have long since been forgotten, particularly by the various public authorities forever hoping someone else will pick up the cost. For many years there has been not been any flooding in the village from the Estuary resulting from high tides and strong winds which could have overtopped or breached the seawalls. This is most likely the result of the walls being lined with concrete slabs after the 1953 floods and raised more than once in the last 50 years. Regular inspections and maintenance has also insured the walls have been kept in a good condition. During the work in the 1980s on the seawall in Goldhanger Creek, a low mound was build at the head of the creek that protrudes into Church field and it remains there... view from the seawall aerial view The purpose of this mound has sometimes been questioned, however there is a rationale... In the past it has been explained that it is a ‘fallback’ mound to protect the lower part of Fish St. in the event that the seawall is again breached to the east of the village in the same way that it was during the 1953 floods. When a relatively small breach occurs at high tide, only a limited amount of seawater can pass through the gap before the tide recedes. Similarly, if an exceptionally high tide together with strong winds causing waves to overflow the top of the seawall by a few inches, then again only a limited amount of water can reach inland before the tide recedes. The small mound in the Church field would be sufficient to keep back this surge from the lower end Fish St., Sadly the Government website shown below do not seem to recognise this feature on their maps of flood predictions, and it is not known whether insurance companies recognise it for property flood cover in the area, but it seems unlikely. Going forward There are much better forecasting and warning systems in place today than in the past. One is invited to study these recently created (2021) UK government websites... https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/warnings There is now also much more information available about the long-term risks of flooding provided by the government. These webpages which have somewhat complex interactive maps are well worth a study... https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk For tidal risk see... https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/map ...and enter a postcode For surface water risk see... https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/long-term-flood-risk/map=SurfaceWater ...and enter a postcode Here are two sample maps taken from these webpages showing most of the village... Light blue areas are identified as having a risk of flooding between 0.1 and 1% per year Dark blue areas are identified as having a risk of flooding of greater than 3.3% per year
tidal risk This computer generated map made in 2021 shows the lower half of Fish St. potentially flooded in the same way as it was in the 1953. Due to the work carried out on the seawalls since then however this would seem to be an extremely unlikely occurrence in the near future.					surface water risk When zooming in on the website version of this map, which was also computer generated in 2021, it shows incredible detail. It is consistant with known street flooding in the recent past however, which could have been avoided with regular drain and ditch maintenance.
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