A Somerset tsunami?
QUESTION Frampton-on-Severn in Gloucestershire was hit by a tidal wave in 1607 so great that only the spire of the church of St Mary the Virgin was visible. What is the full story of this event? THe Great Flood of 1607 occurred on January 30. According to contemporary reports, the floodwaters swept four miles inland in the Bristol area, north Devon, Pembrokeshire, Glamorgan, Monmouthshire and Cardiff — and up to 14 miles inland in low-lying parts of Somerset.
The breaching of the sea bank at Burnham- on- Sea in Somerset saw 30 villages washed away. Some 28 people were drowned at nearby Huntspill and 26 at Brean, a death toll repeated in many other villages, with at least 2,000 perishing.
There are several plaques commemorating the event. one at All Saints church in Kingston Seymour, Somerset, reads: ‘An inundation of the sea water by overflowing and breaking down the Sea banks; happened in this Parish of Kingstone-Seamore, and many others adjoining; by reason whereof many Persons were drown’d and much Cattle and Goods, were lost: the water in the Church was five feet high and the greatest part lay on the ground about ten days. william Bower.’
Most experts cite as the cause a storm surge triggered by high tides and hurricane winds, though others blame a tidal wave. A contemporary pamphlet entitled God’s warning To The People of england By The Great overflowing of The waters, suggests this might have been the case.
‘For about nine of the morning, the same being most fayrely and brightly spred, many of the inhabitants of these countreys prepared themselves to their affayres then they might see and perceive afar off as it were in the element huge and mighty hilles of water tombling over one another in such sort as if the greatest mountains in the world had overwhelmed the lowe villages or marshy grounds.
‘Sometimes it dazzled many of the spectators that they imagined it had bin some fogge or mist coming with great swiftness towards them and with such a smoke as if mountains were all on fire, and to the view of some it seemed as if myriads of thousands of arrows had been shot forth all at one time.’
A 2002 research paper by Professor Simon Haslett and Australian geologist Ted Bryant, entitled was The AD 1607 Coastal Flooding event In The Severn estuary And Bristol Channel Due To a Tsunami?, suggested this might have been the case.
Supporting the theory are deposits of sand, pebbles and shell at locations around the Severn estuary which may have been brought in from the open ocean.
A possible cause might have been a landslide off the continental shelf between Ireland and Cornwall, or an earthquake along a fault line in the sea somewhere south of Ireland.
Simon Whicker, Bristol. QUESTION The health benefits of red wine are often promoted, but what about white wine? THe health benefits of a moderate consumption of red wine are based largely on the antioxidant resveratrol, found in the skin and seeds of grapes.
Various research papers have claimed benefits including improved cardio-vascular health, greater motor co- ordination, reduced incidence of cataracts, increased lifespan and better bone density.
Most of the research has been carried out on mice and is highly contentious.
A more recent study, Resveratrol Levels And All-Cause Mortality In older Community- Dwelling Adults, l ed by Richard D. Semba, monitored 783 elderly Italians over 16 years, and found that resveratrol was not associated with reducing inflammation, cardiovascular disease or cancer, or a longer life.
Because red wine is extracted from both the pulp and skin of crushed grapes and white wine is made only from the pulp, white wine contains little resveratrol.
A 2008 paper published in the Journal of Agricultural And Food Chemistry called Does white wine Qualify For French Paradox? (referring to the long lifespan of the French despite a high consumption of fat) suggested antioxidants, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol may be as powerful as resveratrol.
In 2012, the paper was withdrawn when a review by the University of Connecticut found evidence of the falsification of data.
A.D. Salmon, King’s Lynn, Norfolk. QUESTION In the film The Glenn Miller Story, James Stewart, playing Miller, dashes through a big military parade to switch his band to playing St Louis Blues to smarten up the troops’ untidy marching. Did this event take place? FURTHeR to the earlier answer, jazz musician Humphrey Lyttelton, in his autobiography It Just occurred To Me, suggests Miller’s promotion to major in the U.S. Army Air Force Band seemed to ‘launch him in the direction of cloud cuckoo land’. In one dictatorial move, he ordered all his musicians with moustaches to shave them off.
Miller’s biographer, George T. Simon, wrote: ‘ For some, who had nursed their growths for years, it became a traumatic experience. For others, like some brass players, their very blowing of their instruments had become dependent upon those moustaches.’
James Beith, Morecambe, Lancs.