Easton Bavents

Easton Bavents was once the most easterly ecclesiastical parish in England - a map of Suffolk dated around 1610 shows a headland projecting eastwards into the sea there.

However it is now restricted to a stretch of the Suffolk cost to the east of Reydon as coastal erosion has caused the former village to be under the North Sea over a mile east of that stretch.

During the Middle Ages Easton Bavents was a Parish of some importance and in the 14th Century it was granted a weekly market as well as a three-day long fair on the feast day of St Nicholas. Records indicate that the parish church, also dedicated to St Nicholas was in use in 1639 and a rector was appointed as late as 1666. However, around that time, the cliff on which the village was built collapsed and the church itself seems to have gone under the sea during the latter part of the 17th Century. A Chapel dedicated to St Margaret was also erected but that too is now long gone. The Battle of Sole Bay took place off the coast of Eastion Bavents. Easton Bavents survived as a fishing village until the 19th Century. The continuing receding of the cliffs makes the area a popular, albeit hazardous, area for fossil hunters who access the area by walking along the beach from Southwold.

;Population of Easton Bavents
*1801: 17
*1901: 16
*1971: 19

External links

* [http://www.ukfossils.co.uk/Fossils-and-Geology/Easton-Bavents/Introduction-for-Easton-Bavents.htm Illustrated details for fossil hunters]
* [http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/eastonbavents.htm Details of the church]
* [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10253639 Census information]
*oscoor gbx|TM513782