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Dunwich Heath is a lowland heath on the very edge of the fast-eroding Suffolk coast. Classified as a Regionally Important Geological and Geomorphological Site (RIGS), it is one of Suffolk’s most important and scenic conservation areas.

In medieval times this lonely and windswept shoreline was a busy and prosperous area. Dunwich village was a large port, similar in size to London, and the capital of East Anglia. Its thriving trade in woollen goods brought wealth, and the town had many churches, two monasteries, a bishop’s palace and even a mint. All that remains today, however, is the ruins of a few cottages, a Franciscan priory and a leper hospital. Over the years, erosion of the unstable sand and flint cliffs, together with a series of violent storms, brought the village crashing down into the sea. By 1677 the sea had reached the market-place, and All Saints’ Church, the final church left standing, collapsed into the sea around 1920.

With the village, according to legend, went one of the three holy crowns buried around the coastline to protect England from foreign invasion shortly after the Norman Conquest. Another of the crowns was dug up at Rendlesham, then melted down for its silver content. The third has yet to be found.

The desolate atmosphere of Dunwich Heath has inspired many ghost stories, including those of M. R. James, who grew up near Bury St Edmunds and spent holidays at Aldeburgh, just down the coast from Dunwich. He used Dunwich as the setting for one of his most famous stories, ‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’, published in 1904.

The ruins of the village themselves have a sinister reputation. Malformed figures have been seen flitting through the former leper hospital, strange lights have been seen in the old priory and it is said that the former inhabitants of the village return from the sea to walk on the clifftops. Below the waters, the sunken ruins are also believed to be haunted, and are shunned by divers. On quiet days it is said that the church bells can still be heard ringing out from beneath the sea…

Dunwich Heath, Dunwich, Suffolk IP17 3DJ; Tel: (01728) 648501; Website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Dunwich Museum, St James’s Street, Dunwich, Saxmundham, Suffolk IP17 3EA; Tel: (01728) 648796. Open from the beginning of March to the end of October. The museum chronicles the history of Dunwich from Roman times.