History
Reed beds were established at Minsmere during World War II when the existing grazing marshes were flooded as an anti-invasion measure. The reserve was first established in 1947 when the RSPB leased around 1,500 acres (610 ha) from the Ogilive family. This land was then purchased in 1977 with further purchases of surrounding land expanding the reserve over the years.
The ruins of a chapel at the original site of Leiston Abbey, a scheduled ancient monument, are visible to the south of the reserve. Threatened by flooding, the monks moved the abbey in 1363 to a site 2.5 miles (4.0 km) further inland, building a chapel dedicated to St Mary at the site of the original abbey church, the stone from which was used in the new building. The chapel probably remained in use until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536. The RSPB commissioned an archeological evaluation of the site and were provided £47,600 for its conservation and repair by English Heritage and Natural England.
Read more about this topic: Minsmere RSPB Reserve
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Considered in its entirety, psychoanalysis won’t do. It’s an end product, moreover, like a dinosaur or a zeppelin; no better theory can ever be erected on its ruins, which will remain for ever one of the saddest and strangest of all landmarks in the history of twentieth-century thought.”
—Peter B. Medawar (1915–1987)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)
“When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardship; when we put off marriage until our house can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank-account and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion.”
—William James (1842–1910)