The speed of the wave appears to have been faster than a storm flood as the wave is ‘affirmed to have runne with a swiftness so incredible, as that no gray-hounde could have escaped by running before them’. Surviving evidence of the tsunami

William Jones wrote: "So violent and swift were the outragiouse waves, that pursued one an other, with such vehemencie, and the Waters multiplying so much in so short a time, that in lesse then five houres space most part of those cuntreys (and especially the places which lay lowe) were all over flowen, and many hundreds of people both men women, and children were then quite devoured, by these outragious waters, such was the furie of the waves, of the Seas, the one of them dryving the other forwardes with such force and swiftnes, that it is almost incredible for any to beleeve the same" Why aren’t we sure what happened? Historians and scientists that then began to study the event assumed for decades the Great Bristol Channel Flood would have been a huge storm surge - the deadly combination of an exceptionally high tide with a deep low pressure. The tide heights, probable weather, extent and depth of flooding, and coastal flooding elsewhere in the UK on the same day all point towards a storm surge.The water burst over sea walls from Cardiff round to Bridgwater, flooding the land with water up to 7m above sea level and as far inland as Glastonbury Tor. Another little childe is affirmed to have been cast uppon land in a cradle, in which was nothing but a catte [cat], the which was discerned as it came floating to the shoare, to leape still from one side of the cradle unto the other, even as if she had been appointed steresman to preserve the small barke from the waves furie”. BBC staff (4 April 2005). "Tsunami theory of flood disaster". BBC News Online . Retrieved 13 November 2010.

In 1823, Rev Samuel Seyer wrote what was, at that stage, the most detailed history of Bristol yet, and he put the event as happening on January 20, albeit later admits other sources he’d seen put it on January 27. Dr Kevin Horsburgh, from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, said the disaster was caused by a massive storm surge, formed by a combination of high tides and hurricane winds. Details of the event are recorded in contemporary news pamphlets, called ‘chapbooks’, which were often illustrated with dramatic pictures of the devastation. The picture shown here was first published in a pamphlet about Somerset before being reused in another which told of the floods in Monmouthshire. On the 400th anniversary, 30 January 2007, BBC Somerset looked at the possible causes and asked whether it could happen again in the county. [24]For centuries it was thought high tides and severe storms were to blame, a theory accepted by Dr Kevin Horsburgh from the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory in Liverpool, who said a massive storm surge, formed by a combination of high tides and hurricane winds, may have been to blame. Tsunami theory Read more: City at risk of being wiped out by ‘megatsunami’ warns Bristol professor Which cities could be hit by the mega-tsunami if it were to happen? That weather system would have included strong westerly winds that literally blew the sea into the land with tremendous force. Some lost their lives, and many saved themselves by climbing up on the roofs of their houses, and others on trees and mows. Read More Related Articles As there were no newspapers at the time, the only remaining accounts of the devastation were in the form of letters and pamphlets.

The focus of researchers looking into the Great Bristol Channel Flood of 1607 have focused on the accounts written at the time, piecing together the histories of the event that continued to be written in the weeks, months and years afterwards. The wave appeared as “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.” This is very similar to descriptions of more recent tsunami, such as the tsunami associated with the eruption of Krakatau in 1883, where accounts refer to the sea as being ‘hilly’, and the reference to dazzling, fiery mountains, and myriads of arrows, is reminiscent of accounts of tsunami on the Burin Peninsula (Newfoundland) in 1929, where the wave crest was shining like car headlights, and in Papua New Guinea in 1998 where the wave was frothing and sparkling. Villages were swept away on the Somerset coast and in Bristol, the water surged up the Avon Gorge and flooded the city centre.There's no beach for miles so that's an indication that this stuff has been transported a considerable distance," said Dr Bryant. In fact, researchers and historians have settled on January 30 - around noon, in fact. What happened in the Bristol Channel? North of Bristol, going up the Severn Estuary, the water travelled hard and fast inland by as much as six miles. This included a layer of sand in mud deposits in five different places: Hill in South Gloucestershire, Rumney Wharf in Cardiff, Llangennith Moor in Swansea, Croyde Bay in north Devon and Northam Burrows near Bideford, Devon.

You can't really imagine what it must have been like other than the human tragedy of it. Quite catastrophic and how they dealt with it is quite amazing," he said. Dr Musson believes the event was caused by a storm surge but "the idea of putting a large historical earthquake in this spot is not so fanciful." The Kingston Seymour plaque 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” At Appledore, Devon, a 60 tonne ship was well-laden and ready to sail and was driven by the wave onto marshy ground well above high tide, likely never to be recovered.Bryant, Edward; Haslett, Simon (2007). "Catastrophic Wave Erosion, Bristol Channel, United Kingdom: Impact of Tsunami?". Journal of Geology. 115 (3): 253–270. Bibcode: 2007JG....115..253B. doi: 10.1086/512750. S2CID 53456645. We know from seismological evidence, that we have actually had an earthquake here - so there is a fault and it is moving. It is active." The coast of Devon and the Somerset Levels as far inland as Glastonbury Tor, 14 miles (23km) from the coast, were also affected. [ citation needed] The sea wall at Burnham-on-Sea gave way, [2] and the water flowed over the low-lying levels and moors.