In Ghosts and Legends of Lincolnshire and the Fen Country, Polly Howat recounts the tale of a flood that devastated the former hamlet of Wansford Bridge, close to Chapel St Leonards. According to the tale, a local magician warns Barnaby, a shepherd who treats him kindly, that a flood is imminent, and that he should take his best sheep to the top of the church tower. He does so, and tolls the bell, which saves some of the villagers; soon, the area is inundated by a tidal wave, and the waters only recede after three days, taking most of the neighbourhood with them.

The Lincolnshire coast used to be shielded by a line of barrier islands, which were finally all slathered away by the early seventeenth century. Many villages were relocated as a result – including Skegness, which means ‘Skeggi’s headland’, and which is now a located directly on the headless shore a few hundred yards away from its former, and now submerged, location. It makes sense that wistful or heroic tales were once told about villages that had vanished within living memory, but almost none have been recorded. 

Words by RORY WATERMAN