NORTHEYE
DMV*

* Deserted Medieval Village

Once belonging to an archipelago on the southeast coast of England, Northeye is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act, and forms part of the Ramsar listed wetland Pevensey Levels. The island was part of a network of salt extraction sites across Pevensey Levels and became a hub for surrounding trade and industry as a limb of the Cinque Port of Hastings. A chapel once stood on the highest point of the island.

Wetlands are transformative. Physical markers and shifting boundaries between land and sea can dramatically change the location of a site, bringing its very existence into question. Following a series of storms in the thirteenth century devastating the coastline, the settlement was deserted and has since served as pastoral agricultural land. Historic documentation on Northeye is fragmented; lost excavation reports, inconclusive geoarchaeological data and conflicting archival records mirror its physically elusive state. The extent and reach of the deserted medieval village is unknown and the site currently exists as earthworks. A number of public footpaths lead to the monument, several of which are at risk of disappearing.

The creative artefacts collated in this repository explore hidden, lost and abandoned narratives at the site, bringing together fieldwork and archival research undertaken between 2015-2020. These include an installation of research in progress at Bexhill Museum, Bexhill-on-Sea, an audio-visual documentary screened at Bexhill Museum, the Herbert Read Galley, Canterbury, and the Maraya Arts Centre, Sharjah, alongside an interactive assemblage of visual and textual fieldwork. Navigate the pins to reveal different elements of Northeye’s story.

This project is generously supported by Bexhill Museum and the London Doctoral Design Centre. It forms part of a doctoral research investigation undertaken by Leah Fusco at Kingston School of Art, titled ‘Illustrating Northeye: An Exploration of Time, Matter, and Movement at a Historic Wetland Site’.