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The coastal wetland, known as the Lincolnshire Marsh, is investigated in order to understand the ways in which people in the past exploited coastal zones. This research into a previously neglected area has tested the validity of' Rippon's (2000) three-part model ofcoastal strategies - exploitation, modification and transformation. The Lincolnshire Marsh, as considered in this thesis, covers a region from Cleethorpes in the north to Wainfleet in the south. The study area also encompasses areas of the adjacent dry land, of the Middle Marsh and the Wolds, to the west. A wide range of data are studied to help build a picture of the methods people have used to settle this region, from earlier prehistory through to the sixteenth century. It has been shown that the strategies adopted have varied over space and time, and that the region cannot be viewed as a single developmental unit. Four separate development zones have been postulated. showing differences in the visible Bronze Age reactions to rising sea-levels; in the concentration of salt production to specific regions, in certain periods; in the place-name evidence; in the Domesday landholdings; and in the settlement pattern. Following Rippon's (2000) three-part model it has been shown that for the majority of its history, people have been happy to exploit the natural resources on offer along the Marsh, whether they be salt or the natural havens or pasture. Although salt was important in this development, it is limited in specific periods, to specific areas. On occasion the occupants of the Lincolnshire Marsh have modified the coast to aid with settlement and exploitation; however, there were no large-scale attempts at reclamation, or transformation until the sixteenth century. In this respect the region is significantly different from many other coastal wetlands in north-west Europe which see large-scale attempts at transformation by the thirteenth century at the latest. A subdivision has also been apparent at the modification stage - in some cases this strategy was intentionally adopted, in other areas the modification was accidental, a by-product of the salt industry.

This thesis is a study of how the Lincolnshire population interacted with their monastic houses during the period 1500 to 1540, when the Tudor Church was witnessing considerable transformation. Lincolnshire was chosen because of the substantial number of religious houses, and the abundance of available sources, especially surviving wills on which the majority of the research was based. Data extracted from these testaments will uncover the destination of patronage not only towards monasteries, but also parish churches, the cathedral, religious guilds, charity to the poor and for the upkeep of the infrastructure. Maps, graphs and tables will illustrate from which of the numerous parishes patronage originated and its eventual destination. This information is linked into the theme of localism, revealing how restricted or otherwise monastic patronage was. Connectivity between monastery and parishioner will be analysed through monastic landholdings and activities such as land reclamation and salt extraction, both intertwined with the Lincolnshire landscape. A detailed study of one specific aspect of the transport infrastructure will also be undertaken, revealing financial problems that concerned a particular monastery, and its connections with the local population. Other documents consulted included the few surviving churchwarden’s accounts, but more importantly the episcopal visitation reports. These reveal the day-to-day workings within some of the county’s monasteries and the pressures that the close-knit communities had to overcome to retain stability, both financial and spiritual. In addition, the deanery visitations reveal interactions between not only clergy and congregation, but also between monastic proprietors and their tithe paying parishioners. The accumulated data will give a greater understanding of the connectivity between parishioner and monastery within the second largest county in England, during a period of considerable change within a belief system that had been sustained and largely cherished for nearly one thousand years.