A map of Suffolk dating from about 1610 shows it to have been the most easterly ecclesiastical parish in England.

[3] Medieval Easton Bavents was a parish of some importance, granted a weekly market in the 14th century, with a three-day fair on the feast day of St Nicholas of Myra (6 December).

Records show the parish church, dedicated to St Nicholas, was still in use in 1639, and a rector appointed as late as 1666.

The Battle of Solebay in the Third Anglo-Dutch War took place in 1672 off the coast of Easton Bavents, which survived as a fishing village until the 19th century.

The pace of erosion has averaged some 3 metres a year since 1945, although storms and high tides increase the rate.