- 01 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST STRUCTURES | A navigation marker set amongst sand dunes
The Northumberland coast offers hard rock cliffs, long sweeps of sandy beach, seagrass dunes, river estuaries and the ever changing weather off the North Sea. This gallery holds images of structures such as harbour walls at Seahouses, passive and active concrete World War 2 coastal defences including pillboxes, lime kilns, a dune chalet, a stone cliff house, a tower in ruined Dunstanburgh Castle and timber structures on Blyth beach and harbour. This tall white pyramid is a navigation beacon set to aid inshore navigation by coastal boats and ships.
- 02 NORTHUMBERLABD COAST | A house set on rocks above the North Sea tideline
North Sea weather and water states can change quickly and even in summer become vicious and difficult to navigate. In September 1838 the 450 ton paddle steamer “Forfashire” sailed from Hull bound for Dundee. Launched for the Dundee & Hull Packet Company the vessel was only a couple of years old. Boiler problems off the North-Northumberland coast ended when the ship struck rocks on the Farne Islands. A Museum in Bamburgh commemorates the courageous rescue of survivors by Grace Darling and her lighthouse keeper father.
- 03 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Rocks, breaking waves, sea haze with Dunstanburgh Castle beyond
On this July day, gusting winds on an incoming tide created spume and haze under light and dark broken cloud. Hard black whinstone cliffs across the bay front the serrated outline of Dunstanburgh Castle beyond. Access to the ruins from both north and south is only by foot along beach and cliff. I recall one winter walk with snow blowing in horizontally off the sea, the wind cold enough to remove all feeling from one side of the face outward and the other on return. Standing high on the castle's gatehouse towers did nothing to improve physical comfort.
- 04 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Passive World War 2 concrete block coastal defences
Much of the north Northumberland North Sea coastline is fronted by gently sloping sandy beaches interspersed with modest cliffs and rocky outcrops. As part of World War Two defences concrete anti-tank blocks were cast into place where dunes met the shoreline. Over intervening years some have been removed whilst others have been isolated or buried by wind and tide scour altering the beach scape.
- 05 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Concrete block war defences, a detail
Rocks, boulders and shingle interrupt the broad swathes of sand at this point. Rough seas have deposited the broad covering of seaweed. Water has scoured sand from behind the blocks to expose the stones on which the they rest. Erosion has roughened the once pristine mould-cast concrete.
- 06 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Offensive coastal defences – a high-set gun emplacement
This concrete large gun emplacement sits on a high point giving a wide arc of fire over an extensive bay. Nothing remains in the interior other than the base attachments for the gun mounting. The view from inside is as spectacular as ever.
- 07 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | A WW2 concrete rifle and machine gun post
Storms and high winds in a recent year have exposed this cast concrete and brick pillbox from dunes formed over it by the same forces. Its design contrasts with the curvaceous form of a similar structure in the next image. I've visited this coast for many decades and am rarely surprised, as here, by detail changes wrought by wind and water acting on these fragile dune landscapes.
- 08 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST| A winter storm removed the dunes from this structure
Another nearby box has also been exposed, moved and broken apart by the forces of wind, storm and tide. The mould seemingly used corrugated iron sheets to contain the concrete which records their undulating folds.
- 09 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | A small concrete strong point – embrasure detail
This box appears to have been encased in pre-cast concrete panels: perhaps they formed the inner and outer faces of the poured concrete mould? It faces inland from a setting above a rocky defile lying parallel to the shore line. The dense gorse thickets make access and photography difficult from this approach.
- 10 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | A concrete pillbox cast into a corrugated iron mould
This much larger structure was seemingly cast into moulds lined in corrugated iron. It's set on the edge of dunes above a rocky and boulder strewn shore. As a schoolboy a similar structure had been built to guard a bridge at my village railway station. We cleared it of rubbish and used it as a play fort. It's long gone, along with the bridge, station and railway. Castles have romantic connotations whereas pill boxes do not. They are of interest as historic structures and deserve preservation: many have been destroyed.
- 11 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Abandoned lime kilns at the back of a shingle beach
These lime kilns at Castle Point on Lindisfarne are in the care of the National Trust. Constructed in stone and brick in the mid-nineteenth century, the kilns burned locally quarried limestone mixed with coal to produce quicklime for use as agricultural soil conditioner, mortar in building construction and other commercial products. Nearby, timber jetties moored ships delivering the coal and loading the powdered lime for export. A waggonway was used to move the raw limestone from nearby quarries.
- 12 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Abandoned lime kilns – detail
The tapered structures of the six pots had open mouths at the top into which alternating layers of coal and limestone were placed. Once set, the fuel was ignited lower down the structure and its heat rose through the limestone. Skill was needed to maintain the optimum temperature needed to create quicklime. More layers of coal and limestone could be added to maintain continuous production. The lime filtered to the base of the pot to be removed for further processing and despatch. It was hard physical and potentially hazardous employment for the kiln workers.
- 13 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | The Lilburn Tower on the outer bailey wall of Dunstanburgh Castle
Dunstanburgh Castle was begun by the Earl of Lancaster in 1313. Some seventy years later it was extended and strengthened by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and son of King Edward II: by 1600 it had lost much of its military importance. The Lilburn Tower is set into the northern wall of the outer bailey which ends abruptly at the brink of high and hard whinstone cliffs fronting the North Sea. The ruined structure stands isolated on a rocky headland only accessible by the coastal path. The National Trust and English Heritage share in its upkeep.
- 14 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Seahouses harbour wall topped by lobster pots: exterior at low tide
Seahouses harbour is built at the point where northerly sand dunes meet stone cliffs carrying village houses in vernacular style. Dating from the 1880s, it replaced an earlier and simpler structure. The enclosing walls project seawards over rock layers with sand deposits exposed at low tide and from where these two photographs were taken. Lobster pots are stacked some four stone courses above high water.
- 15 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Seahouses harbour wall with inset ladder: exterior at low tide
The rung spacing on this inset iron ladder lends scale to the sandstone blocks. The scattering of round holes are intriguing: are the marks associated with its building or perhaps simply erosion by climate and sea?
- 16 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | A timber chalet on bracken and marram grassed dunes
Set high amongst marram grass and bracken this chalet has long coastal views that must be spectacular in stormy weather. It's one of a group randomly spaced amongst the dunes, some less open to the seascape than others. Access is on foot along a network of narrow paths on grass or cut into the sand. Timber steps occasionally link down to the beach.
- 17 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Blyth: a timber beach structure with rusting fastenings
This structure fronts boulder fill inside the heavy timbers of a pier to the south of the harbour entrance,
- 18 NORTHUMBERLAND COAST | Blyth: a timber jetty with a crane supporting a sailing boat
Blyth's past prosperity was through shipbuilding, fishing and exporting coal from the Northumberland coalfield, said to have been the busiest coal port in Europe fifty years ago. Commercial and fishing vessels still use dock there and there is a thriving sailing and leisure activity. Blyth hosted a Tall Ships gathering in 2016. The BLYTH HARBOUR gallery images look at its structures and fishing activity.