Hidden on the coast of one of the UK’s many seaside villages is a chemical-soaked secret. Although the beach was once toxic, what washes up there now is treasured by many.
The shore of this beach is littered with remnants of Victorian glass that have been brought ashore by the tide after being rolled smooth in the surf. This strange place is Blast Beach in Seaham – once one of the most polluted beaches in the world. Seaham was an industrial town with three coal mines as well as foundries, brickworks, docks, railway lines and coal staithes.
Its main industries were coal and iron, but were closely followed by glass and brick making. One thing all these industries had in common was that they all dumped all their waste straight off the cliffs and into the sea.
In fact, some of the cliffs along Seaham’s coastline are essentially slag heaps, moulded to the shape of the rock beneath them.
For years, the beach was a no-go zone, known as one of the most polluted in the UK.
Millions of tonnes of colliery waste had been dumped on the beach for decades, and the water was polluted for up to seven miles out to sea.
But in the late 90s, the Government launched the Turning the Tide initiative to restore this spot along the UK coast.
Colliery waste and debris were removed, derelict structures taken down and the beach monitored. As well as this, the coast was rejuvenated and new shrubbery planted as well as trails constructed – even a golf course.
The £10 million project worked, and now Blast Beach is one of the best places in the UK to hunt for seaglass. If you head along to the beach, you’ll see people walking around with their heads down, searching for the pastel coloured shards of glass that still wash up to this day.
However, after heavy rain or storms, a hint of the polluted past can still be seen – pools of rusty red water are a reminder of the once-toxic beach.
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