The sun came out again on Thursday afternoon August 2nd so I drove to Jack's point just before the South Shields Leas end at the Souter Point Lighthouse, two and a half miles from the Trow Rocks. Yesterday was also a day of discoveries which could have saved me time and effort, although on reflection without the information I was forced to begin developing descriptive skills. The second discovery was made after the first and is a web site designed to encouraging walking to achieve better health and is a project between the South Tyneside Council, the Health Trusts, Age Concern and other local agencies.
There are individual pages break down the coast walk along the two and a half miles and 300 acres of the Leas from South Shields Beaches to Souter Lighthouse into six options. The first recommended walk starts from the Amphitheatre where I previously ended a park and beach walk with tea and continues at the Souter Lighthouse and Tea Room some 7.3kms or 4.5 miles later, and lasts two and half hours if unbroken, so my judgement of distance is not as poor as I had believed.
According to the Walk 2 information the gun and emplacement at Trow Rocks was created by the army in 1887 as a location for their new breach loading coast defence weapon but it was not regarded as a success and removed leaving only the base. One hundred year's later the Council during the period when I was employed obtained funds for a replica which stands today on the existing base. The stadium which I described as Gypsy Green is also in fact Gypsies Green The additional information is that in 1903 the cliff above Frenchman's Bay was used to site a coast defence battery.
From the third route area which covers the coast from Frenchman's to Man Haven Bay I learn that the coast here is regarded as having special scientific interest because of the rock formations and microfossils and because of the wild flowers on the grassland and cliffs in summer, hence the areas where the grass is left into wildness. There are also sightings of seals and porpoise during the Winter to now look forward to. Man Haven Bay was previous used to launch pilot cobbles when the sea was too rough to cross the Tyne Bar and there are three semi redundant boat houses to remind when this was an active fishing bay. The fourth section covers the area to the pathway down to Marsden Bay sands and mentions the area of Velvet red or Camel Island which I did not refer to previously, mainly because I knew nothing of the history. The name Camel describes the rock outline of two humps when partially covered as the tide runs in and the Velvet beds because of coverage with short fine grass, abundant thrift and springy underfoot at low tide, The information mentions that the Jarrow Chemical Company in the 1830's would load wedges of limestone from the Bay which was used in the manufacture of Epson salts.
The area between Marsden Bay and Souter Lighthouse which I covered yesterday was only known to me from the car, which is a pity because just below the cliff edge in addition to several rocky bays there are three more rock stacks and smaller outcrops on which there were many seabird including colony of some very large creatures which almost looked human in form at a distance and were attracting ornithologists.
Today from the notes for route five I learn that the coast is regarded as one of the most important for ornithologists because of the number of Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Gulls and Cormorants. The latter form ten percent of the English breeding population.
Previously I had speculated about the nature of the community around this area in the 19th century, and earlier in the day I learnt that in fact the present coast road was only built between 1926 and 1929 as a means of combating the inter wars economic depression. When I arrived in the area in 1974 there were still traces of the railway line that had run along the coast and it was also the last stages of Marsden Miner's Village on the cliff side of the road next to the Souter Lighthouse.
The village had been created from 1874, a century earlier to provide homes for miners working at Whitburn Colliery and comprised 139 houses in 9 terraces, a Cooperative society store, post office, a church, a chapel, a school and a bowling green. The biggest house had four rooms, two up and two down, but some were smaller, according to The BBC Coast series which I have just discovered, although I did learn the same information from a guide display board at the location mentions that sanitation was basic with a horse and cart coming round the village once a week and the rubbish was just dumped over the cliff edge. While the properties had yards there was a range of recreational areas and activities including allotments which help developed the sense of community which was a feature of the mining communities.
This land cleared land was subsequently added to become part of the Leas without leaving any trace of its former use except for photographs As my walk had commenced two weeks ago, I mentioned that where Harton Colliery had once dominated the coast landscape the other side of a playing area which marks the end of the three parks, a new village of private housing is being created and is over half way to completion. It emphasises that although the changes can have devastating effects on families, the present generation of politicians and administrators are attempting to move the community forward and survive for the benefit of future generations. On one hand although the height of summer I have enjoyed and welcomed that there has been so few people to enable photographs, a double, trebling an quadrupling of visitors during weekend days would not have significant impact but would considerably help the local economy.
The land across the coast road from where I walked yesterday also rises to a parallel road with bisects the golf course, a riding stables, a commercially operating quarry and agricultural land. This road continues to the attractive part of Whitburn village and then turns inland across more agricultural land to the Bolden Villages and to the wetland bird sanctuary between the Bolden and Cleaden Villages. The golf course on the hill above the coast Road at Marsden is one of three in the immediate vicinity, with the main Shields golf course bordering the hills above the Cleaden village where once a Windmill dominated the skyline, again one of three in the vicinity and where two have been renovated and brought back into working order, one with a visitor's centre.
The BBC has also published information on the coast from Souter to Whitburn, a journey of another 3.5 miles covering the Whitburn Coastal Park, on the site of the former colliery and Northern offices of the National Coal Board and around the Territorial army camp and firing ranges onto the cliffs
Across coast road are the imposing remains of former limekilns built into the hillside and created in 1870 to make use of the fuel from the neighbouring colliery. Production ceased in 1960. The South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Mineral line was created in 1979 to serve the colliery and transport Miners to and from South Shields. In 1888 passengers were allowed to use the line which is roughly the same route as the 1926-1929 built coast road and because of the mixture of carriages and wagons became known as the Rattler. Officially the last passenger service continued until 1953 but the last journey was made in September 1968.
While I have expressed joy at discovering just how wild and attractive the coastline has become, in the days when the two rivers were great ports among those of Northern Europe many foundered on these very rocks with twenty shipwrecks in 1969 alone in the area of Whitburn and Marsden. It was not until 1871 that the Souter point Lighthouse was built by James Douglass who designed the Eddystone in the English Channel. Unlike lighthouses which until then used gas and oil lamps, Souter was the first to use alternating electric current and providing the power of 700000 candles. On the cliff side of the building is the double foghorn reputed to be the loudest in the United Kingdom. It was decommissioned in 1988 but provided a radio navigation beacon up to 1999. The lighthouse is open to the public from March until the first week of October, except Fridays and I enjoyed a pot of tea and toasted tea cake before going to visit my mother.
There are individual pages break down the coast walk along the two and a half miles and 300 acres of the Leas from South Shields Beaches to Souter Lighthouse into six options. The first recommended walk starts from the Amphitheatre where I previously ended a park and beach walk with tea and continues at the Souter Lighthouse and Tea Room some 7.3kms or 4.5 miles later, and lasts two and half hours if unbroken, so my judgement of distance is not as poor as I had believed.
According to the Walk 2 information the gun and emplacement at Trow Rocks was created by the army in 1887 as a location for their new breach loading coast defence weapon but it was not regarded as a success and removed leaving only the base. One hundred year's later the Council during the period when I was employed obtained funds for a replica which stands today on the existing base. The stadium which I described as Gypsy Green is also in fact Gypsies Green The additional information is that in 1903 the cliff above Frenchman's Bay was used to site a coast defence battery.
From the third route area which covers the coast from Frenchman's to Man Haven Bay I learn that the coast here is regarded as having special scientific interest because of the rock formations and microfossils and because of the wild flowers on the grassland and cliffs in summer, hence the areas where the grass is left into wildness. There are also sightings of seals and porpoise during the Winter to now look forward to. Man Haven Bay was previous used to launch pilot cobbles when the sea was too rough to cross the Tyne Bar and there are three semi redundant boat houses to remind when this was an active fishing bay. The fourth section covers the area to the pathway down to Marsden Bay sands and mentions the area of Velvet red or Camel Island which I did not refer to previously, mainly because I knew nothing of the history. The name Camel describes the rock outline of two humps when partially covered as the tide runs in and the Velvet beds because of coverage with short fine grass, abundant thrift and springy underfoot at low tide, The information mentions that the Jarrow Chemical Company in the 1830's would load wedges of limestone from the Bay which was used in the manufacture of Epson salts.
The area between Marsden Bay and Souter Lighthouse which I covered yesterday was only known to me from the car, which is a pity because just below the cliff edge in addition to several rocky bays there are three more rock stacks and smaller outcrops on which there were many seabird including colony of some very large creatures which almost looked human in form at a distance and were attracting ornithologists.
Today from the notes for route five I learn that the coast is regarded as one of the most important for ornithologists because of the number of Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Gulls and Cormorants. The latter form ten percent of the English breeding population.
Previously I had speculated about the nature of the community around this area in the 19th century, and earlier in the day I learnt that in fact the present coast road was only built between 1926 and 1929 as a means of combating the inter wars economic depression. When I arrived in the area in 1974 there were still traces of the railway line that had run along the coast and it was also the last stages of Marsden Miner's Village on the cliff side of the road next to the Souter Lighthouse.
The village had been created from 1874, a century earlier to provide homes for miners working at Whitburn Colliery and comprised 139 houses in 9 terraces, a Cooperative society store, post office, a church, a chapel, a school and a bowling green. The biggest house had four rooms, two up and two down, but some were smaller, according to The BBC Coast series which I have just discovered, although I did learn the same information from a guide display board at the location mentions that sanitation was basic with a horse and cart coming round the village once a week and the rubbish was just dumped over the cliff edge. While the properties had yards there was a range of recreational areas and activities including allotments which help developed the sense of community which was a feature of the mining communities.
This land cleared land was subsequently added to become part of the Leas without leaving any trace of its former use except for photographs As my walk had commenced two weeks ago, I mentioned that where Harton Colliery had once dominated the coast landscape the other side of a playing area which marks the end of the three parks, a new village of private housing is being created and is over half way to completion. It emphasises that although the changes can have devastating effects on families, the present generation of politicians and administrators are attempting to move the community forward and survive for the benefit of future generations. On one hand although the height of summer I have enjoyed and welcomed that there has been so few people to enable photographs, a double, trebling an quadrupling of visitors during weekend days would not have significant impact but would considerably help the local economy.
The land across the coast road from where I walked yesterday also rises to a parallel road with bisects the golf course, a riding stables, a commercially operating quarry and agricultural land. This road continues to the attractive part of Whitburn village and then turns inland across more agricultural land to the Bolden Villages and to the wetland bird sanctuary between the Bolden and Cleaden Villages. The golf course on the hill above the coast Road at Marsden is one of three in the immediate vicinity, with the main Shields golf course bordering the hills above the Cleaden village where once a Windmill dominated the skyline, again one of three in the vicinity and where two have been renovated and brought back into working order, one with a visitor's centre.
The BBC has also published information on the coast from Souter to Whitburn, a journey of another 3.5 miles covering the Whitburn Coastal Park, on the site of the former colliery and Northern offices of the National Coal Board and around the Territorial army camp and firing ranges onto the cliffs
Across coast road are the imposing remains of former limekilns built into the hillside and created in 1870 to make use of the fuel from the neighbouring colliery. Production ceased in 1960. The South Shields, Marsden and Whitburn Mineral line was created in 1979 to serve the colliery and transport Miners to and from South Shields. In 1888 passengers were allowed to use the line which is roughly the same route as the 1926-1929 built coast road and because of the mixture of carriages and wagons became known as the Rattler. Officially the last passenger service continued until 1953 but the last journey was made in September 1968.
While I have expressed joy at discovering just how wild and attractive the coastline has become, in the days when the two rivers were great ports among those of Northern Europe many foundered on these very rocks with twenty shipwrecks in 1969 alone in the area of Whitburn and Marsden. It was not until 1871 that the Souter point Lighthouse was built by James Douglass who designed the Eddystone in the English Channel. Unlike lighthouses which until then used gas and oil lamps, Souter was the first to use alternating electric current and providing the power of 700000 candles. On the cliff side of the building is the double foghorn reputed to be the loudest in the United Kingdom. It was decommissioned in 1988 but provided a radio navigation beacon up to 1999. The lighthouse is open to the public from March until the first week of October, except Fridays and I enjoyed a pot of tea and toasted tea cake before going to visit my mother.
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