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Barton-on-Sea
May 2000
Barton-on-Sea October 2001
Barton on multimap
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The classic view of
the buildings on the edge. Little has changed since
the work to grade the cliff in the 1970s after major
landslides, but the creeping slips are creating a steep
unstable slope angle, and have ruined the walkway which went
along the middle level of the cliff as part of the profile
engineering. At the sea edge, what is left of the
older wooden groynes, as well as the new stone breakwaters
are evident, as is the sheer tonnage of rock imported to
balance the toe of the slip and prevent wave erosion.
800Barton-east-erosion.jpg (154877 bytes)
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Barton-on-Sea
looking west, August 2000. Hengistbury Head to far
left. A less managed section of the coast, though
debris in the slips suggests old works were here.
Creep is slower, judging by the greater amount of
vegetation. In the background is a very active area of
slips, without defences, and farmland/caravan sites are
being lost. It is hoped this area will reach
equilibrium and erosion slow down once the cliff profile is
flatter.
Barton/800Barton-west-cliff.jpg
(292k)
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Across the local
authority border, breakwater and cliff toe stabilisation
work, similar to Barton, has been carried out. Note
how the previous scheme was causing terminal groyne
syndrome, and the new work has had to be extended into the
bay which resulted (centre right).
800Barton-west-groynes.jpg (97386 bytes)
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To the west of the
small cluster of shops on the cliff top in Barton is a long
greensward. This shot, to the west, shows a rotational slump
developing from the cliff-top. The top layers of the cliff
are sands, and can be clearly seen here. Houses, lining the
north side of the sea road, can be seen on the right-hand
skyline.
800Barton-west-rotate.jpg (157279 bytes)
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This part of the
cliff, beneath the most westernmost part of the greensward,
is a et and wild place of slumps and slips, dense mats of
rampant grasses .. and a mudslide, seen in the centre of the
photograph as a smooth grey area. The lower part of the
cliffs, being clays, are very mobile, and especially so in
wet weather.
800Barton-west-slump.jpg (137534 bytes)
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The cliff retreat
has been the subject of a great deal of expensive
engineering. Here can be seen a service track running along
the slopes (there is also vehicular access along some of the
area immediately behind the water), pebble-filled drainage
channels running down the slope, and one of the rock-groynes
designed to reduce the rate of longshore drift.
800Barton-west-step.jpg (112294 bytes)
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The stabilisation of
the slope has not been without its setbacks. Here a stretch
of track has disappeared, and is working its way back as a
series of cracks, and the sheet-steel piling in the centre
is letting go!
800Barton-west-piling.jpg (161887 bytes)
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The massive nature
of the defence works and general earth-moving can be seen
here. In the centre is a drainage chamber, part of the
system that keeps the cliffs and cliff-top area as dry as
possible to reduce mass movement.
800Bartoncliff-drain.jpg (173089 bytes)
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Many stone drains
run down the graded slope, a good deal of which has been
successfully vegetated. Near the water is a shingle beach,
backed up by boulder rip-rap and a rock road.
800Bartoncliff-drain2.jpg (153001 bytes)
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A rock groyne, roadway, and
more disintegrating sheet-piling further up the slope.
800Barton-rockgroyne.jpg (137514 bytes)
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August 2000
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Looking back towards Barton
from Long Mead End or the Tunniford Gap.
This point can be approached
from Milford along the cliff-top, or from a car park off the
B3058 road, situated at SZ265925. From the car park the
coast is only a few hundred yards distance.
800Barton-cows.jpg (124520 bytes)
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This view is found in Dr Ian
West web pages on the geology of Barton; indeed there is an
annotated photo of the scene.
800Barton007_31.JPG (146320 bytes)
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To the east of
the Tunniford Gap are high cliffs, with well-vegetated lower
flanks. Here erosion has clearly found a temporary
equilibrium behind a fair width of beach.
800Barton010_28.JPG (111660 bytes)
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Erosion is
significant further west, towards the golf course.
Slumping has carried material towards the beach, some
of it in a very mobile form, with water pockets seen
on the surface.
800Barton005_33.JPG (159354 bytes)
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A
zoom-in on the detail of the above photograph. Dr West has a
labelled photo in this general vicinity as well.
800Barton004_34.JPG (131360 bytes)
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links |
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http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=423920&Y=92997&A=Y&Z=3 |
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http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/hypermail/envsci99/group5/topic3/0007.html |
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Dr Ian
West's Geology Pages |
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~imw/barton.htm |
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Hampshire Barton-on-Sea
coasts erosion defences mass movement rock groynes
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