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The Geography Department |
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Happisburgh 2004
Photos taken on 16 May 2004
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The cliff-top situation - going southwards
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The Cliff Top Road has been substantially lost, its buildings abandoned and demolished and, by the looks of it, used to dispose of some topsoil. |
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800-05160001.JPG 144KB
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600-05160002.JPG 135KB
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800-05160003.JPG 157KB |
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The state of the beach defences continue to deteriorate. the revetments fragment further and the line of rip rap is simply inadequate; it appears to be sinking into the sand! Further cliff retreat is in evidence everywhere, and is usually sand-led, slumping over the basement clays. |
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600-05160005.JPG 124KB
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800-05160004.JPG 156KB
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600-05160006.JPG 201KB |
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The Cliff Top Road again, now minus housing, or any sign of life, except next to the car park. |
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800-05160007.JPG 86KB |
800-05160008.JPG 91KB
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800-05160009.JPG 102KB |
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Views of the beach from above; a whole section of revetment has been removed by the sea an flung against the cliff, still relatively intact. |
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800-05160011.JPG 100KB |
600-05160010.JPG 157KB
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800-05160012.JPG 122KB |
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Three views from the shrinking area of land seaward of the terraced houses. the centre shot is for future reference, whilst that on the right will not be repeatable for many days. |
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800-05160013.JPG 152 |
800-05160015.JPG 664KB
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800-05160014.JPG 88KB |
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The views of housing to the north from the promontory next to the last-but-one bungalow. |
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800-05160080.JPG |
800-05160081.JPG 75KB
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800-05160087.JPG 113KB |
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These shots hopefully put the present situation into its context by including the lighthouse and the terraced houses. |
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800-05160083.JPG 120KB
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800-05160022.JPG 111KB |
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The end of the road (centre) and the attempt to prevent the sea from outflanking the row of bungalows and houses. |
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800-05160018.JPG 180KB |
600-05160017.JPG 204KB
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800-05160020.JPG 130KB |
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The footpath has been eroded north and south of this spur. |
The cliffs still show dampness after wet weather - sand over a clay bench. |
A cliff fall, composed of both overlying sand and the clay base. |
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600-05160024.JPG 151KB |
600-05160025.JPG 106KB
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600-05160023.JPG 202KB |
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Deep shelves have been formed where high tides and storm waves have overtopped the clay layers, stripping away the sands ... and arable soil. |
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800-05160075.JPG 108KB
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800-05160077.JPG 113KB |
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More of the cliffs of the new bay to the south of Happisburgh. recent falls are marked by the remaining, overhanging, vegetation. |
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800-05160072.JPG 102KB
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600-05160073.JPG 150KB
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800-05160074.JPG 123KB |
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To the beach |
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Walking back to the beach access a last look at the southern end of the defences (left), the abandoned entrance to the beach ramp (centre) and on the right the RNLI building, camping field and manor. |
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800-05160027.JPG 160KB |
800-05160028.JPG 143KB
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800-05160029.JPG 124KB |
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The beach ramp has collapsed where the cliff underneath it has been undermined. It will be interesting to see how long the new access stairs will last before needing to be re-sited! |
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600-05160030.JPG 140KB |
800-05160031.JPG 168KB
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600-05160032.JPG 113KB |
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The seaward en of the beach ramp is largely undamaged. |
Caravans in the field next to the beach stairs, with the church behind. |
Looking northwards from the new steps. Here the revetments have not failed, although some unrepaired damage is visible. |
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800-05160033.JPG 148KB |
800-05160035.JPG 81KB
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800-05160036.JPG 108KB |
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North along the beach towards Ostend
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The revetments north of Happisburgh have not stopped erosion of the cliffs, but will have slowed their retreat. Damaged revetments will probably mean the whole defence line will be compromised and fail at an accelerating rate. |
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600-05160038.JPG 101KB |
800-05160037.JPG 115KB
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600-05160040.JPG 113KB |
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Where the revetments are essentially no more the waves will erode the cliffs with undiminished force, undermining a wartime pillbox *(centre) and bringing down cliffs fall (right) as well. |
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800-05160041.JPG 103KB |
600-05160045.JPG 175KB
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800-05160042.JPG 121KB |
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South along the beach towards Cart Gap
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Three views of the beach ramp from the beach. Large shattered lumps of concrete abound, including recurved sea wall sections. |
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800-05160047.JPG 151KB |
600-05160046.JPG 148KB
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800-05160049.JPG 149KB |
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Three views of the tangle of debris on the beach; well-heads, revetments, steel sheet-piling and dumped topsoil. |
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600-05160051.JPG 142KB |
800-05160050.JPG 109KB
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600-05160052.JPG 128KB |
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Some parts of the beach have become littered with concrete debris, as well as steel scaffolding poles ... but in-between a fine beach is available at low water! |
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800-05160053.JPG 138KB |
800-05160054.JPG 94KB
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800-05160055.JPG 116KB |
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Two shots of 'Scaffolding Corner', and one of a fall in the clay layer. The proximity of the houses is striking. |
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800-05160056.JPG 141KB |
600-05160058.jpg 151KB
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800-05160057.JPG 159KB |
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Three views of the clay benches, the most visible indicator of the differential erosion rates between sand and clay. |
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800-05160060.JPG 96KB |
600-05160061.JPG 144KB
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800-05160062.JPG 103KB |
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The sand is fine-textured and easily winnowed by the wind. |
A wide beach is evident at low tide. |
Cliff-top vegetation will not live long on sands slumped here .. so all of this is recent. |
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600-05160064.JPG 146KB |
800-05160066.JPG 57KB
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600-05160065.JPG 123KB |
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The steel piling remains intact, but the concrete blanket has collapsed as its base has been removed by erosion. |
The outflanking of the Cart Gap defences from above. |
The end of the line - Cart Gap towards Happisburgh. |
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800-05160067.JPG 129KB |
600-05160070.JPG 108KN
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800-05160068.JPG 82KB |
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From Cart Gap towards Happisburgh |
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800-05160069.JPG 58KB |
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