Pictures show scale of cliff collapse on secluded Seaham beach

A strip of the cliff face along Chemical Beach near Nose’s Point, is believed to have collapsed at around midday on Friday, May 7.

A local fisherman captured the aftermath from his boat at sea after hearing the avalanche-like crash.

The fisherman, who asked not to be named, said: “It’s the middle of the Chemical Beach that has collapsed. We did not see but heard it. People think it had collapsed before, it did but not to that extent.

"We were getting in the pots and fishing just of Nose’s Point, it was about midday.

“The noise was a rumble-like an avalanche, we actually thought it was cargo being moved of a ship in the port.

"There is dramatic coastal erosion, especially from Ryhope to Saltafen Rocks (Grangetown), every time we have heavy rain or a storm of the sea the coast line marks change.

"You use your coastal marks for potting and fishing etc along with your chartplotters, so you notice your points change.”

Part of the cliff is believed to have collapsed previously, but the fisherman says he doesn’t believe it was to the extent the pictures now show.

Chemical Beach, which is north of Nose’s Point, got it’s name from the nearby ‘Watson, Kipling and Co’s Chemical Works’ which was built in 1863 and traded in soda crystals and magnesia.

Neighbouring Blast Beach was used as a dumping ground for decades by four mines in East Durham and underwent a huge regeneration.

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