Summer Walk, Collywell Bay & Charlies Garden - Tuesday 30th July 2024.
The Camera Club's summer programme continued with a visit to the coast on Tuesday 30th July 2024, as nineteen
members gathered in the Old Hartley car park and went on a walk to Collywell Bay and Charlie's Garden at Seaton
Sluice. Leaving the car park, we joined the coastal path and headed north along the clifftop. From this high vantage
point, with an eighty-foot drop to the rocky shoreline below, we took some great photos of the North Sea & Hartley
Bay, where the low tide had exposed the sandstone and mudstone rock formations beneath Crag Point.
This area is of historical significance as it was the location of the Roberts Battery, a huge gun emplacement built to
protect the coast during the First World War. A Chain Home Low radar station was established on the same site in
World War II, but everything was demolished and the underground bunkers filled in the early 1970s.
The coastal path follows the outline of the Bay as we headed west to join Collywell Bay Road. The group continued
walking north to get the best views of Charlie's Garden, a large sandstone pinnacle within the bay. This outcrop was
originally connected to the mainland before being eroded by the sea and is known as Charlie's Garden after a local
resident Charles Dockwray, who cultivated the top of the rock in the 1800's.
By this time, members were dispersed around the bay, each searching for individual images as they explored the
area. Some opted for the views from the clifftop, while others went down into the bay for a different perspective
of the rock formations. The low tide had exposed the small sand and shingle beach, seaweed, and rock pools
and on closer inspection, many examples of coloured sea glass could be found.
Over the years, erosion at the base of the cliffs has been a persistent issue and led to the construction of many
large concrete slabs, combined with a curved wall attached to the cliff face, to serve as sea defences. As the
warm evening light began to fade, the last images were taken of the area before we regrouped at the bay's
south end and returned via the coastal path to our starting point, to conclude another interesting evening walk.
Davy. 📷
members gathered in the Old Hartley car park and went on a walk to Collywell Bay and Charlie's Garden at Seaton
Sluice. Leaving the car park, we joined the coastal path and headed north along the clifftop. From this high vantage
point, with an eighty-foot drop to the rocky shoreline below, we took some great photos of the North Sea & Hartley
Bay, where the low tide had exposed the sandstone and mudstone rock formations beneath Crag Point.
This area is of historical significance as it was the location of the Roberts Battery, a huge gun emplacement built to
protect the coast during the First World War. A Chain Home Low radar station was established on the same site in
World War II, but everything was demolished and the underground bunkers filled in the early 1970s.
The coastal path follows the outline of the Bay as we headed west to join Collywell Bay Road. The group continued
walking north to get the best views of Charlie's Garden, a large sandstone pinnacle within the bay. This outcrop was
originally connected to the mainland before being eroded by the sea and is known as Charlie's Garden after a local
resident Charles Dockwray, who cultivated the top of the rock in the 1800's.
By this time, members were dispersed around the bay, each searching for individual images as they explored the
area. Some opted for the views from the clifftop, while others went down into the bay for a different perspective
of the rock formations. The low tide had exposed the small sand and shingle beach, seaweed, and rock pools
and on closer inspection, many examples of coloured sea glass could be found.
Over the years, erosion at the base of the cliffs has been a persistent issue and led to the construction of many
large concrete slabs, combined with a curved wall attached to the cliff face, to serve as sea defences. As the
warm evening light began to fade, the last images were taken of the area before we regrouped at the bay's
south end and returned via the coastal path to our starting point, to conclude another interesting evening walk.
Davy. 📷