Happy New Year to all my readers. I hope you all managed to remember to say 'White Rabbit' as the first thing you said on New Years Day! Christmas Day was a good day with me as I managed to find some presents that Helen was pleased to receive, rather than my usual offerings. Hopefully those brownie points will stand me in good stead through the year. Every winter we make a visit to Spurn Point and as daughter Amy was home we made the trip on New Years Eve as it was one of the few days we have had with some sun! We drove to Kilnsea and then walked up from the Crown and Anchor pub to the Bluebell Tea Rooms.
The Bluebell tea rooms were at one time a pub. As can be seen on the side of the building it was built in 1847 and was 534 yards from the sea. In 1994 the place was converted by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust into a tea room and by then it was only 190 yards from the sea. It is even less now.
Despite the wind there were a few folk out braving the wind. On the seaward side of the point it was a little more sheltered when down on the beach as the wind was from the south west. There were a few sea anglers taking advantage of the falling tide. In the distance can be seen just one of the extensive wind farms that are being installed off shore. On the right can be seen a jack-up vessel that is used for installing and maintaining the turbines.
This is what is left of part of the concrete road that got washed away. The blocks to the right were the protection and the flat concrete sections were the roadway. Originally there was no road as the battery at the end of the point was serviced by ships bring requirements to a jetty down there. Later a small railway line was built connecting the point battery with the one built at the neck of the point.
The wind had blown the drying sand away as the tide had turned but the pebbles sat on little piles of sands. I gave a lunar landscape to the beach on a small scale.
This was another area where the road had disappeared. When I used to drive down to the point the road ran close to this area and the timbers protected it. You can also see concrete slabs of the road way.
At some stage next to the wooden groynes thousands of tons of chalk had been dumped to further protect the road. I loved the way the chalk boulders have been evenly distributed and they seem to be painted.
Back at the Crown and Anchor we looked back to the point end. In the foreground are blocks that were placed in WWII as tank traps to prevent the use of the point for landing. Further out was too much deep mud. The highest building in the distance is actually the light high light. It looks strange as it is covered in scaffold and the round top is disguised in polythene sheets, This light was built in 1895 and is 128' high. It had a light that shone for 17miles. It became disused in 1985 as navigational aids made it redundant. The £400000 restoration will make it open to the public and contain workshops and galleries. The next point is actually the old low light house. The light before the one being restored was built by Smeaton and was demolished when the new light was built the old low light gave a safe bearing coming down river when the two lights were in line. The low light was built in 1852 and was discontinued when the new light was lit. The lantern was removed and a water tank was built at the top to provide storage and a head of water for the lifeboatmens houses at the point. The next building is the control tower for the vessel traffic service and pilots of the Humber. Until 1975 the pilots worked from a cruising cutter. After then they worked from launches from a jetty at Spurn Head. The VTS tower is now the only manned place on Spurn. Due to the breech of the point towards it's neck in 2013 and the loss of the road the Lifeboat families now have moved to Grimsby. The pilots are boarded and landed from launches from Grimsby but the tower is still manned but relieved via Grimsby launches too. There are plans to relocate the tower too as life will be come more difficult as the point deteriorates further over time.
All in all Spurn is a very special place and will become more so as no access is allowed by cars of the general public. It is a good walk down to the end but will be very rewarding for those that make it in the summer.
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