The sea defence diaries 28/12/11

Work on the sea defence works has stopped for obvious reasons due the Christmas period and the mild weather has had very little impact on shape of the main sands where the demolition of the old boating pool by the clock tower has has taken place. All that remains of the boating pool is one wall that is built around the pipe that drains Tivoli Brookes.

I was fortunate that the tide had gone out far enough to allow me to have a good root around the end of the square head of the stone pier and take a few photographs. From the photograph the underpinning of the square head is well underway and is a continuation of the work that that took place after the storm of February 1953 when the sea ward side of the square head was underpinned to strengthen the foundation of the newly reconstructed lighthouse .

On this occasion my interest was centered of the spoil heap that remained from the digging and pile driving that can be clearly seen in the photograph. Even though the site looks a mess there are plenty of good finds to be made and data to collect.

The entrance to the harbour like any other harbour is where most of the main activity of harbour life took place and there was plenty of evidence to prove that. The spoil heap was a mixture of historical layers all mixed into one, as this area is well known for badly worn copper coins from the William III to the George IV period I was hoping to find some. On this occasion I did not find any, but I had a good mix of everything else ranging from clay pipe stems and bowls, shards and glass. As mentioned many times previously I found cannal coal from the thriving coal trade the harbour once had supplying the King Street gas works. On the modern side of life I found copper and brass boat fittings and pieces of stainless steel.

Like a magpie I pick up everything , store it in my back garden and then sort through it at my own leisure like in the photograph above.