​

 

As the mining of the East Durham coalfield moved eastwards under the sea, the clifftop collieries of Dawdon, Easington, Horden and Blackhall grew in size and productivity. The proximity to the sea  provided a convenient source of disposal for mine waste. As collieries inland were marked by spoil heaps, along the coast the mines  tipped their waste  over the cliff for the sea to remove. As the waste increased  aerial rope ways were replaced by conveyor belts and what the sea could not remove was bushed along the coast by excavators. This artificial beach stretched 10 miles along the coast, smothering the existing beaches.

A 1970 report estimated 2,440,000 tons of waste was dumped this way annually creating the infamous 'Black Beaches of Durham' and landscape becoming film locations for Alien 3 and the climax of Get Carter. 

Despite calls for the dumping to stop first being raised in the 1960's, the closure of the final mine in 1993 eventually brought dumping to an end. Between 1997 and 2002 a £10 million Turning the Tide Project worked to restore the coastline removing 1.8 million tons of waste from the beaches and restoring habitats. 

Today the remnants of the dumping still remains, a seam of waste still forming a line along the coast creating a second raised beach in some places several meters thick. The remainder left for the sea to remove over the  coming decades.

​

 

 

 

 

​