Norham is a fantastic place to live/visit steeped in history along with numerous leisure opportunities.
This is the first in a series of blogs from a ‘Discovery’ range highlighting various marvels in the surrounding areas.
Wreck of the Werner Kunstmann.
As Norham is located close to the sea this blog gives an insight into the numerous shipwrecks on the Holy Island (area) which is less than 30 minutes drive from the village. (Scremerston around 15 minutes.) It is not intended as a walk description because the wrecks are potentially dangerous to visit due to fast incoming tides, sinking sands and changeable deep water channels. The Holy Island causeway is covered at high tide and occasionally cars are flooded each year. This YouTube clip highlights the dangers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9hAcFCjMxU this car may have been written off and they were rescued by the RNLI. I have walked to the wrecks from Goswick before, arriving at them just prior to low tide. It was still a decent walk in distance and remember the tides stop for no one!
Should people intend to find them from various google resources, they do so at their own risk! Always respect the water.
The wreck of the Werner Kunstmann still remains over 107 years later after she was scuppered in mysterious circumstances. She was a German vessel and no lives were lost and allegedly sank before the outbreak of WW1 in 1913. I took these photos at a low tide of less than 40 cm. On the other visits i made the tide was higher and this section was covered in water. From where i parked the car it took me approximately 40 minutes to walk there, which gives an indication how far from the shore she is. (A tradition is to consider ships as female, referring to them as 'she'.)
On this occasion the bow was still partially covered at a low tide of approx 70 cm.
The Sea Belle is an even older wreck dating back to 1883. Again fortunately no lives were lost. She was of wooden construction and each time i have visited the ever changing sands have revealed or covered parts of the wreck. Part of the hull is also visible in the middle left of the photo.
The next photos are of vessels i could not identify from google. They are in the same general area as the previous two vessels.
I think there are two large wrecks here? To take these photos i waded out in the water at a low tide.
The vessel/s were large and of steel construction
Very little remains of this wreck. The mainland is a decent distance away. All of this would have been underwater again with the incoming tide.
This small piece of unknown wreckage was also on the beach
This website is useful as it shows photos before they were wrecks.
Below is part of a wreck of the Steam Trawler Tadorne. Although this is located to the south near the hamlet of Howick it is a huge piece of wreckage standing at around 10 feet tall.
With modern day safety features hopefully there will be less incidents such as these. Further down the coast at Bamburgh is the birth/burial place of Grace Darling and museum. (subject to any opening restrictions)
Some of the organisations keeping our local coastline safe.