Originally Posted by
tpoo22
We spent a lovely Saturday afternoon wandering north from Crosby Coastguard station, an area I've coined the 'Brick Beach'. The coastline here consists entirely of rubble: bricks, plinths, granite pillars, doorsteps etc.
I can only imagine that this area served as a dumping ground after the Blitz, with the secondary purpose of slowing coastal erosion. Can anyone confirm this? I've been unable to find anything concrete (ha!) on the web, and would love to read any first-hand accounts or anecdotes. I'm moved by the sight of so much human endeavour, laid waste by warfare and now pounded by the sea back into sand.
You're absolutely correct, Tpoo - the rubble from the blitz on Bootle was dumped on the Sefton coast. Tom Fairclough had an exhibition on this last May in the Met Quarter, I think it was. I found his photographic blog, based on photos of this débris accompanied by the statements of eyewitnesses, an extraordinarily powerful emotional experience. It is still accessible here: http://bootlecollateral.blogspot.com/
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P.S. Only just noticed that the Thread goes back to 2008, but am leaving the link as it does confirm the Blitz connection, which was still being debated quite recently, with dumping at several different periods of time and place and for different reasons apparently being confused ; I also think the blog is brilliant and deserves to be seen by as many people as possible...
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