IN the 21st Century, Seaham and the east Durham coast have undergone a transformation. The tide has been turned on the old industrial days, and now the old coaly harbour is developing a marina feel with eating places and ice cream parlours opening on the clifftop, watched over by the famous statue of Tommy, the First World War soldier.
The 6th Marquess of Londonderry on his plinth, outside the former headquarters of his mining company, must look down on this new trade in wonder.
A photograph of Seaham Harbour taken by an RAF reconnaissance aircraft in 1941. Picture: Historic England/RAF Photography
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The laying of the foundation stone of Seaham Harbour in 1828, painted by Robert Mackreth, with Charles William Vane, the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, naturally the centre of attention. The first coal left the harbour in 1831 on a collier called The Lord Seaham named, of course, after the marquess
His grandfather, the 3rd Marquess, bought the Seaham estate in 1821 from the Milbanke family of Seaham Hall with the express purpose of exploiting its deeply-hidden coal riches that new technology was beginning to reach.
He wanted Sunderland to exclusively export his coal but when he failed to get his own way, he started building Seaham Harbour and he bitterly declared that he wanted to “see grass grow in the streets of Sunderland”.
The old days of coal: a collier leaves the North Dock at Seaham Harbour in 1905 with the newly-built black-and-white lighthouse just behind it
Seaham Harbour never reached that prominence, but the coal trade was large enough for the 6th Marquess to extensively enlarge the harbour in 1905 – that’s why his statue stands outside his offices although the 3rd Marquess also has a statue in Durham Market Place: he is the “man on t’hoss”.
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There are very few 1950s photographs saved in The Northern Echo archive so this, despite its nibbled edges, is a real find. It shows the construction of the seawall to the north of Seaham Harbour on May 14, 1954. The black-and-white lighthouse of the harbour can be seen in the distance. This seawall has helped create a nice beach and a promenade that appeals to ice-cream licking daytrippers now the days of industry have ended
The closure of the east coast mines 30 years ago – Seaham in 1988, Dawdon in 1991 and Vane Tempest in 1993 – ended the harbour’s industrial era and left a coastline black with coal debris. However, the Turning the Tide clean-up project has turned around the fortunes of the area immensely so that daytrippers now visit a seaside that was once exclusively the resort of industry.
A fabulous picture from The Northern Echo archive – well, actually it is two photographs taped rather badly together. That's because it was taken on August 30, 1960, so five years before the Echo's photographers got their "wide-eye" lens. These pictures were taken to illustrate how a strike was preventing these seven loaded colliers from sailing from Seaham Harbour to London
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Small fishing vessels in the dock at Seaham in November 1963 dwarfed by the large coal vessels, top right
At 4pm on November 17, 1962, Seaham’s lifeboat, The George Elmy, was called out to rescue a fishing coble that was being swamped by the mountainous seas. The five men on the lifeboat managed to rescue four fishermen and a boy, but at 5.20pm, just 30 yards outside the safety of the harbour, The George Elmy was itself overwhelmed by a massive wave. It was washed up on Chemical Beach to the south of the harbour with one fisherman clinging to its underside – he was the only survivor.
The winning combination of fading industry, the British seaside and the power of the elements draws photographers to Seaham Harbour - members of The Northern Echo Camera Club love catching the statue of Tommy in a huge variety of lights. The lighthouse at the end of the north pier is another favourite subject, here taken by Owen Humphreys of PA Wire on January 31, 2022. The 10-metre tall black and white lighthouse was built in 1905 as part of the 6th Marquess's extensions. Sadly, the lighthouse is no longer accessible to the public
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