Report - godwin battery-kilnsea-yorkshire 17-10-08

[zerocool]

The Godwin Coast Artillery Battery was part of the outer defences of the Humber on the stretch of low cliffs near Kilnsea and was the terminal of the Spurn Point railway that supplied the Spurn Point garrison. The site consisted of two 9.2" breech loading (BL) guns mounted in circular concrete pits, underground magazines, crew shelters and workshops. On the right and left of the battery were two observation posts and a single coastal artillery searchlight. The barrack accommodation was unusual, being substantially constructed of brick and concrete: it consisted of a guard house, officers’ quarters and a hospital. The battery was protected by a wall enclosing the landward perimeter, a network of fire trenches and a 20ft ditch filled with barbed wire.

more info on the fort can be found here English Heritage

 

[Ordnance]

Have not seen this battery for almost 10 years and it is deteriorating fast.

The Holderness Coast is one of Europe's fastest eroding coastlines, and Spurn Point is it southern most tip. The average annual rate of erosion is around 2 metres per year. This is around 2 million tonnes of material every year. Under lying the Holderness Coast is bedrock made up of Cretaceous Chalk. However, in most place this is covered by glacial till deposited over 18,000 years ago. It is this soft boulder clay that is being rapidly eroded. In fact that is what Spurn Point is made of, the eroded clay & sand from along the coast.

Time will come when even Spurn Point will be gone, only to be built up again in the decades to come.

Many historic sites, farms and in some cases villages are abandoned to the sea. There is nothing stronger than the power of nature.