📌 Seaton Sluice, Northumberland
★★★
This unusual harbour owes its origins to the Delaval family of nearby Seaton Delaval Hall. A small, natural anchorage at the mouth of the Seaton Burn was prone to silting up, causing problems with the exporting of locally mined coal and salt. In the mid 17th century Sir Ralph Delaval constructed sluice gates to trap seawater at high tide, which was released at low tide, taking sand with it. A century later, Sir John Hussey Delaval cut through a headland to create a new harbour entrance (and a new island in the process). Gates installed at either end of “The Cut” created a basin unaffected by the tide, allowing harbour activities to boom in the following decades. Today, the harbour is only used by pleasure craft, but the unique arrangement of waterways, bridges, headlands and island make an attractive area to explore, all backed by a fine beach stretching north for over two miles to Blyth.
🌍 Location
📌 Off Links Road / Beresford Road (both A193), Seaton Sluice village centre. Harbour (beach immediately to north) is at:
🧭 O.S. Grid Reference: NZ 337768
🛰️ GPS coordinates: 55.084308,-1.473166
🚌 Bus to Seaton Sluice
🚗 Car park
📝 Key info
⌚ Always open
🎫 Free
