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Hole-in-the-Wall, Seaham Harbour

County Durham geography stubsPopulated coastal places in County DurhamSeaham

The Marquess of Londonderry proposed the building of a new harbour at a rocky inlet at Dalden Ness, Seaham and work began in November 1828. Previously this rocky inlet was known by the locals as "the black hole". Mariners using the harbour colloquially referred to it as the "hole-in-the-wall" because it was hewn out of the actual cliffs unlike many typical harbour constructions. George Head in 1836 wrote "To a stranger casually passing this little harbour, appearances certainly indicate its thriving condition; the new south dock is already open and the staithes basin is a striking picture of the economy of space....The works are interesting owing to their dissimilarity from harbours in general, which are usually formed within a bight or bay. Here a bluff headland of limestone has been scooped hollow and as the cliffs are lofty , the vessels ride with their topgallant-mast heads below the summit",

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Hole-in-the-Wall, Seaham Harbour (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Hole-in-the-Wall, Seaham Harbour
A182,

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N 54.8380349 ° E -1.3281602 °
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A182
SR7 7HD
England, United Kingdom
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Hawthorn Quarry
Hawthorn Quarry

Hawthorn Quarry is a Site of Special Scientific Interest in the Easington district of east County Durham, England. It is a working quarry, currently operated by Tarmac, which is situated just north of the eastern end of Hawthorn Dene SSSI. The site has been identified by the Geological Conservation Review as being of significant national importance for its exposures of high quality Middle Magnesian Limestone, which include reef beds, overlying boulder beds, stromatolites and bedded oolites. The site is considered highly valuable for an understanding of the later evolution of carbonate environments of the Middle Magnesian. Hawthorn Quarry is located within the defined Hawthorn Beacon/Hill Mineral Consultation Area (MCA),which was first designated in 1981 and is now protected through saved County Durham Minerals Local Plan Policy (MLP) M14. Policy M14 states that development will only be permitted within or adjoining a Mineral Consultation Area including where it would not sterilise significant quantities of potential mineral resources. Paragraph 204 of the NPPF recognises that "planning policies should safeguard mineral resources by defining Mineral Safeguarding Areas; and adopt appropriate policies so that known locations of specific minerals resources of local and national importance and are not sterilised by non-mineral development" Despite the strategic national significance of the site, Durham County Council issued outline planning permission in November 2018 to construct 1500 new houses on land adjacent to Hawthorn Quarry, which could effectively sterilise local minerals production and further expansion.During the November 2018 council meetings, Durham County Council was advised by its own planning experts : "it is considered that the proposed development would sterilise significant quantities of mineral resources including potentially high grade (Ford Formation) magnesian limestone, which is highly likely to extend outside of the permitted quarry boundary for an unknown distance. This is judged to be significant because it is understood that the Ford Formation magnesian limestone in and around Hawthorn Quarry can be considered to be of a very high grade, with low levels of impurities, and is one of a handful of known high purity magnesian limestone resource areas within the United Kingdom…. When all of the available information is considered in the round, and considering all of the above, it is concluded by officers that the proposed development would result in the significant sterilisation of a high grade minerals resource, and would therefore be in conflict with MLP Policy M14”