MUDSLIP: the northern end of Swanage Bay

A number of Swanage's beach huts have been wrecked by the high tides and stormy seas during the past weeks. Here we are just beyond the beach huts and their concrete promenade, and the damage is due not to the seas but to rain.

At the top right of the cliff is a white fence. A visit to Google Earth reveals that this is a safety rail partly enclosing a patio at the end of a garden in Victoria Road.

I don't know what the buildings are (or were) on this part of the beach. You will see that large chunks of reinforced concrete have been swept down onto the sand. Mud which landed on the beach has presumably been carried away by the sea; the discoloration of the stone retaining wall was caused by the mud.

Landslides and mudslips regularly visit this section of coastline, but the recent ones have been more dramatic than usual. There will no doubt be more before summer arrives.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

On looking at the photo again, and the steps up from the sand, it is clear that the stone wall is part of a promenade. Perhaps the Town Council thought it safest not to remove the mud here for fear of exacerbating the slippage. (It has a threatening look, reminiscent of lava flow.)