In 1993 the Grand National was cancelled and a hotel in Scarborough toppled into the sea. These two events were included to great effect in a speech by Labour Party leader John Smith. In imperious form at the despatch box, Smith delivered a mockingly humorous indictment highlighting the many failures of John Major’s Conservative government concluding with the double jest: “It is no wonder that we live in a country where the Grand National does not start and hotels fall into the sea.”
Smith was referring to the clifftop Holbeck Hall Hotel, which had tumbled into the sea when a large section of the cliff collapsed cutting back the edge by a staggering 225 feet. Of course, coastal erosion is no joking matter, as emphasised in the recent exhibition, ‘Melting Ice | Rising Tides’, by artist Emma Stibbon at Eastbourne’s Towner gallery. Historic pictures reveal by comparison the alarming extent of the erosion to the chalk cliffs of the iconic Seven Sisters coastline.
A 1960s postcard of the coastguard cottages at Birling Gap shows a terrace of eight houses; today there are four, the others demolished before being claimed by the sea.
In January 2014 there were a series of cliff falls and seven metres of cliff receded in as many weeks. This year the beach has occasionally been closed due to the danger of further cliff face collapse. In 2023 the National Trust cafe at Birling Gap was relocated and part of the building demolished due to further coastal erosion.
The frequent shipwrecks off Beachy Head led to the building of the iconic Belle Tout lighthouse in 1834. The location selected ensured the light was visible for twenty miles out to sea but became obscured by the cliff edge as a warning if boats sailed too close.
Over the decades, erosion reduced the effectiveness of the Belle Tout and in 1902 a new lighthouse was built, the red and white iconic structure we see today at the base of the 530 foot cliffs.
Continuing erosion threatened the existence of the Belle Tout and in 1999, by an incredible feat of hydraulic engineering; the entire 850 ton building was jacked up and moved 55 feet back from the cliff face at a cost of £250,000. With the cliffs receding at an average of 3 feet per year the Belle Tout, a hotel since 2010, will need to be moved again if it is not to join the Scarborough hotel in a watery grave.
One third of England’s southern coast is eroding; our island nation is shrinking. Yesterday’s coastline will not be tomorrow’s and more hotels are likely to tumble into the sea.
John Smith’s superb piece of oratory can be enjoyed on YouTube:
John Smith 1993 “The man with the non-Midas touch.”
