Walton on the Naze

Erosion revealing prehistory. On the north east edge of Essex there is a magical place, a curiosity and a geological wonder. I first visited Walton on the Naze in 1986 during a primary school trip to the coast. I didn’t take much notice. Apart from the chance to find a sharks tooth on the beach, it was a run of the mill school day out. (no sharks teeth were found) Fast forward 25 years and we took our children to the coast for a day out. It’s a great place to visit, with a visitor centre an art gallery inside the tower, and more importantly some very good coffee vendors! I had forgotten all about the history of this section of coast, and re discovering the unique geology with my camera was a revelation. I have been a regular visitor ever since. The Naze is an area of significant geological importance on the South Essex coast, close to the Suffolk border. The word ‘Naze’ derives from the Old English ‘Ness’, meaning ‘headland’. As well as the magnificently colourful cliffs, there is an unusually quiet thicket of hawthorn trees on the common land which is sitting precariously close to the edge of this remote section of Essex. The erosion reveals a cross section of prehistory; a bed of London Clay, which was once a tropical seabed, underlies a fragile layer of more recently deposited ‘Red Crag’ sand which is rich in the remains of life from the fifty million years that have preceded us. The headland’s outline is changing at a startling rate. Naze Tower was built in around 1720, it's purpose being to guide vessels safely through the Goldmer Gap. Despite attempts to use giant boulders to protect that section of cliff, the tower will fall into the sea in the next few decades. World War Two pillboxes, steel pipes, fences and other coastal structures already litter the beach at the base of the cliff. A line of trees teeter the edge of this erosion, their salt-bleached root systems gradually revealed, leaving them nothing more to cling on to. Behind them, thousands of acres of arable farmland patiently await their fate. The rapidly changing climate appears to be accelerating the erosion of these ancient cliffs. The Naze feels like a tranquil place, where nothing is in a hurry. There is a strange gentle air of tension though. Knowing things won’t stay the same. Standing with your back to the sea, observing fifty million years of Earth's life is a rare opportunity to observe of a vast period of earth’s history which is almost impossible to comprehend. I wonder how this area will look in another 25 years.