2014

NS1969 : Concrete beach, Wemyss Bay

taken 10 years ago, near to Wemyss Bay, Inverclyde, Scotland

Concrete beach, Wemyss Bay
Concrete beach, Wemyss Bay
Some of the remaining concrete on the beach.
Wemyss Bay concrete beach

The short stretch of beach at Wemyss Bay road (known locally as 'The Private Road') has an interesting wartime history. The following two paragraphs are extracts from the Secret Scotland website...

"A concrete beach was created at Wemyss Bay during World War II, to provide a durable area where amphibious vehicles and landing craft could transition between land and sea. This would have been part of the preparations made by Combined Operations.

The weight of military vehicles, particularly if loaded with supplies, troops, munitions or armour, and the repeated passage of heavily treaded tyres, or tracks, would soon destroy an unprotected soft or sandy beach with a loose surface, rendering it useless. By laying a reinforced concrete surface over the original beach, it was possible to stabilise such areas, and use them continuously."

Two wide concrete ramps leading from the road to the beach are still in place, but much of the concrete on the beach itself has been broken up over the years by storms and tidal actions. Some rusted metal devices (possibly remains of winches or winding gear) remain embedded in the concrete on the beach.

The Friends of Wemyss Bay Station website has a great photo showing military tanks on the beach LinkExternal link and adds further information that landing craft as well as Sunderland and Catalina flying boats also used the beach for training purposes during WWII. The same site mentions that the adjacent 'Dunavertie' house was commandeered by MI6 for use as an HQ during WWII.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Thomas Nugent and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Concrete Beach [7] Title Clusters: · Concrete beach, Wemyss Bay [3] ·
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NS1969, 135 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Thomas Nugent   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Sunday, 20 April, 2014   (more nearby)
Submitted
Friday, 9 May, 2014
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 1932 6928 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:52.9607N 4:53.4123W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 1932 6928
View Direction
NORTH (about 0 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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