The Londonderry Bottleworks located to the south of the Harbour
NZ4348 were part of the industrial heritage of Seaham from 1853 until closure in 1921. During that period, large quantities of waste glass, together with spillages from the industrial processes, were dumped into the sea. In the following decades, glass fragments of many colours have been ground down by marine action to form translucent pebbles. Some of the "sea glass" is made into jewellery.
Despite the cold wind, a combination of half term and publicity arising from a recent item on BBC 1's "Country file" have led here to large numbers of fortune seekers combing the north beach at Seaham for further examples.