Shaped by the sea

ELECTRIC BLUE, PALE TURQUOISE, GREEN, LAVENDER, ORANGE: REMNANTS OF OUR INDUSTRIAL PAST WASH UP AS TREASURES OF SEA GLASS, DISCOVERS KATHRYN TANN

As I get to Seaham Hall Beach in County Durham, my eyes begin to scan the shingle and, within a yard or two, I've spotted one. Bending to pick it up, I spot another. They are tiny beads – about the size of a Rice Krispie – but smooth and round. One green, one reddish brown. Seaham was once home to a glass manufacturer – one of the biggest in Europe. From the 1850s to the 1920s, Londonderry Glassworks made up to 20,000 hand-blown bottles every day – and dumped huge quantities of waste glass directly into the North Sea. Now, a century after the factory quenched its furnaces, that glass is being returned to us as something wanted. Sand gathered, heated, made crystal and strong, then disposed of again, embraced…

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The Simple Things (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2024

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