North Denes, Great Yarmouth
Coast Watch Station
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North Denes, Great Yarmouth Coast Watch Station |
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Welcome
to the Web Site for the North Denes, Great Yarmouth Coastwatch Station.
The station, which is one of two stations used by the Coastguard in Great Yarmouth, is a wooden two storey tower on a cantilevered concrete platform overhanging the sand dunes to the north of the town. We believe that the station was originally a "fall back" watch position for the Coastguard that was used when the main tower at the end of the South Pier in Gorleston was considered to be unsafe in stormy weather. It eventually went out of use by the Coastguard and was used for a time by Great Yarmouth Borough Council as a store for beach safety equipment.
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the Sea Safety Group charity was set up in the 1990s a watch was set up,
with the permission of the Great Yarmouth Port and Haven Authority, at the
South pier Tower.
We were told that we would be denied it's use during the winter months because it was considered to be unsafe during stormy weather. In fact this never happened, but discovering that the North Denes Tower could be made available, permission was sought from the Borough Council to use it. We began to clear it out and equip it in early 1996 and in Easter of that year it was opened up for regular watch keeping. |
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For
some years, watchkeepers shared time between the two towers but in 1999
the two towers became completely seperate entities with their own teams of
watchkeepers.
We have a team of approximately twenty-four watchkeepers who man the station every day of the year. Watches begin at 8am and continue, in the summer, through to 8pm. During the winter months the watch closes earlier dependant upon the light conditions. |
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tower is equipped with marine VHF radios, radar, powerful bioculars and a
web camera which overlooks the dunes and the Scroby Sands windfarm.
This can be viewed via a link from www.ship-wrecks.co.uk
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