2-889-329 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Great Explosion at Seaford - the Cliff, after the Explosion, 1850. Long shore drift at Seaford in Sussex was causing deposition of debris to such an extent that Seaford Bay, a long time safe haven for shipping, was in danger of becoming too shallow for navigation. A plan was conceived to blow up part of Seaford Head and create a bank to divert the current...'By two o'clock a great crowd had assembled on Seaford Heights, and a dense mass of spectators also on the beach, a great number having taken their places under the cliff, to be as near as possible to the explosion...a bugle was sounded on the beach, and a flag was hoisted...from the Martello tower...the explosion from the two lower chambers thrust out the under portions of the cliff, the superincumbent weight of chalk fell upon the mass...those on the beach experienced a trembling motion of the ground for some distance...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.