One of the most dramatic examples of coastal erosion in action.

Fort Godwin was a coastal battery built to defend the ports along the Humber estuary.
It opened in 1915 and was constructed for two large 9.2-inch guns.
The battery was in use throughout the First World War and kept in use during the inter-war period.
The battery was modified during the Second World War and in 1940 it was equipped with 4-inch guns on naval mountings and a new pair of searchlights.

A map and a 1917 aerial photograph of the battery......the two large circles are the gun positions.


Another aerial view from 1917 gives a good indication of the size of the gun mountings.

The transition from this image to the one below took less than 100 years.

One of the two circular gun positions now cast onto the beach.........photograph taken in 2019.

Since this time, further erosion has caused more of the buildings to collapse onto the beach.


Photographs taken in May 2021 from the holiday camp which occupies the site of the former Godwin Battery.

More images (from 2019) can be viewed by clicking this link (opens in a new window)
 

Click on the image above or this link to download a PDF report from Natural England.
This report contains a range of photographs showing the stages of erosion that led to the complete loss of the battery position as well as very interesting information about erosion of this coastline.