County Durham: August 2023
(continued)
After a day spent at the Beamish Museum, we spend the next day at Seaham - a seaside town not far from our accommodation
Near to the town's War Memorial is Tommy, a statue of a First World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale. It depicts a soldier,
wearing boots, puttees, greatcoat and tin hat, sitting on an ammunition box, with downcast eyes, holding the barrel of his grounded
rifle in his right hand. While we admire the statue, a piper briefly plays near the War Memorial
The church of Saint Mary the Virgin in Seaham is one of the earliest Anglo Saxon churches in existence - it overlooks
the nearby cliffs and sea. The parish has links with Lord Byron and the coal owning Londonderry family.
The churchyard includes some interesting headstones
The Brothers - a tribute to miners in Seaham. The sculpture of three miners represents the three mines of Seaham: Seaham
Colliery, Dawdon Colliery and Vane Tempest.
A magnesian limestone sea stack on the beach to the south of Seaham. The beach on which it sits (Chemical Beach), is named after
the Seaham Chemical Works which occupied the immediate cliff top for a short time