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East Yorkshire coastal erosion

Hollym

 Hollym site location



As with most other named locations along the edge of the East Yorkshire coast, the actual village of Hollym is inland from the sea. Here, though, there is no associated cliff community.


 Hollym, East Yorkshire (1): 10 May 2017

Visitors entering the parish of Hollym from the direction of the nearby seaside town of Withernsea are greeted by a full-size replica bovine gazing over the fence at the airfield [10 May 2017].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (1a): 21 September 2020

The airfield at Hollym is much reduced as a result of a receding cliff line, seen in the background, and in August 2016 an aircraft fell over the edge during landing (see report). The field is currently used by a model aviation group. There is another airstrip situated north of the village [21 September 2020].

More recently, the field was opened as a caravan and camping site.



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (2):10 May 2017

The Hollym cliff site in 2017, viewed from the cliff edge. Behind the weather dome lies the wastewater treatment works which serves Withernsea [10 May 2017].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (3): 16 November 2017

Operational for only a brief period, the weather dome was visible for some distance from the beach and along the cliff [16 November 2017].


 
 Hollym, East Yorkshire (4): 16 November 2017

Information about the dome [16 November 2017].

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 Hollym, East Yorkshire (5): 3 September 2012

The glacially deposited clays making up the cliff are composed of Withernsea Till (Withernsea Member of the Holderness Formation or Series). Within the till are distinct units representing repeated stages of ice advance and retreat [3 September 2012].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (6): 16 November 2017

Close-up of a bed of coarse sand and gravel. Scaling rod is a metre overall [16 November 2017].


 
 Hollym, East Yorkshire (7): 13 June 2014

Differential erosion of the units has produced a ‘shelf’ [13 June 2014].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (9): 28 May 2015

Unusual shapes are formed [28 May 2015].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (10): 3 September 2012

Another [3 September 2012].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (10a): 14 March 2022

Boot-shaped stack [14 March 2022].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (11): 13 June 2014

A peak holds the remnant of a drainage pipe [13 June 2014].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (12): 13 June 2018

At a smaller scale, a beach sandcastle made of clay [13 June 2018].


 
 Hollym, East Yorkshire (13): 5 July 2012

A fall leaves a truncated spur [5 July 2012].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (14): 10 May 2017

Abandoned cabin near the lost site of Intack farmhouse (see Paul Glazzard). This picture is taken five years after the previous picture, which shows the same cabin at thirty metres from the cliff edge [10 May 2017].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (36): 20 December 2022

One more cabin (with contents), originally sited some twenty-five metres inland of that displayed before, in the late stages of falling over the edge [20 December 2022].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (37): 2 May 2024

An earlier beach level is reduced by wave action to leave a high sand berm. The tape measures 104cm (41”) [2 May 2024].


 
 Hollym, East Yorkshire (15): 5 July 2013

A beach stripped of cover reveals the underlying clay platform [5 July 2013].


 
 Hollym, East Yorkshire (31): 20 April 2019

Large erratic [20 April 2019].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (16): 16 November 2017

In Google Earth imagery dated 2003, Hollym pillbox stands fourteen metres inland from the cliff line [16 November 2017].


 
 Hollym, East Yorkshire (17): 3 September 2012

The remains of a construction shaft sunk at the cliff top in 1991 indicate the route of the outfall pipe from the wastewater treatment works. Under the beach, the outfall pipe itself continues seaward for a further kilometre before discharge into the North Sea [3 September 2012].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (18): 16 November 2017

As the cliff recedes, the tunnel casing of the outfall becomes exposed [16 November 2017].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (19): 10 May 2017

Scattered segments from the tunnel casing [10 May 2017].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (19a): 20 May 2020

This piece was found 373 metres downdrift of the outfall [TA 36196 25366, 20 May 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (20): 29 June 2019

Rock bags are positioned as temporary protection [29 June 2019].

 Hollym, East Yorkshire, outfall cross section

 



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (21): 30 January 2018

Close-up of a rock bag [30 January 2018].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (21a): 13 June 2018

The type of rock bag is a Kyowa Filter Unit, used in Japan since 1987 but only more recently in the UK. In the tag of a 4-ton unit, WEIGHT refers to the bag material without fill [30 January 2018].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (22a): 29 June 2019

A low beach level will undercut ... [29 June 2019].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (22b: 20 May 2020

... whereas a high beach may completely cover much of the protection [20 May 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (23): 29 June 2019

Although the netting material is tough, it cannot always resist destructive wave action [29 June 2019].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (24): 22 October 2018

A bag may fail altogether [22 October 2018].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (25): 20 May 2020

Additional bags stored within the compound at the wastewater treatment works [20 May 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (26): 20 June 2020

Spring 2020 saw the start of a £26m scheme to build a new Withernsea wastewater treatment works inland (see announcement and case study, also completion). The picture shows material excavated by the digging of a trench in readiness for a new outfall pipe, which was towed by tug across the North Sea from Norway [20 June 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (27): 20 June 2020

Excavated clay sits alongside the route of the existing outfall [20 June 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (28): 24 July 2020

Lengths of pipe to connect with the new outfall [24 July 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (30): 21 September 2020

Contractors’ temporary beach access slope protected by PRP rock bags [21 September 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (29): 21 September 2020

PRP = Precise Rock Placement [21 September 2020].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (32): 5 June 2021

A year on from the start of scheme and the time arrives to dismantle the old outfall, leaving a stub protruding from the lower cliff. It appears that this section at least was filled with concrete between pipe and outer casing [5 June 2021].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (33): 5 June 2021

Scaling rod is one metre overall length [5 June 2021].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (34): 5 June 2021

The route taken by the old outfall across the beach can still be traced. Gone, though, is the once familiar ‘Hollym ring’ construction shaft remnant [5 June 2021].

The stub is now removed.


 Hollym, East Yorkshire: Goole Earth 21 September 2019

The Hollym site has been a cliff loss monitoring location for many decades. Erosion Post EP93 provides data from 1951 to 2010. Monitoring Profile Pr97 was established in 2003 and continues.

When the Withernsea wastewater treatment works including outfall was commissioned in 1991, a design life of sixty years meant that the facility could be expected to remain in place until 2051. However, particulary severe coastal erosion to the south of Withernsea reduced the term by about a third.

In the aerial image, pin Pr97 indicates the edge of the cliff in 2017, whilst the circled dot further out marks the position in 2003 [Google Earth: 21 September 2019].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire (35): 20 December 2022

Works site cleared apart from perimeter fence [20 December 2022].



 Hollym, East Yorkshire: Ordnance Survey 1852-1854

The land as it was in the mid-nineteenth century. Intack farmhouse has been lost. The area that became the wastewater treatment works is under threat. Nevills farmhouse, the north-east corner of which served as Erosion Post EP94, currently lies a distance from the cliff edge that is less than the length of the property’s curtilage [Ordnance Survey: 1852-1854 – dotted trace represents the cliff line in 2017].




cliff loss data

Marine Licensing Authority documents

Design and Installation (14 September 2020)

Design and Installation (9 July 2021)

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Page prepared by Brian Williams in October 2020. Updates as indicated.