Coastal Defences Tour

1. Wooden revetment and rip rap:

- Without defence cliff was eroding at 2m per 10 years (mix of slumping and wave action)
- Large boulders imported from Norway engineered into place – each cost £1000-£3000
- Designed to break up or dissipate the energy of the storm waves before they reach the base of the crib wall
- Together cost £450,000 in todays money – protected an estimated £1.6 million of properties (including the road
and cafe)
- Requires regular checks and maintenance – particularly after heavy storms – partial resetting of rock armour wall
already done once since 1997
2. Breakwater & rip rap:
- Often used to protect a harbour, can also protect stretches of coast
- Built in early 1900s to protect the launching slipway of the lifeboat station
- Creates area of sheltered water on the north eastern side by reflecting wave energy away from the shore and
turning destructive waves into constructive wave refraction (can see waves are smaller behind the break water)
- Today would cost £500,000 or more to build
- Also allows fishing, but risk of people falling off it/being washed away
3. Victorian Sea wall:
- Originally built in the late 1800s – rebuilt in 1960s with a concrete toe and repaired in 1975
- Cost £19,500 to rebuild, then £46,000 worth of repairs
4. Recurved sea wall/wave-return seawall
- Esplanade area where buildings destroyed in the 1927 storm
- Land use was very different to other parts of the seafront – open land and parking (like land use zoning of rivers)
- Wall designed to reflect the energy of the storm waves back into the next oncoming wave – reduces energy of the
waves reaching the wall
- Foundations 12 m deep
5. Groynes:
- 2 within Criccieth bay – built in 1960s, cost in todays money = £90,000 for 2. More on other side of castle
- Purpose is to encourage entrapment of sand – beach plays vital role in protection and encouraging tourists – stops
longshore drift
- Relatively cheap (compared to sea wall), but need replacing about every 15-25 years
- Increases erosion at far end of the beach – sediment starvation
- Made of tropical hardwoods
6. Do nothing:
- Decided to leave in natural state
- As the material in front of the cliff becomes insufficient to protect the cliff from large storm waves, material is
eroded
- Collapses occur and the material at the bottom of the beach acts as a natural defence until worn away, then
erosion starts again – dynamic equilibrium