Some of the odder things found on our beaches

Asbestos fibre cement

Unfortunately, yes – one of the things commonly found along UK rivers and beaches is asbestos.

These are pieces of ‘asbestos fibre cement’, a product which was used for construction until all forms of asbestos were banned in 1999. Fibre board like this is one of the safest forms of asbestos, but that doesn’t mean you should grind it up…

It was used as a form of roofing material in corrugated sheets, and was also used to make drainpipes, water tanks, etc – which makes it an extremely common material.

When you see it in sheets, its obvious that it isn’t anything interesting – but when it is fragmented and in smaller pieces, the surface patternings look more interesting, with swirling patterns and dotted sort of ‘speckled’ looks. It could easily be confused for a fossil or similar by someone with limited practical experience – I’ve picked a few pieces of it up over the years!

Various images here belong to other people and are used under license from Wikimedia Commons.

• [Romeo Hanxhari], CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Tutor75, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Enrico Pargaetzi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Harald Weber, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Also thanks to Kathryn L for letting me use two of her photos.

Bricks and brickwork

Bricks and brickwork are a common find, and some older bricks can look quite interesting and unusual inside. Bear in mind large areas of the UK were destroyed in the Blitz, and in some cases the rubble was simply pushed into the sea.

One example of this is Liverpools Crosby Beach. 

Dating bricks is already quite difficult, but becomes even harder when they are worn and sea-battered. The more pure and homogenous the brick, the newer it is likely to be.

The photos on the right show sea rounded bricks of various ages – look at the composition of them with various pieces of unknown materiel inside.

I’d like to thank Michael Kelley from Durham University for providing a huge amount of beach material including these brick fragments which have helped make this article.

Larvikite

Larvikite is a less common find, but it does still crop up from time to time.

Essentially, it comes from Larvik, Norway, and is the national stone of Norway. It contains crystals of feldspar which makes the rock quite attractive as an ornamental stone.

However, it appears in certain areas of the British coastline too – not naturally, but primarily as sea defences – boulders are used as wave breaks and to reinforce the coast. They were also used as ballast in the keel of ships. Some has likely also travelled via glacier during the last ice age.

I’d like to thank Michael Kelley from Durham University for providing a huge amount of beach material including these Larvikite fragments which have helped make this article.

Lego

I don’t actually have any photos for this one, as I couldn’t find any I was allowed to use – I’ve had to use a generic photo of some lego.

In 1997 a storm knocked containers containing millions of pieces of Lego from a ship near Cornwall, which have since surfaced all over Cornwall – but could theoretically travel worldwide.

• https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28367198
• https://www.facebook.com/LegoLostAtSea/timeline

Pictures from:

• Benjamin D. Esham / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Munitions

This might seem unlikely, but our waterways, fields, and beaches are full of unexploded ordnance and munitions.

Where I live in Leicester, we had the canals and surrounding areas closed down every few months as magnet fishers had found live grenades. This led to Leicester City Council banning magnet fishing. As a metal detectorist I found dozens of live 303 rounds around the country, and several concerning metal items which were marked and reported to EOD.

For the record, anything suspected of being ordnance, munitions or ammunition should be reported to the police or coastguard and (via the police) an EOD team as soon as possible via 999, and should not be moved. 

On the mineral identification groups, beachcombing groups, etc, it is not uncommon to see someone has taken a mortar round home with them.

White phosphorus can be confused with amber quite easily, and has caused severe burns to several amber collectors in Poland and Germany.

After the SALT talks, munitions were simply dumped into the sea – unfortunately, the steel cases can be degraded but the phosphorus within does not degrade, and can simply ignite when it dries out.