Seaton Sluice, November 2021. 4K DRONE FOOTAGE.

Seaton Sluice is a village divided by a bridge across the Seaton Burn, in Northumberland. It lies on the coast at the mouth of Seaton Burn, midway between Whitley Bay and Blyth. It has a population of about 3,000.
Early history
Seaton Sluice lies 1⁄2 mile (800 metres) north of the village of Hartley and was once part of it, being called Hartley Pans because of the salt-pans that were used to make salt there from as far back as 1236. Hartley was once an area stretching from Brier Dene Burn (in present-day Whitley Bay) to Seaton Burn, which belonged to Tynemouth Priory. In 1100 the land became the property of Hubert de Laval, nephew by marriage of William the Conqueror. The de Lavals (or Delavals) settled about 1⁄2 mile (800 metres) inland from Hartley Pans and their place of residence became Seaton Delaval, the name 'Seaton' being derived from Old English meaning a settlement (ton) by the sea.
Before 1550 the salt produced at Hartley Pans had been transported to Blyth to be exported but after that date it was shipped direct from the small natural harbour. The village was thenceforth known as Hartley Haven and was used for the export of coal as well as salt. However the harbour was liable to silting, which limited access by ships. This problem was tackled by Sir Ralph Delaval (1622-1691), who had a pier constructed and sluice gates that trapped the seawater at each high tide. At low tide the gates were opened, flushing the sand out of the harbour. Thenceforth the village became known as Seaton Sluice.
The harbour remained like that until the 1760s, when Sir John Hussey Delaval, had a new entrance made for the harbour by blasting a channel through solid rock, providing what was known as 'The Cut', 54 feet (16 m)deep, 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 900 feet (270 m) long. The new channel was opened in 1763 and as a result the land between the old harbour entrance and the new channel became an island, known as 'Rocky Island'. A footbridge connected the island to the mainland. The new channel could be sealed off at both ends to allow loading to continue no matter what the state of the tide. On the other side of the old channel, opposite Rocky Island, was a ballast hill known as Sandy Island, built up from the ballast of ships entering the harbour. The ballast hill and The Cut can still be seen.
The new entrance proved to be a success and in 1777 ships sailed out of the harbour carrying 80,000 tons of coal, 300 tons of salt and 1.75 million glass bottles. The coal was brought to the harbour from nearby collieries via wagonways, in wagons drawn by horses. The export of salt from Seaton Sluice continued until 1798, when a new salt tax put an end to the trade.
The bottleworks
In 1763 Sir Francis Blake Delaval (1727-1771) obtained Parliamentary approval to develop 10 hectares of land at Seaton Sluice as glassworks. The works were known as The Royal Hartley Bottleworks. Sir Francis needed skilled glassmakers and his brother Tom Delaval brought skilled men from Neinberg, in Germany, to train the local men in glassmaking. The works used local materials: sea sand, sea kelp, clay from the links and local coal. The glassworks expanded with time and eventually had six large cone-shaped furnaces, which dominated the skyline; they were given the names Gallagan, Bias, Charlotte, Hartley, Waterford and Success. The three larger cones were 130 feet (40 m) tall. In 1777 production reached 1,740,000 bottles per year. Bottles were sent down to the harbour via narrow-gauge railways running through tunnels. The tunnels were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War.
The bottles were carried to London on 'bottle sloops', slightly smaller than collier brigs, about 50 feet (15 m) long. A distinctive feature was that the main mast could be lowered, allowing them to pass under the arches of old London Bridge. A bottle sloop would make one return trip to London per month, as did the collier brigs. Bottles were also exported to Europe.
The bottleworks were so large that they contained a market place, a brewery, a granary, a brickyard, a chapel, shops, public houses and a quarry. The workers lived in stone houses in several streets around the bottleworks. In 1768 a shipyard was established. Unfortunately competition from other glass-making centres led to a decline in orders and the bottleworks closed in 1872. The last bottles to leave were on the 'Unity of Boston', bound for the Channel Islands. A few years later, in 1896, the cone-shaped furnaces were demolished and replaced by houses. Nowadays there is hardly any trace of the original bottleworks.