Orfordness lighthouse 'perilously' close to falling into sea
The lighthouse was built in 1792.
The distance from the lighthouse to the shoreline in 2005 was around 20m (65ft)
By November 2015 the distance from the lighthouse to the sea had halved to just 10m (32ft) after shingle defences were eroded by high tides and winds
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-35231897
Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’
http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/times-they-are-changin
= new reply since forum marked as read
> Mass. passed one of the most sensible laws about that: if you own a house
> on the shore and a combination of storms and erosion claim it, you need
> to rebuild elsewhere.
Maybe there *is* an element of sanity left in some places!
Last edited Thu Jan 7, 2016, 11:10 PM - Edit history (1)
The Common Law Rule was the beach was the sea and no one had any property right to the sea. Anyone could use the beach, it was public property open to anyone to uss.
Under the Common Law, property rights ends on the high tide mark of any beach (Please note Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine and Virginia uses the low tide mark, and these rules preceded the adoption of the US Constitution, other states the tendency is to use the high Tide Mark or a variation of it).
Given the beech is an area to salty for land plants to survive on, and to dry for sea plants, you end up with the sand beaches are so while known for. Such beaches are NEVER private property, even if someone has a deed for that piece of property (Except in the states of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine and Virginia).
Thus, even in Texas, if the ocean washed away the beach in front of your home, and makes your home on a "wet beach", any part of your home on the "Wet Beach" is open to the public, I.e. No longer private property. The test is simple, on a day when it has not rained for a few days and you dig into the sand and find water, it is a "wet beach". Most "Wet Beaches" are only sand, you do get some types of grass on a "Dry Beech".
Any part of a building on the beach must be torn down and moved inland or taken to a dump. This is true even of buildings that have existed for decades, if the beach moves and the building is now on the beach, any property right to the property is destroyed.
This rule pops up after most hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast, as Texans affected by the rule yell and scream that the government is taking their property. The government simply says, we never sold the right to the sea and under the US Constitution anything to do with the sea comes under Admiralty law and under the US Constitution Admiralty law is solely under Federal Law. Thus you NEVER owned any land that becomes a "Wet Beach".
The US Supreme Court has long rule Admiralty law is under its sole jurisdiction, but State law sets property rights. Thus State and Federal law come into play in any coastal development. The Federal Government concern is maintaining the right to travel including not only cargo, but people. Historically beaches were used to unload cargo, but that is just not done today, but the fact it is not done does not mean that right has been abolished.
On the other hand the Supreme Court has long ruled that the edges of waterways and beaches are within the sole control of the States, thus the Low Tide rule in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine and Virginia.
Given most states call beaches public property, we have had little disputes between Federal and State law as to beaches, for most states agreed beaches can never be private property except in limited use as docks. Most docks were public in nature till the late 1800s when cities permitted private companies to build private docks for use by that owners private ships. Such docks came to be viewed as private property, but as a narrow exception to the general rule water ways were open to the public and that included any structures over the waterways, including piers and docks.
Some people have tired to expand that exception but most states have rejected such expansions on the grounds the docks were needed for trade, private beaches inhibit trade for it was still legal to unload legal cargo on any beach and a private beach interferes with the right and thus may violate Federal Law (All States that use the the Low Tide Mark, did so from Colonial days onward, no state admitted after 1789 uses the Low Tide Mark).
Just a comment why beaches can not be private property and thus no structures can remain on breaches. Please note most beaches are "Wet Beaches"
http://www.beachapedia.org/Beach_Access
To understand the above, here are the definitions of Dry and Wet Beaches
Low moisture content in sand above water Table
- no water in sand at surface
essentially no infiltration of rain, When it rain, the water will flows down to the Water table and the surface quickly dries and thus the following:
- no surface runoff after rain
- no ponding of water
Wet Beach:
high moisture content in sand above water table
- moist or wet sand at surface
Rain will infiltration to Water Table (i.e. water will drain into Water Table), but the water table is so near the surface that water will tend to do the following for the water has to go someplace and since the water table is so high, the rain water can NOT sink into the ground: Thus on a Wet beach you see:
- surface runoff after rain
- ponding of water
https://wasagawestbeachassociation.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/wet_vs_dry_beach_dr-_allan_crowe_20aug2009.pdf
http://www.beachapedia.org/Beach_Access
http://www.beachapedia.org/Beach_Access
In simple terms, you can own a private beach is Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine and Virginia but NOT elsewhere.
http://www.beachapedia.org/Beach_Access
