Barges used as a breakwater

With the retreat of Stone Point, Horsey Island has become increasingly vulnerable to wave attack. In 1988 a barrage breakwater of sunken barges was put in position. Since then, in a near-desperate attempt to ‘hold the line’ nearly half a million cubic metres of material dredged from the Harwich deep water channel has been deposited to the north and south of the Walton Backwaters entrance and onto the vulnerable northeast corner of Horsey Island (see map above) during the past fifteen years (source: Environment Agency 2005). Due to natural wave action, much of this material had simply been carried back out to sea!