21. Plum Pudding Island, Part One

For those of you who don’t know, ‘Plum Pudding Island’ is about half a mile Reculver side of Minnis Bay. If you have walked or cycled along the sea wall at low tide, you will have seen the old sewer pipe running out into the sea for about a third of a mile. Where there is now a camping site and horse-riding centre was once a sewage treatment plant. This is Plum Pudding Island.

Up until the end of the 1980’s the beach looked a lot different than it now does. From where the proper sea wall starts up to where, in the angling world, what is called ‘The Basin’, the beach had wooden groynes every 20 to 30 yards apart of varying lengths. About 100 yards to the left of the sewer pipe is the remains of a wreck. I was told by an old resident of St Nicholas that this ship’s cargo was partly made up of tins of sardines and that the local residents went to the beach and helped themselves when the ship first ran aground. All of these groynes are still there but were buried in the 1990’s when the new rock groynes were laid and thousands of tons of shingle were pumped ashore to protect the sea wall.

Our family for a couple of years, probably on the August Bank Holiday, before I was 10 years old, along with many other families, most from St Nicholas, would spend the day there. This was a big occasion as it was before any of the local families had cars. The only way for us to get to the beach was to walk to St Nicholas down Shuart Lane and across the marshes on the farm track. I remember my little brother was still in a pram, the pram would be loaded with food, drink and swimwear, my grandmother would accompany us on her bicycle as it was too far for her to walk. A round trip of about 7 miles. Even when cars became more popular this beach was still the favourite venue for families from Monkton and St Nicholas until the mid 1970’s.

Other aspects of the beach between Minnis Bay and Reculver that may be of interest: - Halfway along the sea wall you come to a place called the ‘Lagoons’ by the RSPB, also known to local sea anglers as ‘Cold Harbour’. At low tide you can see the wooden remains of a Jetty in front of one the two mud banks which go out into the sea are at right angles to the beach. Further up towards Reculver, on the low tide you will see another larger mud bank, this is known as the ‘Middle Bank’. To the Minnis Bay side of Cold Harbour at low tide you can see what looks like a lump of rock. This is the remains of a barge that sank in the first half of the 20th century, it was never recovered as its cargo was bags of cement.

In the mid 1960’s my Father bought himself a sea fishing rod and I had to go with him, nearly always at Plum Pudding Island.

Terry Marsh

Originally published in the Monkton News (May 2024).