For the summer of 2004, Folkestone’s shingle beaches were out of bounds, as contractors worked round the clock, bringing rocks in on barges at high tide, and distributing and shaping them into pre-designed formations at low tide. Another fully loaded barge would often be seen anchored off-shore, ready for the next hgh tide.

The caterpillar tractor on board the barge, would shovel the rocks into the sea. They, of course, would sink without trace, in a dramatic illustration of the difference in height of the water at high and low tides.

Often this activity would be taking place at night, and the clanking and splashing could be heard up in the town.

At low tide, the rocks were individually moved and placed with painstaking precision, to build the formations that have become so familiar.

The Spacious and Gracious team enjoying Folkestone’s beach last November.

For a thoroughly informative account of the sea defences from Dover to Dungeness, by Nick Spurrier, Click here