Public Access To The Beach

[mark_turner]

I have heard it said somewhere that, along the coast of the UK, access to the beach below the HW mark (wherever that is) is free and unrestricted. Is this so?

The reason that I ask is that I can think of a number of locations (eg Osborne House Beach) where there are big notices prohibiting landing. Presumably this ONLY applies above the HW mark in which case my family and I will be more than happy to stay on the beach below HW mark and enjoy a picnic and swim.

Any information about this would be much appreciated.

Regards

Mark

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Rob_Webb]

I think that you are generally right but I seem to recall that there are a few special locations (e.g. Osborne) where the law was changed by royal decree to afford themselves more privacy - hence I think that they can lawfully forbid you from landing anywhere on this paricular beach and a couple of other spots.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[MIKE_MCKIE]

Not trying to be a spoilsport but believe that all twixt HW & LW mark is property of the Crown, regardless of who owns the beach, and that the notices forbidding landing are erected by the beach/land owner.
That said I can't think of the last time I saw Her Maj patrolling her dominion to stop anyone going for a swim, so yr picnic is probably safe!
Perhaps the Commissioners of Wreck may be able to help with a more definitive answer.
Hope you don't get savaged by a Corgi!
Mike

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[steve_cronin]

Gorgis

They don't do gas connecting for a sensible & fair fee do they?

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[MainlySteam]

Re: Gorgis

Steve - read in a psychology paper once where it was claimed that the highest intelligence level in dogs overlapped the lowest intellegence level in humans. If that is so Corgi or CORGI might be about as good as each other when it comes to a quick bit of gas fitting.

John

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[milltech]

Am I not right in saying that trespass itself is not a crime in the UK, that being so I would think there wouldn't be too many beach patrols unless the Royal Standard is flying, and not too much to fear apart from being turned away.

<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[Moose]

Now, No1 Moose and I went to read the signs at Osborne the other week (and hit a rock at 20kt's in the RIB on the way there!!) I believe it says that you are not allowed "above the area marked by the normal flood of the tide", how you read the small print on the sign from the HW mark is another matter.
Don't quote me on anything, this is just what I "seem" to remember.

<hr width=100% size=1>

L' Moose

 

[Gordonmc]

I had my first experience of this on a week's cruise around the Clyde.

Picked up a mooring on Loch Riddon (pre-arranged with the owner) and intended going ashore with the dog and possibly to have a barbie. We noticed a "Private - no landing" sign which we were minded to ignore as we didn't want to venture off the beach.

Then up comes a man in a dinghy telling us in no uncertain terms there would be no landing and what were we doing anyway. He was satisfied I knew the owner of the mooring, but landing was not on. It wasn't worth the hassle so I moved off to a more welcoming part of the world.

Scotland is generally recognised as having a liberal attitude toward trespass in that it only becomes an offence if there is malice intended, so the landowner in this case had questionable legal right to prevent landing above HW. BTW, this supercedes the ancient rights awarded to landowners over the distance from shore which can be reached by a spear throw!

The difficulty arises in balancing right of landing against the privacy of people who happen to have their gardens running down to the shore.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Rob_Webb]

Trespass is a bloomin thorny issue in the UK and it's far from clear. I think you are right that presence on land isn't illegal per se but only when damage is being done. In reality, extreme examples have been cited like "you are damaging my lawn so get off my front garden" to try to enforce the so-called law of trespass. But it doesn't seem to follow logic and every time I hear of a case I'm no clearer on the true situation or what my rights would be in practice i.e. how the Police would deal with it if they called to intervene!

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[milltech]

I guess that some pragmatism comes into play. Two twenty-somethings of a swarthy visage in a rusty white van driving into my once manicured drive, as they sometimes do, would be and should be treated differently to a tender arriving at a sandy beach on a wildish foreshore opposite a known anchorage out of sight of any family home.

In reality it must be about intrusion and intention. Well, that's what I think anyway. Perhaps we should organise an Osborn sit in and see what happens, (I'll watch from the sea).

<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>