Talacre Beach

About the beach

Although a nice beach, it does have a soft clay (quick sand) in places. Just stay away from the mud and you will be fine.

 

Talacre Beach has a fascinating history of shipwrecks, wartime flying and coal mining beneath the sea. Here are some interesting facts:

• The lighthouse dates from 1776. Point of Ayr Lighthouse was built to guide ships approaching the Dee Estuary after losses of vessels on this dangerous coastline. It helped mark the entrance to a busy shipping route.
• The lighthouse you see today stopped working in 1844. A replacement was built farther offshore, and that was later replaced by a lightship in 1883. The original tower has survived far longer as a landmark than it served as a working lighthouse.
• Spitfire pilots practised firing over Talacre during the Second World War. Flintshire Council’s heritage account records the range being used almost daily, weather permitting, from 1942 to 1945. Trainee pilots fired at 12-foot-square targets in the dunes before progressing to targets towed behind aircraft.
• Targets were dropped near the lighthouse to check the pilots’ accuracy. For air-to-air practice, aircraft towed canvas flags or windsock-shaped targets called drogues. After firing, the targets were dropped near the lighthouse so the bullet hits could be examined.
• Holidaymakers stayed beside the wartime firing range. Chalets and caravans occupied the dunes, known as the Warren, almost up to the range boundary. Red flags warned people when firing was taking place.
• The Warren also housed wartime evacuees. Accommodation included chalets, caravans, converted buses and railway carriages. Home Guard troops defended the coast using concrete pillboxes; remnants of two are recorded at Talacre Beach.
• Coal miners worked beneath the seabed nearby. Point of Ayr Colliery opened in the 1880s, with shafts reaching coal seams under the sea. Coal was initially loaded directly onto ships, and railway sidings opened in 1909. The mine closed in 1996.