Qualla: Beaufort's Dyke https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/beaufort-s-dyke-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Beaufort's Dyke https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke Beaufort's Dyke: Introduction https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke/ Photo credit User:NordNordWest, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 8 February 1986, seismic monitors across Britain registered what looked like a 2.5 magnitude earthquake in the seabed between Northern Ireland and Scotland. It wasn't an earthquake. Something at the bottom of Beaufort's Dyke had detonated. The Ministry of Defence does not give a complete list of what is down there, but the broad outlines are public: well over a million tons of conventional and chemical munitions, dumped after the Second World War, including 14,500 tons of artillery rockets filled with phosgene gas dropped overboard in a single operation in July 1945. There are also, according to declassified files from the Public Record Office, about two tonnes of concrete-encased drums of radioactive laboratory waste dumped in the 1950s. The Dyke is one of the deepest places on the European continental shelf, and for most of the twentieth century the deepness was treated as a convenience.

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Image: User:NordNordWest | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/beaufort-s-dyke-wp/gcsp-beauforts-dyke-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Beaufort's Dyke: A Tunnel Cut by Ice https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke/ Photo credit H.E. Purey-Cust, Public domain. Beaufort's Dyke is a natural feature, despite its straight-edged name. It is a submerged tunnel valley, carved into the seabed by glacial meltwater during the last ice age and kept clear of sediment ever since by strong tidal currents through the North Channel. The trench runs fi...

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Image: H.E. Purey-Cust | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/beaufort-s-dyke-wp/gcsp-beauforts-dyke-a-tunnel-cut-by-ice.mp3 0:06 2 full Beaufort's Dyke: The Convenience of Depth https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke/ Photo credit Postcards, Public domain. The military port of Cairnryan, opened on the Scottish side of the channel during the Second World War, made the Dyke uniquely useful. After 1945, Britain found itself with vast surplus stocks of weapons and chemical agents and very few good options for disposing of them. The Min...

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Image: Postcards | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/beaufort-s-dyke-wp/gcsp-beauforts-dyke-the-convenience-of-depth.mp3 0:06 3 full Beaufort's Dyke: What Washes Up https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke/ Photo credit Rosser1954, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1995, phosphorus bombs began washing up on Scottish beaches. The timing coincided with the laying of the Scotland-Northern Ireland Pipeline, a 24-inch gas interconnector built by British Gas. The pipeline crossed the southern edge of the dump area and apparently disturbed mate...

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Image: Rosser1954 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/beaufort-s-dyke-wp/gcsp-beauforts-dyke-what-washes-up.mp3 0:06 4 full Beaufort's Dyke: The Bridge That Wasn't Built https://qualla.com/beaufort-s-dyke/ Photo credit LornaMCampbell, CC BY-SA 4.0. In February 2020, the UK government announced a feasibility study for a fixed crossing between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Two routes were considered: Portpatrick to Larne, and Kintyre to Torr Head. The Portpatrick option would cross Beaufort's Dyke. The engineers concluded th...

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Image: LornaMCampbell | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/s/p/beaufort-s-dyke-wp/gcsp-beauforts-dyke-the-bridge-that-wasnt-built.mp3 0:06 5 full