Seahouses Harbour Webcam – Watch Boats in Northumberland

The Seahouses Harbour Webcam looks over North Sunderland Harbour, the small working port at the east end of Seahouses on the Northumberland coast of England. The main camera stands on the Main Pier and faces the outer harbour. The orange and navy all-weather lifeboat can sit alongside the quay in the middle of the shot, with a rocky foreshore beyond and the North Sea on the horizon. Two more cameras from the same operator run in the tabs: one on the Middle Pier aimed at the Old Steps and the white lighthouse, and a high-level camera above the harbour office looking into the inner harbour. Passenger boats for the Farne Islands, fishing boats and dive charters all work from these piers, so the scene shifts with the tide, the weather and the season.

About Seahouses Harbour

Seahouses Harbour is still officially North Sunderland Harbour, run by the North Sunderland Harbour Commissioners, who stream these cameras. It began as a small wooden jetty between two natural rock promontories. The first modern pier was built by the Lord Crewe trustees, with work starting in 1786, when the lime and fishing trades were growing and coal and quarry stone were shipped out from here. Four limekilns built for that trade are still visible at the harbour. By 1855 there were six herring yards near the quay, and at least 50 herring boats worked out of the port. A second building phase began in 1886 and ran for three years, giving the basic layout seen on the cameras today.

The passenger trade shaped the rest. The eastern pier was extended in 1933, and a hammer head was later added to the North Pier. By the 1980s about 30 fishing boats were based here, and today most of the fleet serves visitors, though some fishing boats remain. At the entrance between the outer piers, the harbour gives a depth of about 3.96 meters (13 feet) on ordinary spring tides and 2.74 meters (9 feet) on neaps, and it is dredged every two to three years to clear the silt. The light tower in the Middle Pier view is the harbour lighthouse, a white octagonal tower about 7.6 meters (25 feet) high, built in 1900, which shows a fixed green light.

A lifeboat was first stationed here in 1832 by the Crewe Trustees, and the RNLI took over in 1859, which makes Seahouses one of the oldest lifeboat stations in the UK still operating. It was called North Sunderland Lifeboat Station until 1999. The current all-weather boat is the Shannon-class John and Elizabeth Allan, on station since 2020, backed since 2018 by the D-class inshore lifeboat Grace Darling. The village has about 1,800 residents and lies roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Alnwick, inside the Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Weather and Climate in Seahouses

Seahouses has a mild North Sea climate with a narrow range between seasons. The Met Office climate station at Boulmer, further south on the same coast, averages January highs of about 7 C (44 F) and lows near 1 C (34 F), so winter frosts are possible. Spring warms slowly, with April highs around 10 C (50 F). Summer peaks in July and August at about 18 C (64 F), with lows near 11 C (52 F), and October still reaches about 13 C (55 F) by day.

At about 55.6 degrees north, daylight swings hard through the year, and that shapes what the Seahouses Harbour Webcam shows. Midwinter brings only about 7 hours between sunrise and sunset, with the sun going down around half past three in the afternoon in late December. Midsummer days last around 17 and a half hours, with sunset after half past nine in the evening. Grey skies over the North Sea are common in any season, and on rough days waves break over the rocks below the Main Pier railings.

Things to Do Near Seahouses

The Farne Islands are the main reason most visitors come to Seahouses. They lie roughly 3 to 8 kilometers (2 to 5 miles) offshore, and several companies, among them Billy Shiel, Golden Gate and Serenity, run boat trips from the harbour. Depending on the trip, that can mean seals, seabirds, a landing on one of the islands and a commentary on Grace Darling. In 1838 she and her father William, keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse, rescued survivors of the paddle steamer Forfarshire, wrecked on Big Harcar with some 60 people aboard. The Grace Darling Museum on Radcliffe Road in Bamburgh tells that story and is free to enter, and Bamburgh Castle stands about 5 kilometers (3 miles) up the coast.

Back in the village, Swallow Fish at 2 South Street sells crabs and kippers, and local claims say the kipper was first made in Seahouses in the 1800s. The Northumberland Coast Path, which runs 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Cresswell to Berwick by way of Lindisfarne, passes right through Seahouses, so you can walk south to the sands at Beadnell, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away, or north toward Bamburgh. Behind the dunes at St Aidan’s, traces of medieval ridge and furrow farming can still be picked out. Golfers have Seahouses Golf Club and the Bamburgh Castle course.

Similar Webcams You Might Like

For more harbours and seabird coasts around the North Sea, try these cameras.

• Whitby Webcam
• Bass Rock Webcam
• Skagen Harbour Webcam

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Seahouses Harbour located?

Seahouses Harbour, officially North Sunderland Harbour, is at the east end of Seahouses in north Northumberland, England, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of Bamburgh and close to the Farne Islands.

What can you see on the Seahouses Harbour Webcam?

The main view from the Main Pier shows the outer harbour, the quay where the lifeboat can moor, the foreshore and the sea. The Middle Pier tab looks at the Old Steps, a pontoon with small boats and the lighthouse on the North Pier, and the Inner Harbour tab looks down on moored boats and pier walls from above the harbour office. The operator pixelates parts of the inner harbour view for privacy.

What is the weather like in Seahouses?

Cool and mild. Winter highs are about 7 C (44 F) and summer highs about 18 C (64 F), based on Met Office averages for nearby Boulmer.

Is Seahouses in Scotland?

No. Seahouses is in England, on the coast of Northumberland, the English county that borders Scotland.

Do Farne Islands boat trips leave from Seahouses Harbour?

Yes. Several operators, including Billy Shiel, Golden Gate and Serenity, run trips from the harbour, with seals, seabirds and on some trips a landing on one of the islands.

Is there a lifeboat station at Seahouses?

Yes. A lifeboat has been based here since 1832, and the RNLI has run the station since 1859, with the Shannon-class John and Elizabeth Allan and the D-class Grace Darling.

Source: North Sunderland Harbour Commissioners