Did Hartlepool people get a rare sighting of a prehistoric forest? Or was it something different? Tell us more

Another view of the forest in the 1970s.

Was it or wasn’t it? Hopes grew that a Hartlepool phenomenon was on show for the first time in 13 years.

But did the underwater forest off Seaton really make a showing at the weekend?

While many people headed to the shoreline to take a look and take photos, others stressed it wasn’t the forest which was on show but merely an area of slag which is visible at low tide at Newburn Bridge and kelp beds towards the Longscar Rocks.

But what is the forest and can we expect to see it any time soon?

A rare occasion when the forest was on show in the 1970s. It has only been seen around three times since in 1987, 1994, and 2007.

The landmark, commonly known as the petrified forest, consists of hundreds of tree stumps which have turned to peat.

We last asked the experts in 2017 and archeologist Rachel Grahame, at the Hartlepool-based Tees Archeology service, told us at the time: “It is almost impossible to say. It is down to the tides and the shifting of the sand.”

She said it would probably take a “fairly hefty storm” and a low tide to reveal the forest, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest stretching for several miles, and thought to have originated around 7,000 years ago.

In recent times, the forest has been seen in the early 1970s (as pictured here), 1987, 1994, and 2007.

Have you got any photos of the forest, or even of the spectacular seaside scenery we saw at the weekend even if it wasnt the rare phenomenon? We would love you to share it with us.

To do that, email [email protected]

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