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Tucked away on the coastline of one of the UK's numerous seaside villages lies a secret steeped in chemicals. Once a toxic wasteland, the beach now yields treasures that are cherished by many.

The shoreline of this beach is strewn with fragments of Victorian glass, polished smooth by the sea and deposited by the tide. This peculiar location is Blast Beach in Seaham - previously one of the most contaminated beaches globally.

Seaham was an industrial hub, home to three coal mines, foundries, brickworks, docks, railway lines and coal staithes.

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Its primary industries were coal and iron, closely followed by glass and brick manufacturing.

A common thread among these industries was their practice of discarding all waste directly off the cliffs into the sea.

In fact, some of the cliffs along Seaham's coastline are essentially slag heaps, moulded to mimic the shape of the rock beneath them, reports the Express.

For years, the beach was off-limits, notorious as one of the most polluted in the UK.

Millions of tonnes of colliery waste had been dumped on the beach for decades, polluting the water up to seven miles out to sea.

However, in the late 90s, the Government initiated the Turning the Tide scheme to rehabilitate this stretch of the UK coast.

Colliery waste and debris were cleared, derelict structures dismantled and the beach monitored. In addition to this, the coast was revitalised, new shrubbery planted, trails built - even a golf course was constructed.

The £10million scheme proved successful, and today Blast Beach ranks among the finest locations in Britain for seaglass hunting.

Visitors to the shoreline will spot people strolling with their gaze fixed downward, scouring for the pastel-hued glass fragments that continue to wash ashore.

Yet, following heavy rainfall or storms, traces of the contaminated history remain visible - puddles of rusty red water serve as a reminder of the formerly toxic beach.