-Geology of the Shore of the Severn, '6*7 



action* ; and sudden inundations, of but recent date, have been 

 known to take place. In the old Register Bookf of the parish 

 the inundation of the Severn, in the great storm of November, 

 1703, is recorded by the vicar. It has been observed, that 

 ** those who perished in the waters on that occasion, in the 

 Hoods of the Severn and the Thames, on the coast of Holland, 

 and in ships blown away and never heard of afterwards, are 

 computed to have amounted to 8000 ;" and •' in one level in 

 Gloucestershire, on the banks of the Severn, 15,000 sheep 

 were drowned.'* Of the 9th of January, 1737, the same 

 Register contains the following remark: '* This night, about 

 nine, a violent storm bf wind arose, and, it being high water, 

 the sea-wall was broken, and the whole level was five feet 

 under waterj." 



But to continue the description of the shore. From d to e 

 the bank is high, consisting of clay, incumbent immediately 

 about d upon the remains of branches and roots of trees, &c., 

 and from thence to e upon blue lias, and the shore is generally 

 covered with mud, although, at certain periods, when the wind 

 blows strong upon it, the blue lias appears, presenting to the 

 geologist specimens of several species of petrifactions hereafter 

 to be enumerated. From the point e to h the shore is marshy 

 and flat, containing no organic remains of any kind. At the 



• About thirty-three years ago, a house of no inconsiderable antiquity was 

 standing upon a stratum of gravel at the Woodend, the point i in the drawing. 

 The bank of the Severn has since that period been gradually washed away, and to 

 such a degree, that the spot where this house formerly stood, is now nearly the 

 edge of low-water mark, at a little above which, remains of the well, attached to 

 the house, may now be seen on the surface of the blue lias. 



f The Register of the parish of Awre commences, * Anno Regis Octavi XXX*. 

 Anno Dom. 1538,' that is, one year after the dissolution of monasteries. It is 

 altogether a curious relic. From the year 1687 to 1725, the entries of marriages, 

 baptisms, and burials, have each annexed to them the sign of the star then pre- 

 dominant ; and the entry of a marriage in 1736 has before it the figure of a comet 

 —doubtless Cupid was. m this instance, more than ordinarily ardent. The ances- 

 tors of the most ancient family in this parish, and who were formerly seised of 

 considerable lands within it, whose first representative in this country probably 

 came over with William the Norman, have their name written in the reign of King 

 John, as De ^u>re— thus, William de Awre; and in several parts of this Register, as 

 of Awre — thus, Charles of Awre. This has been of late years, as it is at present, 

 abbreviated to Awre — thus, William Awre, who is now residing with his family 

 in the parish. 



X Pepys, in his Memoirs (vol. i. p. 133), in speaking of the forest of Deane, 

 which bounds the parish of Awre on its north-eastern side, observes, * Feb. l7, 

 1661, 2.— Great talke of this late great wind. We have letters from the forest of 

 Deane, that above 1000 oakes, and as many beeches, are blown down in one walke 

 there.' 



F 2 



