On the Changes -which have taken 

 place in East Kent in the Coast and 

 River Valleys since the Roman occu- 

 pation of Britain. 



A PAPER BY G. DOWKER, F.G.S. 



SECOND PART. 



In a former paper I traced the historical evidences that furnish 

 us with so many data from which we may estimate the amount 

 of these changes. You will remember we found Richborough 

 a port and haven, and with Reculver marked the extreme ends 

 of the estuary of the Wantsum, which insulated the Isle of 

 Thanet. We drew attention to the sea, or arms of it, having 

 come up to the cinque ports of Sandwich, Hythe, and Romney. 

 We gave evidence of a former navigable river in Romney Marsh 

 as far as Appledore in Saxon times ; and to the north we traced 

 the coast changes which have cut back the shore, leaving but 

 little land between Minster in Sheppy and the sea and Reculver. 

 It will now be my endeavour to show how these changes have 

 been brought about during the last two thousand years, — by 

 showing, firstly, the nature of the land composing this district ; 

 secondly, the eff"ect of the atmosphere, rain, and rivers on such 

 a soil ; thirdly, the part played by the ocean in these changes. 



I must premise that it is more philosophical to consider the 

 action of the sea and the seasons to have been the same at the 

 Roman period as at the present day, rather than invent any 

 extraordinary catastrophies to account for these changes, and 

 we have no warrant to favour the latter ; and I believe the 

 changes now taking place are fully sufficient to account for all 

 the alterations that we are assured have occurred during this 

 epoch. It may, nevertheless, be concluded as tolerably certain 

 that the effect of cultivation, drainage, and the denudation of 

 the country of forest trees, has had its effects in modifying the 

 climate. 



The area we are considering is composed of various geological 

 strata, which have been illustrated in an instructive paper read 

 before this Society, by Capt. McDaken, and which I should 



