59 



and direction of the wind. At high tide the descending water 

 of the river is held in check, if not turned back ; and at high 

 water there is a point at which the water is quite stationary, and 

 hence the matter held in suspension is then deposited. It is 

 evident that when the water flows up a river, it carries its deposit 

 upward also ; and the more sudden the rise of the water, the 

 greater its velocity and carrying power. At the mouth of the 

 Stour the rise of the tide is 15 and 16 feet at the full ; the 

 change here from high to low tide would be very considerable : 

 but, in considering its effect on the current of the river, we must 

 remember the distance the water has to flow to reach the sea 

 will very materially affect our calculation. Water, in flowing 

 down a river or up, is retarded by the friction of the water at the 

 sides and bottom of the stream — hence the greater the distance 

 it has to travel, the less will be its velocity, other things being 

 equal. At the present time, the distance the water of the Stour 

 has to travel before reaching the sea from Fordwich is about 20 

 miles, the fall of the land being less than one foot per mile ; 

 the breadth of the river Stour averages less than 70 feet from 

 Fordwich to Sandwich. The distance the water has to travel 

 from the outside to the inside of the Stonar cut round by 

 Sandwich is about seven miles, and it takes, on an average, 

 1|- hours to traverse that length, so it is high water at one 

 point just 1^ hours later than the other (or when the water 

 is falling at the mouth of the river ; for the greater the dis- 

 tance the water has to travel, the less it will be affected by 

 by the tide. It follows that when the sea was nearer to 

 Fordwich than it is at present, the greater must have been the 

 difference between high and low water: such being the case, it 

 also follows that the greatest deposit takes place near the coast. 

 Rivers that have a tendency to shut out the influence of the 

 sea in proportion to the deposit they form near their mouths 

 and their distance. 



Now, if we apply this theory to the Stour valley, we shall see 

 that at the Roman period, when the sea flowed higher up, the 

 deposit must have been greatest higher up also. Now we have 

 historical evidence to prove that the Stour had then two mouths 

 — one at Sandwich and another at Reculver ; and as the tide is 

 not high water at both places at the same time, there must have 

 been a constant flow and ebb of water, or conflicting tides at 

 the space intermediate ; this conflict of the tides would greatly 

 favour the deposit of silt — hence we percieve everything tended 

 to block off the estuary of the Wantsum. We have no evidence 

 to show that this closing of the one entrance was a sudden 

 event, though any large accumulation of sand or beach may have 

 accelerated the process during some special stormy seasons. We 

 shall find, after the north mouth of the estuary was closed, the 

 action of the tide kept pushing the south mouth of the river 

 more and more eastward, till at the present time it neaily reaches 

 Ramsgate Harbour. What I have said with respect to the action 



