66 



was carried on to Dungeness and blocked the Rother at Romney. 

 This promontory at Dungeness is now in like manner affecting 

 the coast at Dymchurch and attacking the wall there. The 

 position of the beach at Hythe shows it to have had a more 

 seaward extension ; and looking at all these facts, we have no 

 difficulty in concluding that from Hythe to Romney a natural 

 embankment existed in Roman times, protected by the coast- 

 line here. The exit of the waters of the Rother must then have 

 been westward of the town of New Romney, and the existing 

 Dungeness beach had no existence. Such being the nature of 

 the marsh, the erection of a sea-wall from Romney to Appledore 

 effectually cut off the high tides from the eastern portions of 

 the marsh. At or near the high lands forming the escarpment 

 of the wealden beds towards Hythe, a certain quantity of water 

 must have inundated the low lands at Burmarsh and adjoining 

 low lands, but probably, not to a greater extent than at present, 

 and they probably were all drained towards Appledore lake. 

 Whence came the beach at Hythe ? It is some distance from 

 Dungeness, Romney sands intervening ; the falls in this beach 

 run at right angles to the present shore. The beach does 

 not accumulate now ; there is behind the beach a hatch of 

 blown sand. These facts I mention, point to a considerable 

 extension of the shore-line opposite Romney, and the mouth of 

 the river must have been a considerable distance seaward of the 

 town. Probably at that time beach extended eastward from the 

 port of Romney to Hythe, forming a great natural barrier from 

 the sea, as that of the present Dymchurch wall. I do not think 

 any considerable river could have flowed at Hythe, as some have 

 supposed, and formed that celebrated Portus Lemanus, unless 

 indeed the river at Romney had two mouths, one of which, like 

 that of the Stour, had flowed eastward as far as Hythe, as the 

 Stour now flows into Pegwell Bay. Had there been any such 

 river, it must have occupied the space where the Military Canal 

 exists, in which case it has left no historical or other traces 

 behind, and against such a river the Ree wall could have been 

 no protection, supposing that to have been the work of the 

 Romans. I have alluded to the Stonar beach as one that was 

 anterior in date to the present beaches, and as having probably 

 travelled from the eastward ; this Hythe beach may be of like 

 origin. 



SHBPPY. 



Let us now turn our attention to the north. The Thames and 

 Medway unite their streams just before reaching the Isle of 

 Sheppy, and they run through London clay beds for the most 

 part. If we look at a map of that part of the Thames, you will 

 see how its mouth is obstructed by various shoals and sand- 

 banks ; the shore-line also cut up into innumerable Isles. 

 This London clay is a most unstable bed when subjected to the 

 action of the waves, and, under atmospherical conditions, cracks 



