76 HULL SCIENTIFIC AND FIELD NATURALISTS’ CLUB. 
In the summer of 1898 I paid a visit to the peat bed and 
lacustrine deposit at Sand-le-Mere, about two miles north of 
Withernsea.t Thanks to the strong wind and rough sea of the 
preceding day a large expanse of peat was laid bare on the beach 
just above low-water mark. It was exposed better than I had 
ever seen it previously. Trunks of fir, and other trees, were 
lying prostrate in the clay; these though perfect in form were 
very rotten and about as easily carved as the mud in which they 
occurred, Of greater interest however were some of the “stools” 
of the trees, still in the position in which they grew, and with 
their roots penetrating the clay in all directions. One of these 
stools measured nearly two feet in diameter. 
The peat bed was visible from a point just below the coast 
guard’s station, to a few hundred yards north, where the cliffs 
suddenly get higher ;—as far in fact as the bank of sand-dunes at 
the top of the beach, which stretches across the bed of the old 
mere, from which the hamlet of ‘‘ Sand-le-mere” derives its name. 
Towards the north end of the peat, at a distance of about 80 
yards from the cliffs, and at a depth of 10 feet from the top of the 
beach, or 15 feet from the surface of the sand-dunes, the tops of a 
line of piles were observed sticking out of the soft clay which 
underlies the peat bed. These extended for about five yards, and 
were from a few inches to a foot apart. On pulling one or two 
out, which, owing to the rotten nature of the wood, was done with 
difficulty, it was found that the points only of the stakes remained, 
the rest having been denuded by the sea along with the peat and 
other material which covered them. The piles were very black 
and soft ; in this respect resembling the wood found elsewhere in 
the peat and clay. They were about 24 inches in diameter and 
had been pointed by a sharp metal instrument. What seemed to 
be of great importance however were some pieces of round wood, 
of smaller diameter, which had been worked in between the up- 
right piles, thus binding them together in a manner resembling 
basket-work on a large scale. These horizontal pieces were met 
with in several places.2 They had been very cleverly bent so as 
to go round the perpendicular piles, and on the outer side of each 
elbow a slight cut could usually be detected; which would no 
doubt facilitate the bending operation without the risk of breaking. 
Some of the piles and a few pieces of wood were brought away 
and on drying, have cracked and folded over in the manner so 
characteristic of the wood from these ancient structures. 
A few yards to the north, at the same level, the bare boulder- 
clay was exposed on the beach, which shows that the piles were 
(1) See “Traces of an ancient Lake-dwelling at Sand-le-Mere, near Withernsea, by 
Thomas Sheppard, Naturalist, Oct., 1898, pp 301-303. 
(2) A similar feature has been met with in some of the remains of Swiss and Irish Lake- 
dwellings. See Dr, Keller's Lake-dwellings of Switzerland, 1878, yol.1, p. 42, also a wood-cut 
of a section of an ancient Irish Crannog, p. 653, and description on p, 654, of the same work, 
