ON THEPHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE HUMBEB. 39 



remarkable for its fine beds of clay, having a depth of from 30 to 40 feet, 

 with scarcely a pebble, or other foreign matter of any kind, to be found. 

 Near the surface is a stratum, varying from 5 to 8 feet in thickness, from 

 which the beautiful white stock bricks are made, and which are now beco- 

 ming so celebrated. Clay suitable for white bricks is found in other parts of 

 England, but I believe neither so extensive in quantity nor so fine in quality ; 

 and shortly the clay of this district will be more fully developed by the intro- 

 duction, through an enterprising gentleman, of Beart's patent process of brick- 

 making. At Brough, the old Roman Ferry, we have the oolite and lias, 

 which for a short distance more efiectually repel the action of the water, and 

 thereby preserve that part of the Yorkshire coast, and give to it somewhat 

 of a projecting form ; and for the next 4 miles, although there is the light 

 alluvial formation, yet generally the coast is of a harder and more gravelly 

 character, and, owing to a somewhat better natural protection, it suffers less 

 than almost any other part of the Humber, except where we have rock forma- 

 tions. At G, at Hessle, we find along a small extent, the white chalk, similar 

 to that on the opposite coast of Lincolnshire. From the Hessle chalk quarry 

 to H at Hull, a distance of about 5 miles, we have the low alluvial coast, 

 and, like the rest, subject more or less to waste. Along this district, in the 

 year 1357, an order was made to raise the road from Hull to Anlaby, as a 

 tide of unusual height had taken place. I quote from Thompson's ' Ocellum 

 Promontorium ' the following remarks : — 



" In the year 1357 (30th Edward III.), the king, being informed that the 

 tides of the river of Humber and Hull did flow higher by 4 feet than they 

 had wont to do, by which the road and the lands between Hull and Anlaby 

 were overflowed and consumed, directed an old ditch to be cleansed and 

 made wider, and from thence a new ditch to be made of 24 feet in breadth, 

 to extend through the pasture of Miton unto the town of Hull, by which 

 ditches the said waters at every tide might pass to and fro ; and he directed 

 that the said road should be made much higher.. . . . From this statement by 

 Dugdale, founded on records of undoubted authority, to which he refers, it 

 appears probable that the waters of the Humber at that time passed to and 

 fro, over the lowlands, between Hull and Anlaby. It is certain, however, 

 that the ditches were left open to the Humber, and that the waters at every 

 tide passed to and fro in them." 



" This aera deserves to be remembered, on account of the extraordinary 

 rise of 4 feet in the flowing of the tides of the Humber. The destruction of 

 the banks" (if there were any), "and the consequent overflowing and da- 

 mage of the lands, for many miles on both sides of the Humber, in Lincoln- 

 shire and Yorkshire, must have caused great distress in the country. It does 

 not appear that any special record is left of the sufferings of the inhabitants 

 of the adjacent districts ; but if the tides in the Humber were to rise at the 

 present time 4 feet higher than usual, and continue to flow to that height, 

 such persons as live on the low lands adjoining the Humber may form some 

 judgment of the difficulties which they might find in saving their lives and 

 their property." This clearly shows that at that time there were no banks 

 to this part of the Humber, and that the high or spring-tides flowed freely 

 over the raar.<!hes. 



It is not necessary that I should enter into any statement of the noble 

 works of the Hull Dock Company, as the members of the Association have 

 had the opportunity of inspecting them. These act more or less as a defence 

 against the ravages of the tide, and have also been the means of a very con- 

 siderable accretion to the frontage of the port. 



Proceeding onwards, we have for a distance of about 6 miles low alluvial 



