82 REPORT — 1853. 



(heing part of the tower), according to the parish register, " fell down the 

 cliff into the sea, Februarj^ 1, 1831," and the village itself is rapidly fol- 

 lowing. Camden mentions Pennismerk and Upsal, townships or hamlets in 

 Holderness, neither of which remains at the present day. Nor have the en- 

 croachments of the deep been confined to the sea coast of Holderness, for 

 within the Humber we find that considerable tracts of land have been swept 

 away, as for instance, Redmare, Frismerk, Tharlesthorpe, Potterfleet, Raven- 

 ser, &c. The ivhole of the Yorkshire coast, south of Flamborongh Head, 

 is being continually wasted by the encroachments of the sea; and it is a 

 startling consideration, that in the course of a few years, if the same pro- 

 cess continue, other towns and villages now flourishing and fertile are doomed 

 to follow. The rate of loss, however, throughout the line is not uniform ; 

 the piiysical features, and the geological composition of the cliffs, the set of 

 the tide, and other minor causes influence the degradation to a greater 

 or less degree. 



Unfortunately there exist but few scanty records of actual measurement 

 from certain and existing points to the sea. 



In Tuke's Map of Holderness there are however a few such admeasure- 

 ments taken in the year 1786, and I have been able to collect from authentic 

 sources others of later date; namely, some made in the year 1836 by my 

 late lamented friend George Milner, Esq., F.S.A., on whose accuracy I can 

 most implicitly rely; and I have also been kindly furnished with others made a 

 few days ago, by my friend John Malam, Esq. of Holmptou Lodge, 

 Holderness. 



I have endeavoured to obtain measurements in a due easterly direction 

 from the different fixed objects to the edge of the cliff; in cases where such 

 measurement is not specified, the line most direct to the sea has been taken. 



From these records it would appear that the cross at Atwick in 1786, was 

 distant from the edge of the cliff" 946 yards. In December 1836 it was 

 S14: yards, thus showing a loss of 132 yards in fifty years, or an annual 

 average loss of rather more than 2^ yards. At the present time it is but 

 770 yards distant from the edge of the cliff" ; so that during the last ™ 

 seventeen years there has been a waste of 44 yards. The annual average loss 

 therefore has continued at the same rate. The entire loss during the last 

 sixty-seven years has been 176 yards, giving an average of rather more than 

 21 yards annually. 



Tuke says the east end of Hornsea Church in 1786 was distant from the 

 sea 1133 yards. In 1836 it was only 1000 yards distant from high-water 

 mark, showing a deficiency in fifty years of 133 yards, and making an 

 average loss in this immediate neigabourhood of 2f yards, or 8 feet annually. 

 It is now but 942 yards from high-water mark, so that there has been a loss 

 of 58 yards in seventeen years, being at the rate of about 3^ yards per 

 annum; or taking the loss of the last sixty-seven years, there will be found 

 to have been an annual average waste of nearly 3 yards. 



Aldborough Church in 1786 was 2044 yards from the sea; it is now 

 1910 yards, so that 134 yards have disappeared in sixty-seven years, giving 

 a loss of exactly 2 yards annually. 



Tunstall Church in 1786 was 924 j'ards distant from the cliff; it is noM^ 

 758 yards. The loss therefore in sixty seven years has been 166 yards, 

 giving an annual average M'aste of about 2|^ yards. 



Holmpton Church in the year 1786 was distant from the sea 1200 yards ; 

 it is now 1120, so that in sixty-seven years 80 yards have gone, averaging 

 about 1^ yard annually. 



The most rapid waste, however, is that going on at Kilnsea. The greater 



