LLONGBORTH OF LLYWARCH HEN'S ELEGY. 47 



The Greek Geographer, Claudius Ptolemjeus, deemed 

 the mouth of the river Axe, at Seaton, of sufficient im- 

 portance to be named in succession with the aestuaries of 

 the Tamar, the Exe, and Portsmouth * In the present 

 day, the mouth of the river is hardly wider than the vessels 

 which enter through it into the little harbour within. A 

 great bank of shingle, which Leland says was beginning 

 to form in his time, now Stretches quite across what was 

 the mouth of the jestuary, and rieh pasture lands extend 

 over the flats formerly covered by the sea. 



From the Saxon chronicle, we learn that in the year 

 449, Hengist and Horsa " landed in Britain on the shore 

 which is called Ypwinsßeet" Ebbs-fleet, however, is 

 now an inland spot, at some distance from the sea ; and 

 what was the aestuary of the Wanstum, dividing the Isle 

 of Thanet from the main land of Kent, is a shallow 

 brook, although it was once navigable for ships of large 

 bürden ; and, even in Bede's time, was three stadia broad, 

 and fordable only in two places. t 



With such examples of great physical changes else- 

 where ; and considering that Langport is still within reach 

 of the tidal waters ; it is not too much to assume, that it 

 might, thii'teen centuries ago, have been a haven for ships. 



In Porth-Kery, on the other side of the Severn, and, 

 almost opposite Bridgwater Bay, we have a similar instance 

 of the elevation of the sea-bed. Porth-Kery was a sea- 



* /xera to "OKpivov aKpov, Ta/xapov ttot. ; laaKa 



TTOT. ; 'AXaivov ttot. eKßoXal ; M€'ya<; Xi/ji')]v ,' k. t. \. 



Excerpta de Brit. ex. Sciiptoribus Grtecis. p. xiii. Monumenta Hist. 

 Britannica. 



f Bedie Hist. Eccles., Lib. I., c. 25. 

 . . , . a continenti terra secernit fluvius Vantsumu, qiii est latitu- 

 dinis circitcr triuni stadiorum, et duobus tantum in locis transnieabilis : . . 



