l-c:4 Gi-aa'ii.il Eiu-machir.c'iit of thi Sea on the Weljli Coafl. 



the currents of the three rivers not being able entirely to clear it away, banks of fand 

 ■would be by degrees formed, conftituting the prcfent fand and frec-ftonc rocks extending 

 from NefclilT caftward by Pym-hill and Grinlhill to the hills of argillaceous fchillus 

 round the Wreakin. This accumulation of fand would prevent the free cgrefs of the waters 

 of the Severn into the main bay, which by degrees, or more probably at once, urged by a 

 flrong weft wind, and fwelled unufually by rains or fnow, broke through the lime-ftone 

 rock at Coalbrook Dale, and ruflied into the Channel, which it has ever fince flowed in. The 

 banks of fand, that almofl entirely (liut out the Severn from the bay of Chethire, prevented 

 the Dec from deviating from its original courfe, and the further decrcafc of the water 

 added conftantly to the diihculty. A number of particulars might be mentioned in con- 

 firmation of the foregoing hypothefis, derived from the appearance of the hills, the foil, and 

 other circumftances, were it my intention to enter minutely into the fubje£l ; but this 

 could not be done witliout the aid of charts and engravings, in a manner capable of 

 interefting the attention of any, except thofe who have vifited and carefully obferved the 

 tratl in queftion. 



The fea, however, has not been uniformly receding ; for fome time pall it appears to 

 have been advancing upon the Wdfli coaft : a brief enumeration of the proofs of this will 

 conclude the fubjctV. 



The coaft of Cardigan from Aberyftwith northward, if it does not furnifti any dire£l 

 proof of the advance of the fea, yet fhews at leaft that the water is not retreating, from the 

 circumllance of there being no beach at high tide, and the many caverns and recefles in 

 the flate rocks on the coaft that are every day filled by the fea. The fouthern part of 

 Merionethfliire exhibits certain proofs of the progrelTive ftate of the fea, In the vaft banks 

 of peat already mentioned, which extend along the ftiore to Tovyn, and ftretch to an un- 

 known diftance into the water. From near Harlech a long range of fand and gravel, includ- 

 ing Traeth-mawr and Traeth-bychan, runs twenty- two miles into the fea, being called at 

 prcfent Sarn Badrig, or the Ship-breaking Caufeway ; the whole of wliich tradl, formerly 

 called Cantrer Gwaelod, or the Lowland Hundred, was about the year 500 overwhelmed 

 by an inundation, occafioned by the carelcffhefs of thofe who kept the flood-gates, as is 

 mentioned in an extant poem of Talieffin. Northward of the town of Abergeley in 

 Denbighdiire, a vaft extent of inhabited country is faid to have been deftroyed by the fea; 

 in proof of which an epitaph without date or name in Abergeley church-yard is citedj 

 fignifying that the perfon to whofe memory the monument was crc£led lived three miles 

 to the north. A more decifive evidence is furnidied by Mr. Pennant in his Snowdonia. 

 •• 1 have obferved," fays he, " at low water, far from the clayey bank's, a long tra£l of 

 hard loam, filled with the bodies of oak trees, tolerably entire, but fo foft as to be cut with 

 a knife as eafily as wax." Finally, 1 have obferved on the Lancadure coaft, a few miles 

 north of Liverpool, the beach overfpread with trunks and branches of oak-trees; the whole 

 {horc to a confidcr.ible diftance inland, being a peat mofs, now for the moft part covered 

 ■with fand ; the extent of the mofs along the (hore is very evident by the almoft blood- 

 eolour of the beach, occafioned by the boggy iron ore with which the water that oozes out 

 of the peat is highly impregnated. From thefe fafts it may, I think, be fairly inferred, that 

 moft of the prefent fands which border the coaft of North Walts and Lancafliire, were 

 formerly forefts or cultivated land ; and that the fea is at preftnt, and for thefe twelve or 

 thirteen centuries pall has been, gaining upon the (horc. 



An 



