Natural History. 109 



use to pass to and from Nottingham, York, Kingston-upon- 

 Hull, and sundry other places and counties by the said river 

 of Trent, and so by this channel to Lincoln, and from Lincoln 

 to Boston to the great benefit of the city of Lincoln, and 

 advantage of all tradesmen passing that way, as also of the 

 whole county adjacent was then choked up for want of cleans- 

 ing and repair." 



It will be noticed that the Presentment mentions not only 

 boats but ships, which used to sail from the North Sea to 

 Kingston-upon-Hull, from there to Torksey, and from Torksey 

 to Lincoln and Boston : also, that the Court of King's Bench 

 sat at Lincoln, as indeed it frequently did in the times of the 

 Norman and Plantagenet kings, in whose reigns so many 

 statutes were passed there that they are called " The Statutes 

 of Lincoln" to this day. The Presentment mentions the 

 Fosdyke as extending from Torksey to Lincoln. If that is 

 correct, it would seem to show that the channel from Lincoln 

 to Boston was first made at some time subsequent to the 

 making of the Fosdyke. 



The history of the Wash dates back from times long before 

 written history; and even educated persons may draw different 

 conclusions from archaeology, the names of places, and the levels 

 of land, which is all we have to go upon in addition to the 

 comparatively modern history that we have to guide us. 



It may be useful therefore for me to sum up my argument, 

 which I do thus : 



The existence of forests below the bed of the Wash shows 

 that it was once dry land. The forests consisting of oak, fir, 

 and larch, the land must have been a considerable height above 

 the level of the sea. The trees comprising the submarine 

 forest being full grown and of about the same size, the convul- 

 sion of nature which hurled the land below the level of the sea 

 must have taken place at one time, and must have been what 

 we call an earthquake. This earthquake probably took place 

 at the same time as the one that divided England from France. 

 At any rate, it took place long before the date of history, for 

 Lynn, a Celtic word for deep water, shows that the Wash was 

 in existence in Celtic times. When first made, the Wash was, 

 at least, six times as large as it is now, and must have flowed 

 quite up to Lincoln, and the tide must have flowed up to 

 Nottingham, Leicester, Derby, and Stamford. Indeed the 

 name of the place Washingborough, i.e. "the Danish tribal 

 fortress on the Wash," is a strong argument that in the time 



