GEOLOGY 



Of late years the cliffs at Covehithe and Easton Bavent have 

 suffered much, 5 or 6 yards a year having been removed at the former 

 place, and as much as 10 yards a year (1889-95) ^t the latter place.' 

 Southwold, Pakefield aad Kirkley have likewise lost, while at Dunwich 

 there has been less waste during recent years. It is considered likely 

 that Easton Bavent was the most easterly part of England at the time of 

 the Roman occupation. 



Felixstow has suffered a good deal of loss, partly owing to the 

 digging in former years of cement stones from the London Clay, a pro- 

 cess as detrimental as that of the indiscriminate removal of shingle from 

 Landguard Point. 



Excepting in important residential or industrial districts there seems 

 little hope of preserving the coast, for, as remarked by Mr. W. H. 

 Wheeler, when the land is used for agricultural purposes and is of 

 ordinarily fertile character, the cost of the preservation of the cliffs may 

 be greater than the value of the land.'^ 



The beach deposits are for the most part shingly, as there are 

 considerable masses of pebbly gravel in the cliffs, and the waste is con- 

 tinually supplying material, the general trend of which is to the south. 

 Sands however occur from Gorleston to Lowestoft, and to a variable 

 extent onwards to Southwold, while shingle occurs mainly to the south. 

 Flint pebbles are most abundant in the beaches, but many carnelians are 

 met with, derived no doubt from the Glacial Drifts. 



Land has been gained and lost at Lowestoft. The Ness, now the 

 most easterly point of England, extends in front of an old sea cliff, and 

 comprises hillocks of blown sand and patches of shingle, forming a tract 

 known as the Denes. During recent years this tract has suffered loss. 

 The great shingle beach of Orford Ness extends southwards from Alde- 

 burgh, and has diverted the Ore or Aide some ten miles from its original 

 outlet, Orford Haven, which was nearly opposite the castle in the time 

 of Henry VIIL^" 



Blown sand is not very prominently developed on the Suffolk coast. 

 We find low hillocks between Landguard and Felixstow, also north of 

 Aldeburgh, and others 8 to 10 feet high, bordering the marsh of 

 Minsmere Level. Much sand is blown inland from the loose sands in 

 the cliffs between Gunton and Gorleston, and this greatly influences the 

 soil along the sea borders. 



Suffolk possesses no remarkable mineral waters. Chalybeate springs 

 have been observed here and there, but none have attained any fame ; 

 indeed, the only noteworthy wells are those dedicated to saints. There 

 is perhaps no part of Suffolk from which small supplies of water could 

 not locally be obtained, whether from spring, brook or shallow well. 

 Consequently in early times settlements became scattered all over the 



1 Whitaker, 'Geology of Southwold' (1887), pp. 45, 47 ; Capt. H. Alexander, Proc. Geo/. Soc. 

 iii. 445 ; J. Spiller, Geo/. Mag. (1896), p. 23. 

 ' 'The Sea Coast' (1902), p. 2. 

 ' J. B. Redman, Proc. Inst. Cir. Eng. xxiii. 1 86 ; see also Proc. Suffolk Inst. Arc/i. x. 215. 



29 



