680 



ENGLAND. 





the Crouch, the Blackwater, and the Colm>. Bo- 

 !.i"t river, the ctwist inclines rather to the 

 south, luit resume- its easterly direction t<i its union 

 with Suliolk, xv here the port of Harwich is formed by 

 stuariw of tlie Stour and the Orwell. It i Mip- 

 powd that tlie sea has effected great changes in this 

 t of F.-.MA, ;:< tradition nllirins, that the 

 outlets <il't!ie Sto'ir and Orwell were Miciently on the 

 north -ide of Landguard fort, and that, at that period, 

 what arc now cnlle<l the Fleets, was a part ol'the original 

 rti.nincl. Nc-irly the whole ol'the coast of this county 

 is flat nnd marshy. 



Of Suffolk. Th Suffolk rises in a waving line towards 



the north, a little inclined to the c- ;. I'lic first pro- 

 montory wo come t. :dness, a low beach run- 

 ning out into the sea. The town of Orford, formerly 

 a sea-port, is n.iw at some distance from the sea. Dun- 

 wich and Aldborough, on the contrary, have been 

 alme '. away by the sea, which began it> cn- 

 (Toachtnents bcforo the Nonnan Con(|iiest. From Or- 

 fordness to Soiithwold, the coast lies due north, with 

 a bold shore ; a little to the south of the latter place, 

 the sea, breaking in upon tlie shore, forms a creek, 

 which, spreading out, divides to Dunwich, Soiithwold, 

 and Walderswick. The bay before Soiithwold is Sole- 

 b::y. t'lr scene of the great sea light in 1672, between 

 the Dutch under Do Huyter, and the English com- 

 manded by the Duke of York. This bay was formerly 

 txnuidod by I'.astonncss, and another cape to the south- 

 east of Dunwich ; but the sea has removed these marks, 

 and consequently changed the mouths of the bay. From 

 Southwold northwards, the coast is much embarrassed 

 with shoals, and presents nothing remarkable, till we 

 come to Lowestoffe, which is built on a cliff above the 

 sea, at the most easterly point of Great Britain. The 

 whole extent of the coast of this county is about 60 

 miles; for the most part, it is composed of loamy clirfs, 

 which, being undermined by the waves, are continual- 

 ly falling down ; in some parts, however, there are hil- 

 locks of sand, and in other parts, especially near the 

 borders of F.s.-ox, it is flat and marshy. 



The Norfolk coast, to the north of Yarmouth, runs 

 out in a point into the German Ocean. This point is 

 called VVinterton-ness. Beyond it the coast tends west- 

 iiMrth-we-t, and then west, the shore being low and 

 ti it, brsiegod with dangerous sands, especially between 

 the Ne-s and H.msburgh. The most remarkable of the 

 banks of sand, which lie off at sea, run parallel to the. 

 coast of Yarmouth, and form the celebrated Yarmouth 

 Roads. From this place, however, north-west to Cro- 

 mer. and thence to Sheringham, there are steep and 

 high cliffs, from K) to upwards of 80 feet perpendicu- 

 lar. 1'roceeding westward the shore is low and flat; 

 but about Hunstanton, at the mouth of the Wash, the 

 cliffs appear again. At I.ynn Regis the great bay is 

 formed between Norfolk and Lincolnshire, which in- 

 dents the country deeply to the south-west. The sea 

 coast of Norfolk is formed either by clayey cliffs, which 

 are continually sapped and overthrown by the w 

 or by low sandy shores, covered with loose pebbles. In 

 some places, a kind of natural bank is formed of the 

 sand, held together by the roots of the sea-reed grass. 

 Hmi'tanton cliff, already mentioned, is the only rockv 

 eminence on this c.,a-t. it is composed of chalk and 

 friable stone, resting on a base of iron coloured pud- 

 ding 



After crossing the Washes, the main land of I.in- 

 iided coast, in the form of a 



bow, t ' Ocean. In general, it lies low 



5 



<>f Norfolk. 



Of Lincoln- 

 hire. 



and tint, or with a small declivity to the east. In som* Siatutio. 



parts, the land has been gained from tlie sc.i. though s ~^i^~' 



in other parts, the sea has in its turn invaded the land; 



and tin- remains of a forest are visible under the v 



Its sea-ports, which were formerly numerous, arc now 



almost entirely choakcd up with sand, and Mime of 



them are quite deserted by the ocean. Tile coast of 



Lincolnshire at first stretches a little to the east of the 



north, and then gradually inclines to the wct, to the 



mouth of the Humlxr. Its extent is upwards of 100 



miles. 



The extremity of Iloldernc". in the East Riding of of York. 

 Yorkshire, contracts into a small neck of land, i 

 ing a curve in the sea, towards the south-west. The 

 extremity of the neck of land is the Spurnhcad, a *i< Ule- ' 

 shaped promontory, that guards tlie mouth of the 1 lum- 

 ber, nearly opposite the port of Grim'-bv in Lincoln- 

 shire. Amidst the >.:niU of this river, Sunk Isl.-.nd 

 is formed OH the Yorkshire side. In this part of the 

 coa^t of this county, several ports ha\ e -nlicrcd from 



.1. Heudon. which was a free burgh in the i 

 of King John, and which, in subsequent times, was so 

 populous as to have three parish ihurchis, is now 

 dwindled into a small and insignificant place, with 

 scarcely any harbour. The coast continues low and 

 flat, like that of Lincolnshire, till it has passed the little 

 port of Hornsea, and approaches the quay of Brid- 

 lington. This sea-port is covered by the point of land 

 called Flamborough Head, from north-east and i.orth- 

 west winds. Flamborough Head is formed by the 

 Wolds, which here advance towards the (oast. It is a 

 very remarkable promontory, the white perpendicular 

 clili's of which protrude themselves far into the Ger- 

 man Ocean, and serve as a direction for ships. Mfcny 

 of the rocks which compose it are insulated, of a pyra- 

 midal form, and soar to a great height. The bases of 

 most of them are solid ; but some are pierced through 

 and arched. On the north side, there are large ca- 

 verns. Beyond Flamborough Head, a rocky promon- 

 tory, of a round figure, projects into the sea, by which 

 it is surrounded on all side*, except on the west. On 

 the summit of this rock is built tlie castle, and on the 

 side of it the town of Scarborough. The shore here is 

 remarkably bold; and the height of the cliffs gives it 

 some resemblance to the coast near Dover. Between 

 this place and Whitby, Robinhood's bay lies: the land 

 is still high, and the ?;ea deep, but the bay is exposed 

 to the cast wind. The Kaste.rn Morclands extend over 

 the whole country, to the north of Scarborough, to the 

 coast, one deep hollow of which, formed by a small ri- 

 ver, is occupied by the port of Whitby. From this 

 place the shore declines west-north-west, and west by 

 north. The next conspicuous point of land is Huntly- 

 cliff. Beyond this, slid more to the north, appears 

 llcdcliff, that makes one side of a bay, as the promon- 

 tory, on which Hartlcpool, in the county of Durham, 

 stands, does the other; the River Tees rushing with a 

 rapid tide into the German Ocean between them. From 

 thn description of the coast of Yorkshire, it will be seen, 

 that from the Humber to Flamborough Head it is low 

 and flat, and from Flamborough Head to the Tees un- 

 commonly bold and precipitous. In the first division 

 nf it, it is in general composed of clay. Flamborough 

 i Ie,-'d is- limestone. Whitby presents a coast composed 

 of aluminous schistus. There are many fishing villa- 

 . the northern part of the coast of this county, 

 singularly placed, like nests, upon the ledges of tlie 

 rocks. No coast in England furnishes a greater varie- 

 ty of fish than this. 



