158 THE BURNING CLIFF AT LYME REGIS. 



the stone thus obtained is taken away to the cement works in boat 

 loads. These ledges are followed up to the foot of the cliffs, and 

 the removal of the stone must weaken the foundation of the cliff, 

 and must also enable the waves at high water to break with 

 greater force against it, for the tide here comes up to the base of 

 the cliffs. 



This harmful practice of getting stone from the shore ought to 

 have been forbidden long ago. Stone was formerly taken from 

 below the Church cliffs ; but this has been disallowed for many 

 years, and the Lyme Regis people will do well to put a stop to it 

 everywhere. 



The second contributing cause is the land water flowing off the 

 slopes above. This partly issues from springs a little above the 

 contour of 300 feet, and partly runs as surface water after heavy 

 rain. Above the tiers of cliff and the broken ground which lies 

 below the road to Charmouth, Timber Hill rises to a height of 

 about 530 feet above the sea. After rain much water flows off the 

 slopes of this hill, and Mr. Cameron informs me that there two 

 lines of water-flow on its southern side. 



One of these watercourses comes down through the fields a 

 little east of the house called Fairfield, and the water which runs 

 along it in wet weather cascades over the cliff by the old 

 Gasworks. Another waterway runs in a parallel line about 330 

 yards to the eastward and loses itself in cracks and fissures on the 

 Lias cliff above the very place where the great fall has taken 

 place. 



There can be no doubt that the soakage of water into these 

 cracks and fissures, and its percolation downward along the 

 joints and divisional planes of the Lias, would loosen the cohesion 

 of the parts near the border of the cliffs. Again, when a period 

 of wet weather is followed by a spell of dry and sunny weather 

 the water lying in the fissures is gradually evaporated, and much 

 moisture is drawn out of the Lias clays and shales, resulting in 

 the contraction of the tracts below or between such fissures, with 

 a consequent tendency to move in the direction of least resist- 

 ance. This is, of course, seawards, just as a roofing-slate placed 



