EFFECT OF GALE ON BEACH EAST OF WEYMOUTH. l8l 



Fig. i is taken from the top of the beach and gives a general 

 view of the whole, the road being quite invisible. In the distance 

 is the Preston station, with the sea to the right and Lodmoor 

 flooded to the left. Far away on the left of the beach are the 

 men, about 80 in number, employed to clear the road. 



Figs. 3 and 4 show the men employed in clearing away the 

 shingle. Fig. 3 is taken at a spot about midway between the old 

 gate house and the Coastguard Station, where the shingle was 

 about 2 feet deep. Fig. 4 at a spot nearer Preston where the 

 shingle was about 3 feet deep. It shews a bank of about 6 feet 

 high thrown up on the sea-edge of the road, with the sea just 

 visible over the top. 



The whole of the movement of shingle and destruction of the 

 road is said to have taken place early on the morning of Mon- 

 day, February i3th, and to have been accomplished in the short 

 space of half-an-hour. This may have been the case, considering 

 that the full effect of the sea would only be felt whilst the- tide 

 was at its greatest height. No similar covering up of the road 

 by shingle has occurred for many years, if ever, and the present 

 one is confidently ascribed in many quarters to the erection of 

 the new breakwater. In the absence of direct evidence on this 

 point, it would seem that the very high tides and violent S.W. 

 gale coining together might have been amply sufficient to cause 

 the disaster, had the new breakwater not existed. 



