46 The Loss and Gain of Land in Britain 



Referring again to Yorkshire, it is stated that there 

 are no fewer than twelve buried towns and villages 

 along its coast. Seaward of Cromer in Norfolk there 

 was a village called Shipden, but it has long ago sunk 

 into the sea. The cliffs east and west of Cromer are 

 constantly wasting ; sometimes landslides occur and 

 hundreds of tons of earth fall to the beach. 



Along the Suffolk coast there is hardly a coast town 

 which has not suffered seriously in consequence of the 

 inroads made upon it by the sea. The greater part of 

 Walton has been washed away since the time of the 

 Romans, whose strong fortress has quite disappeared. 

 The sea destroyed ancient Dunwich ; the remains of 

 most of its churches are strewn about the ocean bed ; 

 and the ruined church and some remains of a Norman 

 chapel are all that remain of a town which formerly 

 returned two members to Parliament. The same 

 wasting force is at work between Lowestoft and 

 Gorleston, and a hamlet named Newton has entirely 

 disappeared. 



Essex has not fared so badly as Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 but in recent times Harwich and Walton-on- the -Naze 

 have decreased in size owing to the encroachment of 

 the sea. At Clacton cliffs are crumbling away in many 

 places, and a few years ago several hundred acres of 

 land were ruined by the great flood/ 



In Kent the most serious losses of land have 

 occurred in Sheppey, at Herne Bay, Reculver, and 

 Whitstable. The cliffs on the north of Sheppey are 

 being destroyed at a rapid rate ; the church of Minster, 

 now near the coast, was in the middle of the island in 

 1780. The famous Goodwin Sands are said to have 

 formed part of the mainland in Earl Godwine's days. 



