THE BURNING CLIFF AT LYME REGIS. 1 57 



taking place, while boats were busy as usual taking stone from 

 the limestone beds at the foot of the cliff. 



Eye witnesses stated that three minutes after the last stone- 

 boat had left, a portion of the cliff suddenly gave way, and the 

 large mass, weighing many thousand tons, fell forward on to the 

 beach with a loud rustling and rumbling noise, which was plainly 

 heard in the town, while a cloud of sulphurous smoke issued 

 from the burning mound. Other slips and falls occurred either 

 simultaneously or very soon afterwards, and when Mr. Cameron 

 arrived on the spot he found that several changes had taken 

 place. 



The movements were not all at one spot, but had occurred at 

 several places along a tract which was about 500 yards in length. 

 The main mass of cliff which had fallen onto the shore was not 

 more than 230 yards long, and this now forms a long slope of 

 debris which at high water projects into the sea and forms a 

 promontory (see map). The terrace, or plateau, north-west of 

 this fall was much fissured, and a large mass of black shale had 

 fallen from the slope above and behind, forming a long ridge 

 near the burning mound, which was itself split by a fissure. 



A little later on the same day large falls took place from the 

 cliffs on the seaward side of this plateau, and one of these 

 included the seaward part or peak of the split burning mound 

 (see Plate 3). About 50 yards east of the mound, and rather 

 lower down, a mass of clay and shale, from 50 to 60 yards long, 

 moved forward over the more solid limestone beds, but did not 

 fall onto the beach. No other extensive slip has yet occurred, 

 though the whole cliff between this point and Lyme church is in 

 an unstable condition. 



The causes which have specially conduced to the landslip and 

 the falls from this portion of the cliff appear to be two, the 

 abstraction of limestone from the shore below, and the soakage 

 of water into the cracks which form on the slopes. 



Although there is no actual quarrying on the cliff itself, yet the 

 beds of limestone, or ledges (as the workmen call them) which 

 crop out on the shore below are quarried with pick and bar, and 



