418 
3. From Beer Head to Sidmouth nearly east and west; farther west it curves round 
4. In January and February either north wind and frost, or south and west with 
REPORT—1885. 
towards Dartmoor, the cliffs towards Exmouth, Dawlish, &c., are composed of 
the Lower beds of Sand rock and coarse conglomerate. b. The height of 
High Peak, the second hill west of Sidmouth, by the Ordnance Survey, is 
marked as 513-9 feet high, reduced to mean tide, LiverpooL Peak Hill, next 
on the west from Sidmouth, is 439, and Salcombe Hill, east, 497 by the 
barometer. Though flat on the top, the high land rises inland, or northward, 
towards Blackdown, at the rate of about 50 feet in a mile. 
to the south-west and south towards Torbay. 
storms and rain. March, April, and part of May much cold north-east wind. 
June often showery, with westerly winds. July, August, and September, if 
not disturbed by thunder, steady north-west wind and fine weather. October 
equinoctial gales from south and west, with rain. November has generally a 
ten days’ spell of frost. December often milder. 
5. The south-west wind brings the highest waves, which come up Channel from the 
Atlantic. The south-west wind piles up shingle at Sidmouth, and the north- 
east winds clear it away. The shingle on this part of the coast seems to 
travel east or west according to the direction of the wind. 
6. The tidal currents are intricate and varying, and change as the tide is rising or 
falling. The fishermen are not always clear on the subject. I am disposed to 
think that when the tide is rising, and the current running eastward in mid- 
channel, it strikes against Portland and turns back by a great eddy and runs 
past Sidmouth in the opposite direction. When the tide falls the currents are 
reversed, and every headland has its eddy. 
Fic. 2.—Eddy between Start Point and Portland—the tide rising. 
7. (1) Ihave no trustworthy information on this point, and the local fishermen and 
8. For miles on each side of Sidmouth it consists of chert and flint shingle, fed from 
10. Curiously enough, the shingle seems to accumulate and to diminish by cycles— 
sailors differ in their statements. It could easily be ascertained in calm 
weather. For the present I may observe that 12 to 14 feet is likely to be near 
the truth. The highest and lowest spring tides occur at the equinoxes. 
(2) This depends on the steepness or slope of the beach, which is steeper near 
high-water mark than low. On an average about 35 yards at Sidmouth. 
the clay and flint bed capping the tops of the hills over the Greensand. At 
low water a flat sand is uncovered in some places. A low reef of rocks runs into 
the sea immediately on the west of Sidmouth, and is called the ‘ Chit Rocks.’ 
They begin to uncover at half-tide down. No mud, but fine sand, called ‘ mud- 
sand.’ 
From the cliffs, or from the esplanade wall of Sidmouth (about 1,841 feet long), 
down to the beginning of the sand, the average width of the shingle is 35 
yards. tb. They cover the whole beach everywhere, the pebbles being from 
the size of peas to the size of the fist. e. The shingle travels east with a west 
wind, and west with an east wind. d. According to the size of the flints, 
some may be as large as a child’s head. e. The shingle forms a curved slope 
(Figs. 3 and 4), but at high-water mark the waves throw it up into a ridge 
more or less high. 
perhaps irregular, for I have no record of these changes. I remember a great 
accumulation of shingle, I think about 1847, and six or eight years after a 
considerable diminution, Again, about 1860, or soon after, it was heaped up 
so high as to be above the esplanade wall. It decreased till 1873, and by 
