RATE OF EROSION OF THE SEA-COASTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 427 
The shingle beach has probably dammed up an old tidal estuary, now the Allu- 
vium of Lodmoor. And, further south, the chief part of Melcombe Regis, 
_ Weymouth, is built on marine sand and shingle which has contracted the 
mouth of the River Wey, and left a kind of broad, known as Radipole Lake or 
the Backwater. The water in this is now artificially retained at low tide by a 
 weir.—[H. B. W.] 
» See R. Damon: ‘Geology of Weymouth, &c.’ Ed. 2, 1884. 
6. Christchurch to Poole. 
By the Rev. G. H. Wexst, Ascham School, Bournemouth. 
4. Hants and Dorset—Christchurch to Poole. 
@. Sandy. a. Sand and Clay cliffs. b.(1)?90 feet. (2) 70 to 802. (3) About 15, 
}. North-west to south-east. 
_ &. South-west and west-south-west. 
S. a. South-east is the only wind which can bring rollers in, as Studland Point 
shelters from the south-west. b. East wind. The shore is always shingly 
after east winds, which seem to check the ‘ travel’ of the beach. e. Westerly 
winds, which coincide with the prevailing currents and flow of the tides. 
6. There is a strong indraught (marked on Admiralty charts) along shore from Old 
Harry to Poole, but the main set of the tide is from Old Harry straight to 
Double Dykes (Hengistbury Head). There is also a strong current all along 
shore eastwards, especially at the second flow, which runs in a sort of fleet, 
cut off from the open sea by asandbank. This is attributed, probably correctly, 
to the ebb from Poole Harbour, which, instead of running straight out to sea, 
flows out along shore through two openings called the ‘ Looes.’ The general 
tun of the tides here is—flow for about seven hours, then ebb for an hour, 
fall about nine inches; flow again for one hour and a half up to, or at neap 
tides higher than, at first. At spring tides the proper first flow and ebb 
are the highest, and the second flow is hardly perceptible. This second flow 
is generally attributed to the ebb from the Solent, but I do not believe this 
cause is sufficient. Besides, the tides appear to be very irregular all the way 
to Weymouth, and on the opposite side in the Baie de la Seine, high water 
lasts three hours (at Havre). Does not the old tidal-wave, which has been 
round Scotland, come back through the Straits of Dover and meet the up- 
Channel wave, being heaped up in the Baie de la Seine by the Cotentin, and 
___ reflected across Channel on to this coast ? 
. (1) At spring tides the range is considerable. (2) Perhaps one hundred yards at 
_ spring tides, not above three or four at neap. 
Sand generally, overlying Blue Clay, which in places comes to the surface between 
high water and low water. } 
b. The shingle varies extremely in amount. Generally it lies in small detached 
heaps, but during east winds sometimes forms a small neap full. It is not 
real shingle, but gravel which has come from the cliffs. e. It distinctly travels 
east. d. Chiefly small angular (Plateau) gravel, but there is a certain number 
of large grey pebbles, well rounded, which also come out of the cliffs. [Out 
_____ of pebble-beds, or layers, in parts of the Bagshot beds—W. W.]! 
20. Till 1867 the shore from this side of Double Dykes to the Head consisted of two 
large shingle fulls; in that year (owing to the removal of the ironstone in the 
_ Head, which formed a natural groyne reaching out to the Beerpan rocks) the 
shingle began to travel round the Head and form the sand-spit at Christchurch. 
» There are no groynes, except under High Cliff Castle, beyond Christchurch. There 
_ there are three or four, made about five or six years ago by Lady Waterford to 
check the wear at what was then the mouth of the river. Their object was 
_ rather to turn the river out than to protect the coast from the sea. 
- From 1847 to 1865 the ironstone was removed out of the Head, and from between 
high and low water, which formerly formed a half-tide reef. {Not done now. 
—W.W.]_b. Fora small private company, who exported it to Staffordshire. 
Private individuals (Mr. Holloway of Christchurch). 
1 The notes signed ‘ W. W.’ are by Mr. W. Whitaker. 
