RATE OF EROSION OF THE SEA-COASTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 435 
, (2) Spring—at Worthing and Littlehampton said to be a mile, and appears quite 
that distance. Neap—at Worthing and Littlehampton, not a quarter the 
distance. 
Sand, with occasional patches of small chalk rocks. The sand, off the east end of 
Worthing, rests on Blue Clay, found at a depth of less than 2 feet from the 
surface. 
9. As already stated (2 and 8) the shingle is confined to the beach. The beach 
> varies in form from time to time. After violent south-west storms it appears 
stripped away in many places, where not retained by groynes. After moderate 
gales it is piled up, not only by the sides of groynes, but also in longitudinal 
ridges at or near the top of the beach or half-way down, the shape, length, 
and duration of the ridges being constantly varied. At some seasons tons of 
seaweed cover the beach after a gale. Of the high shingle-beach existing in 
Queen Elizabeth’s time, with a backwater to the landward of it, the only 
portion which remains is about Lower Lancing, and perhaps a little about 
Hove. ; 
10. The shingle, which, as stated, is confined to the beach, has for some years past 
; appeared to me slowly diminishing, but I do not know at what rate. 
21. To artificial abstraction mainly, but not perhaps wholly. 
22. Groynes are employed at various points, mostly at right angles to the shore. 
Groynes on this coast are of three sizes, according to their usual dimensions: 
small, which may be left out of the account; middling, of moderate height 
and length; and large, of greater height and length. Also, in some places, 
three or four are crowded together, elsewhere they are wider apart; again, 
considerable lengths of shore have no groynes at all. e. Most of them wood, 
one or two concrete. f. In all the years I have known the coast, the most 
erosion, the greatest encroachments of the sea, have been where shingle was 
deficient—that is, where there were no groynes, or insufficient ones. Erosions 
of limited size have also been generally observed to the eastward of large 
groynes, also to the eastward of spots where three or four groynes were 
crowded together ; such erosions being noticed as hollows in the shore and 
more or less considerable notches in the land, while shingle was largely piled 
_ up on the west sides of the groynes. Erosions have always been noticed to be 
; at a mimimum, or altogether arrested, where groynes of moderate height and 
length (according to their usual sizes), and in good repair, stood at (say) 30 
to 100 yards apart, or at such distances as to maintain an equal distribution 
of shingle along the whole shore line, without piling it up at any particular 
23. a. b. Shingle is taken from the beach about high-water mark. Sand is 
taken from various parts of the flat covered by the tide. The taking of 
these things has been usual as far back as I knew that coast, before 1830. 
Shingle has constantly been used to repair the roads within a mile or two of 
the shore ; fine shingle has been taken for garden walks; large boulders to 
build with. Most of the walls within two miles of the sea have been built 
with boulders from the beach. Sand is mostly taken for building purposes. 
The sands at low water between Littlehampton and Lower Lancing used 
(1832 to 1842) to be noted for their extent, evenness, and firmness, so that 
they were favourite places for riding and driving. Races were then annually 
held on the sands both at Worthing and Littlehampton. Of late years (1850 
to 1870) they have appeared to me not so dry and even as they used to be. 
At Brighton the sands are clearly at a lower level thanformerly. The rounded 
chalk rock sticking up out of the sand eastward of the Chain Pier, near the 
first pair of towers from the land, in 1834 only showed a small portion of its 
rounded top. It is now visible 18 or 20 inches lower down, showing that the 
level of the sands is now so much lower than it was in 1834. d. Not to my 
knowledge. 
24. The whole coast from Littlehampton to Lower Lancing has been in a constant 
_ state of erosion ever since 1832, some parts more than others. The worst 
part is at Kingston, near Rustington. Here the shore has been continually 
washed away for many years; at what rate Ido not know. I have seen but 
'] little shingle here, and the sea washes up against the low clay margin of the 
¢ _ flat land. I have always heard it reported that a large part of Kingston parish 
% has been washed away, and that foundation-stones of the parish church can 
still be seen at extreme low-water mark. Dixon (‘ Geology of Sussex,’ p. 34) 
FF2 
