KATE OF EROSION OF THE SEA-COASTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 909 



Mr. Redman to the Secretary of State for War. 



6 New Palace Yard, Westminster, December 20, 1856. 



Sir, — In pursuance of the instructions contained in yonr letters of the 3rd and 14th 

 ultimo, and accompanying memoranda of latter date, I visited Deal from the 25th to 

 29th ultimo, and for the information of the Secretary of State for War beg to report 

 the result of my inquiries, and what appears to me would be the best plan of defence 

 to adopt to stop the continued encroachments of the sea ; in illustration thereof I 

 beg to refer to the accompanying plan and sections, which show the state of the shore 

 north and south of the Castle, and northward to Battery No. 1 , during my survey, as 

 also the works I propose should be executed. 



On the morning of the 23th ultimo, at high water, with a high tide, and the wind 

 from N.N.W., I found the sea breaking over the Castle, and over the outer brick 

 walls of Batterj' No. 1, and the Castle moat was fuU of water, the sea getting through 

 the moat wall on the south side at the termination of the new wall ; this was sub- 

 sequently repaired ; at the same time tlie sea was making a clear breach through the 

 crest of the beach south of the ' Good Intent ' public-house, and running into the 

 adjoining fields, and north of the Castle nearly up to Battery No. 1 the sea was over 

 the saltings behind the shingle mole and sand dunes, forming a small lake right up 

 to the adjoining fields, coming in south of Battery No. 1, through two breaches in the 

 crest of the shingle, and flowing round the back of the officers' quarters, or south 

 Tower. 



The condition of the shore from the north side of Deal to half-way between the 

 two batteries is very serious, and should there be a continuance of gales from N. and 

 N.E. daring the winter, it is difficult to estimate the probable consequences, not only 

 to the property of the War Department, but also to the north side of the town of 

 Deal and the adjoining land. 



The inroads made upon the shore between Sandown Terrace and the Castle are 

 60 extensive that should a permanent breach occur there, which is not at all impro- 

 bable, the north side of the town would be threatened as well as the adjoining low 

 lands, or should the wasting of the beach continue, adjoining Battery No. 1, the whole 

 of the low lands up to the line of railway, and even beyond, might be submerged.' 



From the information I have been able to gather, it would appear that the whole 

 of the shore from Sandown to midway between the two batteries has been en- 

 croached on by the sea during the last eight years at an alarming rate.' It would 

 appear that at Battery No. 1, only four years back, the line of beach was 40 feet to 

 50 feet seaward of the battery, and now it is in a line with the back of the gun 

 racers. As the sea has gained on the land, the beach has not only diminished in 

 quantity, but has travelled landward, gaining on the sand-hills, which now in places 

 crop out through the shingle and are washed away by the sea.' The result of this 

 action is that the upper 'full' of shingle is traveUing to the rear of the Castle and 

 Battery, and leaving the groynes, the western ends of which are buried in its progress 

 by this landward recession of the shingle. From the greater prevalence of N.E. 

 winds during the last seven or eight years * on this part of the coast, the leeward 

 motion of the beach has been to the southward ; as, however, this mole of shingle 

 travelled originally from the southward, should S.W. winds again predominate to a 

 greater extent the re-accumulation of beach may be looked for, and a motion to the 

 northward, for we find that at Battery No. 2, where at present there is an abs^ence of 

 modern shingle, which almost ceases shortly north of it, there are two ' fulls ' of beach 

 after S.W. winds. 



There are two deep pools of water behind the beach north of Battery No. 1, which 

 did not exist seven years back ; evidence of the encroachment of the sea. 



From half-way between the two batteries to Battery No. 2 the mole of shingle 

 appears to have been tolerably stationary for the last eight or nine years, but to the 

 southward the shingle has constantly diminished over the same term of years, and 

 about 20 feet in breadth of beach, according to local evidence, was eaten away at one 

 tide by a breeze from the N.N W. only a fortnight prior to my visit, the absence of 



' [This, in effect, took place December 1862.] 



' [Beach now gone back 150 feet N. of Castle, February 1863.] 



• [Receded 100 to 150 feet in 6^ years after this, viz., to February 1863.] 



< At Ramsgate, from the Harbour Register there, the excess of west winds from 



1846 to 1 866 has been an average of forty-six days per annum as compared with 



eighty-five days per annum from 1836 to 1846. 



