OBSERVATIONS ON CHANGES IN SEA COAST OF UNITED KINGDOM. 271 



Hamstead Wood and Saltmead, where the sea has encroached 18 feet in five- 

 years, and groynes again have not been erected ; and in tlie neighbourhood 

 of Yarmouth. Here the cliffs for three miles east of Yarmouth Pier are- 

 continually sliding on to the beach carrying away small trees &c. in their 

 progress. To the west of Yarmouth Harbour a roadway along the beach 

 has been completely washed away during the five years preceding 1899. 

 From about 1894 to 1903 the annual loss of cliff has been three feet 

 along the stretch of coast from the west end of Yarmouth Common to- 

 Hampstead Point. The coast-defences are not unimportant. They consist 

 of a sea-wall 700 yards west and 300 yards east of Fort Albert and 

 another 100 yards long in front of Fort Victoi'ia, and also short groynes- 

 along the shore east of Yarmouth Pier. The latter are said, however, to- 

 have very little effect on the travelling sand &c. No beach material can 

 be removed without the permission of the Board of Trade, aiad then only 

 for use in sea-walls &c. 



The stationary parts of the southern coast are at the eastern end. 

 From a point half way between Shanklin and Sandown to the Foreland 

 no change is reported. Groynes at the eastern part of Sandown retain 

 the sand, and a small breakwater near the Foreland C.G.S. collects the 

 shingle. Neither sand nor shingle is removed. Returning westward, we 

 find at Freshwater Bay an annual loss of about a foot for a distance of 

 about 300 feet where the cliff is soft. Near Brook (Comjjton Bay and 

 south-eastward) a report states (probably in 1899) that rocks which 

 thirty years ago formed part of the foot of the cliff are now 58 feet away. 



Along the coast 3 miles north-west of St. Catherine's Lighthouse 

 the encroachment of the sea is said to be owing to the bed of the cliff 

 being of blue clay, which, being easily eroded by every gale, facilitates, 

 slipping in the overlying mass. There are no groynes, and nothing is- 

 removed. The eastern arm of Woody Bay, Ventnor, is disappeai-ing by 

 landslips and exposure to east winds much more rapidly than the western 

 arm, where there is little alteration. At Bennel (June 1899) subsidence 

 of the land is taking place, making a gradual but very rugged slope- 

 seaward (by reason of the cracks). A somewhat similar report deals 

 with the coast from Orchard Bay (Ventnor) to Dunnose Point, where 

 encroachment takes place on positions exposed to the S.E., S., S.S.W., and 

 N.S.W. winds. The few groynes along this station collect shingle with 

 W. and S.W. winds, such shingle being removed by easterly winds. 

 Nothing is taken away for any purpose. The lack of sufficient groynes- 

 has been given as the cause of the slight loss of land from Dunnose Point 

 to beyond Shanklin Pier. Those already built assist in accumulating the 

 beach, of which none is removed. 



No reports have been submitted from the northern side of the Solent 

 or Christchurch Bay, but between Christchurch Head and Boscoiiibe Chine 

 an average loss of 3 feet per annum is recorded, with no groynes and 

 nothing removed. Erosion is taking place along the soft cliffs extending 

 from Bournemouth to Poole Head, consisting of the Bagshot beds and 

 plateau gravel, with an admixture of clay. The sandhills stretching from 

 Poole Head to North Haven Point, at the entrance to Poole Harbour, 

 were subject to erosion as far back as recoi-ds exist ; but some years ago 

 they were protected by the construction of a sea-wall near high-water 

 mark, of which a portion, for a length of about 1,940 feet from Poole Head, 

 is perfectly sound ; another portion further on is seriously damaged irk 

 places, and of the part nearer North Haven Point only traces exist. In 



