362 REPORT— 1895. 



pedestrian along the shore. The stair to the top of the cliff has long 

 since disappeared. Large and high boarded groynes erected to defend 

 the shore are entirely empty of beach stones. The old jilatform of high 

 beach on which we then botanised has all but disappeared, and the walk 

 to Dover from the shore is a work of difficulty from the constant barriers 

 of chalk blocks, which would of themselves form a trap for the beach, as 

 they had done in former yeais, had there been any beach to travel. It 

 appears to me that much of the fall of cliff and erosion of coast has been 

 brought about by the sea having removed all the beach to the west of 

 Dover and disposed of much of it between Shakespeare's Cliff and the 

 Admiralty Pier, while no fi'esh beach has arrived from the westward to 

 take its place. 



Just in Dover Bay the beach seems to ebb and flow inward and out- 

 ward ; but in the long run there seems more abstracted than replaced, 

 and eastward of the harbour the sea has swept away all the beach towards 

 the South Foreland, and many falls of cliff have taken place. 



In conclusion, in my report made in 1884 I gave it as my opinion that 

 the beach was carried in the direction of the prevailing currents, and not, 

 as is generally stated, by the prevailinr/ winds. In a note I received from 

 • the late Mr. W. Topley I was informed that this view was not held by 

 Mr. Redman, nor by any of those contributing reports. But during the 

 last ten years I have met with no facts that in the least tend to throw 

 doubts upon the view I then expressed. The prevalence of north and 

 east winds does check the advance of the beach in that direction, and 

 when gales occur from that quarter accompanied by high tides the shifting 

 beaches and sands are thrown back in places ; but the effects are small 

 compai-ed with the carrying power of the flood tide. Off Dover and 

 Ramsgate the foi'ce of the flood tide greatly exceeds that of ebb. This is 

 shown in some observations made by E. K. Calver, Surveyor Master R.N., 

 addressed to the Hydrographer of the Admiralty in January 186.3, with 

 accompanying tables then given, and published as correspondence between 

 the Society of Antiquaries and the Admiralty in reference to Ctesar's 

 landing-place. 



It is to be noted that the beach has been travellins from south to north 

 between the North and South Forelands, while at the north of Kent, between 

 Margate and Whitstable, it travels exactly in the opposite dii^ection. 



During the last two years there has been a prejionderance of winds 

 from the north and east as compared with those from the south and west, 

 and we should have expected a corresponding change in the sea coast. 

 This has not been the case off Ramsgate. The sands from the Sandwich 

 fiats are constantly driven towards Ramsgate, and they are carried by the 

 flood tide north of the harbour, where they constitute the Ramsgate 

 sands. During the north-easterly gales they were retarded in their north- 

 ward course and formed bars in front of the harbour ; this, I am informed 

 by the harbour master, has happened again and again ; but these bars are 

 removed again by the natural flow of the tide to the north. North- 

 easterly gales setting in shore here have probably had much to do with 

 the excessive erosion in Pegwell Bay and in causing a deflection in the 

 river's mouth. 



There appears to have been a constant similar motion in the direction 

 of the beach at Whitstable, this town being built upon a series of beaches 

 in parallel succession and curving towards the sea. At the present time 

 this is going on south of the town towards Sea Salter. Deal, on the other 



