ON THE EROSION OF THE SEA-COASTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. 365 



Z.— Shingle Beaches. Copy of Re^iort from Commander David Pear, 

 R.X., Inspecting Commander, Folkestone District, to the Harbour 

 Department, Admiralty. October 9, 1844.' 



1. The extent of shingle beach in the Folkestone district from Dover 

 Castle to the mouth of Rye Harbour is 35 miles. The general direction 

 is E.X.E. and W.S.W., but on the west side of Dungeness the coast lies 

 S.E. and N.W., and is the most exposed part of this district. 



2. S.W. winds are those which bring the shingle. Moderate Ijreezes 

 heap it up the most, and heavy gales at spring tides often form a number 

 of small ' fulls ' into one. 



3. It appears to come from the westward. Arises from the wearing 

 away of the cliffs, and travels along shore. 



4. From the westward of Beachy Head. The pebble.s, to my personal 

 knowledge, bear the same appearance from Dover, as far as the headland 

 mentioned, only they are larger at Eastbourne and Langley Fort, where 

 churches, houses, and walls are built of them. 



5. Gales from whatever direction, accompanied with a heavy sea, 

 scour the beacli ; but it depends on the angle at which the sea strikes the 

 beach whether the shingle is carried onward, and a heavy sea brings down 

 towards low-water mark many of the small ' fulls ' formed in smootli 

 weather. 



6. It loses from Rye Harbour to Dungeness Point, gains from 

 Dungeness Point to near Dymchurch, and loses from Dymchurch to 

 past Dover Castle. 



7. A strip of land or rocks extends from the foot of the shingle to 

 low water. The tide from Rye Harbour to Dover leaves the shingle 

 genei'ally at three-fourths ebb, except for two miles on each side of Dunge- 

 ness Point. No bed of shingle has been found under the sand, but stones 

 are mixed with the same. 



8. A gale, followed by moderate weather, often brings up the shingle 

 from the lower to the upper part of the beach in a single tide to the 

 thickness of 3 or 4 feet. 



9. The size of the shingle on Dungeness is from that of a man's fist 

 to small gravel ; the large ones increase along the coast west to Beachy 

 Head, and are smaller at Dover than at Dungeness. The weight, large 

 packed with small, is one hundred and fifteen pounds per cubic foot. 



10. Yes, variations exist ; the cause, abrasion in passing along the 

 coast. 



11. The shingle generally along the shore is only a narrow ridge, 

 extending from high to near low water ; but there are at places large 

 deposits from Beachy Head to Dover — viz. Langley Fort near Eastbourne. 

 Pett Level, Dungeness, and Hythe Bay. The average thickness may be 

 reckoned 20 feet, and their extent in all 25 square miles. At Dungeness 

 Point report states 70 feet as the thickness. 



12. The greatest increase is at Dungeness Point, which is G feet 

 annually. 



13. Cannot say respecting the Cornish bays, but in my opinion shingle 

 passes round headlands, across flats, and even crosses the mouths of 

 rivers where they join the sea. 



' The numbers given refer to a schedule of questions, evidently by the Harbour 

 Department in 1844, and have no reference to those used by this Committee. 



