368 REPORT— 189r-. 



would willinglie turne Diimvich men unto ; being notwithstandinge 

 Owners, under her Majestie, of the same Haven there, and more than a 

 Mile above, and the intended Cuttes of the said Wcdherswick and South- 

 wold men there, very dangerous to all Passengers, bie Reason of certaine 

 Flattes caled Fasselie Sands, yf a Cutt were made both on a Levell, and 

 as appeareth Owessey Ground, from the Weaste Flatt toward their keies, 

 they should remedie those Flattes, and j^erfect the Haven as bie this 

 Platte may better appear.' 



6. — First RejMrt addressed to the Committee on the Erosion of Dover Cliffs^ 

 1891-92. By Captain S. Gordon McDakin.' 



The cliffs are composed of chalk, and reach an elevation of 526 

 feet on the west near Folkestone, and 400 feet at the South Foreland, 

 and extend for about six miles on each side of Dover. The coast has 

 been compared with the 6-inch Ordnance map of 1876. Marks at 

 about a height of 2 feet from the shingle or plane of marine erosion 

 have been jjlaced in situations attacked by the sea. These consist of 

 half-inch holes, three inches deep, plugged with wooden pegs, and were 

 disposed in a triangle for 1890, perpendicularly for 1891, and hori- 

 zontally for 1892, the middle being the test-hole, the others only in- 

 dicating their position to the eye. Such holes are less liable to be 

 tampered with than other marks, and could not be counterfeited with 

 the means likely to be at the disposal of anyone mischievously in 

 clined. 



The results have been recorded, and an extract is appended, from 

 which it appears that at the Cornhill, about two miles east of Dover, the 

 erosion is not more than half an inch in twelve months, and in the hard 

 nodular chalk almost imperceptible 



The same applies to St. Margaret's Bay. 



To the west of Dover the cliffs have suffered to a greater extent. 



From Shakespeare Cliff to the Channel Tunnel works, about a mile, 

 the undercliff formed of old slips has been attacked and largely removed 

 this winter (1891-1892). 



From the Folkestone cliffs, live miles west of Dover, the triangular 

 marks have disappeared. This part of the coast consists principally of 

 undercliff, formed by the ancient slips. The rock here is saturated with 

 fresh water, and the severe frosts of 1890, 1891, and 1892 have attacked 

 the surface to a depth of more than eighteen inches. 



Looking at a map it will be seen that the coast recedes west of Dover. 

 This is due to two causes ; the minor cause, the soft grey chalk which is 

 here at the sea level, and the major cause, the springs which issue out 

 at the base of the cliffs, either over the surface of the Gault or that of 

 the impervious Lower Chalk, and so undermine the cliffs. Sudden falls of 

 thousands of tons forming an undercliff, which in its turn is removed by 



the sea. 



A great translation of shingle has taken place during the last ten years 

 from the Folkestone cliffs towai-ds the Admiralty Pier at Dover. The 

 numerous wooden groynes in front of the South-Eastern Station are now 

 buried under the shingle. 



East Kent Natural History f:ociety and Dover Natural History Society. 



