380 REPORT— 1895. 



Lytham to Fleetwood. 

 By C. E. De Eance, Stoke-upon-Trent. 



I. Lytham to Fleetwood. 



2i Between Lytbam and Blackpool, sand dunes. Between Blackpool and Norbreck, 

 glacial drift, clay and sands. Between Norbreck, Ros.sall and B^leetwood, sand 

 dunes, b. Ranges from 25 feet to 90 feet at Bispham. Much of the areas 

 north and south lying behind the sand dunes is beneath H.W.M. 



3. North and south as far as Rossall Point. Between Rossall Point and the mouth of 



the Wyre, east and west. 



4. West to north. 



5. a. North-west. b. North-west. c. W.S.W. 



6. E.S.E. at the mouth of the River Ribble ; S.S.W. to N.N.E. to Rossall Point, thence 



to Wyre from W.N.W. to E.N.E. 



7. (1) 28 feet ; (2) 14 feet. At Blackpool (1) 800 yards ; (2) .500 yards. 



8. Fringing the cliffs of shingle, thence to ebb low water of sand, then of boulder 



clay, which also occur under the shingle ; land water percolating the latter 

 flows over the surface of the clay in defined channels 10 inches deep and 

 6 inches wide. 



9. a. 150 feet; 300 feet in the Blackpool area. Near Lytham occurs a miniature 



chesil bank called the Double Stanner, which is steadil}"- advancing ; between 

 it and the coast is a flat 600 ft. wide ; at the open end water flows through it 

 from the land. b. It terminates seawards a little above neap low-water 

 mark. c. North. Encaustic tiles during the storm of March 1869 travelled 

 from south shore to the Gwyn in two tides a distance of a mile. d. 7 inches ; 

 between neap low- water and spring low- water many erratic boulders occur, 

 some 6 feet in length, e. There is generally a ' storm beach ' of very large 

 pebbles from 3 to 5 feet above the ' spring full.' At Norbreck each tide 

 receding leaves a succession of small ' fulls.' 



10. The quantity appears to be constant, except opposite South Beach, Blackpool. 



At Fleetwood the shingle is accumulating ; it is cut off by the River Wyre. 



II. Entirely due to artificial abstraction at South Beach, Blackpool. 



12. a. Yes. That at Bailey's Hotel is at right angles to the centre of the curved 



sea-wall protecting that property ; the wall and the groyne were built about 

 1880, and have stood very well. b. 8 feet. c. 2 feet, e. Wood battens and 

 square piles. A groyne of sheet iron below Uncle Tom's Cabin was destroyed 

 by the waves. Several wooden breakwaters are placed opposite South Beach, 

 Blackpool, and Fleetwood ; they cause an accumulation of shingle on the 

 lee-side. 



13. Shingle is indiscriminately carted away at Blackpool from any part of the 



shore by (c) at a greater distance than 60 yards from the coast line; the 

 underlying boulder clay is exposed by these operations, and is extensively 

 denuded by the sea, which gets leverage on its surface by the tearing up by 

 the waves of the large erratic boulders scattered through its mass; the large 

 blocks remain, but the smaller stones are swept up the beach, which is thus 

 steadily replenished. The holes left vacant by the removal of stones are oval, 

 the long axis corresponding to the tide, or N.W.E. 



1ft. a. Yes, especially between Blackpool and Norbreck and Bispham. The cliffs 

 are 80 to 90 feet high, and consist of boulder claj% with a thick sand inter- 

 vening. Some years a loss of a yard takes place. And also between Bispham 

 and Rossall, where the sea-wall built by Sir Hesketh Fleetwood has been 

 allowed to be destroyed, c. Shingle occurs on the face of the cliff ; the 

 erosion is caused by (a) wind blowing away the sand and (J) land-springs, 

 removing the base of the sand, where it rests on the lower boulder clay. 

 d. There is a tradition that the cliff formerly extended to the large mass of 

 consolidated sand and gravel called the ' Penny Stone,' and that a gallon of 

 beer was at that period sold for a penny. There can be no doubt that it once 

 forujed the base of the cliff, as the material only occurs on the surface of the 

 lower boulder clay. The Penny Stone is only seen at equinoctial springs. 



15. After the heavy storm of March 1869, I found all the minor beach-fulls gone, 

 and the whole of the beach concentrated into one large stone beach under the 

 base of the cliff, and the sand in front of Blackpool also removed, showing an 

 extension surface of boulder clay froni the height of erratic boulders then 



