q 
136 : REPORT—1858. 
together would have equalled this one, either in force or sound. Over an area of 
nearly half a mile from the spot of its occurrence, the air was one huge column of powder 
smoke and cast-up earth, up into and athwart which ignited or exploding shells 
and rockets ever and anon darted and fiashed by hundreds, spreading destruction to 
nearly everything animate and inanimate, within a radius of more than a thousand 
yards. Heavy siege guns were wrenched from their carriages and thrown many 
perches from where they had been standing, whilst the carriages themselves were 
torn asunder.””—London Express, Nov. 29, 1855. 
The following notices of the Great Blast at Seaford Cliff are extracted from 
‘ Saunders’s Newsletter’ of September 15, 1856 :— 
“The great explosion at Seaford.—There has been a great concourse of visitors in 
this little town today to witness the operation of ‘blasting,’ by the explosion of 
gunpowder, an immense mass of chalk cliff from the heights down upon the beach, 
there to form a barrier which may check the drifting of the shingle towards Beachy 
Head and the east. The ground about Seaford for two miles to the west lies low, 
and there is nothing to protect it from the inroad of the sea at high tides but a 
narrow beach bank of shingle. This barrier is becoming gradually weaker in con- 
sequence of the tendency of the shingle to drift away, and it has become a matter of 
urgent moment that this should be stayed. Close to Seaford, on its eastern side, 
rises a noble line of cliff, in some places 300 feet high, and averaging above 200. It 
was determined to project a huge slice of the cliff on to the beach, with a view 
thereby to constitute a groin for the purpose of retaining the shingle and preventing 
its leaving the bay. The operations have been conducted by the Board of Ordnance. 
The spot selected is not much above half a mile to the east of Seaford. At a height 
of about 50 feet above high-water- mark there was driven into the cliff, or excavated, 
a tunnel or gallery 70 feet long, 6 feet high, 5 feet broad, ascending with a slope of 
lin 3. At the inland extremity it turned right and left in the heart of the cliff, 
above 50 feet one way and above 60 the other, with a more gentle ascent, the two 
smaller galleries being 4 feet 6 inches high, and 3 feet 6 inches broad, and the three 
being in the form of a capital T. At the utmost end of each of the side or cross galleries 
was a chamber, 7 feet cube, lined with wood; and in each chamber a charge of no 
less than 12,000 lbs. of gunpowder was deposited ; making the distance of the centre 
of the charge 70 feet from the face of the cliff towards the sea, and about 70 feet 
above high-water mark. The galleries were ‘tamped,’ that is, stopped up, with bags 
of sand, and chalk in bags and loose, to within 50 feet of the mouth, both branches 
being tamped up, and 20 feet down the large gallery. It was not till 12 minutes 
past 3 o’clock, that suddenly the whole cliff, along a width or frontage of some 
120 feet, bent forwards towards the sea, cracked in every direction, crumbled into 
pieces, and fell upon the beach in front of it, forming a bank down which large 
portions of the falling mass glided slowly into the sea for several yards like a stream 
of lava flowing into the water. The whole multitude upon the beach seemed for a 
few moments paralysed and awe-struck by the strange movement, and the slightly 
trembling ground; everyone sought to know with a glance that the mass had not 
force enough to come near him, and that the cliff under which he stood was safe. 
There was no very loud report ; the rumbling noise was probably not heard a mile 
off, and was perhaps caused by the splitting of the cliff and fall of the fragments. 
There seemed to be no smoke, but there was a tremendous shower of dust. Those 
who were in boats a little way out state that they felt a slight shock. It was much 
stronger on the top of the cliff. Persons standing there felt staggered by the shaking 
of the ground, and one of the batteries was thrown down by it. In Seaford, too, 
three quarters of a mile off, glasses upon the table were shaken, and one chimney fell. 
At Newhaven, a distance of three miles, the shock was sensibly felt. The mass 
which came down is larger than was expected ; it forms an irregular heap, apparently 
about 300 feet broad, of a height varying from 40 to 100 feet, and running 200 or 
250 feet or more seaward, which is considerably beyond low-water mark. It is 
thought that it comprises nearly 300,000 tons.” : 
These meagre and most imperfect accounts, as respects the object here in view, 
will however, it may be hoped, direct future attention to more precise observation of 
the data required. 
