IGO DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATA. 



catastrophe took place, could we ascertain the ratio of the decay of 

 our cliffs. That ratio is by no means so great as some imagine. That 

 the site of Whitby abbey, at its first erection by Lady Hilda in 658, 

 was a mile from the sea, as asserted by some writers, is a groundless 

 fancy, resting on no authority whatever. The average waste of our 

 cliffs, as far as it can be computed from facts within our knowledge, 

 does not exceed ten yards in a century, and probably has not been 

 greater for many centuries past. At a more remote period, when 

 the whole force of the ocean was directed against the apex of the 

 triangle, or against its base when it was very narrow, the waste would 

 be vastly greater, especially as the strata might then be softer. Making 

 allowance for this difference, our calculation may easily carry us back 

 to the era of the deluge, as the time when the cliffs of the promon- 

 tory on the east side of our harbour, coincided with the outline of 

 the submarine cliffs on the edges of Whitby rock. 



For the sake of future calculations, it may be proper here to re- 

 peat what we have stated in the History of Whitby (II. p. 775, 776), 

 that the distance from the verge of Whitby east cliff, to the nearest 

 part of the abbey, measured in the line of the transept, was found in 

 1816 to be exactly 680 feet; including 46 feet, which is the breadth of 

 a hole, or old quarry, on the margin of the cliff. The distance from the 

 middle of the outer court gate of the hall of Charles Cholmley Esq., 

 to the verge of the cliff, taken in a line with the old cross, is 714 feet. 



Taking our leave of the aluminous beds, we now come to the 

 last member of the strata of our district ; which may be called 



RED SANDSTONE WITH GYPSUM. 



As the junction of the red sandstone with the aluminous beds is 

 concealed by a deep alluvium, we cannot say with certainty, that the 

 one immediately succeeds the other; yet, as the lowest shale with its 



