Notices of Memoirs — Submerged Forest at Blackpool. 105 



persons who saw it during two brief exposures, one in July, 1802, 

 and the otlier about fifty ycai-s afterwards ; and that there was reason 

 to believe that it had never been laid bare during the interval; so 

 that two generations of geologists might have traversed the strand 

 at every low water without detecting a trace of the forest beneath 

 them.^ 



The Torquay Directory of February 10, 1869, contained the follow- 

 ing paragraph :— r" The fine beach, situate about midway between 

 •Stokefleming and the far-famed Slapton Ley, just now presents 

 a most unusual appearance. The action of the heavy seas during 

 the late tempestuous weather has entirely removed the deep bed 

 of sand from the western end, exposing a bottom of blue clay, in 

 which, at low water, portions of bark and nuts may be found em- 

 bedded, which indicate the remains of a primeval forest, which, ages 

 ago, flourished on the spot. The place is well worthy a visit from 

 any one interested in geological incidents." 



From the description of the locality, it was tolerably certain that 

 the forest alluded to was that at Blackpool. Believing that a shift 

 of wind would cause the waves to restore the sand, and once more 

 to bury this interesting but rarely-seen evidence of a change of 

 relative level of land and sea, I started for Dartmouth the next day, 

 February 11th, accompanied by three ladies who take a lively 

 interest in geological phenomena. On reaching Dartmouth we 

 found, as had been expected, that our destination was Blackpool, 

 and that the forest was still to be seen. 



We were so fortunate as to^ reach the beach at spring tide low 

 water, and to find, admirably exposed, by far the finest example of 

 a Submerged Forest which I have ever seen. It occupied a rect- 

 angular area, extending from the small river or stream at the 

 western end of the inlet, about one furlong eastward; and from 

 the low- water line, thirty yards np the strand. 



The lower or seaward portion of the forest area, occupjdng about 

 two-thirds of its entire breadth, consisted of a brownish drab-coloured 

 clay, which was crowded Mdth vegetable debris, such as small twigs, 

 leaves, and nuts. There were also numerous prostrate trunks and 

 branches of trees, lying partly embedded in the clay, without any- 

 thing like a prevalent direction. The trunks varied from six inches 

 to upwards of two feet in diameter. Much of the wood was found 

 to have a reddish or bright pink hue,, when fresh surfaces were 

 exposed. Some of it, as well as many of the twigs, had almost 

 become a sort of ligneous pulp, whilst other examples were firm, 

 and gave a sharp crackling sound on being broken. Several large 

 stumps projected above the clay in a vertical direction, and sent 

 roots and rootlets into the soil in all directions and to considerable 

 distances. It was obvious that the movement by which the sub- 

 mergence was effected had been so uniform as not to destroy the 

 approximate horizontality of the old forest ground. One fine 

 example was noted of a large prostrate trunk having its roots still 



* Transactions of tlie DevonsMre Association, p. 32. 



