152 



THE BRITISH ISLES. 



wall. But whilst the sea cnoroachcd at that spot upon the coast, the laud else- 

 where has gaiued in extent. The strait which anciently separated the Isle of 

 Thanet from the mainland of Kent has heen silted up, the old island converted 

 into a peninsula, and the river Stour now traverses the site of the old AVantsome, 

 or sea-passage, through which foreign ships sometimes passed on their way to 

 London. This gain at the north-eastern corner of the county of Kent, however, 

 is but small if compared with the loss sustained along the east shore towards the 



84. — GooinviN Sands. 

 Scale 1 : 175,000. 



h«;^vr^> Deal 



^^%f ^,^^ ff^fj 





;*20' 



!• 50- 



E.of G. 



Depth under 

 2i Fathoms. 



close of the eleventh century, in consequence of a terrible hurricane, which also 

 ravaged the coasts of Flanders and Holland. That storm, we are told, caused 

 the vast estates of Earl Godwin to be swallowed up by the sea, their site 

 being marked now by a crescent-shaped bank of sand, which lies about 5 miles 

 off Deal, and turns its convex side towards the open sea. Mariners dread the.se 

 sands, for shipwrecks are frequent. The " great storm " of 170-3, when four 

 men-of-war, with 1,190 souls on board, were lost in a single night, and the 



