BRITISH POSTGLACIAL 6- RECENT DEPOSITS. 431 



coasts of Durham between Sunderland and Hartlepool, upon 

 both sides of the estuary of the Humber ; and along the coast 

 of Lincolnshire from Great Grimsby to Skegness. They abound 

 in the low Fenlands that border on the Wash, and are traced 

 here and there upon the shores of East Anglia between the 

 Wash and the Thames, on the banks of which, near and below 

 London, they are well known. Along the shores of the Channel 

 they are plentifully developed. Thus we meet with them in 

 Sussex at Hastings, St. Leonards, Pevensey Level near East- 

 bourne, and Bracklesham ; and they are equally abundant upon 

 the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, as at Torre Abbey near Tor- 

 quay, at Blackpool, and on the shores of Salcombe estuary, of 

 Bigbury Bay, and of Millendreth Bay near the Looes. Farther 

 west they occur at Mainporth, between Falmouth and Mawnan, 

 at Porthleven near Helston, and on the margin of Mount's Bay. 

 Upon the west coasts of Cornwall and Devon they are not less 

 commonly met with, as at Hayle, Perran Porth, Barnstaple, and 

 Bideford Bay. They occur also on both sides of the Bristol 

 Channel, as at Porlock, Watchet, and Sharpness, and the shores 

 of Caermarthen Bay at Tenby. Upon the west coast of Wales 

 they are found in St. Bride's Bay, at Mount and Aberaeron in 

 Cardigan, and at Holyhead. Again, we meet with them in 

 Denbighshire, as at Llandrillo Bay, and they are jmrticularly well 

 developed between the mouths of the Dee and the Mersey, and 

 especially upon the shores of the latter estuary. Farther north, 

 they appear upon the low shores of Morecambe Bay, and they 

 are also known upon the borders of the Solway Firth. 



There can be no question that all these sunk forests 

 represent former land-surfaces. Abundantly exposed as they 

 are, we have yet very good reason for believing that they are 

 even more continuous than they appear to be. Some of them 

 are only visible at rare intervals, when after some great storm 

 the sea has suddenly swept away the modern beach -deposits 

 under which they ordinarily lie buried. Others, again, as we 

 learn from borings, are permanently covered, and but for those 

 borings would never have been known to exist. There can be 



