SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



83 



greater part of ihc North Polar Region, Siotlaml 

 anil tlie North of Irrlaml bcini" incluileil in the ele- 

 vation, tO};ctluT with nil but a small portion of the 

 Scanilinavian IVninsula. On Ihc other hand, the 

 southern part of Knt;lan(l is sinking, as is also the 

 land bordering the Channel on the Continental 

 side. It has in fact been computed that shouM 

 the present rate of submergence be eontinueil, in 

 little n>ore than a thousand years a large part of 

 Holland, Belgium and the North of France will 

 have disappearerl below the waves, and i'aris itself 

 become a maritime city, which may, perhaps, in 

 & measure, account for the uneasiness evinced bv 

 the French press at the conlinucil growlh of tin- 

 British Navy ! 



Although difTering little in form and structure 

 from other submerged forests, those situate on the 

 coast of Cheshire are remarkable for the astonish- 

 ing number and variety of archaeological objects 

 which have from lime to time been discovered. 

 Canon Hume, writing in 1863, enumerates over 

 three thousand articles as existing in some half- 

 <lozen collections alone, which had been for the 

 most part found during a period of less than fifty 

 vears immediately prior to that date. If we allow 

 for the number of objects which are known to have 

 ^also been collected, but of which all trace has since 

 been lost, and for the many others which in all 

 ]>robability have existed, but of which nothing has 

 been heanl, as well as for those which have been 

 recovered since the publication of Canon Hume's 

 monograph; we shall at once see we have a verv 

 formidable catalogue of " finds." Not onlv is 

 this list numerically important, but the range and 

 variety of the antiquities is eipially interesting ; con- 

 sisting as it does of all manner of articles, from an 

 iron anchor to bone pins. It includes innumerable 

 coins, articles of dress and jewellery, crucifixes, 

 Roman fibulae (42), go.id and other spurs, spear 

 and arrow heatis, harness, spindle-whorls, tobacco 

 pipes, with many other things. The materials of 

 which the objects are composed too are various, 

 and comprise gold, silver, copper, bronze, iron, 

 brass, lead, glass, stone, horn, bone, earthenware 

 and other substances. 



How can we account for this vast accumulation 

 of antiquities, confined as they were to a very re- 

 stricted area in the vicinity of Dove Point? The 

 question is one much more easily propounded than 

 answered. Many theories have been advanced, 

 but perhaps no one will claim to have altogether 

 satisfactorily disposed of the matter beyond dis- 

 pute. Opinion would seem to point to the fact 

 that at one time a great highway ran along the 

 border of the forest almost parallel with and near 

 to the coastline, and that another important route 

 led inland from a settlement near Dove Point, 

 which appears through many centuries to have 

 been a place of some importance, but the site of 

 which now lies considerably seawards of the present 

 shore. It is well known in various parts of the 

 world that for long periods militarv expeditions, 

 trade and travellers have moved along the same 



great highways to the sea, and it is certain from 

 old records that the neighbourhood of ancient 

 Meols once enjoyed a reputation as a seaport, 

 which the casual obiserver of to-day, beholding 

 nothing but a series of shoals and sanrlbanks, finds 

 ilifficult to realise. It is easily conceivable and, 

 indeed, probable, that throughout the long years 

 that elapsed during which persons of all classes 

 and nationalities passed to and fro by land and 

 water and dwelt in and about our ancient settle- 

 ment, many objects would be dropped by the way- 

 side, along the converging highways, and become 

 lost about the lamling-place, or in the immediate 

 vicinity of the township itself. Periodic great 

 storms, too, with their resultant shipwrecks and 

 sudden inroads of the sea might also have contributed 

 their quota to the .sum total of things lost ; but that one 

 such great cataclysm is .accountable for the whole 

 of the objects as has been suggested is scarcely 

 jirobable. This latter theory would seem to have 

 much to commend it, did the objects belong to any 

 particular period in history ; but what is perhaps 

 even more astonishing than their number, is the 

 great length of time over which they range, a period 

 extending over seventeen hundred years, .•\nother 

 f.actor to be taken into account is the exceeding 

 beautv and chaste workmanship of many of the 

 articles found, some of them being inlaid with 

 enamels or otherwise ornamented and embellished, 

 which would render them of great value in their 

 dav. This fact only adds to our mystery at finding 

 them scatrered about in the comparative profusion, 

 with which they have occurred near Dove Point. 

 That only fr.agments of horns, bones, and teeth 

 have been met with during recent years would seem 

 to indicate that with the continued wasting away of 

 the coast we have now got well behind the former 

 habitations and more frequented spots, and are now 

 standing over p.art of the great surrounding forest 

 which we know from history to have covered in 

 earlv times almost the whole of the hundred of 

 Wirral. 



Perhaps enough has been said to satisfy the 

 ordinary reader, whilst the few remarks I have 

 made will but serve to whet the arch.aeological 

 appetites of those who are interested in the inves- 

 tigation of the past, and for the latter it will be 

 only necessary to add that in the Liverpool Free 

 Public Library can be obtained Hume's " Ancient 

 Meols," and Morton's " Geology of the Country 

 round Liverpool," to which excellent works I am 

 indebted for much of my knowledge of the Wirral 

 coast. In the Chester and Liverpool Corporation 

 Museums can be seen a large quantity of the actual 

 articles discovered, objects of various kinds, the 

 dates of which range over a period extending from 

 the time when our district was sparsely peopled 

 by the ancient cornavii, up to the end of the last 

 century. 



The photographs here reproduced were speciallv 

 taken by Mr. A. J. Martyn, of Hoylake, for the 

 author, to illustrate this article. 



Sa.rhulme, tloyla/.c, July, 1S99. 



