Ck. XX.] 



COASTS OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 



509 



distance of 100 yards, there is a depth, in all directions, of 

 two or three fathoms at low water. In 1807, during the 

 erection of the lighthouse, six large blocks of granite, which 

 had been landed on the reef, were removed by the force of 

 the sea, and thrown over a rising ledge to the distance of 

 twelve or fifteen paces ; and an anchor, weighing about 22 

 cwt., was thrown up upon the rock.* Mr. Stevenson informs 

 us, moreover, that drift stones, measuring upwards of thirty 

 cubic feet, or more than two tons' weight, have, during 

 storms, been often thrown upon the rock from the deep 



t 



if Fife and Firth of 



On the coast of Fife, at 



St. Andrew's, a tract of land, said to have intervened between 

 the castle of Cardinal Beaton and the sea, has been entirely 



emams 



in 1803. On both sides of the Firth of Forth, land has been 



Newhaven 

 James 



in the fifteenth century, has been overflowed. 



If we now proceed to the English 



numerous 



Bast coast of England — 

 coast, we find records of 

 stroyed in Northumberland, as those near tfamborougn ana 

 Holy Island, and at Tynemouth Castle, which now overhangs 

 the sea, although formerly separated from it by a strip of 



land. 



b Hartlepool, and several other parts or xne coctbt ui 

 composed of magnesian limestone, the sea has made 



considerable inroads. 



>/ 



—Almost the whole coast of Yorkshire, 

 ~_ ^ mouth of the Tees to that of the Humber, is in a 

 state of gradual dilapidation. That part of the cliffs which 

 consists of lias, the oolite series, and chalk, decays slowly. 

 They present abrupt and naked precipices, often 300 feet in 

 height ; and it is only at a few points that the grassy cover- 

 mo- of the sloping talus marks a temporary relaxation of the 



action of the sea. The chalk cliffs are worn into 



erosive 



caves and needles in the projecting headland of Flamborough, 



* Account of Erection of Bell Eock 

 Lighthouse, p. 163. 



f Ed. Phil. Journ. vol. iii. p. 54. 



1820. 



