522 



ENCROACHMENTS OF THE SEA. 



[Oh. XX. 



com 



containing septaria. It had wasted away considerably be- 

 tween the years 1829 and 1838, at both which periods I 

 examined this coast. In that short interval several gardens 



many 



1838 a whole street was threatened with destruction. The 



much accelerated by the traffic 



cement 



they fall down upon the beach. These stones, if allowed to 



remain 



waves, and retard the conversion of the peninsula into an 

 island, an event which might be followed by the destruction 



of the town 



H 



Washington, R. N 



men 



w ^.*. ^^~— — — ~ — — — - j 



is about fifty feet high, had given way at the rate of forty 

 feet in forty-seven years, between 1709 and 1756; eighty 

 feet between 1756 and 1804 ; and three hundred and fifty 

 feet between the latter period and 1 841 ; showing a rapidly 

 accelerated rate of destruction.* 



Among other losses it is recorded, that, since the year 

 1807, a field called the Vicar's Field, which belonged to the 

 living of Harwich, has been overwhelmed ; f and in the year 

 1820 there was a considerable space between the battery at 

 Harwich, built in the beginning of the present century, and 

 the sea ; part of the fortification had been swept away in 

 1829, and the rest then overhung the water. 



At Walton Naze, in the same county, the cliffs, composed 

 of London clay, capped by the shelly sands of the crag, reach 

 the height of about 100 feet, and are annually undermined 

 by the waves. The old churchyard of Walton has been 

 washed away, and the cliffs to the south are constantly dis- 



appearing 

 Kent. 



>/ 



On the coast bounding the estuary 



exam 



and loss of land. The Isle of Sheppey, which is now about 

 six miles long by four in breadth, is composed of London 

 clay. The cliffs on the north, which are from sixty to eighty 



* Tidal Harbour Commissioners' 

 First Kcport, 1845, p. 176. 



t On the authority of Dr. Mitchell, 



F. G. S. 















