

526 



ENCROACHMENTS OF THE SEA 



[Ch. XX. 



conjectured that they were overwhelmed by the flood men- 

 tioned in the Saxon chronicle, sub anno 1099. The last 

 remains of an island, consisting, like Sheppey, of clay, may 

 perhaps have been carried away about that time. 



Kent 



at Deal ; and at Dover, where Shakspeare's Cliff, composed 

 entirely of chalk, has suffered greatly, and continually di- 



Eig. 48 



Shakspeare's Cliff in 1836, seen from the north -oast. 











>' 



to 



S 



ai 



o 



minishes in height, the slope of the hill being towards the 

 land. (See fig. 48.) There was an immense landslip from 

 this cliff in 1810, by which Dover was shaken as if by an 

 ^ earthquake, and a still greater one in 1772.* We may sup- 

 pose, therefore, that the view from the top of the precipice 



m 



m 



the 



year 



1600, when the tragedy of King Lear was 



written, was more Q fearful and dizzy 5 than it is now. The 

 best antiquarian authorities are agreed, that Dover Harbour 

 was formerly an estuary, the sea flowing up a valley between 

 the chalk hills. The remains found in different excavations 

 confirm the description of the spot given by Csesar and An- 

 toninus, and there is clear historical evidence to prove that 

 at an early period there was no shingle at all at Dover. f 



* Dodsley's Ann. Eegist. 1772. S.E. Coast of England, Proceed. List-it. 



f Soe J. E. Redman on Changes of Civil. Engin. vol. xi. 1851, 1852. 



I 







I 



