198 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadenvj. 



over 37 acres have been carried away by gales from tbe S.E. Here there 

 is an excessively swift tidal current to the jN'.jS'.E., which, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, carries all the beach with it, and leaves no pro- 

 tection between the sea and thesandhills ; consequently, under these 

 circumstances during S.E. gales the wind waves have full power on the 

 latter, wliich they then rapidly denude away. As previously mentioned, 

 off Eilmichael Point, to the I^. E., is a "race," due to the meeting 

 and colliding of the just-mentioned tidal current and a " counter-tide " 

 coming from the northward; but the latter is affected by continuous 

 Avinds from the north and north-eastward, prolonging it southward, 

 and forcing the " counter-tide" round the Point into the bay to the 

 south thereof. Consequently, under such circumstances these winds, 

 instead of cutting out, form " fulls " for about a mile in the strands to 

 the S. W. of Eilmichael Point, thus preserving the sandhills. The cross 

 sections accompanying Fig. 4(7, PI. 6, show this beach to true scale. 

 ISTo. 1 represents the beach in June, 1875, when it was one continuous 

 slope, up which the storm waves fi'om the S. E. could rush with full 

 force ; while cross section Xo. 2 shows exactly the same line after con- 

 tinuous gales from the north-eastward, which had accumulated a wide 

 foreshore that perfectly protected the sandhills from the S. E. gales.^ 



I^orthward of Kilmichael Point, in the bay at the mearing of the 

 counties Wicklow and Wexford, the denudation of the sandhills has 

 also been considerable within the last forty years (Eig. 4, PI. 6), more 

 than 20 acres in the townlands of Cloon, Lower and Upper, having been 

 'swept away. Here there is a "counter-tide" running S., and the 

 wind from points between E. and IS", accelerate the southward travel- 

 ling of the beach, but E. winds cut it out. During none of my visits 

 were the beaches "full," there being a gradual slope, up which the 

 storm waves from the S. E. could run with full force, and impinge on 

 the sandhills. According to the information supplied to me, the latter 

 are only denuded by S. E. gales, these being most effective when the 

 strand is empty .^ 



Earther northward are the beaches of the bays at Wicklow 

 and Bray ; it is here unnecessary to describe them further than to 

 mention the " storm beaches." These peculiar ridges are very rare S. 

 of "Wicklow Head ; ia fact, on that portion of the coast they are so 



8 This is a most remarkable place, as, in recent years, the sancLhills at one time 

 seem to be foitning, and at others ■wasting away. Some of the old men can point 

 out the extensions of the sandhills prior to the Ordnance Survey, and the roads that 

 used to lead to them, which now end at steep cHfFs ; while one old man, in June, 

 187o, pointed out, in a cliff that had only been uncovered the previoiis winter, an 

 old quany that must have been worked with iron tools prior to the accumulation of 

 the sandhills that existed when the Ordnance Survey was made. 



9 Although I visited this place frequently, I never had the satisfaction of find- 

 ing the beach "full" ; whUe the information I received was unsatisfactory, as the 

 native said, "everything ti-avels to the north." Yet I could prove by the carriage 

 of the rock fi-agments, also by the experiments made at my different -visits, that the 

 beach travelled south during " fiow tide " (" counter-tide "). 



