Vol. 54.] EBBING AND PLOWING WELL AT NEWTON NOTTAGE. 30l 



25. N'oTE on an Ebbing and Flowing Well at Newton Nottage 

 (Glamorganshire). By H. G. Madan, Esq., M.A., E.C.S., 

 Eellow of Queen's College, Oxford. (Communicated by 

 A. Strahan, Esq., M.A., E.&.S. Read April 20fcli, 1898.) 



In the village of Newton Nottage, near the watering-place of 

 Porthcawl, about halfway between Cardiff and Swansea, there is 

 an ancient dipping-well, the water in which has ' from time 

 immemorial ' been noticed to vary in depth with the ebb and flow 

 of the tide. It is mentioned by Camden in his ' Britannia,' vol. i. 

 p. 737 (2nd ed. [Eng.J 1723 : orig. work pub. in 1586), though he 

 does not appear to have visited the place himself, but to have 

 received a letter from ' the learned Sir J. Stradliug ' giving a fairly 

 detailed description of the well. 



In October last I spent 4 or 5 days on the spot, and made nearly 

 forty visits to the well, determining the level of the water every 

 hour (and every half-hour when it seemed desirable) at different 

 states of the tide, and noting the geological characters of the 

 neighbourhood, the height of the well above mean tide-level, etc. I 

 also brought away specimens of the water collected at different 

 times, and have analysed them, with the results stated at the end of 

 this paper. 



First, with regard to the position, topographical and geological, 

 of the well. It lies on a direct line drawn north and south 

 between the church of Newton Nottage and the sea, about 80 yards 

 south of the church and 500 yards north of the shore. There is a 

 falling gradient of about 1 in 20 between the church and the well. 

 Between the well and the sea there is a range of sandhills about 

 20 or 30 feet high, ending in a pebble-ridge about 10 or 12 feet 

 above ordinary high-water mark. Behind the church, on the 

 north side, there is a line of Carboniferous Limestone-cliffs running 

 east and west, nearly parallel with the shore-line. Along the 

 shore the Carboniferous Limestone crops out at about half-tide 

 level, and rises into a promontory forming the eastern extremity of 

 Porthcawl Bay. Overlying the limestone, between the shore and 

 the cliffs just mentioned, there is a stratum of Keuper conglomerate 

 cropping out along the shore and reaching up to the base of the 

 cliffs behind the church. This conglomerate is mainly composed of 

 pebbles of Carboniferous Limestone, and was evidently formed from 

 the debris of an ancient shore, existing at a time when the land 

 was at a lower level than now, and when the sea washed right 

 up to the base of the cliffs behind the church and village of 

 Newton. Fortunately, at the time when I was there a sewer was 

 being laid along the road from Newton westward to Porthcawl, 

 and the cutting gave a good section to a depth of from 8 to 10 feet. 

 Below the surface -layer of sand (about 1 foot thick) there is a 

 stratum of reddish -brown loamy clay with pebbles, about 7 feet 



