Mr. Webster on the Strata of Hastings, in Sussex. S3 



pears, which must be accounted for from their concretionary nature. The 

 place where these mammillated masses are best seen is at White Rock, as they 

 are there easily accessible while still in their original situations. One which I 

 measured at that place exceeded 15 feet in length, being about 2 feet in thick- 

 ness. Excellent examples also lie on the shore below East Cliff, from whence 

 they have fallen ; but they cannot be easily examined in situ at that place. 



I have stated that they lie in the upper part of the series. At the White 

 Rock they are on the level of the sea : going eastwards, they rise, and keep 

 at the top of the Cliff (d, d, d). They do not occur in the West Cliff under the 

 castle ; and in the East Cliff they chiefly appear in the upper part, but are 

 much more abundant near Eaglesbourne. They do not exist between the 

 Covers and Cliff End; but at the latter place they are again seen (/,/), and 

 are also found at Winchelsea. 



Below this concretionary bed, at the White Rock {d, d), and at East Cliff 

 iS> S)> there is one of dark-coloured shale 10 or 12 feet thick ; and a similar 

 bed on the highest part of West Cliff, under the castle, belongs to the latter. 



Underneath this shale, at the above places, is a very thick bed of soft sand- 

 stone {h, h, h, h), often extremely white, which gives the chief character to the 

 cliffs of Hastings. Besides being strongly marked by horizontal lines on its sur- 

 face, occasioned by the unequal hardness of the strata, it is divided vertically by 

 numerous deep rents and fissures. Owing to these, and to the caves that had 

 been worked in the lower part for procuring sand, together with the failure of 

 the subjacent clay and shale on which it rests, large masses had frequently 

 fallen, and so much endangered the houses beneath, that the entire face of the 

 West Cliff has lately been cut down to prevent similar accidents; a circumstance 

 that has materially injured the picturesque beauty of the rock, but has afforded 

 the geologist a good opportunity of examining its nature. There are, however, 

 but few circumstances respecting it to attract notice : — it is here very white 

 and uniform, and is composed of siliceous grains having so little coherence 

 that large blocks thrown down from the top by the workmen became mere 

 sand on striking the bottom. 



This thick bed of sandstone forms the middle of the East Cliff; but there, 

 numerous and very large masses of the above-mentioned concretionary rock 

 occur in the sandstone, and these increase in quantity towards the east end 

 near Eaglesbourne. Beyond Eaglesbourne, this bed extends to the Covers, 

 where it is seen breaking out in the sides of the valley, and also in the romantic 

 spot called Lover's Seat, though I believe this to be its eastern boundary. 



Below this thick mass of white sand are beds of slate-clay and shale {i, i, i, i), 

 containing numerous thin layers of shivery ferruginous sandstone, together 



Vol. II. — SECOND series. f 



