476 H. G. SPEARING ON THE RECENT ENCROACHMENT 
Appledore side of the estuary has for a long time been subject to 
erosion. If the river should thus form a new mouth, it would be 
of great importance to both Bideford and Barnstaple, as, although 
during the process the harbour entrance would be much injured, it 
would probably become much safer when all the accumulations at 
the mouth had drifted north-eastwards. 
Of the formations that are exposed by the encroachment, one of 
the most interesting is a submerged forest which extends a distance 
of some 400 yards from the ridge to the extreme limits of low water, 
and probably further. It resembles ordinary English sunk forests 
in its composition ; but in addition to the usual stumps, roots and 
branches of oak, birch, and hazel, it contains numerous animal 
remains, and in one place there are many flint chips and cores - 
mixed with great quantities of the shells of oysters, limpets, peri- 
winkles, &c. Some of the flints show that they have been exposed 
to the action of fire; a large piece of red oxide of iron was also 
found there. | 
The animal remains are chiefly ox, sheep, deer; but I have also 
found skulls of dog, pig, and goat. They were examined by the late 
Prof. Rolleston, and he considered the ox to be of an old type,- 
similar to the Chillingham wild cattle. 
The woody matter of the forest is, in places, some 18 or 20 inches. 
thick; but generally only isolated roots are found. It rests on a 
layer of blue clay of varying thickness, but apparently thinning out 
seawards. Under the ridge this blue clay must be at least 4 feet 
through, and contains great quantities of estuarine shells. At low 
tide there are often several acres of it exposed, but it is getting very 
much worn away. The sea forms curious long deep furrows in it 
which are almost always at right angles to the waves. 
This blue clay rests on a layer of unascertained thickness of 
rounded pebbles. This layer extends over a very large area; several 
hundred acres of it can also be seen at low tide near the mouth of 
the river, when it is covered with small patches of a shelly sand- 
stone similar to the large stratified mass seen at the foot of the 
cliffs near Croyde, on the north side of the bay. It is so tightly 
packed that it is difficult to kick out a single pebble, and the larger 
stones are often split lengthwise. 
But perhaps the most interesting deposits of all are those of which 
fresh sections are being continually made by the encroachments of 
the sea on the so-called building-land of Westward Ho! The 
frontage is not more than 200 yards, and in 1875 there was no 
vestige of a cliff to be seen, the pebble beach sloping gradually 
upwards from the sand to the fields. This thick bed of boulders 
has all disappeared, and now there is a steep clay cliff, which is about 
12 feet high. Near the ladies’ baths this clay rests immediately 
upon the hard rock (of the Carboniferous period) which crops out 
again in the hills above; but a few yards north, or nearer the burrows, 
a layer of sand of unknown thickness intervenes, and it is this layer 
of sand that has lately so much helped the sea in its work of 
destruction. 
