i 4 6 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Looking at the town as we now see it, we can 

 scarcely imagine it ever to have been a port at all. 

 But when we find that the river Ouse originally 

 entered the sea in front of the town, and that 

 Seaford Cliff formerly was the eastern boundary of 

 the river, the fact that it was at one time a port is 

 easily understood. Instead of debouching at New- 

 haven, as it does now, the main body of water passed 

 to the east and extended along the front of the town, 

 where it mingled with the sea probably by numerous 

 shallow mouths. Its former course is now marked 

 by the stretch of stagnant water which lies just 

 within the shore between Newhaven and Seaford, 

 and which, presumably influenced by the tides, gave 

 the water-power by which the mills at Bishopstone 

 were worked. 



Seaford, we read, sent a large complement of ships 

 and men to join the British fleet opposed to the Great 

 Armada, so that it was far from being an insignificant 

 port so recently as Queen Elizabeth's reign. Geolo- 

 gical changes as a rule extend over a long lapse of 

 time, but here we have an important instance of a 

 river changing its mouth within a comparatively 

 short period. 



Those who have visited the town have doubtless 

 noticed the high cliff on the east of the town, and 

 perhaps have experienced the bracing air which is to 

 be found at the head of the cliff. Should the town 

 extend thus far at some future time, what a magnifi- 

 cent site it would afford for an hotel or a hydropathic 

 establishment. There would, however, be one draw- 

 back, and that would be the soil. The chalk here is 

 covered by the relics of a formation similar to, and 

 probably identical with, those found on the Castle 

 Cliff at Newhaven: (I have no idea why it is called 

 Castle Cliff ; the fort there is no more like a castle 

 than a cathedral). Here are found a series of strata 

 of tertiary age belonging to the eocene formation, 

 similar to those strata on which London is situated. 

 At Brighton, again, a patch of eocene clay is 

 existent at Furze Hill, and it would appear that these 

 are all remains of one wide sheet of tertiary ac- 

 cumulations which once covered the whole of the 

 chalk of the south of England, and were continuous 

 one with another. 



Immediately above the chalk of the Seaford cliff 

 there appears a thick layer of flints, rolled by the 

 action of the sea in times long past into the various 

 shapes we find on the beach at the present day. The 

 sand which was then deposited above the layer of 

 volled flints very naturally filled up all the crevices 

 left between the flints. Very possibly the sand, 

 which is of a ruddy colour, was derived from some 

 source where it was mingled with iron ore, for we 

 find both sand and flints have now been cemented 

 together by the action of peroxide of iron, and form 

 a reddish-brown conglomerate, or pudding-stone, so- 

 called from the fanciful appearance which the flints 

 present to the plums in a pudding. This con- 



glomerate is very hard and lasting, and would, I 

 imagine, if capable of being dressed, make a durable 

 building-stone. Large boulders of it were seen piled 

 in a heap, and were evidently to be used for some pur- 

 pose, possibly for road-making. Immediately above 

 this conglomerate of the Seaford cliff is a thick bed of 

 sand, which probably corresponds with that formation 

 known in the London basin as the Thanet sands. 



Above this occurs in some parts a bed of stiff clay, 

 which it would be necessary for the speculative builder 

 to remove before he established his sanatorium on the 

 hill. The clay-bed is found also in the Newhaven 

 cliff, where it is full of casts of shells, and sometimes 

 the shells themselves, of the genus cerithium. So full 

 is it that a piece of the shell-clay which I have in my 

 collection, has, after becoming thoroughly dried, 

 assumed the aspect of an unpolished piece of Sussex 

 marble, except that of course the shapes of the shells 

 contained are different. 



The change in the course of the river which once 

 entered the sea at Seaford, has left the town with a 

 task before it. What will the town authorities do to 

 make the Bemblands a little more presentable, and 

 more a credit to the town? Might not this waste 

 land be laid out as ornamental gardens, with perhaps 

 a band-stand therein ? Seaford is far from being an 

 unknown place to seaside visitors. What is being 

 done to attract them to the town ? Such gardens 

 would prove a great attraction, and would serve as a 

 promenade which would be close to the bracing air 

 of the sea, and at the same time would be sheltered 

 by the sea-wall from the powerful south-west winds. 

 It may be said there is an objection to the 

 utilization of the land for these purposes. There is in 

 some places a quantity of stagnant water which it is 

 difficult to keep out, rising and falling as it does with 

 the tide. If a thing is to be done at all it should be 

 done properly, and means no doubt would be found by 

 which the water could effectually be kept out. The 

 surface of the ground could be raised upon piles, or, 

 better still, upon rent-paying arches, or a thick layer 

 of impervious concrete could be laid down. A natural 

 concrete is ready to hand. The conglomerate of which 

 I have before spoken is sufficiently indurated to be 

 used at least as a foundation for such a purpose. The 

 difficulty of preventing the water from rising is surely 

 one which could be easily surmounted, and the town 

 would possess a most potent addition to its attractive- 

 ness. The sea-wall is not in very good condition. 

 All it serves to do at present is to show the inferior 

 quality of the materials with which it was made, for it is 

 breaking out on all sides. And the Martello Tower, 

 which many sea-side towns would be glad to possess, 

 appears to be falling to pieces. What a pity it is not 

 in the hands of the town authorities! 



There are many advantages which the town possesses 

 which should be made the most of, but if Seaford is 

 ambitious to shine as a watering-place, it must quicken 

 itself, and pursue a more active policy in the future. 



