92 



northern slope of the valley, have resulted in the appearance of a 

 sea-cliff of growing height as the land retreated. Any stream which 

 meandered down the northern slopes in direct or devious passage 

 to the vanished river would thus either progressively or suddenly be 

 cut by the new cliff edge. Its course would then at once terminate 

 in a perpendicular cascade. The lip of the waterfall, no hard rock 

 intervening, would speedily wear away and the rate of the falling 

 waters greatly increase. Their cutting power upon their bed must 

 then vastly exceed in effect that of the subaerial denuding agents 

 upon the valley slopes. The only result can be the formation of a 

 deep ravine scarcely wider than the stream itself. The whole pro- 

 cess in the case of such little streams would be short enough. It 

 must end with the reduction of the bunny to sea-level when all the 

 power of the water ceases. Exactly in this condition do we find 

 Becton to day. , 



It is not quite so at Chewton, there being, as noted, still a 

 cascade at the foot. The process here has been more gradual, and 

 it is probable that this stream was absorbed by the sea foot by foot 

 from its junction with the river. The bunny also is scarcely so 

 precipitous as at Becton. In the latter case all the evidence seems 

 to point to a sudden catastrophe of a different order to the Chewton 

 event, and to one moreover of comparatively quite recent date. 



The Becton in fact seems not to have been a direct tributary of 

 the Frome-Solent, but to have taken a turn inland and joined the 

 Danes stream, the Milford brook, at a point which there is a good 

 deal of evidence to indicate to-day. The bunny does not run by any 

 means at right angles into the sea, but, as a glance at the sketch map 

 fig. 4 will show, it is much inclined to the eastward. The central 

 lines of the bunny and of the dry valley at Long Mead meet if pro- 

 duced at a point (x,fig. 4) only about 300 yards from the present 

 cliff. This Long Mead valley slopes inland, not seaward, is broader 

 and deeper than the Becton valley, and runs to the Danes stream 

 which takes a sharp curve away at the point of junction {v. fig. 4). 

 Both valleys are cut well into the tertiary strata and far below the 

 red plateau gravel which crowns the cliff section. Each has a relaid 

 and bleached deposit of this gravel, clearly the action of running 

 water, easily distinguished by its colour and position, at its base. At 

 Becton this gravel has been removed by the cutting of the bunny on 

 the west side, but the deposit is clearly seen on the east slope. The 

 cliff section at Long Mead shows it in its central position ( V.Gfig. j). 

 This latter valley is now dry save for a water hole and a ditch which 

 serves to show its downward slope inland towards the Danes stream. 

 The dip where the road between Milford and Milton crosses this 

 valley is called Taddiford — a name that may be as old or older than 

 Domesday — where no ford now is or could be. On the western slope 

 of Long Mead valley there are the remains of ancient earthworks, 

 which whether Roman as they were formally classed or possibly 

 more ancient, are situate at a point where no fresh water is now 

 obtainable. 



All these considerations seem to point to the very great likeli- 

 hood that at no distant date the little Becton stream, running here 



