AND BRITISH CHANNEL, 



481 



to the sea, and is at present undergoing the pro- 

 cess of actual waste. Perhaps evidence of this 

 may also be drawn from the works of William of 

 Mahnesbury, who represents the whole of the 

 Fens of Lincoln to have been in a state of high 

 cultivation in the eleventh century. But certain- 

 ly a most unequivocal proof of this is afforded 

 from the discovery by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr 

 Joseph Correa, mentioned in the 89th volume of 

 the Philosophical Transactions, of the remains of 

 a sub^marine forest on this coast, now several fa- 

 thoms under water, where the roots, boles and 

 branches of trees, particularly of the birch, of 

 large size, were observed : from the account of 

 the fishermen of this coast, these appearances are 

 to be seen for many miles along the shore, in the 

 form of a range of small islets ; and trees have 

 been often found, the timber of which was so 

 fresh, as to be fit for economical purposes. 'The 

 inhabitants of the country likewise represent, that 

 at one time the parish-church stood greatly within 

 the present sea-mark, and that the walls of houses, 

 of a former village, have been seen at low ebbs ; 

 and they allege, that even the clock of the present 

 parish-church, is the same that was in the church, 

 the foundations of which are now overflowed. It Fens of 

 seems therefore probable, and indeed it is of the 

 greatest importance to the drainage of this tract 

 of country to know, that the present state of the 

 Fen Country arises from the encroachments of th© 



