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w. c. hey: flamborough head. 



Cornwall, is celebrated, and similar phenomena may be observed in 

 rough weather at Flamborough Head, both at Breil Point and Little 

 Thornwick. The water is seen to be violently ejected from crevices 

 in the cliffs by the compression of the air, and flies out in the form 

 of fine spray at right angles to the rock. 



A creux is a funnel-shaped hollow near the edge of the cliff. 

 The most celebrated is in the island of Sark. Flamborough Head 

 presents two such creux, both situated in the neighbourhood of the 

 Lighthouse, one of them very large. Their formation is no doubt to 

 be accounted for in this manner. The sea enters the cliff at some 

 weak point and gradually hollows out a cave. The heightening of 

 the cave does not cease at high-water mark, for the rise and fall of 

 the waves create such strong powers of suction in the air that slab 

 after slab is gradually loosened and torn from the roof. The famous 

 Robin Lythe's Hole shows us a cave of extreme loftiness, but I 

 venture to predict that another generation will see Robin Lythe's 

 Hole becoming a creux. The chalk roof must already be very 

 nearly torn away ; the coating of boulder clay will then prove but a 

 very insecure ceiling, and soon an opening will be made in the cave 

 where the roof is now loftiest. When this opening has been widened, 

 the cave will have passed into a creux. Such seems to be a common 

 system of cliff destruction at Flamborough. The smaller creux, 

 referred to above, has only assumed that form within late years. To 

 gaze into such a creux in storm-time, with the sea raging in its pot- 

 like hollow, gives one a very graphic idea of a witch's storm-brewing, 

 and may have suggested the idea to a primitive people. 



Sometimes it happens that a very heavy sea may be witnessed at 

 Flamborough in fine weather, namely, when a storm which has raged 

 out at sea "comes to shore" (to quote the Flamborough expression), 

 next day, after the weather has cleared and the wind fallen. Then 

 one may select some sunny nook in the cliffs, and watch a storm 

 luxuriously. At such times, particularly in Little Thornwick, the 

 splendour of the scene is intensified by the appearance of rainbows 

 in the spray, and the contrast between the raging waves below and 

 the smiling heavens above is highly impressive and suggestive. I 

 was watching the sea one day under such circumstances, when I saw 

 a wave dash a piece of chalk (weighing apparently some half-a-ton) 

 clean out of the cliff, and bear it off as easily as if it had been a piece 

 of paper. At such times, instead of wondering how the waves have 

 worn the cliffs into such mighty caves and arches, one rather marvels 

 how the cliffs can possibly resist the impact of the sea as successfully 

 as they do. 



Naturalist, 



