332 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



there is a view of it, taken in 1781, which still represents a consider- 

 able space as intervening between the north wall of the churchyard 

 and the cliff. Some time before the year 1780, the waves had reached 

 the site of the ancient Eoman camp, or fortification, the walls of 

 which had continued for several years after they were undermined to 

 overhang the sea, being firmly cemented into one mass. They were 

 eighty yards nearer the sea than the church, and they are spoken of 

 in the ' Topographia Britannica,' in the year 1780, as having recently 

 fallen down. In 1804, part of the churchyard with some adjoining 

 houses was washed away, and the ancient church, with its two lofty 

 spires, a well-known laiidmark, was dismantled and abandoned as a 

 place of worship. It is still standing (1831), but would probably 

 have been annihilated ere this, had not the force of the waves been 

 checked by an artificial causeway of stones and large wooden piles 

 driven into the sands to break the force of the waves." 



Let us see how matters now are, in 1882, some twenty-eight years 

 after Sir Charles visited it. The towers of the old church still stand 



as represented in the picture in Sir 

 Charles's book, but a large portion of 

 the cliff in front, fully two-thirds, has 

 fallen down, that especially including 

 the hedges ; and the burying-ground 

 is now exposed in a line parallel to 

 the front of the church. Besides the 

 groins and the artificial causeway of 

 stones, to protect this part of the 

 coast, there is an artificial embank- 

 ment as well, extending to the west 

 of the church. I compared the accompanying reduced copy of a wood- 

 cut, made in 1818, of " Beculver, as it is,^^ with the ruins, on the spot. 

 It is very correct as to the towers and remains of walls, with the bea- 

 cons on the former. But the stone fence there represented is wholly 

 gone. So that the chief alteration round Reculver is the loss of a 

 considerable portion of the cliff in front of the church, and the dis- 

 appearance of the low wall which surrounded the northern aspect of 

 the latter. The wear and tear of the cliff" to the westward, no doubt, 

 has been considerable during the last thirty years, and it appears to 

 be gradually stealing upon the contiguous farmland, as is witnessed 

 at Sheppey. 



I examined the old church in every particular, ascended the old 

 spiral stone staircase in the northern tower to the first floor, thence 

 three distinct ladders which lead to the top, and I stood alongside 

 tlie beacon. As the wind was very strong, I did not remain long, 

 but (Mijoyed a magnificent view of things in the distance. I could 

 sec iM;ii-g;ito in one direction, and Sheppey in the other, and likewise 

 far iiilaiul (o the southward; whilst to the north and east, the sea 

 was seen covered with boats and vessels as far as the eye could reach. 

 On descending to tlie first floor again, we passed out of a door lead- 

 ing to a sort of friars' walk, which took us across to the other or 



Fig. 1.— View of Reculver, 1848. 



