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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/evolutionofcoastOOashtrich 


THE 


EVOLUTION 


OF   A 


COAST-LINE 

BARROW    TO     ABERYSTWYTH 
AND    THE    ISLE   OF   MAN, 

WITH    NOTES   ON 

Lost  Towns,  Submarine  Discoveries,  &c. 


By 

WILLIAM    ASHTON. 

Embodying  the  essential  parts  of  "  The  Battle  of  Land  and  Sea 
wholly  re-written.,  by  the  same  Author. 


LONDON  : 

EDWARD    STANFORD    LTD..    LONG"  ACRE,   W.C.  2. 

SOUTHPORT : 

WM.   ASHTON  &   SONS  LTD.,  GROSVENOR   WORKS. 


1920. 


^5/ 

^7 


'O  earth,  what  changes  ha^  thou  seen! 
There  rolls  the  deep    where  grew  the  tree." 


Fie-  1— The  Irish  Sea. 


CONTENTS. 


Preface         

Chapter 

I. — Introductory  

II. — Factors  of  Change 

III. — The  Story  of  the  Lower  Crust 

IV. — The  Story  of  the  Upper  Crust 

v.— The  Glacial  Epoch 

VI.— The  Submerged  Forest  &  Prehistoric  Period 

VII. — Man's  Place  in  Geological  Time... 

VIII. — Morecambe  Bay  to  the  Wyre     ... 

-     IX.  — The  Fylde  Coast  (Wyre  to  Ribble) 

X. — Lost  and  Found  Portus  Setantii 

XL — The  Ribble  Estuary  

XII. — The  Douglas  River  to  Southport 

XIII. — Lost  Argarmeols  and  Aynesdale 

XIV. — Lost  Old  Formby  and  a  Vanished  Estuary.. 

XV. — The  Mersey  Estuary  and  Liverpool  Bay 

XVI. — The  Riddle  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Sandhills 

XVII. — Conditions  of  Sandhill  Growth 

XVIII. —Ptolemy's  "Belisama  "  Controversy  in  a  New 
Light        

XIX.— The  Cheshire  Coast  

XX.— The  Port  of  Chester  and  Dee  Estuary 


Page 
I 

4 

12 

17 
27 

31 
40 
46 

52 
62 

7a 
80 
90 

104 
I  10 
118 

143 
163 


744887 


CONTENTS— Continued. 


XXI. — The  Prestatyn,  Rhyl  and  Abergele  Coasts...         171 

XXII. — CoLWYN   Bay,    The   Great  Orme  and  Conway 

Bay 180 


XXIII.— The  Re.Discovery  of  Llys  Helig  :  The  Palace 
Under  the  Sea 

XXIV. — The  North  Carnarvon  Coast  and  Old  Roads 
Across  Colwyn  Bay 


194 


204 

215 
224 
230 


XXV. — Anglesey  a>id  the  Menai  Straits. 

XXVI.— Lost  Caer   Arianrhod        

XXVII.— The  Lleyn  Peninsula  

XXVIII.— A  Great  Reclamation  and  a  Snowdon  Valley  238 

XXIX. — The  Ancient  Port  of  Harlech  :  A  Problem...  247 

XXX. — The  Barmouth  to  Aberystwyth  Coast  ...  255 

XXXI.— The  Lost  Cantref  Gwaelod       265 

XXXII. —Traditions,  Dates  and  Causes 276 

XXXIII. — Vertical   Movements  of  the  Earth     280 

XXXIV.— The  Isle  of  Man       292 

XXXV. — The  Coast  Erosion  Commission  Report        ...  299 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Frontispiece— The  Irish  Sea. 

Stages  in  Valley  Making 

British  Area  in  the  Silurian  Period 

„  ,,  Carboniferous  Period 

Pennine  Range  Section     

British  Area  in  the  Cretaceous  Period 

„  ,,  Pleistocene       „ 

Irish  Sea-Bed  Conditions 
Martin  Mere  in  1745 
The  Human  Period... 
Morecambe  Bay  in  1610 
„  „        To-Day 

Pennystone,  Opposite  Norbreck 

Blackpool  Front  in  1784 

Roman  Roads  to  Portus  Setantii 
The  Ribble  Estuary  in  1820-24 

1917       

Geological  Map  :    Southport  District 

South-West  Lancashire  in  1610 

North  Meols  (Southport)  Roads,   1736- 1920 

South  Lancashire  Coast,  19 19 

Lost  Land  Between  Barrow  and  Anglesey 
Mersey's  Course  in  2nd  Century 
South  Lancashire  Coast  in  1598 
Garston  to  Formby  about   1565 

Liverpool  in  1572 

Liverpool  from  the  River  in  1650 
Ptolemy's  2nd  Century  Map 
Submerged  Forest,  off  Meols,  Cheshire 
The  Dee  Estuary  and  Wirral  Coast... 
„  „  in   1687 


Opposite  p; 


Page 

13 
19 
21 

23 
25 

35 
7 

44 

48-49 

54 

56 

66 

68 

73 

83 

«5 

91 

95 

100 

106 

"5 

120 
124 
126 
131 
135 
15- 
ige  160 
164 
170 


I  LLUSTRATlONS—fConhmied). 


Thk  Flintshire  Coast  in  1580    

The  River  Dee  to  Abergele      

CoLWYN  Bay  to  Beaumaris  

Llech  or  Monk's  Cave,  Gt.  Orme's  Head 

Llys  Helig,  Ground  Plan  

,,  2  Views  

Ancient  Roads  Across  Menai  Strait  ... 
Chester  to  Anglesey  Road  in  1724  ... 
I 8th  Century  Chart  of  Menai •  Strait 

Anglesey  and  Menai  Strait       

Bangor  in  1610 
Beaumaris  in  1610    ... 
Carnarvon  in  1610   ... 
Caer  Arianrhod 
Yr  Eifl  from  Nevin 
The  Lleyn  Peninsula 

PORTMADOC   .*ND    HARLECH    COAST   CHANGES 

Harlech  in  1610       

Mid-Cardigan  Bay  and  Lost  Cantref-y-Gwaelod  ... 

The  Mawddach  Estuary 

Submerged  Forest  near  Borth.. 

On  Sarn  Badrig       

Isle  of  Man 


Page 

172 

178 



182 

Opposite  page 

190 

198 

Opposite  page 

200 

210 

212 

213 

217 

219 

220 

222 

226 



231 

233 

247 

249 

CD 

257 

259 

262 

Opposite  page 

268 

295 

INDEX 

To  Principal  Names,  Subjects  and  Authorities. 


(Xo  pretence  is  made  at  completeness  or  consistencj). 


Aberdaron,   232,   287 
Aberdovey,   260,    26J. 
Abererch,    235 
Abeiffiaw,    200-16 
Abergele,   20,  172,  175-6-7,-9 
Abeiglaslyn,    240-2-3-4 

When   a   Port,    243 
Abergonal    Valley,    185 
Abermeuai,    223 
Abersoch,   234 

Aberystwyth,    51,    260,    263-4 
Accretion    of    Land,     38,     bl-9,     77,    97, 
14d-l,    169,    241-2,     254,    300 
As  Compeiisator  of  Loss,   15,   256 
Afon    Gonal,     186 
Afonwen,    15,    235 
Age    of    Earth,    10 
Agencies     of    Change,    12 
Ainsdale   (see   Aynesdale) 
Au-,    Point   of,    Flintshire,   171-2,    181-4 

Lighthouse,    1(3 
Aldiiigham,    57 
Alps,    28-9,    47 
Alt    River,    40-2,    45,    11^-4-5-6,    126-7,    158, 

140-1-7 
Altcar   and    Rifle    Range,    113-4,    125 
Altmouth,  113 
Amlwch,    215 

Copper   Mines,  209,   286 
Anglesey,    2,    18,    24,    5z,    40,    124,    155, 

214,     215 
Anglezark,    36 
Apes,    Man-like,     47-8 
Appley    Bridge,     51 

Archaean,    or   pre-Cambrian,   10,   18,    231 
Argarmeols,    104,    105-7-8,   285 
Arkhohne,  Moraines  at,   53 
Arrowsmith,    Mr.     W.    J.    i'.,    200 
Arthur,    King,    and   Lost   Land   of,    268, 

276 
Artro,    River,    251-4 
Asland    (.Douglas)   River,    92 
Atlantic,   23-4,  26  to  00,  Io5 

Currents    from,    59 
First    Steamer    across,    i32 
Atlantis,     Lost,     39 
Australian    Natives,     46-9,    50 
Aynesdale    (Ainsdale),    104-5,    107-8,    148, 

151,    285 
Ayre,   Point  of,   I.O.M.,    38,    297 
Ayrshire   Coast,   55,   290 
Azores    Islands,    39 


Beddgelert,     18,     239,     252 
Belisama    Estuary,    2,    74,    150-1 

Etvmologv,    153-4 
Bettws-y-Coed,     18,     208,     245 
Bidston,    132,    155 

Aticient  Lake,  119 
Biology    and    Environment,    10 
Bird,    oldest    British,    26 
Birkdale,   44,    105,   141 
Etymology   of,   108 
Palace  Hotel,   84,   103,   105,  151 
Birkenhead,    127-8,    134,    166 

Docks,    160 
Birket,    River,   119,   123,  140 
Bispliam,    65-6 
Blackpool,    62-3,   65   to   69 
Tower,  38 
Victoria   Pier,    140 
Black    Book    of    Carmarthen,    265 
Black   Kocks,  Cunway  Bay,  181 
Blackstone  Edge,   51,   137 
Bluudellsands,   125,    127-8 
Bog-hole :    See    Suutliport   Channel 
Bootle,    Cumberland,    57 

Lancashire,   149 
Borth,   40,    261-2 

Borth-y-gest,    237,    241  ^__ 

Boulder  Clav,  31,  42,  52-3,  65,  80,  160,  1^, 
"  184  187,  193,  215.  234,  248,  288,  294 
Boulder    Stones,    32-3,    36,    159,    184,    200, 

218,  230,   244,   269,  293 
Bradda  Head,    292 
Braich-y-Dinas,    206,    232 
Braich-y-pwU    Head,   252 
Brecknock,   Beacons,   262 
Breweit  Bridge.   246,   250,   252 
Brimham   Rocks,    14 
British   Camps    and  Circles,   205-6,  211,  227, 

230 
British  roads  ancient,  181,   209,  211,  221 
Brittany,    266,    278 
Brodrick,   Mr.   H.,   44,    91 
Bromboro'    Pool   288 
Bronze   age,    51,   176,   227 
Broxton    Vallev,  119,   123,   136,   139 
Bulpit,  Rev,  W.   T.,    70,  78,  96-7,  105 
KiLiiter  pebble   beds,   23-4,   155,  162 
Burbo   Bank,    157,   161 
Burlingham   Rocks,    200,   212 
Bur.'icough,    22,    32,   36,    45,   90,   121 
Bwlch-y-Ddeufaen,    208    (r   6) 
Bwid    Arthur.    211 


Bihania  Bank,  28.   81,   Io9.   297 
Bailey,    Dr.  :    Beetles.   39 
Baines'    Lanca.shire.    43,    57,    76.    85,    86 
Bangor,    i81,   211.    218-9 
Banks   (Village),    93.   98 
Bardsey    Island,    231,    26/-8,    375 
Barmouth,    51,    256.    258 
Barrow-in-Furness,    2,    53.    55-60 
Beaumaris,   207-9,  213,   215,   219,   220,   2,^1 
Important   Port.    2,   130 


Cader  Idris,  11,  18,   255-6,   262,   271 
Cae   Gwvn  Caves,   47 
Caer  Arianrhod,   181.  224.   226,   228,    286 
Caer  GwydcJiu),   275  (and  see  Forth 

Gwvddno) 
Caerleon,"  273 
Calder,   River,   82 
Caldy,    Cheshire,    162 
Cambrian  rocks,  18,   137,   207,   255,   292 
pre  (Archoean),   231 


I X  D  EX — Continued. 


Camden's  Maps.  U3.  224.    237.  251-2.  234 
Canal,    Leeds   and  Liverpool.   90 
Oantref-v-Gwaelod.  195-5.  220.  265,  7,  272,   6 
Capel  Curigr.  34,  195.  208.  239.  2Ao 
Carboniferous  rocks,  20-1,   23-4,  29.  52.  233 

era.  22.  29.  46-7,  52,  137,  180,  294 

see  limestone 
Cardigan  Bar.  2,  18,  31.  180.  239,  242.  260, 

'262.  263.   265-6.  267-8,   272 
Carnarvon,  21.   181.  221-2-3 
Carlisle's   Topog.    Diet,    267 
Carnforth.   20 

Camnel  Valley,  34,  43.  53 
Cart,  Biver.  137 
Castell  Tremlvd.   183.   ai 
Castletown.    I.O.M..    20,   180.   297 
Caves.   Cae  Gwvn.   172 

Oefn.  172 

Tremeirchion.    172  _ 

on  Great  Orme's  Head.  190 

at  South  Stack.  217 
Celtic  river-names.  125 
Celts,  Brvthonic.  191,   202.   228 

Goidelic.  191.   228 
Cemaes  Bay,   216 
Chalk  (Cretaceous)  period,  25-6 
Cheirotherium   (Storeton),   26 
Chellean  man.  34 
Chesil  Bank.  271 
Cheshire   plain.  32,  36.  42 

lake.  45 

coast.  139,   140.  147.  156.  286 

sandhiUs.   139 

meres'  drainage.  120 
Chester's  rivalry   with  Liverpool,  130,  132 

as  a  Dort.   2.  165-7.  193 

and  Holyhead  Kailway.  168,  218 
Chomet :  lost  manor  of,  63 
Churchtown    (X.    Meolst.    94.    97.    142 
Clay  beds,   how  formed,  80,  138 
Clevelevs.  63.  66 
CTifl.   ancient:   TT.   Lane.   36 
Climate,  changing,   and  effects.  29,  47.  185. 

244 
Owvd.  Eiver.  177.  181.  185 

Tsle    of   Clvwd     24.   31-2 
in  ice-age.  172 
Clvnni-"?.   51.    224-5 
Coachinc:  r->3ds.    old.    183.   193.    206-8,    37. 

236,  239 
Coal  Measures.   22.  47.   52.  255,  280 
Coast    Erosion    Commission.    65.    156,    167, 

207.    >??.   255-   299   to  352.  264 
Cockerel  m     61.   139 
Cookersand   Abbey.   51 

Charter*     104-5.'  107 
Coins.   158 :    see  Roman    c<->'ns 
Colwyn   B-^v.   31.  40.   181.  184-5.   211 
Connah's  Ouav.  167 
Constable  Bank.   181 
Conwav.  IS.  175    192.  208.  218 

as  sea-iv->rt  and  walled  town,  130.  193 

Rive-.    185,   ISP 
old    course.   187 

Msrsh  (AI-TiiV   187 -S.  \92 

M"unt!^in.   2<X> 
Corals:    limestone.    20-1.   26 
Cornish.   Vaushan.   F.   G    S  .  143 
Cornwall  Coast.  268.   276-7 
Cotton :    first   impTtati'^ns.   60 


Cowprea  Point.  o( 

Cox,    Mr.   E.   W.'   124.    158.    131.    153.   135. 

212,  214 
Creation   v.    Evolucicn,   4.    7 
Cretaceous  (Chalk)  perid.  17.  25.  46.  52.  26ii 
Criccieth.   51.    236-7,    239.    241.   287 
Criflel.  33.   65.   168 
Crossens,   31.   33.   43.   44.   SO.   34.  87,  32-4. 

9d,  97,  99.   285 
stream,   87 
Cmnings.   Mr..   297 
Curragh.   the  I.O.M..   294,   296 
Cwms.   Cwm  Glas,  etc.,  231.   243-4 
Cwm  Bychan.  254 

Dalton.  57 

Danes,  the.   in  S.  Lancashire,    II0-6 

on  the  Dee,  165 
Danes,   pad.   42.  79 
Danish   place  and  surnames,  116-7 
Darwin.   Charles,   14,  50 
Dawkins.    Pr.if.    Sir    W.    B':>vd,    22.    30.    50. 

121.   135.    191.   284,    293 
I>awp.x'l,  167-8 
Daws-wa.   Mr..   49 
Dee.  River.  54.  36,  124,  137-9,  150.  153,  1:3 

etymology.   164 

Esruary,   165,  167 

in  R.-mian  period,  163.  156 
Dee    and    Mei^sev    Canal,    119 
Deganwy,   183.    187,    19i2.    196.    206.    212 
Denham.  Commander,   138 
De  Kauce.   ilr.,  78 
Derbysiiire  Cave  remains,  50 
Devil  s  Bridge,  253 
Devonian  i,Uld  Red),  11.  20,  46 
Dinas   DinUe,  221-2,  224,  ST 
Dinerth,   lijd-6 
Dia^rwic.    Port,    218,   221 
D>isw.^rch.  MSS..  63,  82,   o-l 
Dagger  Bank,   40 
Dolgelly.  18,   25o-6.  25S-3 
Douglas,  l.O-M..  c6.  298 
Douglas    river.   Laac,   06.   43.    45,  ^.   *i. 
102,  125.  296 

Navigation.    Lane,    SC 
Dove  Point.  158-9,  151 
D.iver,   Straits  ct  39,   289 
Djvey.   River,  261.   262,  2i5 
Downs,  the  >'.   and  S..  29 
Droitwich,  156 
Druidic  Circles,  50,  227      _ 
D'jddon.  river.   2.  55,  56.  01,  53 
Dulas  Bay.    215-6 
Dwyfor,   River,   236 
Dwygvfylchi.    1?6.   204.   205 
Dwrvd  iDw^Tvd»  River.  237.  246-7.  249,  250. 

'  252-3."  f&i 
Dyffryn.   ioo.   275 
Dvserth,   171 
Diysitmi.  River.  260.  270.  275 

Earth,  ase  of.  10 
Earthquakes.   107.    196.    277-9.   2S3 
Earth-worms,   as  agents  of  change.  13 
Eastham.  128.  134.  235 

ferry  to  Liverpool.  132 
Edge   Hill   cuttiac.    24.   155 
Egryn  lights,   258 

lake  and  skull.  25o 


I N  DE  X — Coni-.t-t.r. 


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I N  D  E  X —  Coiiiin  ued. 


Humphreys,  G.  A.  Mr.,   F.B.I.B.A.,  3,  188, 

190,   200 
Humphrey  Head,   57 
Hutodred  End,  96 
Button,   James,  7 

William :    Blackpool,    67 
Hyfln  Bridge,  105 


Iberic  race,  50.  191 

Ice  Age,  51,   33-4,   53,   21o,   218,   221,  243 

Ice-age,  N.  America,  34 

Sheet,   185,   193 
Ice-8cratched    boulders,    3z,    245,    258 
Ice  and    frost  as  denuders,   14 
Igneous  rocks,   11,   17,   5^,  215,   a>2,   243 
Ince,  123 

Ince   Blundell,  152 
Ingleborough,    20,    137 
Ireland,    21,    23-4,    28,    38,    59,    79,    137,   165, 

232,   239.  248,    266,   278 
Irish  Elk,  38 

Irish  Sea,  20,  24,  28-9,  30,  34.  120,  139,  180, 
289 

Ice,    55,    294 

Depths,   37,   58 
Ironbridge:    Glacial    drifts,    120 
Iron  Age,  51 
Irwell,    Eiver,   157 

Isle  of  Man,  2,  25,  28.  3i,  38-9,  44,   65,  79, 
120,   159,    156,    292  et  seq. 


Java,   ape-man,   48 

Jersey,  290 

John,  King  amd  Liverpool,   130,   165 

Joly,    Prof.    J.,    F.K.S.,   ao 

Jones,   Prof.,   Sir   Morris,   2(J5 

Jukes-Brown,    Prof.    A.,    3,    17,    29,    30.    33, 

38-9,  41 
Jura.ssic  period,  26 


Kanovium   (Oaerhun),  208.   221,    28b 
Keer,   Eiver,   59,   60,   74 
Keith,   Dr.,  49 
Kelvin,  Lord,  10 

Kendall,    Mr.    W.    B.,    A.M.I.C.E.,   f2 
Kendall,  Prof.   P.    F.,  30 
Kendrick's   Cave,   51,   189,   190 
Kent,   River,  53,  59,  60,  ''i4 
Keuper  beds.  24-5,  162 

marl,   103 
Kilgrimol,   70-1 
Killane,    Biver,   294 
King's   Scar,   75,   77 
Kirkham,    67,    72 
Kirk    Michael,    297 
Knott  End,   64 


Lake  district,  English,  29,  33,  52,  65,  294 
Lakes,  dried  up,  43-4,  106,  114,  119,  176, 

in  Snowdiinia,   244-5 

Isle  of  Man,  293-4 
Lamplugh,  Mr.  G.   W.,   292,   296 
Lanes,    and  Uhes.   Mere.s'   drainage,    14J 
Lancaster,   59,   79,   124 
Las   Tnys,   250-2 
Lavan  Sands,  207 


Leasowe,   and  Castle,  42,   140,  156-8 
embarikment,   140,    156 
lighthouse,    159 
Lees,  Mr.  Horace,  3,  201-2,  211 
Leigh,  Dr.,   83 

Leland's  Itinerary,  43,   1^.  191,  223,  251 
Lemur,  47 
Levers  Water,    34 
Leven.   River.  53,   55,  57,  59 

glacier,    53 
Lewis,   Prof.,   122,   184 
Leyland,   23 
Limestone,   carboniferous,  11,   20-2,  47,   171, 

184,   193,   214-5 
Little  Orme's  Head,   180-1,  184-6,  188 
Liverpool,  2.  64,  67,  86,    130,  132 
etymology,  150 

Bay,  45,  118,  121,   125-6,  158-9 
the  pool,  150,  288 
Ca.?tle,    132 
first  dock.   111,  152 
Salthouse   dock,   152 
Toxteth    Park,    152 
St.    George's    Pier,    118 
dock  .sill  levels,   286-8 
Llan.  .mealaing  of,   189 
Llanaber,  256 
l^lanbadarn,  264 
Llanbedrog,  234 
Llanberis,    Pass  of,  18,   32,   244 
Llandanwg   Church,    254 
Llandudno,   40,   181,    187,    189 

Field  Club,  200 
Llaufairfeclian,    206-7-8-9 
Llantairpwll,    218 
Llangollen,    Vale    of,   163,    i90 
Llevn    Peninsula,    230,    232 
Llech  Cave,    190 

Lloyd,  Prof.  J.  E.,  195,  200,  265,  265-6 
Llyn  Dinas,  244-5 
Llyn  Gwynant,   244 
■•  Llys  ■  :    A  d«scriptinn.  200 
Llvs  Helig,   187.    194-6.    198,   201-2,   212,   214 

■The  Legend,  196,  203 
Lomas,   Mr.    Joseph,  58,  45,  48,  121-2,  135, 

137,    141,   288 
Longridge   Valley,  82 
Loss  and    Gain  of  Land,   253,   299,  300 
Lost  Farm,   the  109 
Lowe,  Mr.  W.  Bezant,   M.A.,  193.  196,  200, 

204 
Lowscules,    57 
Lune,  River,  55,   60-2.  74-5,  77-8.  124 

glacier,   53 
Lyell,  Sir  Hias.,  7 
Lyonesse,  lost  land,  276 
Lytham,  65.  69,   70,  84,  b?,  138,  151 
Pool,   40 


Mabinno-ion,  228-9,  248,  266 
Maentwrog,  241-2 

Madocks,  Wm.  Alex.,  M.P.,  259,  240 
Maeia  Rhys,  184 
Maen-y-Hensor,   184 
Maelswvu,   King    of   (iwynedd.   192 
Malldiakh   Biiv   and   Mar.sh,   216.   218 
Manchester    Ship  Canal,   79,   158 
Man :    in  geological   time,   46 
Martin  Mere,   45,   51 
diauiiug  of,  96 


INDEX— Conh'ftued. 


Marton  Mere  and  Moss,  43,  62,  67 
Mawddach,   Eiver,   256,   25b-9,   275,   287 
Meuai   Strait,   194,    207,   218-9.    221,   287 

routes   across,   181.    208,   210-U 

Bridge  Village,   221 

Suspension   Bridge,    219 
Meols,    etymology.   142 

Hall,  97 
Meols,    Oheahire.    40.   45,   167-8 
Meriolnethshire,  33,   253,   255 
Mersey :   First  steamboat  on.  132 

Channel  and  estuary,  81.  118,  128,  167,  288 
Mersey,   Eiver,   2,    34,    42,    45.   60,    69,    80, 
118,    121-3,   130,   138-9,    150.   165,  253, 
286 

deposits,   71,  81,  112,  128,  136,  139,  142 

sand  and  Ribble  clay,  22,  80,  81,  87,  103, 
110,  138,  140 

Tunnel,   121 

fordauie,    124.   128 

etymology,  125 

Docks  Board,  127,  129 

dredging  of,  _80,  81.  129,  138,  142 
Mesozoic  age.   S,  27 
Metamorphic  rocks,  11,  204,  231-2 
Meteorites,    6 

Meols   Hall.    Churchtown,    97,    103 
Meyriek's  History,  267 
Millstone    Grit,   20-2.    137 
Miller,   Hugh:    Origin  of  mosses,  42 
Milnthorpe,   43 

Miocene  period,   27,    29,  30,    47,  49 
Mochdre,    181,    185-6 
Mochras  Isle  of,   253-4,   269 
Moel  Tryfaeto,    47 
Moel-y-gest,   237 
Mon  or  Mona,   205,  215,  221 
Moorhouses,  113-14 
Moraines,    Glacial,  53,   185,   221,  244 
Morecambe  Bay,  18.  52,  55,  57-9,  74,  137,  290 

(Town),   52 
Moreton,   156 

ancient  lake,   119 
Morfa  Bhianedd,  177,  180,  187,  196,  200,  211 
Mortimer,  Mr.,  123,    277 
Morton  Mr.    G.    H.,    F.G.S.,   123,   156,   158, 

160,  288 
Mostyn,    Flintsh.,  168-9,  173 

Lord,   190 
Mountain  Ranges,  caiise  of,  281 
Moume  Mountains,   28 
Muriau,  the,  184,   212 
Mylthorp,  90 


Nantfrancon,  Pass  of  14,  18,  208,   221 
Nant  Gwynant,  34,  239,  242,  244 
Naze  Point,  Ford,  78,   92-3 
Neanderthal  skeleton,  50 
Nebulae,    5,    6 

Neolithic  asc    39.    41.    50-1.    135,    176.    191, 
227.   289.   293 

men,  38,  290,  298 

tool   factory,   157 
Neston,  69,    162,   166 
Nevin.  230-1 
New  Brighton,   24,   51,   132,   138,   155,   157, 

162,   285 
Newport,    Mon.,  220 

New  Red  Sand,stctae,  23,  34,  82.  121,  134,  155 
New  Star,   6 


Norbreck,  15,    62-3.  65-7 
North  Meols,   99.   105,  141 
North  Sea,  24,  29,  30,  33,  41,  155, 
North  Wales  a  forest,   176 
Northwioh,    24,    156 


Offa'g   Dvke.    174 

Ogwen,   Llyn  and  river,  197,   214 

Old  Red  Sandstone  (Devonian),  20,  215,   296 

Old  stone  age :   See  Paloeolithic 

Oligocene  period,   28,  47 

Oolitic    period,    52 

Ordnance  datum,   129 

Ordovician    Strata.   18-9.   204,   215,  255 

Ormskirk,  24,  36,  116,  121,  155 

Owen,   Mr.    Elias,   208 

Overborough,    79 


Paloeolithic  ma'u  and  age,   o4,  48,  50-1,   172 

remains,  47 
Paloeozoic,   27 
Parbold,   23-4,  34,  36,  90 
Parkgate,    132,   162-166 
Pary's   Mountain,   208,   215 
Peak   of  Derbyshire,  14,  21.  23,  52,  157 
Peat  beds,   or  mosses,   36,  40,  41-2,  45,  58, 

09,  122,  125.  127,  ibO,  175-6,  187,  243, 

289,    296 
formation   period,    22,   42 
Peat  and   coal,   22.   103 
Peck  (historian).  141 
Peckforton  Hills,   155 
Peel,  I.O.M.,  297 

Pembrokeshire,    51,   267-8,   275-9,   287 
Penamser,  239,  242 

Penmaenbach,   197,    201,  204,    207-8,   212 
Penmaenmawr,    51,    181,    183,    196-9,    204-8, 

212-4 
granite,  205 
Penmaenpool,  258-9 
Penmon,   Ansrle.sev,  209,  Zi5 
P««nmorfa,   239,  240,  242 
Pennant's  Toura,  75,  78,  179,  183,  185,   lb9. 

227,   232,   238,   240 
Pennine  Chain,  21-3,  25,  ^8-9,  33-4,  52,  156. 

137,   155 
Pennystone,  63.  66-7,  136,  285 
Penrhyn  Castle,    197,   218,  221 
Penrhyndeudraeth,    246 
Penwortham  Hill,  36 
Pen-y-gwryd,  239 
Pe(pyghent,   2(7,   137 
Permian  Series,  23,  46-7,  294 
Picton,   Sir  J.    A.,    124-5,  151 
Piel  Island,   59 
Pilling,  and  Mos3,   61,   64,  79 
Piltdown   Skull,   the  49 
Pleasington  Valley,  82 
Pleistocene   period,    31,    08,    45,    47-9,    191, 

2b2,   288 
Pliocene    period.    17.    27,    23,   30-1,   36.   46 

49,    262 
Plynlunmon,  33,   262 
Poolvaiah  Bay,  I.O.M.,   22,  40 
Port  Dinorwic,  218,  221 
Port  Erin,  etc.,  297 

Porter's    History  of  Fylde,  62,  71-2,  78 
Porth  DinlJaen,  231,   239 
Porth  Gwvddno,  220,  266 


INDEX— Cojih'nitec/. 


Forth  Gwyfan,   216 
Porthamel,    221 

Portmadoc,  18,  236,  238-9,  240-2 
Portus   Setantii,   2,   72,   /4-5,  77-9 
Potatoes,   tirst  in   England,   98 
Poulton,  63,  67,  72 
PoyUvash  Bay,    292-3,   297 
Prestatyn,   171,   173-4,    177 
Preston,  2,  32,  34,  69,  85-6,  166 

docks,    a2,    86 

navigation,    history,    8b 
Priestholme   (Puffin   Island),    181,    191.   196, 

213-4,   221 
Protective     defences:      groynes,     sea-walla, 
etc.,    62,    66,    140,   lOb,    162,    173,   184, 
235,   237,   240,  253,   Ml,  273,  289 

Sandhills,   146 

trees  and   grass,   146-7-8 

Nature's  own,   260 
Ptolemy,  geographer,    2.    52,   74-5,   105,   124, 

150-2,   268,   277,   286 
Puffin  Island,   214  (see    Priestholme) 
Pugh's  ••  Tour,"  214 
Pwllheli,  197,  234-7,  241 
Pydew,  62 


Quaternary    age,   49 
Quee(ni's   Channel,   129 
Qume,   Canon,    M.A.,    3,   294 


Badio-activity  and  rocks,  16 

Bain  as  disintegrator,  12,  15,  144,  242 

Baised  beaches,   38,   298 

Bampside,  55,  59 

Eamsay,  Prof.  Sir  A.   C,  218,   230.   270 

Bamsey,    I.O.M.,    81,    294,    296 

Baven   Meols,    110,   114,    il7,    141,  174 

Beade,    Mr.    Mellard,   12,   41,   105,    121,   12/, 

135,   145,   160,    280,   283 
Beelamation   of  land,   59,  86,   90,   94,   97-8, 
167-8,   172,    239,   240,    242 

effects  of,  98 
Becord,   Geological,  8,  9 
Bed  Wharf  Bay,  209,  211,  Zl8,  286 
Beid,  Mr.   Clement,    40-1,  135,  283 
Beindeer,    58 
Kheidol,   River,   263 
Bhine,  river,  41,   289 
Ehiw  mountain,  232,   234 
Bhos-on-Sea,    185-7,    211,  286 
Khos-neigr,  215,  216 
Bhuddlan,   2,   69,    176-7 
Bhyl :   erosion  at  173,  177 

tree  stumps  at,  40 
Rhv.s,  Prof.   Sir  .John,  75,  142,  153.   228,  266 
Bib'ble,  Biver,  2,  34,  69,  80,  137-8,  150 

estuary,    74,   88-9,   90,  98,   121,  lod,   IbX 

etymology,  81 

navigation,   87,  92,   112 

sand,   103,  142 
Eibchester,  72,   78,  81,   82,  85-6,  124.  152-3 
Biohard  II.  and  Bolingbroke,  183 
Bimmer :   etymologyj  U7 
Bipple   marks,  144 

Bise  and  fall  of  land,  16,  38-9,  46,  55,  57, 
61,  65,  155,  140,  156,  193,  262-3.  272-9, 
288  to  290,   297 

causes  of.   280  to  289 


River  Valleys,  drowned,   121,   288 

deposits,   93,   136 

currents,   144 

bars,  144 

name  origins,  153 

margin    flats,    168 

Hood.s,   93,    loo 
Bivers :   transporting  power,  12,  15 

changes  i|a  course^   120 
Bivington,  36 

Pike,   22 
Roach,   river,    137 

Roads,  submerged,    221,   227-8  (See    Eoman 
roads). 

See  Portus   Setantii,  Col.   Bav,  Meols 
Roberts,    Mr.  John,  188,  200 
Rock  Ferry,   134 
Bock  strata,  11,  13,  15,  17-8 

channel,  129,   157,  loa,  159,  161 
Roman   roads,    72,    75,    79,   92-3,    183,    ^iOS, 
209,   221.   228 

milestones,  206 

coins,  72,  92,  124,  189,  209,  227 

harbour,  77.  163,  284 

docks  and  walls,   273,   290 

camps  and  forts,    96,   itw,  189,  202,  211-2, 
221,   226-7 

and   Anglesey,   124,  208,  215,  221 

iguoraiict;   ol   ilersey,   1Z4 

bridge,   BLrke^ead,   las,   136,   285 

knowledge  of  rivers,  123,  126j  151 

interest  in  mines,    189,  ii09 
Roosebeok,  57 
Rosecote,    55 

Bossall,  53,  62-5,    72,  74-5,   77,  139 
Rufford,   ib.  43,  45,  90,  ai,  96 
Buncorn,    iiO-9,   121-2,   128,  285 

Castle,   132 
Budyard :   glacial  drift,   120 
Bylands,    T.   Glazebrook,   F.S.A.,    l6,  loO 


Salt  beds,  25,  155 

St.    Anues-on-the-Sea,   69,   70-1,   84,   187 

channel,   86,   112 
St.   David's.   Pembrokeshire,   36 
bt.  George's  (jnannel,   i;8-9,  50,  56,  81,  i5», 

267 
St.   Helens,  121,  149 
St.   Paul's   Cathedral,  39 
Saint  Tudno,   189.    190 
St.   Tudwal's  Isles,   254,  <iVO 
Samlesbury,   23,   137,   153 
Samd:    beds  and  source  of,  15,  59,  60,  112, 
136,   187,   193,   218,   237,   242 

Mersey  (see  Mersey),   139  ♦ 

as  destroyer,  141,  146 

constituents  of,  144 

and    dry   climate,    187 

in   I.O.M.,    298 
SandhUls,  Lancashire,  57,  87,  122,  141,  148, 
205,   286,   288 

at  Ainsdale,  108-9 

at  St.  Annes,  69 

growth  conditions,   14o,   etc. 

ranges   in  Britain,    146 

at    Khos-neigr,   216 

at  Soutbport,  101 

at  Abererch,    236 

at  Harlech,  253 

at  Aberdovey,  261 


I N  D  E  X —  Co?i  u  in  tied. 


Sandstone,  22 
•  Sartn,'   defined,   268 
Sam   Badrig,    267-8.   270-4 
Sam  Badara,  174 
Sarn-y-Bwch,  ii68,  270 
Saru  Cirvan,  269 
Sam  Cynfelin,  267-8,   270-4-5 
Sarta,  meaning   of,  213 
Sara  Holland,  183,   189 
Saiton's   maps,   224 
Scarisbriok  Hall,  36 
Scarlett  Point,  292 
Scotland,  55,  155,  218,   279,  296 
Sea  erosion,   nature  of,  14 
at  Norbreck,  Afonwen,  etc.,   15 
on   East  coaats,   15 
Seaforth,   124,   128,   285 
Sea-walls :   See  protective  defences 
Sea  Wood,  53 

Sedimentary  rocks,   11,   12,   13,   15,  17 
Segontium  (Carnarvon).  2U9,  221,    228 
Seirial,   206,   213-4 
feeicheuyu,  265-7 
Setantii  or  Sistuntii.  78 
Severn :    ancient  course.  35-6,  163 
Shirdley  Hill  and  sa«nd.  42,  103,  125,   149 
Shoolbred,   Mr.   J.   N.,   O.E..  166 
Shotwick,  165.  167 
Silurian  strata,  19,  20,  46,  52,  137,    171,  207, 

215,    292 
Silverdale.  60,  77 
Smell,   Mr.   Jos.   SineU.  290 
Singleton   Carrs.  62 
Thorpe,   62-3,   84 
Skippool  on  the  Wyre,  67,  78,  166 
Smith,    William,   7 
Snaefell,    293 
Snotterstone,  96,  285 
Snowdon,    11,   33-4,   242-4 
Solar   System,   5 
Solway :  Roman  wall,  58,   290 
Southport,  24,  33,  38,  44,  64,  70,  187,  300 
Channel,   80,   86,  88-9,   142 
Church  (or  Kirk)  gate,   92 
Lord  Street,  101,   145 
Nile  stream,  101,   102 
SandhUls,  start  of.  99 
Sea  leaving,  88-9 
Southwold,  15 
Spanish  Head,   I.O.M.,    292 
Speed's    maps,   69,   84,   113,    119,   128,  153, 

173,  224,   237,   249,  252,   294 
Spui-n  Point,  300 
fstafia :   Columnar  basalt,   28 
Stalmine,  61 
Staniaw  Point,   119 

Abbey,  116,    123,   288 
Stanners :    Fylde  coast,   69 
Starr  grass,   108,  141,  146-7 

compulsory   planting    of,   112,   141,   147 
Stonehenge,  50 

Storeton  quarries  and  hill,  26,   32 
Submarine  Searches,  74-5,  194,  197,  212,  226, 

268 
Submerged   forests,   40-1,   125-6.  159,   175-6, 
185,   207,  261-2,    285-7-9 
bridge,  275 


Subsidence  of  land,  94,  96,  104,  121-2,  160, 

209 
evidences,  97,  128,  136,  151,  180.  187,  203, 

216,  224.   235,   237,   253,   267,   272,   282 

to  288 
Suess,  Prof.,  282 
Sugar  Hillock,  98 
Sulby,   Eiver,  294.  296 
.Sunaerland   and   Point,  60,  61 
Swaine,  Mr.  A.  T.,  50 


Taliesin,  195,    229 

iaisaiuau,    <:tl-Z,    iSO,    252-3 

Tan  Penmaen  Head,    179,   180,   183-4 

Tarleton,    90,   92-3 

Taylor's  Bank,   81,   129 

Teilord,   road  and  bridge-maker,   192,  207-8 

Tertiary  series,  8.  27,  46,  52 

i names,  river,   40,  41,   io6 

Thornber,    Rev.    Wm.,    42,    63,    67,    73.   79, 

82,    84 
Thurstaston,   162 
Tides,   80,  129 

Tidal  scour  and  currents,  58-9,  64,  81, 118, 
159,    142.  144.  169,  219,  235,  242,  297 

range  at  Liverpool.  128 
elsewhere,    129 
Towyu,  diM 

Tradition,    value  of,   276 
Traeth  Mawr,  239,  240,  246 

Bach,   241-2,   246,   252 
Treaddur  Bay,  216 

Tree  stumps,  40,  42,  45,   62-3,  70,  116.  125, 
127-b,    156.    168.    176,    179,     185,    100, 
207,   227,   ^6,   261,  ^oo,  293 
Tremadoc,   259,   240 
Tre'r   CeLri,   230 
Tievor,  Port,    230 
Triads,   the  Welsh,   195,  266-7 
Triassic   Series,    23-5,  36,   46,   52,   137,    155, 
172,   284 

Shore-line,  56 
Ti\vyii-yi->iyaa,    196,    199 
Tryfaen,    Moel,   48 
Tubular  Bridge  Britannia,   206,    211,  215 

Conway,    192 
Ty  Uwyu  (lalsarnau),  241-2,  251-3,  2&tt 


Ullswater,  34 

Ulverston,  51,   55,  59,  73,    77 


Valleys,   how   shaped,   13 

Vertical  movements ;   See  Rise  and  Fall 

Volcanic   rocks :    Anglesey,    215 

Merioneth,   255-6 

Yorkshire,    28 

forces,   281 
Volcanoes,  12,  18,  232 

in    Camarvooashire,   204-5,   230,    232,   235, 
243,   278 

in  Eocene  period,  28 

in    Ireland,    278 

near  Penmaenbach,    254 

off  Poolvaish  Bay,   22,  293 

in   Scotland,   22,   27,   278 


INDEX— Confirmed. 

Waddum   Thorpe,   83-4  Wigran,  22,  36,  90,  102 

Wallasey    132,    140  Winda,    prevailing  direction,    145 
Float  (or   Pool),   119,    121,   128,   136,   157,         Wiuster,  River,  53 

160,   285-8  Wirral,   low  lands,   124,  156,  161 

Embankment,   140,    156  Windermere,    ^4 

racecourse,    158  Wolverhampton:    boulders,    56 

Walney,  Isle  of,  2,  53,  55-8.  67  Woodside  Fen-y,  154 

Walton-le-Dale,   65  Woodward,    Dr    Smith.   49 

Waterloo,   125  Wright,   Mr.    W.   B      280 

Weaver    Eiver,   36  Wynne,  Sir  .John,  196,  199,  206,  207,  ^13 

Weald   of    Kemt,   26,    137  Wyre,  River,   62  to  67,   74-5,  77-9 
West  Kirby,  42,    162-168 
West  Lancash.    p!am,  56,  42 

meres,  43,  45  Tr  Eifl,   227,  230,  234 

Whernside,   20,  137  Ysgewyn   (Newport)    2ra 

Whitaker,   F.R.S.,   Mr.,   284  Ystwyth,  River,  265,   275 


PREFACE. 

This  book  has  two  aims.  It  seeks  to  make 
understandable  and  interesting  to  those  having  no 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  geology,  the  past  of  a 
part  of  England  and  Wales  with  which,  as  residents 
or  visitors,  so  many  are  familiar. 

Its  second  aim  is  to  make  what  the  writer  is 
hopeful  will  prove  to  be  a  permanent  addition  to  the 
geological  expert's  knowledge  of  the  coast  dealt 
with.  Every  previous  writer,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  has  assumed  that  there  has  been  no 
change  for  some  thousands  of  years  in  the  land- 
levels  on  this  coast,  relatively  to  sea-level.  The 
evidences  here  brought  together  will,  it  is  hoped, 
satisfy  every  open-minded  enquirer  that  a  subsidence 
has  been  in  operation  for  an  unknown  period,  and 
that  it  is  still  in  progress.  Not  only  through  the 
direct  evidence  which  the  discovery  under  the  sea 
of  remains  of  human  handiwork  supplies,  but  by  the 
indirect  evidence  of  the  number  of  hitherto  unsolved 
problems  which  have  yielded  to  this  simple  key, 
should  conviction  be  carried. 

Examples  of  such  problems  are  the  recent  rise  of 
the  Lancashire  sandhills;  the  erosion  of  the  Cheshire 
sea-front,    where   not   long   ago    probably   accretion 


was  in  progress ;  the  identification  of  Ptolemy's 
Belisama  ' '  as  the  Ribble  or  Mersey  ;  the  hitherto 
undetermined  site  of  Portus  Setantii ;  the  problem  as 
to  how  Harlech  was  reached  from  the  sea  ;  the  com- 
plete disappearance  of  so  many  towns  and  villages 
which  on  a  stationary  level  theory  should  have  left 
some  visible  remains ;  and  the  origin  of  the 
submerged  sarns  of  Cardigan  Bay. 

This  subsidence  theory  was  put  forward,  in  a 
tentative  way,  in  a  previous  book  by  the  same 
writer,  "  The  Battle  of  Land  and  Sea."  This  little 
w^ork  met  with  an  unexpectedly  encouraging  recep- 
tion, and,  though  long  out  of  print,  is  still  frequently 
enquired  for.  Instead  of  issuing  a  third  edition,  it 
bas  been  deemed  better  to  embody  its  essential 
features  in  this  considerably  amplified  account  of 
the  history  and  changes  of  the  West  Coast.  The 
parts  dealt  with  have  been  extended  from  the 
Duddon  and  Walney  coasts  to  include  Anglesey,  the 
larger  half  of  Cardigan  Bay,  and  the  Isle  of  Man. 
Every  section  has  been  wholly  re-written,  and  the 
book  is  in  substance  a  new  one,  despite  the  re-use 
of  some  of  the  outline  maps. 

It  will  be  noted  with  interest  how  frequently  the 
rise  or  decay  of  a  port  has  been  due  to  estuarial 
siking  or  coastal  subsidence.  Chester,  Beaumaris 
(Gv^gyr  of  old),  Portus  Setantii,  Preston,  and 
Rhuddlan  were  important  sea-ports  centuries  before 
Liverpool,  Fleetwood,  and  Barrow  had  a  place  on 
the  map. 

The  book  represents  the  results  of  many  happily 
occupied  recreative  hours  which  have  been  stolen 
from  a  much-crowded  business  life.  Some  of  the 
data  collected  will,  it  is  hoped,  have  value  for 
subsequent  investigators  in  the  same  field. 


For  assistance  in  proof-reading,  as  observers  of 
local  changes,  or  in  kindly  conveyed  expert  know- 
ledge, the  author's  sincere  thanks  are  due,  and  are 
here  tendered,  to  the  following  gentlemen  : — 

Mr.  Joseph   McCabe,    London. 

Mr.  W.  L.   Page,    Barrow. 

Mr.  M.  Stables,  Barrow. 

Mr.  T.   H.   Blane,  Blackpool. 

Commander  F.   W.   Mace,   Mersey  Dock  Board   Surveyor. 

Mr.  Joseph  Baxendell,  f.r.   Met.  Soc,  Southport. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Stansfield,  f.r.h.s.,  Southport. 

Canon  Quine,  M.A.,  Lonan  Vicarage,  Isle  of  Man. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Quayle,  Kirk  Michael,  Isle  of  Man. 

Mr.  J.  D.  Clucas,  Ramsey,  Isle  of  Man. 

Mr.  J.  Bilsborough,  Dock  Superintendent,  Preston. 

Mr.  W.  Hewitt,  Birkenhead. 

Dr.  J.  R.  Lloyd  Parker,  New  Brig-hton. 

Mr.  T.  a.  Glenn,  Meliden. 
Mr.  Thos.  Edwards,  Prestatyn. 

Mr.  G.  a.  Humphreys,  f.r. lb. a.,  r.c.a.,  Llandudno. 

Mr.  J.  Roger  Dawson,  Llandudno. 

Mr.  Horace  Lees,  Deganwy. 

Mr.  Willoughby  Gardner,  Deganwy. 

Rev.  a.  H.  Grey  Edwards,  Llangoed,  Anglesej'. 

Rev.  W.  Pritchard,  Pentraeth. 

Mr.  D.  Cadwaladr,  Criccieth. 

Mr.  David  Morris,  Portmadoc. 

Mr.  L.  F.  Edwards,  Harlech. 

Rev.  Z.  Mather,  Barmouth. 

Mr.  Owen  Owen,  Hendre  Hall,  Barmouth. 

Prof.  Fleure,  The  University,  Aberystwyth. 


The  modern  maps  have  been  for  the  most  part  drawn  by 
Mr.  Eric  Ashton,  and  the  photo  originals  of  figs.  27  and  Frontis- 
piece have  been  taken  by  Mr.  Percy  Ashton. 

W.  A. 


Acknowledgment  is  due  to  Messrs.  Edward  Stanford  Ltd.,  for  the  favour  ot 
their  kind  permission  to  reproduce  Figs.  3,  4  and  6  from  Jukes- Browne's 
"  Building  of  the  British  Isles." 


jj.  Irton  Road,  Southport.       March,   rg^o. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Introductory. 

That  the  modern  doctrine  of  Evolution  has  displaced 
creation  and  permeated  every  department  of  human 
knowledge,  is  known  to  every  educated  person,  but  it 
is  less  well  known  that  the  first  of  the  sciences  to  which 
the  theory  of  continuous  change  by  natural  forces  was 
applied  was  that  which  deals  with  the  structure  of  the 
earth's  crust.  The  early  pioneers  who  ventured  to  apply 
the  inductive  method  of  reasoning  to  observed  facts 
came  under  the  heavy  censure  of  the  Church,  Protestant 
and  Catholic  alike.  To  question  the  literal  accuracy  of 
the  Genesis  account  of  creation  was  to  bring  down  upon 
their  quest  for  truth  the  most  vehement  of  denunciations 
only  a  brief  century  ago.  The  conflict  raged  with 
renewed  vigour  around  the  evolution  controversy  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  decades  of  the  last  century,  and  it  is 
only  within  the  present  generation  that  all  attempts  to 
stem  the  free  search  after  the  facts  upon  which  have 
been  built  the  allied  sciences  of  the  rocks  and  of  life 
forms  have  been  finally  abandoned. 

The  origin  of  the  earth  as  a  member  of  the  sun's 
family  of  planets  belongs  rather  to  the  astronomer's 
field,  but  it  has  a  vital  interest  for  the  student  of  the 
rocks.  For  a  century  or  more  the  Laplacian  nebular 
hypothesis  had  held  the  field,  but  it  is  now  accepted 
only  with  important  modifications.  The  largest  of  the 
bodies  composing  the  solar  system  are  the  eight  major 
planets.  Mercury,  Venus,  Earth,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn, 
Neptune,  and  Uranus.  Over  five  hundred  minor  bodies, 
OT  planetoids,  ranging  in  size  from  20  to  400  miles  in 
diameter,  have  been  tabulated,  and  there  are  in  addition 


INTRODUCTORY.  5 

minute  bodies  which  have  been  called  planetesimals. 
Countless  meteorites,  comets  and  innumerable  dark, 
dead  bodies — these  are  burnt-out  suns  and  frozen 
planets — complete  the  list  of  the  known  tenants  of  space. 
Let  it  be  imagined  that  all  these  various  bodies, 
within  the  solar  system's  radius,  were  spread  out  loosely, 
at  some  inconceivably  remote  period,  over  the  space 
now  occupied  by  the  outermost  planet's  orbit. 
According  to  Professor  Gregory,  "  Each  member  of  that 
"  system  has  been  formed  by  the  concentration  into 
small,  compact  bodies  of  this  great  cloud-like  mass." 
These  cloud-Hke  masses,  termed  nebulae,  are  sprinkled 
throughout  space  to  the  known  number  of  at  least 
120,000 — some  say  400,000 — but  only  two  are  visible  in 
the  northern  hemisphere  to  the  naked  eye  :  (I)  the  hazy 
patch  of  light  around  the  middle  star  in  the  Sword 
of  Orion,  and  (2)  the  nebula  in  the  constellation 
Andromeda.  The  first  may  be  seen  below  the  line  of 
the  three  stars  forming  the  belt  of  Orion,  seen  due  South 
about  10  o'clock  in  January,  and  the  second  is  almost 
^actly  overhead  at  10  o'clock  in  the  month  of  November. 
These  nebulae  are  of  all  shapes,  globular,  spiral,  ring- 
shaped,  or  irregular.  The  spiral  is  the  standard  type. 
The  rotation  of  one  of  these  spiral  nebulae  has  been 
definitely  proved  by  spectroscopy  at  an  Arizona  observa- 
tory. Some  have  a  small  disc  surrounded  by  a  faint 
cloudy  aureole,  including  spots  of  bright  density.  Each 
point  telescopically  seen  in  the  Orion  nebula  is  a  star 
at  least  a  million  miles  in  diameter,  and  the  nebula  itself 
is  at  least  10,000  billions  of  miles  away. 

It  is  now  clear  that  many  of  these  nebulae  show,  as 
in  a  photograph,  the  stages  through  which  our  own 
Solar  System  has  passed.  A  photograph  taken  in  1887 
by  the  late  Dr.  Isaac  Roberts  shows  that  the  great 
nebula  in  Andromeda  is  disc-like  in  shape,  that  it  has 
a  glowing  central  mass,  and  that  the  less  luminous  outer 
part  is  breaking  up  into  rings.  These  rings,  in  their 
turn,  would  appear  to  be  breaking  up  into  patches, 
which  we  may  assume  to  be  planets  in  their  initial  stage. 
By  some  this  nebula  is  now  believed  to  be  a  separate 
universe  of  stars. 


6  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

But  whether  the  earth  began  as  a  gassy  cloud  or  as 
a  swarm  of  cold,  solid  meteorites  heated  into  a  vaporous 
condition  by  continual  collisions  (the  theory  put  forward 
by  Sir  Norman  Lockyer  and  developed  and  extended  by 
Prof.  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  of  Chicago),  is  a  complex 
question  which  may  be  here  passed  by.  What  is  certain 
is  that  stars  and  planets  are  aggregations  of  cosmic  dust 
collected  and  pressed  together  by  the  action  of  gravita- 
tdon.  Sir  Norman  Lockyer  estimates  that  as  many  as 
400,000,000  meteorites,  known  as  "  shooting  stars,"  may 
reach  the  earth  every  day. 

The  parent  suns  of  the  myriads  of  solar  systems, 
which  we  know  as  the  fixed  stars,  as  distinct  from  the 
planets,  Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  &c.,  part,  in  the 
lapse  of  ages,  with  their  heat,  and  decay.  The  planets 
and  their  moons,  which  become  dead  first,  like  our  own, 
do  the  same.  We  now  know  that  the  colour  of  a  star 
is  determined  by  its  age.  Blue-white,  like  that  of  Sirius 
and  Vega,  represents  a  spring-like  youth;  yellow,  like 
that  of  Capella  and  our  own  sun,  represents  the  autumn 
stage  ;  and  red,  like  that  of  Aldebaran,  in  Taurus,  i. 
wintry  old  age. 

Dead,  invisible  bodies  are  sprinkled  through  stellar 
space.  Occasionally  one  of  these  dead  suns,  planets,  or 
moons  comes  into  collision  with  some  other  star,  as 
probably  happened  in  February,  1901,  when  a  new  star 
appeared  in  Perseus.  In  28  hours  it  became  8000  times 
brighter  than  the  sun.  Before  the  close  of  the  same  year 
a  new  nebula  of  enormous  extent  had  spread  out  from 
the  centre.  A  new  star  had,  through  some  tremendous 
cataclysm,  been  resolved  into  a  nebula.  The  entrance 
of  a  star  into  an  existing  small  nebula  is  believed  by 
many  to  be  a  common  cause.  Evolution  is  thus  seen 
to  have  its  necessary  complement  in  involution,  and  the 
life-story  of  a  world  in  all  its  vast  cycle  of  changes  is 
becoming  gradually  clearer. 

Reverting  to  our  own  mother-earth's  evolution  :  a 
scum  would  follow  the  dull-red  glowing  stage,  and  a 
crust  would  eventually  form.  But  the  heat  would  be 
permanently  maintained  by  the  friction  caused  by  the 
close    packing  of   the    component    particles.      It    is    this 


INTRODUCTORY.  7 

contracting  friction  which  is  now  known  to  be  the  chief 
factor  in  accounting  for  the  sun's  continued  heat. 

The  original  crust  would  be  like  slag  cooled  from  a 
molten  state,  resembling  basalt,  and  underneath  granites 
would  form.  The  crust  of  the  present  time  is  believed 
to  be  from  40  to  45  miles  thick.  For  a  period  a  con- 
tinual breaking-up,  sinking,  and  re-forming  of  the  crust 
would  go  on.  Then  it  would  thicken,  become  more 
stable,  its  surface  cease  to  glow,  the  steamy  atmosphere 
would  cool  ;  rain  would  be  precipitated,  and  oceans  and 
continents,  rivers  and  lakes,  would  at  last  begin  to  form. 

That  the  heat  of  the  interior  is  still  well  maintained 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  there  is  a  rise  of  temperature 
of  I  deg.  F.  for  each  64  feet  of  descent  from  the  earth's 
surface.  Boiling  point,  at  this  rate,  would  be  reached  at 
less  than  10,000  feet.  But  our  actual  knowledge  ceases 
at  a  depth  of  about  25  miles. 

It  was  William  Smith,  the  real  father  of  Geology, 
who  made  the  important  discovery  that  rocks  could  be 
identified  by  their  fossil  remains,  and  who  published 
the  first  geological  map  of  England  in   1815. 

Before  his  time,  and  that  of  James  Hutton,  who  laid 
down  in  his  "^Theory  of  the  Earth"  (1795)  the  now 
universally  accepted  principles  of  geology,  it  was 
believed  that  the  existing  order  had  been  brought  about 
by  cataclysmic  upheavals  of  stupendous  extent.  We 
now  know  that  the  work  of  creation  is  going  on  to-day 
much  as  it  has  always  done.  Vast  changes  have 
occurred,  ocean  beds  have  been  uplifted  to  form  land 
areas,  wide  areas  of  land  have  disappeared  to  form 
ocean  beds,  great  valleys  have  been  scooped  out, 
mountain  ranges  upheaved,  and  extraordinary  changes 
in  climate  have  succeeded  each  other,  but  the  process 
has  been  almost  invariably  a  very  gradual  one.  It  was 
Lyell  who  put  forward  and  established  the  now  univer- 
sally accepted  uniformitarian  theory  long  before  Charles 
Darwin  had  given  to  the  world  in  1859  his  "Origin  of 
Species,"  in  which  the  same  principle  of  gradual 
modification  was  laid  down,  and  which  established  on 
a  permanent  basis  evolution  as  the  universally  accepted 
successor  of  the  old  creation  beliefs. 


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10  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

The  importance  of  the  connexion  between  evolution 
in  biology  and  geology  is  becoming  increasingly  recog- 
nised. It  is  now  known  that  all  changes  in  life  forms 
have  been  mainly  due  to  the  influence  of  changing 
environment.  This  changing  environment  is  usually  due 
to  the  battle  of  land  and  sea,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of 
land,  with  its  frequent  resulting  changes  in  climate. 
The  branch  of  geology  with  which  this  volume  mainly 
deals  will  thus  be  seen  to  be  one  of  prime  importance 
to  biologists  and  geologists  alike. 

How  long  has  the  earth-making  process  taken  ?  is  a 
question  to  w^hich  many  differing  answers  are  given. 
Estimates  range  from  one  to  several  hundred  millions 
of  years.  Lord  Kelvin's  original  estimate  was 
100  millions  of  years  from  the  laying  down  of  the 
Archaean  series,  but  he  has  since  reduced  this.  Sir 
G.  H.  Darwin's  estimate  is  56  millions  of  years  since 
the  earth  cast  off  the  moon  when  in  a  semi-molten 
condition  and  when  our  globe  revolved  on  its  axis  in 
4  or  5  instead  of  24  hours  as  to-day.  Other  geologists 
require  from  200  to  800  millions  of  years.  Some  idea  as 
to  what  prodigious  periods  geology  has  to  deal  with  may 
be  formed  when  it  is  realised  that  it  has  taken  from 
15,000  to  30,000  years  for  the  Niagara  river  to  carve  out 
its  channel  without  reaching  the  age  when  the  newer 
layers  of  this  part  of  America  were  deposited  under  the 
sea.  Time,  in  geology,  is  measured  not  by  years,  but 
mainly  by  fossil  periods.  A  fossil  is  not  the  actual 
remains  of  a  once  living  creature,  but  an  impression  in 
some  deposit  which  has  been  subsequently  hardened 
and  preserved.  The  evidences  of  these  fossil  remains, 
multiplied  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  have  furnished  the 
safest  data  for  determining  the  age  of  the  various  strata. 
Whilst  fire  and  water  have  each  played  their  part  in  the 
making  of  the  earth's  crust,  it  has  been  by  water  alone 
that  its  life-history  has  been  written. 

Rock  strata  which  have  originally  been  laid  down, 
grain  by  grain,  by  the  action  of  water,  chiefly  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  river  estuaries  or  basins,  are  called 
"sedimentary"  deposits.  Clay,  chalk,  and  pebble 
strata  are  similarly  deposited.     The  cementing  action  of 


FACTORS  OF  CHANGE.  II 

carbonate  of  lime,  oxide  of  iron  and  quartz,  together 
with  the  enormous  pressure  of  later  deposited  layers, 
hardens,  in  the  course  of  time,  the  loosest  of  materials 
into  rock  of  varying  degrees  of  hardness. 

Igneous  rocks  comprise  rocks  of  fire  origin.  These 
intruded  dikes  and  layers  have  been  thrust  up  from 
below  by  volcanic  and  other  deep-seated  forces,  and 
have  taken  the  form  of  lava,  pumice,  ash,  or  basalt. 
Owing  to  their  extremely  hard  weathering  qualities, 
these  rocks  play  an  important  part  in  the  making  of  the 
most  picturesque  scenery.  Snowdon,  Cader  Idris, 
Carnedd  Llewelyn,  Scawfell,  and  Helvellyn,  the 
Wrekin,  the  Malvern  Hills,  Dartmoor,  and  the  Cornish 
heights,  all  consist  largely  of  igneous  rocks.  Again  and 
again  the  lower  levels  of  these  heights  have  been  sub- 
merged under  the  sea,  but  they  have  endured  from  the 
inconceivably  remote  Cambrian,  Ordovician,  or  Devonian 
periods,  from  which,  for  the  most  part,  they  date. 

There  is  a  third  main  division  called  "  Metamorphic" 
rocks.  These  are  sedimentary  strata  which  have  been 
altered  in  character  by  great  heat  and  pressure,  or  by 
igneous  intrusions.  Limestones  may,  under  such  con- 
ditions, became  marble  and  shale  may  become  slate. 

The  Sedimentary,  the  main  division,  are  sub-divided 
as  in  the  preceding  table.  The  stated  duration  of  the 
several  periods  must  be  understood  to  be  highly 
conjectural. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Factors  of  Change. 

Given  a  sufficiently  long-dated  draft  on  the  Bank  of 
Time,  and  there  is  practically  no  range  of  mountains 
which  cannot  be  levelled,  no  river  valley  hollowed  out, 
or  no  cliff  coast  which  cannot  be  worn  down,  by  one 
or  more  of  the  tools  with  which  Nature  is  endlessly 
chiselling  the  earth's  surface.  These  agencies  of  change 
are  :  (I)  sea  waves  and  currents  ;  (2)  rain  and  rivers  ; 
(3)  frost  and  snow  ;  (4)  heat  and  cold  ;  (5)  volcanoes 
and  earthquakes  ;  (6)  wind-driven  dust  ;  and  (7)  earth- 
worms. Without  some  account  of  the  part  which  these 
agencies  play,  coast-line  changes  can  only  be  imperfectly 
understood. 

Sedimentary  rocks  generally  are  "  monuments  of  the 
transporting  power  of  currents."  Each  drop  of  rain  that 
fails  helps  to  loosen  and  carry  soil  from  moors  and 
valley  sides  to  lower  levels.  Mr.  Mellard  Reade  calcu- 
lated that  about  100  tons  of  rocky  matter  are  loosened 
and  removed  by  rain  per  English  square  mile  per  annum, 
and  that  the  rivers  of  England  are  now  lowering  the 
general  surface  by  about  a  foot  in  12,000  years  ;  hence 
a  thousand-feet  valley  may  represent  the  work  of 
1 ,200,000  years.  A  river  flowing  at  3in.  per  second  will 
move  fine  mud  ;  at  6in.,  fine  sand  ;  at  8in.,  sand  as 
coarse  as  a  pea  ;  and  at  36in.  will  transport  stones  as 
large  as  a  hen  egg.  Gravel  in  a  mass  of  sand,  therefore, 
points  to  heavy  rain-floods  when  laid  down. 

The  Rhone  carries  down  annually  enough  carbonate 
of  lime  to  make  333,000  millions  of  oyster  shells 
(Bonney).       The    Mississippi    every    year    carries     down 


FACTORS  OF   CHANGE.  B 

enough  sediment  to  cover  268  square  miles  a  foot  thick. 
The  Thames  carries  in  solution  1000  tons  of  chalk  daily 
under  Kingston  Bridge.  The  Lake  of  Geneva  has  been 
shortened  by  half  a  league  w^ith  matter  deposited  by 
the  Rhone  on  entering  the  lake,  since  Roman  times. 
Flat  plains  are  thus  formed  in  valley  bottoms  or  by  the 
planing  action  of  the  sea  at  times  of  subsidence. 

River  action  cuts  a  way  in  a  valley  bottom  like  a 
knife  edge,  but  other  agencies  usually  shape  its  sides  into 
a  V-shape.  These  are  mainly  rain,  frost,  and  wind. 
Not  loose  soil  only,  but  solid  rock  is  also  eroded  away. 


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Here  is  shown  a  typical  river  valley.  A  shows  the 
solid  rock  ;  B  a  boulder  clay  deposit  ;  D  an  ancient 
gravel  bed  which  once  filled  the  valley  as  high  as  the 
dotted  line  D  D.  The  tiver  wandering  from  side  to  side 
wears  away  the  intervening  gravel  and  cuts  into  a  lower 
level,  G.  Rain  and  atmospheric  erosion  round  off  the 
cliff  edges. 

Ramsay  calculated  that  between  9,000  and  1 1 ,000  feet 
thick  of  solid  rock  had  been  stripped  off  large  tracts  in 
Wales  by  atmospheric  denudation.  All  this  had  passed 
down  to  the  sea,  there  to  form  new  beds  when  the  lapse 
of  ages  had  hardened  them  and  again  lifted  them  to 
make  dry  land.  Darwin  found  that  in  soil  congenial  to 
earth-worms  for  burrow^ing  in,  a  weight  of  ten  tons  of 
earth,  on  each  acre  of  land,  annually  passed  through 
their  bodies  and  was  brought  to  the  surface.  The  whole 
superficial  bed  is  turned  over  by  them  every  few  years. 
Soil  thus  loosened  is  more  easily  washed,  blown,  or 
rolled  down  inclined  surfaces  and,  by  river  action,  the 
sea    is   finally    reached.      On    a    grass-covered  slope    of 


14  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

9i  degrees  inclination,  Darwin  found  that  2.4in.  of  earth 
annually  crossed  a  line  I  yard  in  length. 

Frost  is  the  most  powerful  of  all  agents  in  breaking 
up  rock  surfaces.  The  expansive  power  of  ice  which 
forms  through  rain  percolating  into  cracks  and  crevices, 
shatters  the  hardest  of  materials.  Extremes  of  heat  by 
day  and  cold  by  night,  causing  rapid  expansion  and 
contraction,  are  the  cause  of  the  stone  showers  which 
occur  in  the  evening  in  certain  mountain  districts.  Pieces 
of  rock  are  split  by  the  sudden  contraction  by  cold.  In 
the  winter  of  1831  a  mass  of  rock,  estimated  at  over 
1000  tons,  became  detached  from  the  east  side  of  the 
Pass  of  Nantfrancon  and  fell  on  the  main  road  and  into 
the  valley.  The  erosive  and  transporting  power  of  ice 
will  be  dealt  with  in  a  later  chapter. 

In  the  wearing  back  of  sea-cliffs  it  is  the  sand  and 
stones  carried  in  suspension  by  sea  w^aves  w^hich  are 
the  most  effective  eroders,  especially  in  stormy  weather. 
But,  generally  speaking,  the  sea's  erosive  action  is 
horizontal  on  the  plane  between  low  and  high  water, 
whilst  rain  action  is  vertical  in  wearing  down  the  upper 
parts  of  a  cliff.  The  upper  part  thus  usually  recedes 
as  fast  as,  or  faster  than,  the  lower  half.  Atmospheric 
agencies  would  seem  to  be  the  more  important  in  their 
eroding  power.  A  good  example  of  rapid  weathering 
may  be  seen  in  the  stone  fountain  on  Rhyl  Promenade. 
Here  in  many  places  over  an  inch  has  been  worn  away 
since   1862. 

Sir  A.  Geikie  has  pointed  out  that  if  the  sea  wears 
back  a  coast  line  at  10  feet  a  century,  10  miles  would 
take  528,000  years.  If  aerial  agencies  wore  down  the 
surface  of  Europe  at  the  rate  of  4  inches  every  thousand 
years,  the  Continent  would  disappear  under  the  sea  in 
five  million  years.  The  sea  in  the  same  time  would 
only  have  worn  back  the  coast  80  to  100  miles. 

Brimham  Rocks,  nine  miles  from  Harrogate,  furnish 
excellent  inland  evidence  of  sea  erosion.  They  stand 
on  the  shore  of  an  ancient  island.  On  the  table-land  of 
the  Derbyshire  Peak  many  acres  are  littered  with 
sea-worn  rocks. 


FACTORS   OF  CHANGE.  FS 

The  erosive  action  of  the  sea  in  wearing  back  the 
land  is  particularly  well  seen  in  the  Norbreck  Cliffs, 
north  of  Blackpool  ;  on  the  north-east  and  south-east 
sides  of  the  Great  Orme's  Head  ;  and  on  the  Carnarvon- 
shire coast  between  Aberdaron  and  Criccieth,  especially 
near  Afonwen. 

Losses  from  erosion  are  enormous  on  the  East  coast 
of  England,  especially  between  Flamborough  Head  and 
the  Humber,  where  they  average  from  6  to  12  feet  per 
annum  (Coast  Erosion  Report).  Much  of  this  is  washed 
into  the  Flumber  Estuary  ;  the  action  of  the  sea  tends 
rather  to  fill  up  bays  than  to  form  them.  North  of 
Southwold,  in  Suffolk,  the  loss  by  erosion  in  the  1 1  years 
ending  1887  averaged  as  much  as  18  feet  per  annum. 

For  all  such  land  losses  Nature  provides  more  than 
adequate  compensation  in  the  filling  up  of  river  estuaries 
and  the  raising  of  adjacent  shores,  as  is  well  exemplified 
in  the  Mersey-to-Ribble  coast  and  along  the  S.W.  coast 
of  Italy.  River  currents  come  into  conflict  with  tidal 
currents  and  the  resulting  stationariness  is  favourable 
to  the  deposition  of  the  suspended  matter.  Fliver  deltas, 
which  may  grow  to  areas  of  vast  extent,  are  thus  caused. 
Gravel  and  the  coarsest  sand  are  dropped  first  in  sea- 
depths  of  about  200  feet  ;  sand  and  broken  shells  in 
about  360  feet,  mud  and  ooze  being  carried  out  towards 
deeper  parts  still.  This  explains  why  beds  of  gravel, 
sand,  and  clay  are  so  often  alternating.  Thus  every 
time  coastal  land  undergoes  subsidence,  its  surface 
inequalities  tend  to  become  filled  up  under  the  sea,  and 
when  the  next  lift-up  comes,  a  flat  coastal  plane  often 
emerges,  upon  which  Nature  again  sets  to  work  to  carve 
out  river  valleys  afresh.  Thus  a  river  is  a  saw,  and  the 
sea  a  plane  in  Nature's  great  workshop. 

The  disintegrating  power  of  rain  upon  hard  rocks  is 
less  mechanical  than  chemical  in  its  action.  It  carries 
off  in  solution  some  binding  constituent  such  as  silica 
or  lime  ;  or,  to  quote  another  kind  of  chemical  change, 
the  felspar  of  granite  is  rotted  by  the  removal  of  its 
alkalis  and  it  gradually  becomes  a  clay,  the  quartz  grains 
being  set  free  to  form  the  chief  constituent  of  sand. 
This  makes  clear  how  the  sedimentary  rock  strata  have 


16  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

all  been  originally  derived  from  volcanic  or  igneous 
rocks,  and  also  goes  far  to  explain  the  origin  of  surface 
soils,  frost  being  the  other  main  factor  in  the  splitting  up 
of  rock  surfaces  and  breaking  them  down  into  powder. 

The  hardest  rock  is  soon  weathered — i.e.,  coated 
with  a  crust  consisting  of  rock  remaining  after  part  has 
been  removed  by  chemical  action  (Mellard  Reade)  ;  the 
solvents  are  largely  the  organic  acids  of  decaying 
vegetable  matter,  and  not  merely  the  carbonic  acid  of 
rain-water. 

A  new  factor  of  change  has  come  into  view  in  the 
discovery  that  radio-active  elements  are  found  in  large 
numbers  of  rocks  as  well  as  in  deep  sea  deposits.  It  is 
to  heating  by  radio-activity  that  Prof.  J.  Joly,  F.R.S., 
and  other  investigators  attribute  much  of  the  bending 
of  the  rocks. 

The  rise  and  fall  of  land  masses,  with  which  these 
chapters  are  largely  concerned,  will  be  more  fully  dealt 
with  towards  the  close  of  the  book.  Here  it  will  suffice 
to  note  the  fact  that,  through  some  cause  or  causes  which 
no  one  theory  as  yet  advanced  completely  explains,  the 
greater  part  of  the  continents,  islands,  and  ocean  beds  of 
the  world  undergo  recurrent  depression  and  elevation 
within  a  proved  range  of  at  least  10,000  feet. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Story  of  the  Lower  Crust. 

One  of  the  most  signal  achievements  of  modern 
geology  has  been  the  construction  of  maps  showing 
approximately  the  land  and  water  contours  in  North- 
Wiestem  Europe  at  different  geological  epochs.  These 
are,  of  course,  largely  conjectural.  Mr.  A.  Jukes  Brow^n 
has  summarised  and  extended  this  achievement  in  his 
book,  "  The  Building  of  the  British  Isles,""  to  which 
students  are  recommended.  Prof.  Brown  in  this  work 
shows  that  the  physical  history  of  the  British  Isles  is  a 
history  of  alternate  upheaval  and  depression,  of  alter- 
nating aspects  when  in  one  age  nothing  but  the  higher 
mountains  would  appear  as  islands  in  a  sea  stretching 
far  into  the  adjoining  continent,  as  in  the  Cretaceous  or 
chalk-depositing  period,  and  in  another  age  the  entire 
area  of  the  European  continent,  unbroken  by  any  sea- 
areas,  would  stretch  to  points  considerably  west  of 
Ireland  and  Scotland,   as  in  the  Upper  Pliocene  period. 

The  reader  should  be  warned  against  imagining  that 
all  the  strata  in  the  Sedimentary  table  are  present,  or 
ever  have  been  present,  at  any  particular  part  of  the 
earth's  surface.  It  is  only  roughly  true  to  say  that  they 
appear  in  this  order.  It  is  exceptional  for  all  to  be 
present,  and  it  often  occurs  that  during  anterior  subsi- 
dences and  elevations  the  strata  have  become  so  much 
uptilted  that  they  are  seen  in  a  vertical  instead  of  a 
horizontal  position,  and  occasionally  sections  are  found 
to  have  been  completely  inverted. 

It  would  exceed  the  planned  scope  of  this  book  to 
deal  in  detail  with  the  laying  down  of  all  the  sedimen- 
tary deposits.     It   is   proposed  to  deal   only  with   those 


18  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

periods  concerned  with  rock  deposits  which  are  repre- 
sented between  Morecambe  Bay  and  the  middle  of 
Cardigan  Bay.  The  term  **  rock.  "  in  geology,  it  should 
be  noted,  includes  strata  of  both  hard  and  soft 
character. 

The  oldest  of  all  rock-strata,  the  Archaean,  are  found 
on  the  north  and  western  coast  of  Anglesey  and  at  Cape 
Wrath  in  Scotland,  and  about  a  hundred  miles  south  of 
that  northern  extremity  of  Britain.  The  older  of  the 
two  sections  forms  the  island  of  Lewis  and  the  Hebridean 
Islands.  Professor  A.  Geikie  considers  these  to  be  the 
earliest  known  land  surfaces  in  Europe.  If  the  Archaean 
rocks  could  be  placed  in  their  original  vertical  position 
they  would  be  about  ten  miles  thick.  The  very  earliest 
fossils  are  found  in  these  foundation  rocks,  and  they 
show  that  at  least  half  of  the  life-story  of  the  earth  has 
been  left  unrecorded  through  the  millions  of  years  during 
which  these  life  forms  had  been  evolving. 

The  Cambrian  rocks  are  so  called  from  attaining 
their  maximum  thickness,  about  1 1 ,000  feet,  in  North 
Wales,  where  they  include  the  Tremadoc,  Penrhyn,  and 
Llanberis  slates  and  the  Harlech  beds.  Good  exposures 
may  be  seen  in  the  sides  of  Nant  Francon.  By  the  close 
of  the  Cambrian  age  most  of  North  America  was  under 
water  and  the  British  Isles  reduced  to  islands  which  now 
form  the  N.E.  of  Ireland,  the  N.  of  Scotland,  and  parts 
of  central  and  S.W.  of  England. 

The  Ordovician  series  comprise  the  greater  part  of 
the  rocks  which  form  some  of  the  wildest  mountain 
scenery  in  Britain,  from  Conway  to  Portmadoc  and  the 
end  of  the  Lleyn  peninsula  of  Carnarvonshire,  and  from 
Nantlle  to  Llyn  Conway  ;  also  from  the  Aberdovey 
Estuary  and  Towyn  north-east  to  beyond  Bala.  Volcanoes 
were  tremendously  active  in  this  and  the  Cambrian 
period.  Thick  beds  of  lava  ejected  at  this  time,  are 
found  about  Bettwys-y-Coed  and  the  Conway  Falls  ;  on 
the  north  side  of  the  Pass  of  Llanberis  ;  near  Beddgelert, 
and  about  Snowdon.  Cader  Idris  largely  consists  of 
volcanic  ash  ejected  from  some  volcano  which  probably 
formed,  in  the  Ordovician  period,  an  island  in  the  sea, 
near  the  present  site  of  Dolgelley  and  Arenig. 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  LOWER  CRUST. 


19 


To  account  for  these  rock  strata  being  laid  where 
Ave  find  them  we  are  compelled  to  assume  the  existence 
at  this  period  of  high  land  to  the  north-west  of  Wales, 
probably  extending  to  the  north-west  of  Ireland  and  the 
Hebrides  ;  there  would  be  high  land  also  between  South 
Wales  and  Lincolnshire.  In  Cumberland  the  Skiddaw 
slates  are  of  the  same  Ordovician  age. 

LAND  (SHADED)  &  SEA  WREN  SILUWATI 

STRATA  WA3  LAID  DOWN. 


Fig.  3. 


20  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

The  Silurian  series  contain  fossils  of  the  oldest  known 
fishes.  That  part  of  Denbighshire  not  of  the  later 
Carboniferous  age,  from  Colwyn  Bay  south  to  the 
Merionethshire  border  and  from  the  Conway  Valley 
eastward,  is  mainly  of  this  series.  Ordovician  rocks 
crop  out  also  in  many  other  parts  of  Wales,  as  well  as 
in  Cumberland  and  Westmoreland. 

The  Devonian,  or  Old  Red  Sandstone,  series  of  rocks 
were  laid  down  to  an  extreme  thickness  of  three  miles, 
in  large  lakes  which  existed  in  Britain  in  five  distinct 
regions  where  these  formations  are  now  found.  1 ,  The 
Cheviot  Hill  region  ;  2,  from  the  Grampians  to  the  north 
of  Ireland  ;  3,  Argyleshire,  north  of  Loch  Awe  ; 
4,  Cromarty  (the  scene  of  the  pioneer  investigations  of 
Hugh  Miller,  a  working  stonemason),  Sutherlandshire,  to 
the  Orkneys  ;  5,  from  Staffordshire,  South  and  West, 
over  Hereford  and  Monmouth  into  Pembrokeshire  ;  and 
6,  the  important  South  of  England  open-sea  area 
stretching  from  Cornwall  through  Devon  to  Essex.  The 
Irish  sea  area  was  wholly  dry  land  at  this  period. 

The  Carboniferous  period  has  more  interest  for  us. 
It  was  the  epoch  which  followed  on  the  subsidence  of 
the  Devonian  inland  sea  areas,  in  which  were  laid  down 
three  great  divisions  which  are  largely  represented  in 
the  north-western  counties.  These  are,  starting  with  the 
oldest : — • 

(1)  The   Carboniferous   Limestones    of   Derbyshire. 

This  marine  formation  is  found  on  the  North  Wales  coast 
from  Abergele  and  East  Denbighshire  to  the  Great 
Orme's  Head  and  on  the  north  and  east  coasts  of 
Anglesey.  It  is  seen  also  in  the  hills  around  Ingleton 
and  in  outcrops  near  Carnforth,  Grange,  and  the  Furness 
districts,  as  also  near  Castletown  in  the  Isle  of  Man. 
Bold  scars  and  deep  gorges  are  main  characteristics  of 
Limestone  districts.  Whernside,  Ingleborough,  and 
Pen-y-ghent  are  masses  of  Millstone  Grit  standing  on 
remnant  plateaus  of  Carboniferous  Limestone. 

Limestone  is  of  shallow  water,  marine  origin.  It 
consists  largely  of  the  stems  and  joints  of  Corals, 
Mollusca,  Encrinites,  and  other  marine  organisms.  The 
Carboniferous  seas   covered  many  thousands   of  square 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  LOWER  CRUST 


21 


miles.  The  corals  grew  on  the  sea-floor,  after  the 
manner  of  modern  coral  reefs.  During  the  formation  of 
these  beds  the  land  must  have  been  steadily  subsiding 
over  an  area  stretching  from  the  west  of  Ireland  across 
England  eastwards  into  Westphalia.  In  Lancashire  the 
beds  reached  their  maximum  thickness  of  6000  feet. 

An  open  sea  in  which  these  Limestone  deposits  were 
laid  down  must  have  had  its  southern  shore  along  a  line 
running  north  of  Carnarvon,  Corwen,  Shrewsbury,  and 
Leicester. 


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;,.:.:.-:.:. 

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"■""j  "'■'■"■•"-'-- ■"^C^^r^^^pH^c^ 

Fig.  4. 

(2)  The  Millstone  Grits  form  the  second  sub-division 
of  the  Carboniferous  series.  This  is  mainly  composed 
of  quartz  grains,  m.ica,  and  felspar.  From  it  our  flag- 
stones and  millstones  are  mainly  obtained.  It  forms  the 
wildest  parts  of  the  landscape  of  the  western  side  of  the 
Pennine  Chain  northwards  from  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire 
(a   fragment   from   which   surrounding   parts   have    been 


22  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

worn  away);  the  hill  range  in  South  Lancashire  between 
Wigan  and  Burscough  ;  the  high  ground  between 
Todmorden  and  Ramsbottom  ;  Rivington  Pike  ;  and  the 
Denbighshire  grits  in  Wales.  Sandstone  is  composed  of 
rounded  grains  cemented  together  by  oxide  of  iron,  and 
Millstone  Grit  is  of  the  same  but  the  grains  are  angular. 

The  coarse  sand  of  the  Millstone  Grit  series  was 
probably  derived  from  a  granite  high  land,  lying  far  to 
the  east  and  north  of  the  Pennines,  and  which  possibly 
formed  a  connection  between  Scotland  and  Scandinavia. 
It  was  deposited  by  some  great  river  and  its  tributaries, 
just  as  the  Mersey  and  its  tributaries  are  now  again 
carrying  down  the  same  material  and  building  out  the 
South  Lancashire  coast  towards  the  sea.  This  was 
followed  by  a  general  elevation,  in  the  course  of  which 
the  third  division  of  the  Carboniferous  era,  the  Coal 
measures,  had  its  beginning. 

(3)  The  Coal  Measures. — The  climatic  conditions 
became  at  this  time  moist  and  warm,  and  highly  favour- 
able to  an  abundant  growth  of  trees  and  plants  in 
vast  areas  of  Carboniferous  swamps  and  marshy  flats 
into  which  much  of  England  and  Ireland  had  become 
converted.  Becoming  covered  with  thin  deposits  of 
shales  and  clay  upon  which  further  growths  of  vegetation 
took  root,  these  beds  of  decayed  vegetable  matter 
passed,  with  the  exclusion  of  air  and  light,  through  the 
peat  stage  and  became  in  the  course  of  ages  the  coal 
fields  of  Lancashire,  Yorkshire,  South  Wales,  and 
Durham.  Upon  these  mineral  riches  Britain's  industrial 
prosperity  has  in  modern  times  been  largely  based. 

Volcanic  forces  were  active  in  Britain  in  the  early 
part  of  the  Carboniferous  era.  Dozens  of  small  volcanoes 
must  have  thrust  themselves  up  above  the  lowland  area. 
Arthur's  Seat,  Edinburgh,  is  an  igneous  product  of  this 
period.  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins  is  of  the  opinion  that  a 
volcano  must  have  been  active  off  Poolvaish  Bay,  near 
Castletown,  I.O.M.  The  rock  strata  which  come  to  the 
surface  in  this  bay  are  quite  extraordinary  in  the  number 
of  the  epochs  to  which  they  belong. 

The  illustration,  fig.  5,  shows  how  the  Carboniferous 
series,  the  Limestone,  Millstone  Grit,  and  Coal  measures, 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   LOWER    CRUST.  23 

rested  like  a  saddle  on  the  underlying  deposits  after  the 
Pennine  Range  had  been  elevated.  The  millstone  grit 
exposure  shows  how  escarpments  result  from  the  erosion 
of  overlying  beds. 


Fig.  5 — Pennine  Rangs  Section, 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Carboniferous  period, 
which  ended  with  the  coal  measures  and  intercalated 
shales,  there  would  appear  to  have  been  a  great 
depression  of  the  continental  area,  v/hich  at  this  time 
stretched  southward  from  the  Arctic  regions  over  the 
North  Atlantic  area  of  later  times,  possibly  connecting 
Greenland  with  Scotland.  The  lifting  up  of  the 
Alleghanies  in  America  and  the  Pennine  backbone  of 
England  date  from  this  period.  The  Atlantic  depression 
would  probably  have  some  connection  with  these 
elevations,  and  except  for  a  period  in  Mesozoic  times 
when  there  v/as  a  continental  tract  west  of  Britain,  of 
which  Ireland  only  remains,  the  Atlantic  has,  for  the 
most  part,  remained  an  ocean  to  the  present  day. 

The  Permian  series  are  scarcely  found  at  all  on  or 
near  the  West  Coast.  Two  patches  occur  on  the  north- 
west slope  of  Parbold  Hill  (between  Southport  and 
Wigan),  at  Skillaw  Clough,  and  at  Bentley  Brook, 
consisting  of  magnesian  limestone,  marls,  shales,  and 
sandstones.  In  Permian  times  an  ice-age  set  in,  leaving 
evidences  of  glaciers  in  India,   Australia,  and  Africa. 

The  oldest  beds  of  the  Secondary  or  Mesozoic  group 
of  rocks  are  the  TriaSSIC,  which  underlie,  where  they 
do  not  appear  on  the  surface,  all  the  more  recent 
deposits  which  now  form  the  plains  of  West  Lancashire 
and  Cheshire.  The  dividing  line  between  the  Carboni- 
ferous and  Triassic  systems  in  Lancashire  runs  near  to 
Samlesbury,  Euxton,  Leyland,  Bispham,  and  along  a 
line  between  Rainford  and  Knowsley. 

In  England  the  Triassic  deposits  consist  of  two 
divisions  :    (I)  The  New  Red  Sandstone,   or  Bunter,   and 


24  EVOLUTION   OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

overlying  this  (2)  the  Keuper  (copper)  or  red  marl  beds. 
The  New  Red  Sandstone  is  found  cropping  out  at  Hilbre 
Island,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dee,  and  at  the  sea  points  of 
the  Wirral  peninsula  near  Hoylake,  and  at  the  Red 
Noses  at  New  Brighton;  in  the  railway  cuttings  at 
Ormskirk  and  Edgehill  ;  at  Halsall  ;  at  Heysham,  and 
in  the  Vale  of  Clwyd. 

The  Triassic  period  began  with  a  general  uplift  of 
Western  Europe.  The  Parbold  range  of  hills  in  West 
Lancashire  would  probably  form  a  shore  line  in  early 
Triassic  times.  The  Bunter  beds  are  known  by  water 
engineers  as  "  pebble  beds."  They  were  probably 
brought  down  from  the  higher  land  by  torrential  floods. 
They  form  sub-surface  gathering  grounds  for  towns' 
water  supplies.  St.  Helens,  Ormskirk,  and  Southport 
obtain  their  water  from  the  Bunter  beds  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Ormskirk.  Prof.  Bonney  assigns  the  West  of 
Scotland  and  the  Pennine  Carboniferous  rocks  as  the 
main  sources  of  origin  of  these  pebbles,  60  to  70  per 
cent,  of  which  are  of  quartzite.  The  gradients  of  the 
river  courses  which  conveyed  these  pebbles  must  have 
been  very  steep. 

The  upper  division,  the  Keuper  beds,  are  chiefly  of 
interest  in  being  inter-stratified  in  places  with  beds  of 
rock  salt,  two  of  which  reach,  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Northwich  in  Cheshire,   a  thickness  of  about   100ft. 

Desert  conditions,  as  in  the  Sahara  and  Arabia 
to-day,  existed  in  England  in  early  Triassic  times.  The 
rainfall  was  so  much  reduced  that  inland  lakes  became 
so  lowered  by  evaporation  and  condensation  that  salts 
held  in  solution  were  precipitated  on  the  bottom. 
North-western  Europe  v/ould  be  then  unbroken  land 
from  Norway  to  Scotland,  across  the  northern  part  of 
the  North  Sea  of  to-day.  Scotland  would  stand  much 
higher  than  now,  and  w^ould  extend  far  west  over  the 
Atlantic  area,  the  Caledonian  ranges  being  prolonged 
till  they  met  the  westerly  continuations  of  the  ranges 
from  Ireland,  Cornwall,  and  Brittany.  A  central  sea, 
towards  which  rivers  drained  and  in  which  Triassic  strata 
were  deposited,  stretched  from  Antrim  in  Ireland  across 
the    Irish    Sea,     and    from    Anglesey,    Worcester,    and 


THE  STORY  OF  THE   LOWER  CRUST. 


25 


Lincoln  on  the  south  out  towards  an  open  sea  to  the 
east.  The  Pennine  Range  would  stand  out  of  this  sea 
as  an  island.  By  the  close  of  this  period  most  of  Europe 
west  of  Russia  was  a  mere  archipelago  of  islands. 

Triassic  deposits  are  found  at  the  north  end  of  the 
Isle  of  Man,  where  borings  traverse  Keuper  marls  and 
5alt  beds. 

L/vHD  Shaded)  &  sea  when  CHALK  E)ED5 

WERE  LMD  DOWri(LA.TE  CRETAC&0U5  PERIOD) 


Fig.  6. 


26  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

The  Storeton  quarries  of  the  lower  Keuper  sandstone 
are  known  all  over  the  world  as  the  home  in  Britain  of 
huge  reptiles  and  saurians  of  species  long  extinct. 
Well-marked  impressions  of  the  feet  of  theCheirotherium 
have  been  found  here. 

In  the  Jurassic  period,  which  includes  the  Lias, 
Oolite,  and  Neucomian  sub-divisions,  following  on  the 
Triassic,  coral  banks  flourished  in  a  warm  sea  over  the 
greater  part  of  England. 

The  Cretaceous  period  is  not  represented  in  the 
western  coast  area.  In  the  age  preceding  Cretaceous 
times  a  continent  had  occupied  part  of  what  is  now  the 
North  Atlantic.  Then  followed  an  exceptionally  deep 
subsidence,  estimated  at  2700  feet,  including  the  British 
area.  A  map  of  this  period  would  show  the  whole  of 
England  as  under  water,  Wales  as  two  large  islands, 
parts  of  Scotland  as  three  islands,  and  Ireland  wholly 
submerged  save  for  (1)  the  high  lands  in  the  South ; 
{2)  in  Connemara,  and  (3)  part  of  Donegal.  Then  were 
laid  down  the  vast  thicknesses  of  chalk  beds,  of  which 
remnants  remain  in  the  weald  of  Kent  and  Sussex,  and 
from  Dorset  to  Norfolk.  The  chalk  is  made  up  of  the 
shells  of  minute  single-celled  creatures  whch  floated  in 
the  sea,  the  skeletons  forming  a  deep  ooze  on  the  sea 
floor. 

Fossil  remains  of  the  oldest  known  British  bird  are 
found  in  a  bed  of  the  Cretaceous  series.  It  is  in  the 
Cretaceous  deposits  that  the  first  evidences  of  seasonal 
changes  are  found. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Story  of  the  Upper  Crust. 

Down  to  the  end  of  the  Cretaceous  age,  including 
all  the  Primary  or  Palaeozoic,  and  Secondary  or  Mesozoic 
periods,  not  a  single  species  of  animal  or  plant  belonging 
to  these  rocks  is  found  living  to-day.  Of  the  Tertiary 
group  of  rocks  this  cannot  be  said.  The  oldest  division 
in  it,  the  Eocene,  means  the  "dawn  of  recent  things  "; 
the  Miocene,  the  "  less  recent"  ;  the  Pliocene,  the  "more 
recent."  After  the  great  chalk  or  Cretaceous  period  a 
great  uplift  of  the  British  region  occurred,  and  until  late 
in  the  Tertiary  period  Britain  was  always  more  or  less 
joined  on  to  the  continent.  As  the  British  area  was 
being  uplifted  the  Atlantic  basin  became  more  depressed. 

The  Eocene  period  was  marked  by  a  protracted 
period  of  tremendous  volcanic  activity,  which  has 
persisted  in  Iceland  down  to  the  present  time.  Evidences 
abound  in  Antrim  and  Derry  ;  Mull  and  Morven  in 
Scotland  ;  the  islands  of  Eigg  and  Rum  ;  in  Skye,  and 
also  in  the  Faroe  islands,  which  entirely  consist  of 
Basaltic  lavas.  In  the  Hebrides  the  ejected  matter 
reached  an  estimated  thickness  of  3000  feet.  Many 
volcanoes  must  have  contributed  to  compose  deposits 
which  form  the  entire  floor  of  the  sea  which  now  divides 
Argyleshire  from  the  Western  isles  and  as  far  south  as 
Antrim.  The  most  remarkable  volcano,  with  a  crater 
at  least  three  by  two  miles  in  diameter,  would  be  that 
of  which  evidences  remain  in  the  centre  of  Arran. 
Another,  of  which  the  island  of  Mull  forms  the  base, 
would  be  at  least  10,000  fe%t  in  height.  A  volcano  stood 
in  the  south  of  Skye,  and  the  solitary  isle  of  St.  Kilda 
may  have  been  one.     Vertical  wall-like  masses,   called 


28  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

dykes,  of  basalt  and  lavas,  one  of  which  runs  for  90  miles 
from  near  Keswick  to  the  North  Yorkshire  coast,  welled 
up  from  below  at  this  period,  filling  up  fissures  caused 
by  great  subterranean  upheavals.  Similar  volcanic 
dykes  are  also  fairly  common  in  Anglesey  and  the  Isle 
of  Man.  These  basaltic  flows  cracked  during  cooling. 
Parts  have  been  worn  away,  leaving  extraordinary 
columnar  remains  as  at  Staffa  and  the  Giants'  Causeway. 

Other  volcanic  areas  lay  around  Lough  Neagh,  the 
Mourne  Mountains,  and  near  Carlingford  in  the  North- 
east of  Ireland.  The  curious  basaltic  column  formations 
of  the  Giants*  Causeway  and  Fingal's  Cave  belong  to 
this  epoch.  It  is  believed  that  the  sharp,  submerged 
declivity  v/hich  marks  the  extreme  w^estern  edge  of  the 
European  plateau  dates  from  this  Eocene  volcanic 
period.  Inside  the  100  fathom  line,  which  passes  about 
20  miles  west  of  Achill  Head  in  Ireland  and  18  miles 
west  of  St.  Kilda,  then  bending  north-east  outside  the 
Shetland  Isles,  the  sea-floor  is  everywhere  less  than 
600  feet  deep.  An  elevation  of  this  extent  would  make 
the  whole  of  the  British  Isles  a  part  of  the  Continent. 
Outside  this  line  the  depth  sinks  rapidly  into  the  Atlantic 
deeps  from  600  to  3000  feet,  excepting  only  where  a 
narrow  ridge  connects  the  Shetland  and  Faroe  Islands. 
This  ridge,  if  elevated  only  330  feet,  would  unite 
Scotland  with  Iceland  and  Greenland. 

In  the  Eocene  period  neither  the  Alps  nor  the 
Himalayas  had  been  thrust  up,  but  the  mountains  of 
Scotland,  Wales,   and  Bohemia  already  existed. 

Following  upon  the  cessation  of  the  volcanic  activities 
of  the  Eocene  period — or  Oligocene,  a  recently- 
introduced  division — it  has  been  reasonably  conjectured 
that  a  subsidence  finally  separated  Ireland  from  the  Isle 
of  Man,  forming  the  deep  trough  which  we  now  know 
as  the  Irish  or  St.  George's  Channel.  The  English  side 
of  the  Irish  Sea  has  always  been  comparatively  shallow. 
The  separation  of  the  Hebrides  from  the  Scottish  main- 
land would  doubtless  date  from  the  same  period.  Such 
depression  might  possibly  coincide  with  a  further  uplift 
of  the  Pennine  chain  and  make  it,  as  it  has  since 
remained,    the    dominant    watershed    of    the    North    of 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  UPPER  CRUST.  29 

England.  Prof.  Jukes-Browne  favours  this  period  for  its 
entire  uplift  in  preference  to  that  of  the  earlier  period, 
about  the  end  of  the  Carboniferous  epoch,  assigned  by 
other  authorities. 

But  prior  to  this  volcanic  period  and  the  Pennine 
uplift  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  same  expert's  conjecture 
as  to  the  general  course  of  the  main  rivers  of  the  Irish 
Sea  region.  Rivers  rising  in  the  North  of  Ireland  would 
be  joined  by  tributaries  from  North  Wales  and  the  South 
of  Scotland  to  form  a  river  which  flowed  across  the  north 
of  the  Irish  Sea  area  and  across  the  chalk  beds  (since 
worn  away)  which  then  covered  Lancashire  and  the  site 
of  the  future  Pennine  Chain  into  an  open  sea  east  of  the 
Pennine  area  or  of  the  Yorkshire  coast.  Dr.  A.  Strahan 
places  the  uplift  of  the  Pennine  chain  in  the  succeeding 
Miocene  epoch  instead  of  at  the  end  of  the  Eocene. 

During  the  MiOCENE  period  the  whole  of  the  British 
area,  as  well  as  a  large  part  of  the  North  Sea  area,  was 
raised  to  a  generally  high  plane  above  sea-level. 

No  Miocene  deposits  are,  therefore,  found  in  Britain, 
though  some  occur  in  France  and  Belgium,  and  beds  of 
Pliocene  occur  in  the  east  and  extreme  south-west 
of  England.  It  was  in  the  Miocene  age  that  the  Alps 
and  Pyrenees  uplifts,  due  to  the  pressures  exerted  by 
adjacent  subsiding  regions,  first  took  shape.  The  North 
and  South  Downs  and  other  high  ground  along  the  South 
of  England  were  also  uplifted  in  this  era.  The  depres- 
sion of  the  Irish  Sea  and  St.  George's  Channel  had 
become  a  broad  plain,  through  which  a  great  river 
flowed. 

The  Atlantic  shore  had  retreated  far  to  the  west 
between  Cornwall  and  Brittany.  The  great  dome  of 
the  English  Lake  district  mountains  was  now  lifted  up. 
The  great  valleys  of  Wales  were  in  course  of  erosion, 
and  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  plains  were  being 
stripped  of  their  chalky  coating  by  erosive  agencies. 
The  climate  of  the  British  region  was  at  this  time 
sub-tropical,  and  even  Arctic  regions  were  w^arm  enough 
for  evergreen  shrubs  and  other  semi-tropical  vegetation 


30  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

to  grow  and  flourish.  In  this  period  edible  grass 
appeared  for  the  first  time.  Edible  fruit  first  appeared 
in  Eocene  times. 

The  Miocene  period  closed  with  a  general  subsidence 
which  again  brought  back  the  sea  over  considerable 
portions  of  the  Miocene  land. 

Coming  to  the  Pliocene  period,  there  is  evidence  of 
a  tilting  movement  resulting  in  a  great  rise  of  land  in 
the  South  and  a  corresponding  subsidence  over  eastern 
England,  and  the  North  Sea  to  Holland.  This  brought 
back  open  sea  between  Scotland  and  the  Scandinavian 
high  lands.  On  the  west.  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins  is  in 
agreement  with  Prof.  Jukes  Browne  in  thinking  that  the 
Irish  Sea  and  St.  George's  Channel  area  remained  as  a 
land-surface,  the  w^estern  coast  line  being  as  far  west 
and  south  of  Ireland  as  the  present  lOO-fathom  contour. 

Prof.  P.  F.  Kendall,  however,  believes  thcit  the 
Pliocene  shells  found  in  the  Isle  of  Man  glacial  drift,  and 
in  Wexford,  prove  that  the  Irish  Sea  existed  in  Pliocene 
times. 

In  Fig.  7,  showing  the  coastal  contours  during  the 
maxinnum  glacial  uplift  the  river  draining  the  Irish  Sea 
area  is  shown  as  flowing  South.  Some  believe  it  to 
have  reached  the  Atlantic  round  the  north  of  Ireland. 


CHAPTER  V. 


The  Glacial  Epoch. 

During  Pliocene  times  the  climate  grew  colder  until 
eome  time  before  the  PLEISTOCENE  the  next  period,  the 
great  Ice  Age,  or  Glacial  Epoch,  set  in.  Britain,  north 
of  a  line  connecting  the  Bristol  Channel  with  Essex  (the 
Severn  basin  generally  excepted),  became  covered  with 
an  ice  mantle  of  vast  thickness,  such  as  that  which 
to-day  covers  Spitzbergen  ;  hence  the  many  low  hills 
wifh  rounded  tops  and  the  ice-striations  on  rocky  expo- 
sures, caused  by  the  friction  of  moving  ice-masses. 

All  Swiss  glaciers  are  seen  to-day  to  be  bearing  on 
their  surface,  usually  at  the  valley  sides,  quantities  of 
rock  debris,  clay,  and  sand,  which  fall  on  to  the  glacier 
through  the  friction  of  the  moving  ice.  On  the  melting 
of  the  ice,  whether  in  the  sea  or  in  the  lower  parts  of 
the  valleys,  this  burden  is  deposited  on  the  sea  bottom  or 
land.  Hence  the  considerable  proportion  of  Scotland, 
the  north  and  east  of  England,  the  northern  plain  of 
the  Isle  of  Man,  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  plain,  the 
Vale  of  Clwyd,  and  many  other  North  Wales  valleys 
being  still  covered  with  masses  of  unstratified  clay  which 
is  called  Boulder-clay,  through  the  admixture  with  it,  as 
a  rule,  of  water-worn  rounded  stones.  Beds  thus 
originated  are  well  seen  adhering  to  the  Great  Orme's 
Head,  near  each  end  of  the  Marine  Drive  ;  at  Colwyn 
Bay  ;  at  Crossens,  near  Southport  ;  at  Hesketh  Bank  ;  in 
the  cliffs  north  of  Blackpool  ;  the  Carnarvonshire  coast, 
especially  west  of  Criccieth  ;  and  elsewhere  in  Cardigan 
Bay.  Much  of  this  boulder  clay,  or  till,  was  accumulated 
underneath  the  glacial  ice. 


32  EVOLUTION  OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

These  glacial  beds,  which  cover  over  600  square 
miles  of  Lancashire  and  the  north-east  of  Cheshire, 
have  been  classified  into  :  1 ,  Upper  Boulder-clay  ; 
2,  Gravel  ;  3,  Middle  sand  ;  4,  Lower  Boulder-clay.  It 
is  the  upper  deposit,  No.  1,  which  is  worked  for  brick- 
making  purposes  at  Croston,  Hesketh  Bank,  Preston, 
Blackpool,  and  elsewhere. 

The  huge  boulders  which  are  seen  perched  in  critical 
positions  on  the  steep  sides  of  Llanberis  Pass,  were 
deposited  there  when  the  ice  melted  from  beneath  them. 
Nowhere  can  ice  striations  be  better  seen  than  in  this, 
the  wildest  of  South  British  passes. 

Examples  of  these  wandering  ice-scratched  boulders 
are  to  be  seen  in  many  places  in  the  Clwyd  Valley,  on 
Anglesey,  the  West  Lancashire,  Fylde,  and  Cheshire 
plains  up  to  a  level,  on  the  west  side  of  Storeton  Hill,  of 
200  feet  ;  also  at  Leasowe  Castle,  and  in  the  Mayer 
grounds,  Lower  Bebington.  At  Great  Crosby  a  huge 
boulder  of  gypseous  alabaster  has  been  enclosed  within 
railings  in  the  main  road.  Near  Southport,  in  St.  John's 
Churchyard,  at  Crossens,  two  large  boulders,  each  about 
3x2  feet,  one  of  Eskdale  granite  and  the  other  of 
mountain  limestone,  probably  Yoredale,  may  be  seen. 
Another,  of  volcanic  ash  from  Borrowdale,  lies  by  the 
roadside  at  the  junction  of  Southbank  Road  with  Ash 
Lane.  A  large  one,  fully  200  cubic  feet  in  size,  lies  on 
the  roadside  leading  from  Birkdale  Common  to  Scaris- 
brick.  In  July,  1912,  a  larger  limestone  boulder,  deeply 
striated,  over  two  tons  in  weight,  was  dredged  up  from 
the  Ribble  six  miles  below  Preston  dock.  A  fine 
granite  boulder  of  Shap  granite,  removed  from  Higher 
Broughton,  may  be  seen  at  Peel  Park,  Salford.  Near 
Burscough  Junction  an  erratic  block  of  Criffel  granite, 
estimated  at  ten  tons  in  weight,  was  found.  Glacial 
boulders  also  abound  on  the  slopes  of  the  higher 
Flintshire  hills.  One  large  specimen  is  perched  on 
Pyddew  mountain,  a  hill  opposite  Gloddaeth  Hall,  near 
Skerry vore,  about  3  miles  from  Llandudno.  It  measures 
about  8i  X  7i  feet. 

The  rounded  kidney  stones,  once  the  customary 
cobble-stone  pavement  of  West  Lancashire,    and  often 


^, 


THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH.  33 

used  for  cottage  walls  as  well,  have  been  mainly  derived 
from  the  Fylde  shingle  shore,  the  source  of  all  these 
stones.  There  they  were  dropped  in  the  Ice-age  on  the 
melting  of  the  ice. 

The  Glacial  deposits  of  South  Britain  had  four 
principal  sources  of  origin.  (1)  The  Welsh  ice,  which 
filled  the  Valleys  of  Snowdonia,  Merionethshire, 
Plynlimmon,  and  the  Brecknock  Beacons ;  (2)  the  Irish 
Sea  ice,  which  came  from  the  south-west  of  Scotland 
and  the  English  Lake  district,  and  partly  from  the  north- 
east of  Ireland  ;  (3)  the  Northern  ice-sheet,  originating  in 
the  Cheviot  Hills  and  North  Pennine  Fells  ;  and  (4)  the 
North  Sea  ice,  which  must  have  choked  up  that  area 
to  a  latitude  as  far  south  as  Essex. 

The  ice  which  moved  south  across  the  Irish  Sea  area, 
bringing  granite  fragments  from  Criffel  and  the  Gallov/ay 
mountains,  "  is  supposed  to  have  been  thick  enough  to 
fill  the  sea  so  completely  as  to  push  out  the  muddy 
and  sandy  deposits  of  the  sea-floor  and  convert  them 
into  shelly  boulder-clays  and  gravels.  Not  only  so,  but 
it  is  credited  with  such  a  vis-a-tergo  that  it  was  able 
to  push  these  shell-bearing  materials  to  heights  of  over 
1200  feet,  both  in  North  Wales  and  on  the  west  side 
of  the  Pennine  range.  This  seems  difficult  to  under- 
stand, unless  the  ascent  of  the  ice  was  assisted  by 
some  considerable  subsidence  of  the  land."  (Jukes- 
Browne's  **  Building  of  the  British  Isles,"  p.  431.) 

But  the  belief  that  a  theory  of  widespread  sub- 
mergence is  necessary  to  account  for  these  high-lying 
glacial  shell  deposits,  or  for  the  formation  of  boulder 
clay,  has  been  abandoned  by  practically  every  modern 
geologist.  It  involves  too  many  difficulties.  Given  a 
sufficient  mass  of  moving  ice,  it  has  been  proved  that 
ice,  carrying  with  it  a  thick  bottom  sand  and  clay 
moraine  containing  fragments  of  shells,  can  be  pushed 
uphill  to  a  considerable  elevation.  It  has  been  proved 
ithat  this  moving  Irish  Sea  glacier  covered  the  whole  of 
the  country  west  of  the  Pennine  chain  and  beyond  the 
Dee  estuary,  shells  being  found  1450  feet  high  at 
Frondeg,  near  Wrexham. 


34  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

But  glacial  conditions  were  not  continuous.  Though 
in  Britain  the  evidences  leave  room  for  some  doubt,  it 
is  now  held  by  recognised  authorities  that  there  was  a 
greater  and  a  later  and  lesser  Ice-age  separated  by  a 
milder  period  during  which  Palaeolithic  man  lived  in 
Britain.  But  Ghellean  man,  the  earliest  of  the  divisions 
into  which  Palaeolithic  man  has  been  divided,  was,  it  is 
believed,  anterior  to  any  Ice-age  in  Britain.  In  Northern 
Europe  and  North  America  the  Ice-age  may  still  be  said 
to  survive. 

It  is  clear  that  the  ice  must  have  been  at  least  1500 
feet  thick  in  many  British  valleys.  The  writer  has  found 
evidences  of  glacial  action  1300  feet  above  sea  level  on 
the  south-east  side  of  Nant  Gwynant,  Snowdon.  It  is 
also  certain  that  the  pre-glacial  valleys  were  filled  to  a 
depth  of  as  much  as  369  feet  in  the  Furness  district, 
320  feet  near  Crewe,  and  425  feet  at  Heywood,  as 
proved  by  borings  through  the  glacial  deposits.  At 
Preston  the  glacial  drifts  are  fully  200  feet  thick.  Large 
glaciers  descended  from  the  Pennine  Range  north  of 
Skipton. 

Extensions  of  the  ancient  valleys  of  the  Ribble,  Dee, 
and  Mersey  as  they  existed  in  pre-glacial  days,  doubtless 
lie  deep  under  later  Irish  Sea  deposits,  which  may  be 
estimated  as  being  300  feet  in  thickness.  Windermere 
is  a  drowned  river  valley  which,  before  the  cold  period 
set  in,  drained  into  the  wide  Cartmel  valley  until  its 
exit  became  choked  with  drift  and  it  was  diverted  into 
the  Leven.  The  floor  of  the  lake  is  now  a  flat  plain 
nearly  100  feet  below  sea  level. 

Other  lakes  which  had  their  origin  in  the  blocking  up 
of  valleys  by  glacial  deposits  were  Levers  Water,  near 
Coniston  ;  Codale  Tarn-,  near  Grasmere  ;  Ullswater, 
Bassenthwaite,  and  Loweswater  ;  and  examples  in  Wales 
are  Llyn  Ogwen,  Capel  Curig  Lakes,  Llyn  Idwal,  and 
Llyn  Llydaw. 

The  landscape  of  Britain,  as  we  know  it  to-day,  was 
largely  shaped  by  the  ice-sheet,  which  left  the  country 
much  changed  when  it  finally  melted  away. 

The  Ice-age  had  some  curious  effects  on  certain 
English  river   systems.     The   upper   part   of   the  Severn 


THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH. 


35 


Fie-  7 — British  area  during  maximum  elevation  in  Pleistocene  period.  The 
dotted  part  is  the  land  area.  Other  authorities  estimate  the  uplift 
i.e.  the  land  area,  at  less  than  here  shown. 


36  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

doubtless  originally  formed  the  head  waters  of  the  Dee. 
The  advance  of  the  Irish  Sea  ice  is  believed  to  have  so 
blocked  the  outlets  of  the  Dee  and  Weaver  rivers  as  to 
have  converted  the  entire  Cheshire  plain  into  a  lake. 
The  Severn  was  deflected  south  into  the  Ironbridge 
valley. 

The  Douglas  river  gorge  between  Wigan  and 
Southport  was  pretty  certainly  excavated  at  some  stage 
of  the  Glacial  period  by  waters  imprisoned  in  a  lake 
which  probably  formed  between  the  Parbold  hills  and 
the  frozen  sea.  Dried-up  river  gorges,  such  as  may  be 
seen  at  Anglezark  and  Rivington  (near  Chorley),  would 
also  be  formed  by  ice-diverted  drainage  at  this  period. 
These  streams  would  flow,  not  west  as  now,  but  south- 
east and  south  from  Wigan,  possibly  into  a  large  inland 
lake  which,  it  is  believed,  then  covered  the  Cheshire 
plain.  Through  the  Mersey  and  Dee  tracts  the  ice 
travelled  to  the  Trent  and  the  Severn,  carrying  granite 
boulders  as  far  south  as  Wolverhampton.  But  the  chief 
outlet  was  St.  George's  Channel.  Lake  district  rocks 
have  been  found  embedded  in  clay  near  St.  David's  in 
Pembrokeshire,  and  in  Anglesey  and  the  Lleyn 
peninsula. 

Prior  to  the  post-glacial  deposits  being  laid  down  and 
the  growth  of  the  peat-beds  which  now  form  the  West 
Lancashire  plain,  the  coast  in  presumably  Pliocene 
times  would  be  a  cliff  of  red  sandstone  or  keuper  beds 
(Triassic  formations)  which  would  follow  the  line  :  — 
Penv\^ortham  Hill,  slightly  west  of  Longton  and 
Bretherton,  east  of  Burscough  Bridge  and  west  of 
Ormskirk.  The  cliff  is  still  there,  but  hidden  by  boulder- 
clay  and  peat  mosses,  the  newest  of  all  geological 
formations  except  blown  sand.  Rufford  stands  near 
the  edge  of  this  ancient  cliff  shore.  At  Mere  Hall  this 
old  rock-surface  is  21   feet  below  the  surface  of  to-day. 

After  the  deposition  of  the  glacial  clays  and  drift 
matter,  and  the  subsequent  elevation  of  land,  sea-wear 
caused  another  line  of  low  cliffs  to  be  formed  parallel 
with,  but  slightly  west  of  the  Triassic  shore-line.  This 
runs  through  Holmeswood,  past  Tarlscough,  Scarisbrick 


THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH. 


37 


Sex:fion  O-c 


Fig.  8. — Irish  Sea  Depths  (in  fathoms)  Present  Day. 

Kepioditced  hy  kiiiii  permission  from  '  "Mank's  Antiqiities. 


38  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

Hall,  and  nearly  to  Brown  Edge,  a  mile  or  so  east  of 
Zoo  Park,  Southport,  covered  by  recent  peat  beds. 

That  Ireland,  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  the  North  of 
England  were  joined  at  the  time  of  maximum  glacial 
elevation  is  scarcely  open  to  question.  Between  the 
Isle  of  Man  and  Lancashire  the  Irish  Sea  is  only  here 
and  there  deeper  than  150  feet  ;  between  Douglas  and 
Holyhead  270  feet  is  the  deepest.  West  of  the  Isle  of 
Man  about  500  feet,  in  places,  is  reached.  So  that  over 
two-thirds  of  Blackpool  Tower  w^ould  show^  above  the 
sea  if  it  were  set  at  the  deepest  part  between  Blackpool 
and  Douglas. 

With  the  passing  of  glacial  conditions  there  wcis  a 
submergence  estimated  by  Sir  A.  Geikie  (1903)  at 
500  feet.  Evidences  of  this  are  seen  in  the  raised 
beaches  w^hich  are  found  at  so  many  parts  of  the  Scottish 
east  and  west  coasts  at  heights  of  about  1 00,  50,  and 
25  feet.  The  width  of  these  shelves,  which  represent 
resting  places  in  the  upward  movement,  varies  from  a 
few  feet  to  over  six  miles.  The  two  higher  beaches 
would  probably  be  formed  about  the  end  of  the  Glacieil 
period  and  the  lower  beach  about  the  time  when 
Neolithic  man  arrived.     (See  Chapter  VI.) 

Whether  there  was  a  sufficient  re-elevation  of  the 
Irish  sea-bottom  after  this  post-glacial  submergence 
to  unite  the  Isle  of  Man  with  Engand  and  Wales  is 
probable,  but  not  certain.  But  such  a  re-union  v/ould 
account  for  the  remains  of  such  modern  Neolithic 
animals  as  the  Red  Deer  a)  id  Reindeer  being  found  in 
Ireland.  The  Irish  Elk,  remains  of  which  have  been 
found  in  Ireland  and  at  St.  John's  in  the  Isle  of  Man, 
may  have  crossed  during  the  connection  in  early 
Pleistocene  times.  Though  we  have  no  conclusive  proof 
of  any  post-glacial  re-elevation  by  more  than  60  feet 
above  existing  levels,  yet  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
elevation  was  sufficient  to  connect  the  Isle  of  Man,  at 
least,  with  England.  The  late  Mr.  Jos.  Lomas  thought 
that  the  sandy  coast  of  North  Lancashire  may  have 
extended  across  the  Bahama  banks  to  the  Point  of  Ayre 
as  Ijate  as  in  pre-historic  times.  Mr.  A.  J.  Jukes  Brown 
(p.   460,    Bldg.  of  Brit.    I.)  thought  the   land  levels  may 


THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH.  39 

have  been  quite  1 50  feet  above  those  of  the  present  time 
as  the  peat  beds  may  slope  down  to  this  depth  below 
the  Irish  Sea.  In  this  case  the  Isle  of  Man  would  be 
joined  to  the  N.W.  coast  of  England  as  late  as  about 
5000  years  ago. 

Evidence  in  support  of  a  recent  connection  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  the  late  Dr.  Bailey,  who  had  specialised 
in  the  study  of  beetles,  arrived  at  the  definite  conclusion 
that  "  the  Manx  Coleopterous  fauna  is  derived  mainly 
"  from  migrations  across  former  land  connections,  both 
"from  England  and  Ireland,"  subsequent  to  the  Glacial 
epoch. 

The  last  movement,  bringing  us  down  to  at  least 
Neolithic  days,  was  a  downv/ard  one.  It  was  this 
subsidence  which  for  the  last  time  severed  England 
from  the  Continent,  the  last  link  being  a  narrow  band 
of  land  which  connected  England,  between  Dover  and 
Beachy  Head,  with  Calais  and  Vallery  on  the  French 
side.  So  shallow  is  this  part  still  that  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
placed  in  the  deepest  part  of  the  Straits  of  Dover,  would 
be  visible  to  the  extent  of  more  than  half  its  height. 

If  the  fabled  Atlantis  ever  had  an  actual  existence, 
and  this  is  well  within  the  range  of  the  possible,  it  would 
be  during  the  time  which  preceded  the  last  general 
subsidence  in  Western  Europe.  Diodorus  Siculus  states 
that  the  Phoenicians  discovered  a  large  island  in  the 
Atlantic  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  several  days* 
sail  from  the  coast  of  Africa.  Plato  said  that  Atlantis 
had  vanished  9000  years  before  his  time.  His  informa- 
tion was  told  as  history  which  came  from  the  Egyptians, 
whose  records  are  the  oldest  in  the  world.  Atlantis 
sank  gradually  ;  other  accounts  say  suddenly,  in  a  violent 
cataclysm.  Legendary  lore  would  be  very  apt  to  gather 
around  orally  transmitted  accounts  of  a  long-vanished 
tract  of  land.  About  150  miles  from  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar,  Commander  Gorringe,  of  the  U.S.A.  sloop 
Gettysburg,  found  bottom  at  only  32  fathoms  deep  in 
longitude  36°  29'  N.  and  latitude   11°  33'  W. 

Lost  Atlantis  may  quite  possibly  have  been  the 
submerged  area  which  still  rises  about  9000  feet  above 
the  Atlantic  depths  around  it,  the  only  peaks  now 
showing  above  the  ocean  being  the  Azores  Islands. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


The  Submerged  Forest  and  Prehistoric  Period. 

The  most  convincing  evidence  that  the  last  land 
movement  down  to  date  was  a  downward  one  is  seen 
in  the  submerged  forests  and  buried  peat  beds  which 
are  found  at  intervals,  especially  in  estuaries,  at  so  many 
points  of  the  coast.  Dock  excavations  have  disclosed 
conclusive  evidence  that  great  rivers  like  the  Thames 
and  Humber  flowed  in  fairly  recent  times  at  levels  fully 
60  feet  below  their  present  floors.  Mr.  Pengelly  found, 
near  Falmouth,  ancient  forest  and  peat  remains  as  deep 
as  67  feet  below  high-water  mark.  We  still  find  remains 
of  tree  stumps  near  Rossall,  at  Lytham  Pool  to  the  east 
of  Lytham,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Alt  (north  of 
Liverpool),  oft  Meols  in  Cheshire,  off  the  east  end  of 
Rhyl,  opposite  Rhos-on-Sea,  in  Llandudno  Bay,  in 
Conway  Bay,  on  the  north-west  coast  of  Anglesey,  and 
to  the  north  of  Borth,  in  Merionethshire.  The  writer 
has  also  found  tree  stumps  below  high-water  mark  in 
Poolvash  Bay,  near  Castletown,   I.O.M. 

The  evidences  of  a  period  when  the  terrestrial  surface 
stood  at  least  60  feet  higher  than  now,  come  from  widely 
distant  parts.  Mr.  Clement  Reid  has  made  a  special 
study  of  the  Dogger  Bank,  that  extensive  shoal  lying 
between  the  North  of  England  and  Denmark,  some 
60  miles  from  the  nearest  land.  Over  it  the  sea  has  a 
depth  for  the  most  part  of  only  50  to  60  feet.  Its  surface, 
once  strewn  with  large  fossil  bones  of  land  animals  and 
since  removed  by  trawlers,  is  largely  made  up  of  peat 
remains,  the  obvious  inference  being  that  here  once 
flourished  a  forest  of  considerable  extent.  The  bank 
once  formed  the  northern  edge  of  a  great  alluvial  plain 


THE  SUBMERGED  FOREST  PERIOD.  41 

occupying  the  southern  half  of  the  North  Sea.  The  river 
Thames  would  at  this  period  be  a  tributary  of  the  Rhine. 
In  Holland,  at  Amsterdam,  the  old  land  surface  is  found 
at  the  same  50  to  60  feet  depths  as  in  England.  An 
upper  forest  bed  is  also  found  here  about  low-tide  level. 

During  the  Heysham  Harbour  excavations  a  thin 
peatbed  was  met  with  in  a  boring  52  feet  below  O.D. 

Submerged  forest  remains  occur  in  pairs,  an  upper 
and  a  lower  formation,  not  only  off  the  Lancashire, 
Cheshire,  and  North  Wales  coasts,  but  elsewhere. 
There  are  two  ways  of  accounting  for  this.  Mr.  Mellard 
Reade,  a  high  authority  on  the  geology  of  these  coasts, 
and  Prof.  Jukes  Browne  favour  the  theory  that  after  the 
first  peat-  or  forest-bed  surface  had  subsided,  a  period 
followed  in  which  it  was  covered  by  clay  or  sand 
deposits  ;  elevation  followed,  and  the  upper  layer  of 
trees  and  plants  grew  and  in  time  decayed,  the  last 
movement  being  a  second  subsidence  under  the  sea- 
margin. 

The  other  theory,  favoured  by  Mr.  Clement  Reid, 
F.R.S.,  assumes  one  subsiding  movement  only,  but 
intermittent  in  operation.  "  The  land  surface  is  carried 
^'  beneath  the  water,  the  estuary  then  silts  up,  becomes 
"  fresh  water,  marsh  plants  grow,  and  even  trees  may 
"  flourish  on  this  marsh  before  it  subsides  again." 
("Submerged  Forests,"  by  C.  Reid;  p.  58.  Camb. 
Univ.  Press.) 

The  lower  forest  bed  may  belong  to  any  period 
subsequent  to  the  passing  of  the  earlier  of  the  tw^o  chief 
phases  of  the  glacial  epoch  ;  Mr.  Clement  Reid  dates  it 
as  probably  coming  within  the  Neolithic  period.  Reasons 
will  be  given  later  for  assigning  a  much  later  date  for 
the  upper  ilayer  than  has  hitherto  been  usually  named. 

The  period  of  extreme  cold  having  finally  passed, 
the  surface  of  the  glacial  drift  was  left,  presumably, 
irregular  or  hummocky  in  character,  and  interspersed 
w^ith  extensive  hollows.  In  these  hollows  water  would 
accumulate.  The  shallower  lakes  would  later  become 
filled  with  trees  and  vegetation.  Peat  would  form  in 
time  through  the  fall  of  forest  trees.  The  drainage 
would  become  obstructed,  and  the  adjacent  trees  would, 


42  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

in  time,  be  killed  by  the  growth  of  bog  plants.  These 
peat  beds,  which  consist  mainly  of  decayed  heather, 
sphagnum,  bog-moss,  sedges,  and  aquatic  plants,  cover 
large  tracts  of  West  Lancashire  and  Northern  Cheshire. 
They  reach  a  thickness  of  20  feet  at  Wyke  Farm  and 
Mere  Farm,  between  Rufford  and  Southport.  Every- 
where they  are  found  to  underlie  the  blov/n  sand  area 
along  the  coast,  and  they  are  known  to  extend  beneath 
the  sea  at  various  points.  They  were  separated  by 
banks  of  boulder-clay,  upon  which  tree  trunks  are  still 
found. 

Such  a  dividing  bank  has  been  traced  from  near 
Shirdley  Hill  Station,  between  Altcar  and  Formby,  past 
Hightown,  the  mouth  of  the  Alt,  and  across  the  Mersey 
Estuary  bed  to  Leasowe  and  West  Kirby.  The  tree 
trunks  are  mostly  of  oak,  birch,  and  Scotch  fir;  the  black 
bog  oak  which  is  often  used  for  the  ornamenting  of 
garden  rockeries  is  a  relic  of  these  ancient  forest 
growths. 

Examples  of  mosses,  as  the  peat  areas  are  called, 
are  those  known  as  Tarleton,  Simonswood,  Barton,  and 
Chat  mosses.  Pilling  Moss,  between  Fleetwood  and 
Garstang,  which  includes  Stalmine  and  Rawcliffe  mosses, 
was  once  a  vast  forest,  which  Thornber  thought  had 
been  burnt  down  by  the  Romans.  What  is  known  as 
the  Danes'  pad,  formed  of  oak  sleepers,  was  traced  for 
one  and  a-half  miles  across  this  Moss. 

It  is  estimated  that  a  period  of  50  to  100  years  is 
required  to  form  a  foot  of  peat.  Other  estimates 
greatly  exceed  this  period. 

Hugh  Miller  witnessed  the  beginning  of  an  extensive 
moss  near  Cromarty  in  1830,  when  4000  full-grown  trees 
were  blown  down  in  a  hurricane.  In  the  swampy 
hollows  where  they  fell  the  water  was  partially  dammed 
up.  "  In  this  scene  of  devastation  1  had  seen  the  origin 
"  of  fully  one-half  of  our  Scottish  Mosses,  many  of 
"which  rest  on  prostrate  trunks  all  lying  one  way" 
("  My  Schools  and  Schoolmasters,"   p.   470). 

Evidences  of  the  pre-historic  forests  are  abundant 
further     north     from     St.     Michael's     to    Lancaster  ;    at 


THE  SUBMERGED   FOREST  PERIOD.  45 

Cartmel  ;    between    Milnthorpe    and   the    sands  ;    and    in 
places  on  the  Furness  coast. 

Examples  of  dried-up  or  drained  lake  areas  in 
Cheshire  are  found  at  Bidston,  and  at  Moreton,  both  of 
which  would  be  drained  by  the  Birket  river  through 
Wallasey  Pool.  In  West  Lancashire  are  the  old  Currid- 
mere,  north-west  of  Lytham,  known  as  "  The  Tarns  "; 
Marton  Mere,  between  Kirkham  and  Blackpool ;  Sefton 
Meadows,  near  Bootle  ;  Barton  Mere,  Church  Lake  (east 
of  the  old  churchyard),  both  near  Formby  ;  and  three 
lesser  meres  in  Halsall  Parish  called  White  Otter,  Black 
Otter,  and  Gettern  Mere.  These  are  shown  on  an  1843 
map,  but  by  I860  nothing  was  left  to  show  the  sites 
which  these  meres  had  occupied.  White  Otter  Farm, 
half-a-mile  landward  of  Birkdale  Reformatory,  marks 
the  site  of  White  Otter  Lake,  which  a  map  of  1786 
shows  as  being  then  half-a-mile  in  diameter.  Black 
Otter  lay  to  the  south  and  Gettern  Mere  to  the  south- 
west of  White  Otter  Mere. 

Martin  Mere  (from  "  Merretun,"  a  manor  mentioned 
in  Domesday)  was  much  the  largest  of  these  Lanca- 
shire lakes.  It  lay  between  Ruff  or  d  and  the  north  end 
of  Southport.  Baines  describes  it  as  once  eighteen 
miles  in  circumference,  and  Leland  in  his  "  Itinerary  '* 
(about  1543)  as  four  miles  by  three  in  size.  All  old 
maps  show  it  to  have  had  three  islands  in  it.  These  are 
now  marked  by  slight  elevations,  upon  which  Berry 
House  Windmill,  Wyke  Farm,  and  Clay  Brow  stand. 
The  outlet  of  the  lake  has  oscillated  within  the  last  few 
centuries  between  one  at  its  RuflFord  end  leading  to  the 
river  Douglas  (or  Astland,  its  older  name)  and  a  direct 
outlet  to  the  sea  at  Crossens.  The  eastern  exit  is  now 
closed.  From  1692  the  efforts  of  successive  landowners 
have  been  directed  to  the  artificial  draining  of  this  area 
by  the  erection  of  a  powerful  pumping  station  at 
Crossens,  and  within  the  last  generation  the  entire  area 
has  been  at  last  converted  into  fertile  agricultural  land. 
As  many  as  fifteen  ancient  canoes  have  been  found  in 
its  bed,  as  well  as  many  other  antiquities. 


44 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 


PlarloQ  Pleer 

Ocarbric|<o  >(.      P1anhoi2. 


DowE-N    ClRCAlr-45 


Fig.  9  — Martin  Mere. 

Mr,  Harold  Brodrick,  M.A.,  F.G.S.,  who  has  made 
a  close  study  of  Martin  Mere,  assigns  a  date  for  its 
formation  between  the  Roman  occupation  and  the 
Norman  Conquest.  His  well-supported  theory  in 
explanation  of  the  past  of  this  district  assumes  the 
existence,  before  the  last  subsidence  set  in,  of  a  large 
fresh- water  lake,  or  series  of  lakes,  extending  over  the 
whole  of  the  site  now  occupied  by  Southport,  Birkdale, 
the  Horse-bank,  and  the  hinterland  for  two  or  three 
miles  inland  of  the  present  coast  line.  At  this  time  the 
coast  would  extend  far  out  towards,  if  it  did  not  actually 
reach,  the  Isle  of  Man.  The  existence  of  such  a  fresh- 
water lake  is  proved  by  the  presence  under  the  peat 
beds  of  a  deposit  of  marl  containing  large  quantities  of 
the  shell  "  cyclas  cornea,"  a  fresh-water  mollusc.  This 
lake's  northern  boundary  would  probably  be  the 
boulder-clay  slight  elevation  upon  which  Crossens  now 
stands.     This  lake,  ultimately  becoming  drained,  a  forest 


THE  SUBMERGED  FOREST  PERIOD.  45 

of  gigantic  oaks  and  Scotch  firs,  extending  as  far  east 
as  Rufford  and  Burscough,  and  south,  across  to  the 
seaward  end  of  the  Wirral  peninsula,  sprang  up  on  its 
bed.  The  tree  trunks  off  Meols,  Cheshire,  also  near  the 
mouth  of  the  river  Alt  and  elsewhere,  are  the  remains 
of  this  forest.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  what  is  now 
Liverpool  Bay  was  at  the  time  of  the  Roman  occupation 
a  tract  of  moss,  mere,  and  forest. 

The  West  Lancashire  meres,  like  most  of  the  rivers 
on  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  coasts,  in  glacial  times 
and  during  the  late  Pleistocene  elevation,  drained,  not 
to  the  west,  but  east  and  south,  possibly  into  the  large 
Cheshire  lake  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made.  Mr.  Joseph  Lomas,  for  25  years  lecturer  on 
Geology  at  Liverpool  University,  was  definitely  of  the 
opinion  that  the  present  mouths  of  the  Mersey,  Alt, 
and  Douglas  have  all  been  cut  through  ancient  meres, 
the  present  mouths  being  of  geologically  recent  date.  A 
later  chapter  dealing  with  the  past  of  the  river  Mersey 
will  explain  how  the  course  of  an  important  river  can 
be  reversed.  It  was  not  until  this  reversal  that  any 
sandhills  would  fringe  the  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  and 
Flintshire  coasts. 

The  blue  clay,  or  Formby  clay,  locally  known  as 
"Scotch"  or  "  slutch,"  to  which  occasional  references 
will  be  made,  underlies  the  main  peat  beds  of  the  West 
Lancashire  plain  between  the  Alt  and  Douglas  rivers. 
It  contains  marine  as  well  as  some  fresh-water  shells, 
and  extends  to  a  point  about  three  miles  inland  of  the 
present  coast.  It  reaches  about  20  feet  at  its  thickest, 
thinning  gradually  towards  the  edges.  This  clay  must 
have  been  laid  down  under  estuarial  conditions,  probably 
just  before  the  last  land  rise.  In  it  are  rooted  many  of 
the  trees  of  the  forest  bed  ;  upon  or  alongside  the 
decayed  remains  of  these  trees  the  peat-beds  of  to-day 
subsequently  formed. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Man's  Place  in  Geological  Time. 

The  place  of  man  in  Nature  is  now  clear.  Despite 
frequent  gaps,  we  now  have  evidence  of  an  intelligible 
line  of  descent.  Man's  organism  corresponds  in 
all  essential  peculiarities  of  construction  and  function 
with  that  of  all  other  Vertebrates.  "  In  the  Upper 
"Silurian  Strata  we  find,  first  of  all,  petrified  fishes;  in 
'  the  Devonian,  ganoid  or  plated  fishes  ;  in  the  Car- 
*  boniferous,  salamander-like  amphibia  ;  in  the  Permian, 
"  lizard-like  reptiles  ;  in  the  Triassic,  the  earlier 
**  Mammalia  ;  in  the  Tertiary  and  Cretaceous,  the  late 
"  Mammalia  ;  and  in  the  Pliocene,  the  more  highly 
"  developed  Primates."  A  considerable  proportion  of 
these  Primates  may  certainly  be  classed  as  belonging  to 
the  ancestral  line  of  man. 

A  simpler  statement  still  of  the  evolution  of  life  forms 
covering  all  geological  time  would  be  : — ^Primitive  organ- 
isms ;  marine  invertebrates  ;  fishes  ;  amphibia  ;  reptiles  ; 
marsupials;  (flowering  plants) ;  birds;  lemurs;  baboons; 
ape-men  ;  man. 

The  intimate  connection  between  the  rise  and  fall 
of  land  and  the  evolution  of  living  things,  culminating 
in  the  human  species,  is  only  beginning  to  be  realised. 
The  changes  in  land  levels,  ocean  currents,  and  in 
climate,  the  migration  of  species,  and  the  adaptation  of 
life  to  changing  environment  are  factors  which  are  all 
continually  acting  and  re-acting  upon  one  another. 
Apart  from  the  inter-play  of  these  factors,  the  so-called 
law  of  evolution  would  not  exist.  Where  there  has  been 
comparatively  little  change  in  environment  as,  for 
example,  in  the  habitat  of  the  Australian  aborigines, 
there  has  been  little  or  no  development. 


MAN'S  PLACE  IN  GEOLOGICAL  TIME.  47 

Obviously,  the  temperature  of  the  area  now  covered 
by  the  Alps  and  the  high  plains  of  Thibet  would  be 
vastly  different  when  these  areas  lay  under  the  sea, 
20,000  feet  lower  than  their  present  levels.  In  the 
Carboniferous  era,  when  the  climate  was  warm  and 
moist  from  Spitzbergen  to  Australia,  and  even  to  the 
Antarctic,  it  was  in  generally  shallow  seas  that  the 
limestone  was  laid  down,  and  on  low-lying  lands  that 
the  vegetation  which  afterwards  formed  the  coal  beds, 
grew  with  such  tropical  luxuriance. 

Of  the  10,000  species  of  animals  which  are  known  to 
have  been  in  existence  in  the  era  preceding  the  prolonged 
cold  of  the  Permian  period,  all,  with  the  exception  of 
about  300,  succumbed  to  the  rigours  of  the  cold. 

It  has  been  a  changing  climate  and  the  recurring 
connection  by  sea-bottom  elevations,  of  lands  previously 
separated,  which  have  mainly  determined  the  migrations 
and  evolution  of  the  anthropoid  and  later  ancestors  of 
man. 

There  is  now  a  preponderance  of  expert  opinion  that 
the  oldest  discovered  human  remains  date  back  to  an 
earlier  date  than  the  Pleistocene  period,  and  it  is  also 
generally  agreed  that  the  common  ancestor  of  man  and 
the  ape  belonged  to  the  Miocene  or  Oligocene  period. 
The  climate  of  Europe  was  then  semi-tropical,  and  the 
British  Isles  formed  part  of  the  Continent.  Man-like 
apes  certainly  then  roamed  the  forests  of  France.  As 
these  early  progenitors,  possibly  a  species  of  lemur, 
began  to  assume  an  erect  posture,  probably  through 
being  forced  to  leave  the  trees,  the  first  weapons  of  early 
man  would  be  the  branches  of  trees.  These  primitive 
specimens  of  our  race  may  be  imagined  as  living  on  the 
banks  of  the  broad,  marshy  rivers  of  Britain  with  the 
hippopotamus,  rhinoceros,  tiger,  and  hyena  as 
neighbours. 

The  next  stage  was  the  Palcsolithic  or  old  Stone-age, 
when  the  value  of  shaped  but  unpolished  stone  for  use 
as  hammers  and  for  chipping  purposes  had  been 
discovered.  Palaeolithic  remains  have  been  found  in 
places  too  numerous  to  be  named,  including  the 
Cae   Gwyn   caves.    Vale    of  Clwyd  ;   on   Moel   Tryfaen, 


48 


EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 


near  Carnarvon,  by  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Lomas  (two 
pre-glacial  flints)  ;  at  Tilbury,  in  Essex  ;  in  Belgium, 
and  throughout  Europe.  The  average  height  of  man  at 
this  period  would  seem  to  have  been  about  5ft.  3-in. 
For  clothing  he  used  skins  exclusively.  He  had  not  yet 
learned  to  till  the  land,  nor  did  he  keep  domestic 
animals. 

The  old  Stone-age  must  have  lasted  anywhere 
between  100,000  and  400,000  years.  Between  the  chim- 
panzee and  the  crudest  savage  stages  considerably  over 
a  million  years  must  have  elapsed. 

The  absence  of  any  discovered  remains  of  early  man 
intermediate  in  form  between  the  highest  ape  and  the 
lowest  known  man  formed  for  a  period  some  standing 
ground  for  orthodox  defenders  of  traditional  views.  But 
at  least  three  finds  have  been  made  which  have 
conclusively  proved  the  kinship  of  the  human  and  ape 
species.  In  1892,  remains  of  an  ape-man  exactly 
intermediate  in  brain  capacity  and  power  of  speech 
between  a  gorilla  and  the  lowest  know^n  type  of  man 
were  found  in  Java.  Though  a  short,  bestial-looking, 
powerful  animal,  he  was  on  the  whole  more  human 
than  Simian.  This  relic  of  a  remote  past  is  believed  to 
belong  to  the  early  part  of  the  Pleistocene  period.  Man 
had  already  left  the  trees. 


THE    HUMAN 


TERTIARY 


EOCENE 


OLIGOCENE 


I  Lem ur 


MIOCENE      PLIOCENE 


l^peec/7/css  Ff-imeva  I 

^  Man 


Irish  Se:a.  ar^a.  elevated 
Voicanoers  in  tf>e/)fEo/ 
/reJand  &  V^ofScoHsind 

Land     ^ 
(West  Coas^ 
FMls 

Uind  rises 

land 
Falls 

Fie.  10— The  above  covers  a  conjectured  5,500,000  years. 


MAN'S  PLACE   IN  GEOLOGICAL  TIME.  49 

An  even  older  prehistoric  skull  and  other  relics  were 
found  by  Mr.  Dawson  in  1912  on  the  North  Downs  of 
Sussex.  They  were  found  alongside  of  hippopotamus 
and  mastodon  remains  of  definitely  Pliocene  age.  This 
is  known  as  the  Piltdown  Skull.  It  was  found  on  high 
ground  through  which  rivers  have  since  cut  their  way. 
The  brain  was  obviously  of  a  more  primitive  character 
than  th'at  of  any  living  race.  The  lower  jaw  is  that  of 
a  chimpanzee  or  ape  ;  yet  the  working  of  the  jaw  is 
human.  Experts  differ  as  to  the  epoch  to  which  it 
belongs,  but  if  not  late  Pliocene,  it  belongs  to  the 
Pleistocene  period.  Dr.  Keith  calls  it  the  true  missing 
link  between  the  ape  and  man,  and  beyond  question  the 
oldest  yet  found  in  England.  Dr.  Smith  Woodward 
believes  it  to  date  back  500,000  years.  He  infers  from 
it  that  man  descended  from  the  Miocene  monkeys,  and 
not  through  modern  anthropoid  apes,  which  have 
flattened  skulls. 

But  before  this  a  human  skull  had  been  found,  in 
1907,  at  Heidelberg,  in  a  formation  of  unquestionably 
early  Pleistocene  date.  The  teeth  in  this  skeleton  are 
clearly  human,  but  the  heavy  jaw  and  absent  chin  bring 
it  nearer  to  the  ape-form  than  any  other  relic  of  early 
man.  It  is  about  midway  between  a  gorilla  and  an 
Australian  native. 


RECORD 


QUATERNARY 


REC- 
ENT 


PLEISTOCENE     co^&rin^CUcia.l  Epoch 
^rticulaie:  upri^hhiDan .Cave- Dwellers.  Palas;olithic(Old5ti:>ne-flsf^\ 


CoriUa  ,Chimpanze:er,Or^n§ .  Gibbon. 


■adual  rise  of  Land  &/aU  at  end  of  /ccrA§<^.or  after  f^ff^Jl^^J 


is? 


The  above  half  covers  a  conjectured  500,000  vearsi 


50  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

The  first  important  discovery  of  prehistoric  remains 
was  made  at  Neanderthal,  near  Dusseldorf,  in  1856. 
This  was  a  human  skeleton,  including  the  cranium, 
which  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins  has  assigned  to  late  Pleisto- 
cene times.  The  human  race  in  Europe  had  at  this 
period  advanced  to  the  level  reached  by  the  Australian 
aborigines  of  to-day. 

The  advancing  cold  of  the  later  Old  Stone  agt  drove 
Palaeolithic  man  into  caves.  Derbyshire  cave  remains 
show  that  England  was  then  fairly  well  populated. 

Between  the  Palaeolithic  and  Neolithic  periods  tJiere 
was  a  very  clear  time-break.  "  Where  relics  of  both 
"  ages  have  come  from  the  same  cave  a  layer  of 
"  stalagmite  sometimes  covers  the  older  soil  and  forms 
*'  a  floor  of  the  Neolithic  era.  This  points  to  a  long 
"lapse  of  time."  (A.  T.  Swaine.)  The  ferocious 
animals  of  the  earlier  period  had  nearly  all  disappeared. 
Europe  and  England  would  seem  to  have  been  entered, 
probably  from  North  Africa,  by  a  small,  dark,  oval- 
headed  race  known  as  Iberic,  which  introduced  the  use 
of  polished  stone  implements.  The  Neolithic  or  New 
Stone  period  had  commenced.  The  date  was  anywhere 
between  12,000  and  40,000  years  ago.  The  pace  of 
advance  towards  civilisation  became  notably  accelerated. 
Man  nov/  began  to  live  in  huts  grouped  in  villages  ;  to 
tame  dogs,  pigs,  and  oxen  ;  to  grow  corn,  weave  fabrics, 
and  to  make  rude  pottery.  The  stone  monuments  left 
by  Neolithic  man  in  the  many  so-called  Druidic  circles 
v/hich  are  dotted  about  England  and  Wales  are  now 
known  to  be  memorials  of  their  departed  head  men. 
Stonehenge,  in  Wiltshire,  is  the  best  known  of  these, 
and  is  believed  to  date  from  nearly  4000  years  ago. 

Races  exist  to-day  which  are  nearer,  mentally,  to  the 
ape  than  to  the  European.  Darwin  described  the 
Fuegians  as  "men  who  do  not  possess  the  instinct  of 
"  domesticated  animals  nor  yet  appear  to  boast  of  human 
"  reason,  or  at  least  of  arts  consequent  on  that  reason." 
Says  Haeckel,  in  his  "Evolution  of  Man": — "The 
"  whole  of  the  mammals,  including  man,  have  had  a 
"  common  origin."    "  The  human  body  does  not  contain 


MANS    PLACE    IN    GEOLOGICAL    TIME.  5t 

"  a  single  organ  that  has  not  been  inherited  from  the 
"  apes." 

Remains  of  the  NeoHthic  age  have  been  found, 
amongst  other  places,  at  Martin  Mere  (behind  South- 
port)  ;  at  Appley  Bridge,  near  Wigan,  in  an  anvil  stone, 
showing  that  flint  tools  were  once  fashioned  there  ;  at 
Prenton  and  Spital,  near  Birkenhead  ;  at  New  Brighton 
and  Hilbre  Point  (see  Chapter  XIX.)  ;  in  Kendrick's 
Cave,  Llandudno  ;  at  the  Gop  (Newmarket),  in  Flintshire  ; 
near  Barrow  ;  at  Grange-over-Sands  ;  at  Cark  ;  at 
Ulverston;  Grange;  Coniston;  Ambleside;  Blackstone 
Edge;  Bolton-le-Moors;  Broughton  (Manchester); 
Clitheroe  ;  Radcliffe  ;  Great  Orme's  Head  ;  above  Pen- 
maenmawr;  near  Clynnog;  near  Criccieth;  near  Bar- 
mouth; and  at  other  points  adjacent  to  the  coast  as  far 
south  as  Aberystwyth  and  the  Pembrokeshire  coast. 

The  Neolithic  merged  into  the  Bronze  age,  when  tin 
and  copper  were  smelted,  in  South  Britain,  about  4000 
to  3500  years  ago.  It  became  the  custom  in  the  Bronze 
age  for  the  dead  to  be  buried  in  circular  barrows.  The 
Iron  age,  in  v/hich  we  live,  dates,  in  Britain,  from  about 
500  to  300  B.C. 

In  the  old  and  polished  stone  ages  man's  progress  was 
extraordinarily  slow.  The  pace  has  become  greatly 
accelerated.  Never  was  the  race  evolving  so  rapidly  as 
in  the  age  in  which  we  live. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MORECAMBE   BaY   TO   THE  WyRE/ 

It  is  proposed  from  this  point  to  pass  in  review  the 
main  geological  features,  in  so  far  as  these  are  concerned 
with  coastal  changes,  section  by  section,  from  the  south 
end  of  Cumberland  to  the  south  side  of  Cardigan  Bay. 

The  word  "  Morikambe  "  is  Celtic  in  origin,  and 
signifies  a  "  bay."  It  is  the  only  name  which  appears 
on  the  earliest  map — Ptolemy's,  of  the  second  century 
A.D. — which  has  a  recognisable  likeness  to  any  modern 
v/est  coast  name.  But  it  was  not  until  1848,  with  the 
opening  up  of  railway  communications,  that  the  old 
village  of  Poulton  became  known  as  *'  Morecambe." 

The  geological  history  of  this  section  may  be  thus 
briefly  summarised.  The  greater  part  of  the  Lake 
district  and  of  Northern  Furness  consists  of  rocks  laid 
down  in  the  Silurian  epoch,  with  many  igneous  intrusions, 
some  contemporaneous  and  others  belonging  to  later 
ages.  This  primeval  region  is  surrounded  by  rocks 
v/hich  were  laid  down  in  the  Carboniferous  era,  when 
the  Pennine  Range,  the  Derbyshire  Peak,  the  Lancashire 
coal  seams,  and  the  limestones  of  the  North  Wales  and 
Silverdale  coasts,  and  of  the  Ingleton  and  Settle  districts, 
were  in  turn  laid  down.  Patches  of  local  red  sandstones 
and  salt  beds  were  deposited  in  the  early  part  of  the 
succeeding  Triassic  era. 

After  which  there  was  a  great  elevation  of  land,  and 
nothing  was  added  to  the  Furness  and  Morecambe  Bay 
deposits  throughout  the  rest  of  the  Triassic  period,  nor 
in  the  Oolitic,  Cretaceous,  or  Tertiary  periods.  Then 
oame  the  Glacial  period,  when  the  ice  sheet  from  the 
north  deposited  the  boulder-clay  beds  and  ground  the 


For  much  of  the  information  in  this  chapter  the  writer  is  indebted  to  the  contribu- 
tions of  Mr.  W.  B.  Kendall,  a.m.i.C.e..  to  the  "Proceedings  of  the 
Barrow  Naturalists  Field  Club."— Vol.  III.  (No.  2).  and  Vol.  XVIII. 


MORECAMBE    BAY    TO    THE    WYRE.  53 

shore  sandstones  and  shales  into  red  clay  and  sand. 
These  glacial  boulder  and  brick  clay  deposits  doubtless 
extended,  at  the  close  of  the  Ice-age  and  probably  for 
some  thousands  of  years  later,  across  the  bay  to  the 
Rossall  and  Fylde  coasts. 

Two  distinct  deposits  of  boulder  clay  are  exposed  at 
Trough  Head  on  the  west  coast  of  Walney,  half  a  mile 
south  of  Hillock  Whins,  a  deposit  of  stratified  sand  and 
gravel  lying  between  them. 

A  bore  hole  sunk,  in  1904,  near  Davy  Street,  Barrow, 
is  reported  by  Mr.  Harper  Gaythorpe,  F.S.A.,  to  have 
shown  the  following  results  (here  summarised)  : 

Soil,  red  clay,  gravel,  sand,  soft  red  sand- 
stone,  and  pebbles 98ft. 

Soft  red  sandstone  and  red  marl  -     -     -     -     2 1 75ft. 

Beds,   chiefly  gypsum 612ft. 

Hard  dark  grey  limestone  was  reached  at  2831ft.  (2ft. 
only)  and  ironstone  rock  at  2924ft. 

In  the  Ice-age  the  Duddon,  Kent,  Leven,  and  Lune 
valleys  each  had  their  glacial  streams,  these  often 
overflowing  into  other  valleys.  The  limestone  masses 
at  the  head  of  Morecambe  Bay  show  that  some  of  these 
glaciers  must  have  been  as  much  as  400ft.  thick.  The 
Lune  glacier  was  the  longest.  That  this  ended  at 
Arkholme  is  evidenced  by  the  terminal  moraines  which 
may  be  seen  there.  The  clay  within  the  estuaries  of 
Morecambe  Bay  is  also  largely  moraine  matter — that 
is,  material  brought  down  by  the  glaciers  from  the 
higher  lying  valley  sides.  Secondary  streams  of  ice 
flowed  along  the  Cartmel  Valley,  w^here  glaciated  rocks 
are  seen  near  Cartmel.  The  Rivers  Winster  and  Gilp 
also  had  their  ice  streams. 

At  Sea  Wood,  where  the  clay  has  been  denuded, 
the  face  and  floor  of  the  rock  is  finely  glaciated  by  the 
old  Leven  glacier,  and  the  face  of  the  cliff  shov.'s  where 
a  former  stream  had  flowed  out  upon  the  estuary. 

On  the  site  of  the  Barrow  Harbour  there  was  at  this 
time  a  small  lake,  which  became  a  swamp,  and  later  a 
peat  bed.  Oaks  and  firs  grew  in  or  around  it.  Gales 
blew  down  these  trees  and  the  sea  burst  in  over  the  site,, 
converting  it  into  a  lagoon  or  bay. 


54 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


MORECAMBE    BAY    TO    THE    WYRE.  55 

A  period  of  subsidence  followed  until  Walney  Island 
was  separated  from  the  mainland.  Another  rise  con- 
verted the  mud  flats  into  meadows  and  Walney  became 
again  joined  up  to  the  mainland.  Finally  the  sea  again 
broke  over  the  harbour  site,  and  silt  and  mud  were 
deposited  over  the  former  peat  beds. 

The  making  of  the  Barrow  docks  made  possible 
the  examination  of  vertical  exposures  50  to  60  feet  in 
depth,  enabling  expert  geologists  to  read,  as  in  a  book, 
the  post-glacial  past  of  the  district.  Valuable  evidence 
as  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  land  was  disclosed. 

It  is  the  writer's  main  contention  that  there  has  been 
for  some  thousands  of  years  a  continuous  subsidence  in 
progress  along  the  shores  of  Wales,  Cheshire,  and 
Lancashire,  as  far  as  some  point  or  node  where  there 
is  no  change,  and  north  of  which  elevation  is  proceeding. 

The  evidence  cannot  be  regarded  as  conclusive,  but 
it  may  be  provisionally  assumed  that  this  stationary  point 
is  reached  somewhere  between  Fleetwood  and  Barrow. 
Further  north,  especially  on  the  Ayrshire  coast  and  on 
the  West  Coast  of  Scotland,  there  is  ample  evidence  of 
elevation  in  well-defined  raised  beaches.  (See  Chap. 
XXXlll.) 

There  is  good  reason  to  believe  that  as  late  as  the 
Roman  occupation  the  land  about  Furness  lay  six  or 
eight  feet  lower  than  its  present  level.  Prior  to  the 
elevation  Walney  Island  would  be  split  up  into  three  or 
four  islands.  The  sea  would  then  flow  close  up  to 
Gleaston  and  Ulverston  and  as  far  as  four  miles  above 
Levens  Bridge.  Since  the  Viking  age  there  has  been  no 
perceptible  change  in  the  Morecambe  Bay  shore  levels. 

The  Duddon  estuary  would  end  near  Woodland 
Station  ;  Rosecote  and  Rampside  would  then  stand  on 
an  island  with  a  ford  crossing  to  it  near  Old  Hole  Beck, 
where  the  village  of  Fordebodele,"  the  abode  by  the 
ford,"  probably  stood  in  the  days  of  the  Domesday 
Survey  and  for  some  300  years  later.  Two  streams,  one 
rising  close  by,  run  in  opposite  directions,  east  and  west 
from  this  point. 

The  sea  cliffs  of  the  "  25  feet  period,"  when  the  sea 
reached  as  far  as  25  feet  above  to-day's  mean  tide  level. 


56 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


or  6  to  8  feet  above  high-water  mark,  may  be  seen  on 
the  west  side  of  Walney  Island  and  near  Roosebeck. 

The  town  or  village  of  Hert  is  believed  by  some 
writers  to  have  been  swept  away  by  a  tidal  inundation 
on  December  6th,  1553.  It  is  much  more  probable, 
however,  that  both  it  and  Fordebodele  disappeared  soon 
after  the  fourteenth  century,  as  neither  place  is  named 
in  any  document  of  later  date  than  1387,  v/hen  Walter 
Doget  left  a  bequest  "  to  the  more  needy  poor  within 
the  isle  of  Hertye." 


Ulvcrston 


C-ranae 
Kcnls  / 


Humplirc^  PV 


•  Dalton 

Sea  Wood' 

7 

Gicafg^^^T^  f^O  RE  C  ANBE 

£arnsey  Pt\  ^5^^  °^%^elc(s,fe  o^N  B  AY-  '^ 

\    l\         Roosecorc  /  •     ; 

WALNEYX  A  V<X  ,.o./»Roosebeck 

HUUcUWlimV 

SBrcat 
■'TiawesPt. 


Cafnj'ortb 

feolton  Holmes 
HesVbank^  Bolton  le-Sands 

■norecamb6<^* 
ancsLster 


REFERENCE 

COAST  LINE 

LDWWATER  MAFIK 


MORECAMBE  BAY 


Glasson 
Dock 
•Cockersand  Abbe^* 


-ig.  12  — Present  Dav 


MORECAMBE    BAY    TO    THE    WYRE.  57 

The  one-time  existence  of  Hert  and  Fordebodele  is 
testified  to  by  the  following  writers  :  West,  in  his 
"Antiquities  of  Furness  "  (1774);  Gregson's  "Portfolio 
of  Fragments"  (1817);  and  Baines'  "Lancashire"  (1868). 
The  two  names  occur  also  in  Beamont's  "  Translation 
"of  Domesday  Book"  (1863),  in  the  following  list: 
Fordebodele,  2  caracutes  ;  Rosse,  6  c'tes  ;  Lies,  6  c'tes  ; 
Lies  (another),  2  c'tes  ;  Cliverton  (has  been  washed 
away  by  the  sea),  3  c'tes  ;  Hert,  2  c'tes  ;  Bodele  (Bootle), 
4  c'tes.     A  caracute  was  12J  acres. 

There  is  documentary  evidence  of  the  inundation  of 
1553  in  the  recorded  fact  that  in  1554  the  people  of 
Walney  and  the  adjoining  coasts  made  appeal  to  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.  Forty-nine  acres, 
they  submitted,  had  disappeared  between  Dalton  and 
the  River  Duddon. 

About  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  some  ruined 
remains  of  a  village  were  visible  at  low^  tide  on  the  sands 
opposite  Aldingham.  These  may  not  improbably  have 
been  connected  with  a  fact  referred  to  in  Mannex's 
North  Lancashire  Directory"  for  1866.  "Aldingham 
village  is  said  to  have  been  once  nearly  a  mile  long, 
and  stood  at  the  foot  of  a  rock.  It  was  swept  away 
by  the  encroachment  of  the  sea.  The  hall  and  the 
dwellings  are  the  only  two  dwellings  now  remaining. 
Between  these,  stands  the  old  church  mentioned  in  a 
13th  century  Abbot's  grant." 
The  Aldingham  coast  has  been  considerably  eroded 
during  the  last  few  hundred  years.  Another  lost  town 
mentioned  by  some  writers  is  Lowscales,  which  once 
stood  between  Morecambe  and  Harlecut. 

In  1807-8  a  three-mile-long  embankment  was  made 
between  Humphrey  Head  and  Cowpren  Point,  to  keep 
out  the  sea.  In  1828  the  River  Leven,  having  shifted 
its  course  from  the  Bardsea  side  of  the  estuary,  entirely 
demolished  this  bank.  It  also  laid  bare  a  large  scar 
called  "  Cowp  Scar,"  believed  to  be  the  remains  of  high 
land  washed  av/ay  in  former  days,  and  upon  which  one 
of  the  lost  villages  probably  stood. 

That  the  last  land  movement  north  of  .Morecambe 
Bay  v/as  an  upward  one  is  confirmed  by  the  position  of 


58  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

the  remains  of  the  Roman  wall  at  its  western  end  on 
the  Solway  south  bank.  For  an  uncertain  period, 
probably  a  thousand  years,  we  have  no  evidence  of  any 
subsequent  change  of  level  north  of  Morecambe  Bay  nor 
in  the  Duddon  estuary.  There  have  been  great  changes, 
however,  in  the  coastal  contours  of  Furness  and  the 
Bay,  these  being  mainly  due  to  the  oscillating  fortunes 
in  the  never-ending  battle  between  the  land  and  the  sea. 

Amongst  considerable  gains  by  the  sea  may  be  cited 
the  fact  that  many  acres  of  land  were  worn  away  on 
the  west  coast  of  Walney  Isle,  where  the  upper  boulder 
clay  of  Hillick  Whins  wasted  between  1879  and  1904 
at  the  rate  of  5  feet  per  annum  along  a  frontage  of 
970  feet. 

Since  1879  Biggar  Low  Bank  has  wasted  at  the  rate 
of  5  feet  a  year.  At  the  north  end  of  Walney  wastage 
has  occurred  only  at  Earnsey  Point  ;  at  South  End  a 
homestead  disappeared  before  1800,  and  another  was 
abandoned  in  1833.  Trough  Head  cottage  was  aban- 
doned in  1887  owing  to  sea  encroachments.  South  of 
Brent  Haws  there  is  a  steady  wastage. 

Since  Roman  days  the  estimate  of  the  loss  of  land  on 
Walney  Isle  is  as  much  as  1200  acres,  but  in  compensa- 
tion there  has  been  accretion  to  an  estimated  extent  of 
975  acres,  chiefly  at  the  south-eastern  end.  This  has 
become,  since  the  18th  century,  increasingly  square- 
ended  in  shape,  having  increased  between  1737  and 
1889  to  over  1000  yards  in  width  and  extended  towards 
the  east  by  2200  yards. 

At  the  south  point  of  Walney  there  are  very  inte- 
resting evidences  of  accretion  in  a  series  of  concentric 
curved  ridges  of  water-washed  stones.  Tidal  currents 
acting  on  the  west  coast  boulder  cla5'^  cliffs  have  swept 
the  stones  here. 

Prior  to  1847  there  were  two  ancient  roads  and  four 
fords  between  the  mainland  and  Walney  Isle.  On  the 
-eastern  side  of  the  Furness  mainland,  old  tidal  inlets 
have  been  blocked,  probably  since  Norman  days,  with 
sand  and  gravel,  and  converted  into  peat-mosses  and 
swamps  ;  but  boulder  clay  headlands,  such  as  Conniger 


MORECAMBE    BAY    TO    THE    WYRE.  59 

Head   near   Rampside,    are   being  rapidly  worn  into   by 
the  sea. 

Piel  Island,  or  the  Pile  of  Fowdrey,  is  becoming 
smaller  through  marine  erosion.  The  castle  was  built 
early  in  the  14th  century  by  the  Abbots  of  Furness  as  a 
retreat  from  the  ravages  of  the  Scots.  A  century  later  it 
was  left  to  decay.  Since  then  the  last  of  the  keep  and 
of  the  south  and  east  yard  walls  have  been  undermined 
and  demolished  by  the  sea. 

The  enormous  amount  of  sand  brought  up  by  south- 
westerly gales  is  responsible  for  the  marked  tendency 
of  the  sandbanks  which,  at  low  water,  occupy  four-fifths 
of  the  bay,  to  become  higher.  A  contributing  factor 
in  the  gradual  filling  up  of  the  bay  is  the  fact  that  two 
tidal  currents  reach  this  west  coast  from  the  Atlantic, 
the  one  by  the  North  of  Ireland  and  the  other  and  more 
important  stream,  by  the  South  of  Ireland.  They 
coalesce  outside  Morecambe  Bay,  and  their  force  is 
finally  spent  in  the  estuaries  which  open  out  into  the 
bay.  Any  suspended  matter  which  these  currents  carry 
is,  of  course,  deposited  where  they  come  to  comparative 
rest.  The  rivers  Leven,  Kent,  and  Keer,  owing  to  the 
hard  rock  formations  which  they  for  the  most  part  drain, 
bring  down  comparatively  little  suspended  matter. 

The  enormous  area  of  the  sand  beds  in  the  bay, 
estimated  at  90,000  acres,  must  have  been  originally 
derived  in  the  main  from  ice-friction  on  the  coastal  cliffs 
in  the  glacial  period. 

The  channels  which  divide  the  banks  in  the  bay  are 
liable  to  extraordinarily  sudden  and  frequent  changes. 

Over  a  thousand  acres  have  been  reclaimed,  but  the 
sand,  which  lacks  the  clay  and  silt  which  elsewhere 
make  reclamations  profitable,  is  so  hopeless  from  an 
agricultural  point  of  view  that  fully  half  of  the  reclaimed 
areas  have  been  abandoned,  whilst  the  rest  have  proved 
unprofitable.  The  making  of  the  Ulverston  and  Lancaster 
Railway,  in  1857,  encouraged  these  land  reclamations. 
Borings  made  at  the  time  showed  sand  deposits  to  the 
depth  of  70  feet  deep.  Under  these,  on  the  west  side 
of  the  bay,  peat  and  forest  remains  are  commonly  found. 


60  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

Before  the  days  of  the  railway,  the  usual  short 
low-tide  route  was  over  the  sands  from  Hest  Bank  to 
Kent's  Bank. 

In  the  "  Autobiography  of  Wm.  Stout  "  (!85!),  under 
date    1687,   there  occurs  the  following  passage  :  — 

"  For  seven  years  past  the  sea  continually  wasted 
their  marsh  (i.e.,  Hest  Bank),  and  the  River  Kear, 
which  used  to  come  near  Lindeth,  now  drew  near  to 
Boulton  Holmes  and  Prescear  and  also  drew  in  the 
main  river  Kent,  so  that  all  the  marsh  to  the  west  and 
north  of  us  was  washed  away." 

An  interesting  find  was  made  at  Silverdale  of  a  flint 
tool  factory,  with  chippings  of  neolithic  date. 

Both  north-east  and  south-west  of  Morecambe 
considerable  erosion  is  in  progress.  The  foreshore  is 
also  decidedly  lower  than  the  level  of  thirty  years  ago. 
This  is  largely  due  to  the  removal  of  stones  and  shingle 
for  building  and  other  purposes. 

Heysham  Harbour  has  been  ctnstructed  at  enormous 
expense  by  the  Midland  Railway  Company.  Great 
difficulties  have  been  met  with  in  preventing  it  silting  up. 
Heysham,  Fleetwood,  and  Barrow  are  the  only  three 
deep-w^ater  harbours  between  the  Mersey  and  the 
Clyde. 

The  River  Lune,  which  rises  in  the  upper  end  of 
Ravenstonedale,  was  at  one  time  of  greater  commercial 
importance  than  it  is  to-day.  Cotton  was  brought  to 
Lancaster  up  the  Lune  long  before  it  was  landed  at 
Liverpool.  In  the  early  part  of  the  18th  century, 
Sunderland,  near  the  river's  mouth,  was  the  port  of 
Lancaster,  and  flourished  until  Glasson  Dock,  on  the 
opposite  bank,  was  started,  about  1787.  In  1 799  five  of 
the  chief  Lancaster  shipping  houses  failed,  and  the  port 
never  afterv/ards  recovered  its  former  prosperity. 

Tall  old  warehouses  since  converted  into  dwelling- 
houses,  on  the  river  front  at  Sunderland,  now  a  mere 
hamlet,  testify  to  the  one-time  importance  of  the  port. 
In  the  18th  century  Lancaster  had  a  considerable  trade 
with  the  West  Indies,  exporting  furniture,  ale  and  stout, 
in  exchange  for  sugar,  rum,  and  cotton.  For  the  strange 
product,  cotton,  no  buyers  could  at  first  be  found.     Old 


MORECAMBE    BAY    TO    THE    WYRE.  61 

water-power  mills  still  stand  higher  up  the  Vale  of  Lune 
as  witnesses  to  its  early  manufacture  in  this  locality. 
Sunderland  Point  has  for  long  suffered  seriously  from 
erosion,  but  this  has  been  in  recent  years  checked  by 
groins  and  palisades.  Sunderland  village  and  peninsula 
are  liable  to  flooding  when  a  S.W.  gale  coincides  with  a 
high  tide,  as  in  1907,  when  the  waters  nearly  met  across 
the  peninsula.  The  low  land  between  the  Lune  and 
Morecambe,  through  which  the  Lune  is  believed  to  have 
at  one  time  reached  Morecambe  Bay,  was  deeply 
flooded  in  the  same  storm.  Various  place-names  and 
other  words  testify  to  Norse  settlements  in  this  locality. 
"Cram,"  a  cockle-fork;  "  Kewin,"  the  black  periwinkle; 
and  "  The  Dales  "  at  Overton  (see  Birkdale,  &c.,  in  a 
later  chapter). 

Denudation  is  in  progress  at  the  south  of  the  estuary, 
where  stand  the  ruins  of  Cockersand  Abbey,  part  of 
which  has  fallen  into  the  invading  sea.  A  will  dated 
1696  refers  to  land  and  houses  near  Cockerham  Marsh 
which  must  now  be  under  the  sands  or  sea.  Boysdale 
land,  in  Pilling,  has  also  been  devoured.  Despite  this 
erosion  both  at  Cockerham  and  Pilling,  the  marsh  lands 
have  risen  four  feet  in  the  last  forty  years.  Slow 
accretion  is  also  proceeding  on  the  coasts  of  Pilling, 
Stalmine,   Hambleton,   and  Out  Rawcliffe. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


The  Fylde  Coast  (Wyre  to  Ribble). 

"The  Fylde"  is  a  term  applied  to  the  undulating 
coastal  plain  lying  between  the  mouths  of  the  Wyre  and 
Lune  rivers  on  the  North  and  the  Ribble  on  the  South. 
Its  root  meaning  is  a  field  or  an  enclosure  upon  which 
the  trees  have  been  felled.  Between  South  Shore, 
Blackpool,  and  the  Norbreck  coast  to  the  north  it  rises 
into  an  elevation,  forming  sea-cliffs  up  to  70  feet  in 
height,  which  would  stand  out  as  an  island  during  the 
post-glacial  depression,  and  also  during  a  more  recent 
sulbsidence.  The  lower-lying  parts  around  Marton  Moss 
and  Singleton  Carrs  would  then  be  under  the  sea. 

The  evidences  of  the  sea's  advance  are  nowhere 
more  clear  than  on  the  Rossall  coast.  One  farm  was 
moved  back  no  fewer  than  four  times  between  1825  and 
1875.  (Porter's  "  History  of  the  Fylde.")  Betw^een 
1844  and  1874,  the  Fleetwood  Estate  Company  lost  by 
sea-erosion  23^^  acres  of  their  land.  An  old  chart  of 
1 730  date  shows  that  the  site  of  Old  Rossall  is  now 
under  the  sea.  In  1792  many  tree  trunks,  in  situ,  could 
be  seen  on  the  beach  opposite  Rossall. 

Between  "  The  Mount  "  at  Fleetwood  and  the  sea 
there  formerly  ran  a  road,  now  swept  away.  Serious 
damage  resulted  from  sea  invasion  at  the  west  end  of 
Fleetwood  prior  to  the  erection  of  a  permanent  sea  wall 
some  time  after  1884. 

Tradition  has  been  strong  in  asserting  that,  some- 
where to  the  west  of  old  Norbreck  Hall,  there  once  stood 
a  village  called  Singleton  Thorpe.  Porter,  in  his 
'*  History,"  says  it  stood  over  a  mile  to  the  west  of  the 


THE    FYLDE   COAST  (WYRE    TO    RIBBLE).  63 

Roman  road  at  Cleveleys.  About  1896  an  attempt  was 
made  to  discover  some  evidences  of  its  existence,  as 
also  that  of  the  submerged  forest  which  it  was  believed 
had  also  stood  here.  Excavations  were  made  at  various 
points  covering  a  distance  of  about  half  a  mile  from 
east  to  west.  The  bank  upon  which  the  digging,  to  a 
depth  of  several  feet,  took*  place  was  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  cliffs.  Tree-tops  were  found 
at  most  of  the  points  tested.  These  were  traced  from 
opposite  Norbreck  to  a  point  about  half  a  mile  to  the 
north  of  Cleveleys.  A  lintel  and  doorpost  were  also 
found. 

But  this  last-named  find  cannot  be  regarded  as 
confirming  the  Singleton  Thorpe  tradition.  It  should  be 
stated  here  that  no  trace  of  any  such  name  has  been 
found  in  the  Sheriffs'  Pipe-rolls  of  Lancashire  of  King 
John's  or  Edward  the  Third's  reigns,  nor  in  any  manorial 
records.  A  now  lost  manor  of  Chornet  once  belonged 
to  the  lordship  of  Rossall.  This  may  possibly  have  been 
swallowed  up  by  the  sea's  advance. 

Thornber,  in  his  "  History  of  Blackpool,"  1837, 
quotes  the  Dodsworth  MSS.  as  the  authority  for  the 
Singleton  Thorpe  tradition.  In  his  "  Penny  Stone  :  a 
"  Tradition  of  the  Spanish  Armada  "  (p.  70),  Thornber 
says  :    "  History   informs   us — "  That   a  sudden   eruption 

*  of  the    sea    took    place    at    Rossal    Grange,    sweeping 
away,    by   its  fury,    a   whole   village    named   Singleton 

'  Thorp,   the  inhabitants  of  which  being  obliged  to  flee 

*  from    their    ancient     homes,     erected    their    tents    at 
Singleton     in    the     parish     of     Kirkham,     where     they 

'  settled  "     Singleton  Thorp   and   the   Spanish   Armada, 

according  to   this   story,    perished   together   in   the   same 

storm.     "The  sea  flowed  twice  in  the  course  of  twelve 

hours,  the   level   of   its  boiling  surface   being  elevated 

*  by  some  subterranean  phenomenon,  shooting  its 
"  waters  over  the  plain  of  Thornton  Marsh  into  the 
"  Wyre." 

The  implication  that  the  village  of  Singleton  to  the 
south-east  of  Poulton  thus  came  into  existence  is  not 
reliable  history,  as  it  is  known  to  have  been  in  existence 
for  centuries  before  this  date.     It  is  obviously  improb- 


64  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

able  also  that  a  fishing  community  would  move  miles 
inland.  (See  a  further  reference  to  Dodsworth-Thornber 
in  the  next  chapter.) 

The  main  destination  of  the  enormous  amount  of 
material  which  has  been  worn  away  from  the  cliffs 
north  of  Blackpool  has  been,  owing  to  the  set  of  the 
tidal  currents,  the  site  upon  which  the  town  of  Fleet- 
wood now  stands  and  its  immediate  neighbourhood  up 
the  River  Wyre.  The  narrow  point  of  land  between 
Rossall  and  Fleetwood  has  been  apparently  worn  away 
as  much  on  its  western  and  northern  faces  as  it  has  been 
extended  by  this  transferred  cliff  material  on  to  its  eastern 
side.  At  almost  any  point  within  the  boundaries  of 
Fleetwood  where  a  boring  is  made  through  the  surface 
sand  a  shingle  bed  is  reached.  The  inference  that  the  sea 
has  been  here  in  recent  times  is  a  safe  one.  The  Wyre 
probably  entered  the  sea  three  hundred  years  ago 
nearly  a  mile  further  west  than  it  does  to-day. 

The  pushing  east  of  this  point  of  land  has  been 
checked  by  the  Wyre's  inability  to  wear  back  a 
peculiarly  hard  clay  spit  or  bank  known  as  "  the  knott," 
and  which  runs  out  north-west  from  Knott  End.  This 
bank  continues  to  form  the  north  bank  of  the  river  as 
it  turns  west  to  the  sea.  The  clay  and  silt  brought  down 
by  the  Wyre  chiefly  finds  its  way  on  to  the  Pilling  sands. 
It  conveys  very  little  sand. 

The  founding  of  the  port  of  Fleetwood  was  due  to 
the  enterprise  of  Sir  Peter  Hesketh  Fleetwood,  from  1832 
to  1847  M.P.  for  Preston.  The  first  two  houses  were  built 
in  1836,  and  the  railway  was  extended  to  the  new  port 
In  1840.  About  1850  a  number  of  Banks  and  Marshside 
(Southport)  fishermen,  owing  to  the  silting  up  of  the  old 
direct  channel  between  the  Southport  channel  and 
Crossens,  migrated  in  a  body  to  Fleetw^ood,  w^hich  has 
since  become  the  most  important  fishing  port  on  the 
West  Coast.  But  Sir  Peter  Hesketh  Fleetwood  showed 
less  prevision  about  his  own  financial  interests,  in 
disposing  of  the  bulk  of  his  landed  interests  at  Southport 
in  order  to  found  this  intended  new  rival  to  Liverpool, 
than  he  did  a  spirit  of  public  enterprise.  He  died  a 
poor    man,    whilst   the    heirs    of    the   late    Rev.    Charles 


THE    FYLDE    COAST  (WYRE    TO    RIBBLE).  65 

Hesketh,  and  of  Charles  Scarisbrick  of  Scarisbrick  Hall, 
to  whom  he  sold  his  Southport  estate,  have  profited 
enormously  by  the  purchase. 

The  depth  of  the  Wyre  channel  bar  at  low  water 
has  been  increased  in  recent  years  to  18  feet. 

The  whole  of  the  Fylde  sea-front  we  can  easily  imagine 
as  extending  west  as  far  as  the  Isle  of  Man  during,  and 
probably  subsequent  to,  the  latest  phase  of  the  Glacial 
period.  With  a  fall  in  the  levels  erosive  agencies 
formed  cliffs  of  the  high  ground,  and  these  have  been 
rapidly  worn  back. 

The  *  Coast  Erosion  Commission  "  evidence  (191  1) 
showed  that  the  gain  of  the  sea  opposite  Bispham  had 
amounted  to  70  feet  in  17  years.  At  Norbreck  the  loss 
of  land  has  been  estimated  as  averaging  8  feet  a  year. 
If  an  average  wastage  of  6  feet  is  assumed,  we  need 
not  go  further  back  in  time  than  about  6000  years  to 
account  for  a  wastage  which  would  have  worn  back  the 
coast  from  as  far  as  the  Isle  of  Man  to  Blackpool 
(62  miles).  But  how  far  west  the  high  ground  actually 
extended  we  do  not  know.  At  this  rate  of  sea-wear  the 
Fylde  coast  must  have  been  two  miles  further  west  in 
the  early  part  of  the  Roman  occupation. 

The  boulder  clay  cliffs  and  interbedded  sand  seams 
are  wholly  formed  of  material  carried  by  the  ice  from 
the  Galloway,  Criffel,  and  Lake  district  mountains  and 
dropped  on  land  or  sea.  Most  of  the  stones  in  the 
hard  brown  clay  base  of  the  cliffs  are  ice-scratched. 
The  Geological  Survey  officers  found  that  30  per  cent, 
of  these  cliff-derived  stones,  which  are  in  a  state  of 
constant  motion  between  Lytham  and  Rossall,  are  of 
Silurian  grit  and  Felspathic  rock,  28  per  cent,  of 
porphyry,  12  per  cent,  of  granite,  and  4  per  cent,  of 
quartzite.  Limestone,  red  sandstone,  and  greenstone 
will  make  up  the  balance.  They  form  a  shingle  beach 
which  is  the  most  effective  of  all  protections  against  sea 
erosion.  The  rapid  encroachment  on  the  Norbreck 
cliffs  has  been  due  in  part  to  the  hand  of  man  in  the 
making  of  the  Blackpool  promenade.  This  has  interfered 


66 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


with  Nature's  usual  providing  of  a  protective  apron  of 
shingle  from  the  cliffs  upon  which  the  town  of  Blackpool 
stands. 

The  artificial  substitutes  in  sea  walls,  groynes,  iron 
rods,  and  lattice-work,  w^hich  have  been  erected  from 
time  to  time  since  about  1875,  have  only  been  partially 
successful.  The  inclusion  of  Bispham  in  1918  within 
the  boundaries  of  an  extended  Blackpool  has  largely 
resulted  from  the  necessity  of  more  adequately  effective 
protective  measures  being  taken  than  an  urban  district 
council  could  afford.  The  construction  of  a  sea-wall 
and  lower  walk  at  the  foot  of  the  cliffs  at  North  Shore, 
extending  the  present  promenade  for  a  distance  of  1980 
yards   northwards,    is   now  in   progress. 

Again  and  again  the  cliff  paths  and  roads  have  had 
to  be  put  back.  Whittle,  in  his  "  Marina  "  (1831),  refers 
to  the  ancient  road  from  Blackpool  to  Bispham  which 
skirted  the  cliff  having  completely  disappeared.  The 
present  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  "  Hotel  was  built  in  1907 
considerably  further  back  than  the  demolished  old  inn, 
from  the  cliff  edge. 

Some  fragments  of  the  base  of  the  cliffs,  chiefly  of 
hard  conglomerate,  have  proved  too  heavy  for  removal 
by  the  sea  and  remain  at  various  points  on  the  Norbreck 
and  Cleveleys  beach  as  evidence  as  to  the  line  of  the 
cliffs  when  these  huge  stones  were  embedded  in  them. 


Fig.  13 — Pennvstone,  Opposite  Norbreck. 


THE    FYLDE   COAST  (WYRE    TO    RIBBLE).  67 

The  larger  are  known  by  the  names  of  Pennystone, 
CarHne  and  his  Colts,  Silkstone,  and  the  Bear  and  Staff. 

Pennystone,  over  20  feet  in  length,  is  the  largest. 
This  must  have  once  lain  in  the  base  of  the  cliff,  as  the 
material  only  occurs  in  the  base  of  the  middle  sands 
section  of  the  cliff.  It  now  lies  half  a  mile  to  the  west 
of  the  Norbreck  cliffs  below  the  low-water  mark  of 
ordinary  spring  tides,  but  it  can  be  walked  round  on  the 
ebb  of  exceptionally  high  spring  tides. 

Wilham  Hutton,  in  1788,  and.  in  1837,  the  Rev. 
William  Thornber — both  historians  of  Blackpool — wrote 
of  the  tradition  that  an  inn  once  stood  here,  and  that 
horses  were  tethered  to  the  stone  while  their  riders 
drank  "penny"  pots  of  ale.  A  barrier  of  sandhills  lay 
between  the  inn  and  the  sea.  Little  credence  can  be 
attached  to  this  etymology  or  to  the  details  of  this  and 
other  traditions  which  Mr.  Thornber  has  preserved  in 
his  "  Traditions  of  the  Fylde  "  (now  a  scarce  book). 
The  name  is  of  Celtic  origin,  "  Pen  "  meaning  "  head," 
and  "  ey  "  an  island,  as  in  Waln-ey  and  Wallas-ey.  The 
tethering  part  of  the  story  may  have  some  support  in 
the  fact  that  an  iron  ring  or  hook  was  still  embedded  in 
the  stone  a  few  years  ago. 

The  black  pool  which  gave  its  name  to  Britain's  most 
frequented  pleasure  resort  lay  close  by  the  site  of  the 
Manchester  Hotel.*  It  took  its  dark  tint  from  the  peaty 
Marton  Mere,  which  lay  at  the  rear  of  Blackpool  when 
it  had  its  beginning  as  a  resort  about  1750.  This  lake 
Is  said  to  have  stretched  for  six  miles,  from  Whitegate 
Drive  to  Chain  Road,  at  Staining,  and  to  have  been 
\h  miles  wide.  At  various  times  the  mere  had  two  other 
outfalls,  at  Skippool  on  the  Wyre,  the  only  outlet  shown 
on  a  1536  map,  and  to  the  south-east  at  Lytham  Pool. 
The  father  of  a  man  now  living  (the  Rev.  W.  T.  Bulpit 
is  the  authority)  boated  from  Kirkham  through  the  mere 
to  the  Wyre. 

Skippool,  which  closely  adjoins  Poulton,  the  one- 
time chief  shipping  port  of  the  Fylde,  fell  into  decay 
through  the  rise  of  Fleetwood  after  1840.  In  1590  its 
tonnage  is  said  to  have  equalled  that  of  Liverpool.     In 


*  The  earliest  mention  of  "  a  Black  poole  "  is  in  a  Bispham  and  Poulton 
Parish  christening  entry  of  1602  date. 


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THE    FYLDE    COAST  (WYRE    TO    RIBBLE).  69 

the  west  coast  were  Formby,  Preston,  Neston,  and 
Rhuddlan. 

Under  the  sandhills  south  of  Blackpool,  and  as  far  as 
St.  Annes,  the  stones  which  have  all  been  washed  from 
the  cliffs  north  of  Blackpool  have  formed  successive 
banks  of  shingle  called  "  stanners."  At  the  angle  of 
the  coast  where  St.  Annes  now  stands,  the  writer  was 
informed  by  the  late  Thomas  Fair,  Esq.,  of  Clifton  Hall, 
that  about  40  years  ago  several  w^ide  **  stanners."  at 
least  four  in  number,  were  cut  through  in  the  making 
of  a  deep  trench  along  St.  Annes  Road,  between  the 
station  and.  the  shore.  Some  Clifton  estate  maps  in  his 
possession  led  him  to  believe  that  each  of  these  shingle 
banks  had  taken  about  a  century  to  form.  The  present 
outer  stanner  began  to  form  about  I  10  years  ago,  so  far 
as  can  be  judged  by  an  estate  map  of  1813  date.  The 
east  end  of  the  outer  stanner  was  used  as  a  base  for 
the  new  Fairhaven  promenade,  enclosing  the  lake  there. 
Both  east  and  west  of  Lytham  there  is  also  a  well- 
developed  shingle  beach. 

This  estimate  accords  with  the  evidence  furnished 
by  such  maps  as  Speed's  of  1610  date,  which  show  that 
the  beach  at  St.  Annes  was  a  thousand  yards  or  more 
inland  of  its  present  position.  The  shape  of  the  coast 
between  Fairhaven  and  South  Shore  was  then  concave, 
instead  of  convex  as  now.  Drifted  sand  from  the  River 
Mersey,  and  in  a  minor  degree  from  the  Ribble,  together 
with  stanner  formations,  have  been  responsible  for  this 
change.  The  sandhills  have  mostly  formed  within  this 
last  three  hundred  years. 

At  St.  Annes  the  changes  in  the  shingle  accumula- 
tions and  in  the  off-lying  sand-banks  and  channels  are 
extraordinarily  rapid  and  frequent;  the  banks  tend  to 
come  inshore  and  the  shingle  banks  to  become  higher. 
At  the  present  time  (1919)  slight  accretion  is  in  progress 
south  of  the  pier,  and  slight  erosion  north  of  Ormerod 
Home. 

Other  proofs  of  sea  v/ear  at  Blackpool  are  worth 
noting.  A  man  who  was  living  in  1908  could  recall  the 
time  when   cattle   grazed  in   a  field   on   the  cliffs,  which 


70  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

then  extended  over  part  of  the  site  of  the  North  Pier 
of  to-day.  The  late  Captain  Bickerstaffe  testified  to 
having  seen  in  the  early  'seventies  tree-trunks  at  low 
water  near  the  Central  Pier.  These  remains  must  be 
now  fully  20  feet  below  the  shore  surface.  The  whole 
of  the  shore  in  front  of  the  town  has  been  growing 
steadily  higher  during  the  last  50  years.  The  causes  of 
this  elevation  are  precisely  the  same  as  are  raising  the 
foreshore  at,  and  south  of,  Southport.  They  will  be 
dealt  with  in  a  later  chapter. 

Captain  Bickerstaffe  made  careful  records  and  found 
low-water  mark,  opposite  the  Central  Pier,  was  1150  feet 
further  west  in  1908  than  it  was  in  1870.  At  date  of 
w^riting,  1919,  the  shore  is  rising  whilst  low  w^ater  mark 
shows  a  very  slight  tendency  to  move  shorewards  along 
the  Blackpool  front. 

About  half  a  mile  to  the  south  of  St.  Cuthbert's 
Church,  Lytham,  where  the  sea  now  rolls,  is  a  bed  of 
marl  or  clay,  know^n  as  "Church  Scarr."  The  name 
suggests  the  possible  site  of  a  church  at  a  time  when 
the  line  of  the  north  bank  of  the  estuary  was  further 
south  than  it  is  to-day.  Tradition  at  Banks  favours  the 
belief  that  a  church  once  stood  on  Church  Scarr.  The 
Rev.  W.  T.  Bulpit,  a  painstaking  antiquarian,  surmised 
that  this  was  the  site  of  the  old  Parish  Church  of 
Lytham,  and  that  the  original  church  stood  at  a  spot 
now  on  the  Golf  Links  half  a  mile  north-west  of  St. 
Annes  known  as  Cross  or  Churchyard  Slack.  Tradition 
asserts  that  an  oratory  once  stood  here,  and  that  it  was 
swallowed  up  by  an  earthquake.  Other  writers  say 
that  the  church  of  Kilgrimol,  its  ancient  name,  was 
"  worn  away  "  by  the  sea.  But  there  is  a  doubt  vsrhether 
the  "worn  away"  church  site  w^as  "Church  Scarr  "  or 
that  at  Cross  Slack. 

There  is  good  evidence  of  serious  erosion  about  the 
part  where  St.  Annes  stands  to-day,  in  the  records  of 
a  trial  which  took  place  in  1532.  A  witness  testified  at 
this  trial  to  the  fact  that  in  his  father's  own  remembrance 
(say  1425-50)  two  miles  of  fair  pasture  had  been  "  worne 
"  into  by  the  sea.  "  Another  witness  said  that  he  had 
heard  that    Kelgrymoles    Churchyard  was    "  worne    into 


THE    FYLDE    COAST  (WYRE    TO    RIBBLE).  71 

Cromwell's  time  the  only  other  ports  of  importance  on 
the  sea  2-3  miles." 

Kilgrimol  "  was  the  name  in  ancient  times  of  the 
Lytham  Common  of  later  days.  The  word  probably 
comes  from  "  Kil,"  meaning  in  Ireland  a  church  and 
"  Keill  "  in  Manx,  a  "  cell  "  or  "church,"  and  "  meol," 
a  sandhill.  "  Grim  "  was  a  Norse  name.  Porter,  in  his 
"  History,"  favours  the  idea  of  there  having  been  a 
Culdee  religious  settlement  here. 

The  oldest  maps  bear  out  the  belief  that  the  coast 
line  was  in  the  14th  century  at  least  half  a  mile  further 
inland,  where  St.  Annes  now  stands,  than  it  is  to-day. 
In  1893  the  remains  of  an  old  road,  apparently  running 
due  east  from  the  shore,  were  found  about  12ft.  deep, 
near  the  north  end  of  Park  Road,  St.  Annes.  Another 
road  w^as  found  just  to  the  south  of  Cross  Slack, 
6ft.  deep,  below  the  present  surface.  These  would 
probably  both  lead  to  the  old  church. 

The  sand  which  has  in  recent  centuries  accumulated 
on  the  St.  Annes  to  the  South  Shore  coast,  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  push  back  the  sea,  is  in  the  main  from  the 
River  Mersey,  as  will  be  explained  later. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Lost   and   Found   Portus   Setantii. 

One  of  the  unsolved  problems  which  has  confronted 
investigators  in  the  Fylde  has  been  the  question  as  to 
what  was  the  objective  of  a  well-made  road,  presumably 
Roman  by  its  construction  and  the  fact  that  everywhere 
it  follows  high  ground,  like  all  Roman  ways  where  there 
w^as  a  choice  of  routes.  This  road  has  been  traced  from 
Ribchester  going  due  west  slightly  to  the  north  of 
Preston,  through  Salwick,  Lund,  Kirkham,  Weeton,  and 
Poulton,  direct  to  the  sea  at  the  west  end  of  Fleetwood. 
North-west  of  Weeton  the  remains  are  now  very  scanty. 

Ribchester,  the  Roman  Bremtonacum,  was  made  by 
the  Romans  into  a  sort  of  Crewe  Junction  as  a  road 
radiating  centre.  Of  this  west-by-north  road  nothing 
can  be  more  certain  than  that  it  had  an  objective  of 
some  importance,  north  or  north-west  of  Rossall  Point. 
The  road  from  Chester,  the  city  of  the  Roman  legions, 
joined  this  Ribchester-Fylde  road  at  Fulwood,  near 
Preston,  this  point  being  reached  through  Warrington, 
Wigan  (Coccium),   and  Standish. 

That  it  was  used  by  the  Romans  is  proved  by  the 
Roman  silver  coins  which,  in  1840,  were  found  quite 
near  to  it,  buried  in  the  earth  near  the  Landmark,  west 
of  Fleetwood.  Four  hundred  of  these  coins  may  be 
seen  in  the  Harris  Museum  at  Preston. 

The  road  is  now  indistinct  from  Poulton  to  the  north, 
but  Porter,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Fylde  "  (1876),  says 
that  "  about  forty  years  ago  the  abrupt  end  of  the 
"  Roman  road  could  be  traced  across  the  sward  along 
"  the  Naze  below  Burn  Hall  and  on  to  Poulton."  Its 
northern  end  appears  to  have  been  first  discovered  by 


LOST    AND    FOUND    PORTUS    SETANTII. 


73 


Thornber  in  the  warren  east  of  Rossall.  He  refers  to  it 
in  his  "  History  of  Blackpool  "  (1837).  Later  the  road 
was  found  at  some  depth  beneath  the  sand  opposite 
Mount  Terrace,  Fleetwood,  in  the  course  of  excavations 
for  a  sea  wall. 

It  is  on  record  that  when  the  first  two  houses  were 
built  at  Fleetwood  in  1836  "not  a  soul  lived  on  the 
"rabbit-warren"  which  formed  the  site  of  the  new 
town.  There  are  only  two  possible  theories  as  to  the 
objective  of  this  road  :  (a)  it  was  part  of  a  coast  road 
running  north  to  Grange  or  across  the  Ulverston  Sands 
when  the  land  lay  higher  than  now  ;  or  (b)  it  led  to  a 
port  of  some  importance  which  stood  on  some  since 
worn-away  part  of  the  coast  to  the  north  or  north-west 


MIDiAHCASHIRE 

SHOW^ISG-ROMAN-ROADS 
cAOOad 

ESn  MATED  COAST  LINE  400  AD  "■ 
ROMAN  B.OAD5         ^IZ=^=:^=^ 

PROBABLE  RorvAN  ROADS  :.v.".v.";:v.".".        IC' 

MODERN  PLACES  SHEWN  IN  BRACKtr^  '■^■ 

Thus    (Stflnnes) 
MILES 


octantii; 


•^e^^^ 


Fig.  15— Roman  Roads  to  Portus  Setantii. 


74  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST- LINE. 

of  the  point  where  the  road  disappeared.  Against  the 
first  theory  there  is  the  fact  that  two  wide  rivers,  the 
Wyre  and  the  Lune,  in  addition  to  the  Keer  and  Kent, 
would  be  serious  obstacles  to  be  crossed.  The  writer's 
reasons  for  favouring  the  latter  theory  are  mainly  based 
upon  the  results  of  an  under-sea  examination  which  he 
made  on  October  19th,  1914,  between  two  and  three 
miles  north-west  of  the  point  to  which  the  old  road  had 
been  traced  ;  and,  secondly,  upon  the  fact  that  his 
theory,  if  correct,  finally  disposes  of  a  problem  w^hich 
has  for  long  vexed  the  minds  of  quite  a  number  of 
antiquarian  students,  namely,  the  site  of  "  Portus 
Setantii.  " 

Portus  Setantii,  or  Setantiorum  Portus,  is  the  only 
place  on  the  coast  marked  in  the  oldest  map  of  England 
in  existence,  that  by  Ptolemy,  a  Roman  geographer  v/ho 
lived  in  the  2nd  century.  This  map  will  be  further 
referred  to  in  a  later  chapter.  Although  Ptolemy's  map, 
of  which  many  varying  copies  exist,  is  roughly  true  as 
regards  the  east,  south,  and  west  coasts  as  far  north  as 
Lancashire,  at  this  point  it  begins  to  be  so  far  discrepant 
with  the  existing  outlines  that  the  first  impulse  is  to 
ascribe  the  discrepancies  to  mere  guesswork  by  an 
ignorant  map-maker.  But  the  changes  between  the  Dee 
and  Morecambe  Bay  since  Roman  days  have  been  far 
greater  than  most  people  assume,  and  at  two  important 
points,  the  Mersey  and  the  coast  north  of  Fleetwood, 
these  changes  happen  to  have  been  the  greatest.  Fig.  28 
shows  one  of  the  earliest  copies  extant.  The  identity  of 
the  Belisamais  Estus  will  be  dealt  w^ith  in  a  separate 
chapter,  but,  assuming,  for  the  moment,  that  this  is  the 
Ribble  estuary,  Portus  Setantii  stands  at  the  first  break 
in  the  coast  to  the  north.  The  writer's  subsidence  theory 
implies  the  existence  as  land  in  Roman  days  of  the  very 
shallow  bay  between  Rossall  point  and  Heysham. 
Morecambe  Bay  itself  would  probably  have  less  than 
half  its  present  area  prior  to  this  estimated  subsidence  at 
this  part  of  possibly  25  to  30  feet. 

The  rivers  Lune  and  Wyre  would  then  unite  as  one 
river  before  entering  the  sea  somewhere  near  the  present 
junction  of  Lune  Deep  and  the  Wyre   channel  north   of 


LOST    AND    FOUND    PORTUS    SETANTII.  75 

Fleetwood,  and  the  coast  line  to  the  immediate  north 
would  be  in  approximate  line  with  that  shown  on 
Ptolemy's  maps. 

Since  the  writer  discussed  this  question  in  the  "  Battle 
of  Land  and  Sea  "  and  quoted  the  opinion  held  by 
Prof.  Rhys,  Mr.  W.  T.  Bulpit,  and  Pennant  (in  his 
"  Tours  *')  in  favour  of  the  Naze  point  between  Lytham 
and  Preston  as  the  most  likely  site,  he  had  become  alive 
to  certain  weaknesses  in  that  contention  and  became 
disposed  to  place  the  port  further  north.  It  appeared 
to  him  likely  that  (a)  a  coast  town  was  the  objective  of 
the  Roman  road  through  the  Fylde  ;  (b)  that  such  a  town 
would  be  on  the  south  side  of  the  Wyre  before  it  entered 
the  sea,  and  to  the  north-west  of  its  present  outfall  ; 
(c)  that  the  Wyre  would  probably  then  be  joined  by  the 
Lune  river  before  entering  the  sea,  and  that  the  *  Portus 
might  have  stood  on  the  south  bank  of  this  joint  river- 
mouth.  He  resolved  accordingly  to  make  a  search  when 
conditions  were  favourable  for  any  possible  remains 
wihich  might  be  discoverable  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
this  point.  He  was  further  encouraged  by  a  report 
received  through  Mr.  T.  H.  Blane,  of  Blackpool,  that, 
through  the  drifting  away  of  a  sandbank  north-west  of 
Fleetwood,  there  had  been  recently  uncovered  a  straight 
bank  or  pier  with  steep  sides,  -vVhich  had  the  appearance 
of  an  old  sea-wall  or  harbour. 

It  was.  not  until  October  19th,  1914,  when  the  lowest^ 
following  upon  the  highest — ^tide  of  the  year  occurred 
that  the  writer,  accompanied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Blane 
and  a  boatman,  Mr.  Edward  Ainsworth,  set  out  from 
Fleetwood  in  a  small  boat  on  this  voyage  of  discovery. 
The  weather  was  exceptionally  favourable,  though  the 
ebb  Droved  not  so  low  a  one  as  had  been  hoped  for. 

Three  miles,  aided  by  a  friendly  tug-boat,  brought 
us  to  the  spot  which  we  estimated  as  being  just  two 
miles  north-west  by  north  of  Rossall  point.  "  King 
Scar  "  is  the  name  given  in  Bartholomew's  and  other 
maps  to  the  quite  straight  shingle-covered  bank  just 
outside  low-water  mark  which  was  the  object  of  our 
quest.  We  found  it  to  be  about  20  yards  wide  and 
250  yards  in  length  on  the  ebb  of  a  31 -feet  tide  at  the 


76  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

time  of  this  visit.  Its  east  or  landward  end  was  buried 
under  a  sand-bank.  The  sea  end  is  curved  in  form, 
just  as  many  harbour  piers  are  curved,  to  afford  better 
protection  from  prevailing  winds.  About  75  yards  to 
the  south  of  it  we  found,  4  feet  under  water,  a  semi- 
circle of  large  masoned  stones,  not  cemented  together, 
but  in  regular  circular  form.  The  diameter  of  the  circle 
would  be  about  10  feet(?). 

This  stone  circle  was  probably  of  modern  date.  Our 
boatman  said  that  his  father  had  told  him  of  a  light- 
house which  stood  about  here  in  his  (father's)  young 
days.  This  might  possibly  be  the  foundations  of  the 
first  lighthouse  built  in  1840,  soon  after  the  founding  of 
Fleetwood,  about  two  miles  out  to  sea,  referred  to  in 
Baines'   "Lancashire,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  518. 

The  bank  (or  harbour-pier),  it  is  a  significant  fact,  lies 
at  a  direct  right  angle  with  the  general  lie  of  the  sand- 
banks in  the  vicinity,  and  with  the  direction  of  the  tidal 
currents.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  Nature's  forces 
would  at  any  time  have  laid  down  a  narrow  bank  in 
such  a  position. 

To  clear  up  certain  points  of  doubt,  some  questions 
were  put  through  the  post  to  one  of  the  oldest  fishermen 
of  Fleetwood,  Mr.  Chris.  Ainsworth,  and  the  substance 
of  his  written  replies  are  here  given. 

No  man,  he  said,  knew  the  spot  better,  as  he  had 
fished  so  often  in  its  neighbourhood.  The  wall  or  bank 
goes  sheer  down  on  each  side.  At  lowest  ebb  it  is  about 
3  feet  above  sea-level.  Several  old  cannon  shell  of 
old-fashioned  make  were  once  found  on  it.  There  is  a 
curve  at  the  sea  end,  probably  as  a  protection  from 
south-west  gales,  with  very  deep  water,  close  to  the  end 
on  the  north  side.  Thomas  Leadbetter  (aged  90)  reported 
that  when  his  boat  got  aground  on  it  the  stern  was  on 
the  stone  bank,  whilst  there  were  many  fathoms  of  water 
under  the  bow. 

The  wall  seems  to  be  of  greater  width  than  a  mere 
protecting  wall  would  be  made.  The  general  belief 
locally  is  that  it  has  been  used  at  some  time  for  loading 
vessels  from.  It  is  highly  significant  that  it  is  traditionally 
known    as,    and    called    by    fishermen    generally,     "  the 


LOST     AND    FOUND    PORTUS    SETANTII.  77 

Roman  Harbour."  Bartholomew's  map  shows  "  King's 
Scar  "  to  be  just  at  the  edge  of  low  water.  The  recent 
eroding  of  the  sandbank  at  the  landward  end  has 
uncovered  much  of  the  wall. 

The  wall  itself  has  not  been  known  to  change  its 
position  in  the  memory  of  the  oldest  fishermen. 

Assuming  that  this  was  the  site  of  the  harbour  of 
Portus  Setantii,  how  do  the  facts,  as  here  disclosed, 
accord  with  the  probabilities  as  to  what  would  have 
happened  to  it  in  the  course  of  seventeen  centuries, 
assuming  that  the  writer's  theory  of  a  subsequent  subsi- 
dence of  about  30  feet  at  this  part  is  correct? 

The  top  of  a  stone  harbour  or  landing-place  would 
become  covered  with  shingle,  which  would  assume  a 
slightly  rounded  form.  It  would  be  just  visible  at  the 
ebb  of  a  high  tide,  30  feet  being  the  extreme  extent  of 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  tides  at  this  part  of  the  coast. 
As  the  sea  wore  away  the  land  upon  which  the  town 
stood,  the  houses,  &c.,  would  be  demolished,  and  subsi- 
dence and  accretion  together  would  hide  their  remains 
from  view  even  at  the  sea  bottom.  At  the  rate  at  which 
erosion  has  proceeded  in  the  last  300  years,  the  site  of 
the  w^all  1 700  years  ago  would  be  close  to  the  point 
where  the  Wyre  and  Lune  together  entered  the  sea — 
i.e.,  about  two  miles  N.  by  N.W.  of  the  Rossall  Point 
of  to-day. 

These  probabilities  are  each  and  all  fulfilled  in  the 
facts  as  revealed  by  this  investigation.  These  con- 
siderations are  greatly  strengthened  by  the  argument 
based  on  the  necessity  of  finding  a  sufficiently  important 
objective  for  the  well-made  road  along  the  left  bank  of 
the  Wyre. 

But  if  the  coast  was  so  much  further  west  as  we  may 
infer  that  it  was,  the  subsidence  theory  being  assumed, 
it  is  not  unlikely  that  there  would  be  a  coast  road  north 
of  Rossall,  far  to  the  west  of  all  existing  roads.  A 
tradition  exists  that  there  w^as  such  a  road.  It  is  believed 
to  have  started  from  the  north  side  of  the  Wyre  and 
Lune  channels  near  the  point  where  they  now  unite. 
From  here  it  proceeded,  according  to  tradition,  north 
to  Silverdale,  thence  north-west  to  Grange  and  Ulverston. 


78  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

The  Setantii,  or  Sistuntii,  was  a  tribe  of  Britons  about 
whom  we  know  little.  Richard  of  Cirencester  says  that 
the  province  of  the  Brigantes  extended  over  Yorkshire, 
Lancashire,  Durham,  Westmoreland,  and  Cumberland. 
'  This  province  is  divided  into  two  parts  by  a  chain  of 
"  mountains  called  the  Penine  Alps.  The  people  to  the 
"  w^est  of  this  chain  are  the  Voluntii  and  Sistuntii." 

Richard  makes  his  first  station  west  of  Ribchester 
in  the  Vllth  Iter  (of  Antoninus)  to  be  the  Portus 
Sistantiorum,  23  miles  distant  ;  this  would  be  in  rough 
accord  with  the  length  of  a  day's  journey  or  "  Iter." 
The  only  alternative  would  be  Freckleton  on  the  Ribble 
Naze,  which  is  only   13  miles  from  Ribchester. 

The  "  Journeys  of  Antoninus  "  were  presumably 
written  in  the  reign  of  Antoninus  Pius,  138-161  A.D. 
Lancashire   was    finally    subjugated    by   the    Romans    in 

79  A.D. 

Other  opinions  as  to  the  site  of  Portus  Setantii  may 
be  cited.  Pennant,  in  his  "  Tours,"  wrote  that  it  was 
"  certainly  at  the  mouth  of  the  Ribble."  The  late  Mr. 
W.  T.  Bulpit  leaned  strongly  to  the  same  opinion,  fixing 
it  on  the  north  bank  on  Naze  Point,  near  Freckleton, 
since  worn  away.  De  Ranee  suggested  Skippool,  near 
Poulton.  Mr.  Glazebrook  Rylands  (Historic  Society, 
1877  vol.)  expressed  the  same  opinion. 

Since  the  writer  formed  a  definite  opinion  on  the 
question,  he  has  found  the  following  reference  in 
Baines'  Lancashire"  (Vol.  II.,  p.  437  ;  1868)  :  "  During 
the  Roman  period,  the  road  called  Watling  Street 
made  by  the  Conquerors  from  the  Setantian  port  on 
the  estuary  of  the  Wyre,  passed  through  Fulwood, 
within  little  more  than  a  mile  to  the  north  of  Preston." 
Elsewhere  in  the  same  work  other  contributors  fix  Portus 
Setantii  (a)  on  the  Ribble  and  (b)  at  Bergerode.  on  the 
Wyre,  above  Skippool. 

Porter,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Fylde,"  suggests  that, 
though  Lancaster  was  the  more  likely  site,  Portus  Setantii 
"  may  have  stood  on  Shell  Wharf,  a  sandbank  at  the 
junction  of  the  Wyre  and  Lune  rivers" — which  agrees 
precisely  with  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  the  writer. 


LOST    AND    FOUND    PORTUS    SETANTII.  79 

The  fixing  of  the  site  of  Portus  Setantii  here  will  clear 
up  another  Roman  Road  problem.  The  wooden  cause- 
way across  Pilling  Moss  from  Pilling  Hall  to  Hales  Hall, 
known  as  the  Dane's  Pad,  which  was  traced  by  Mr. 
Thornber  at  a  depth  of  six  feet,  supports  the  belief  that 
it  was  made  to  connect  two  of  the  most  important 
Lancashire  Roman  fort  stations,  Lancaster  and  Over- 
borough  (near  Kirby  Lonsdale),  with  the  only  known 
Roman  seaport  on  this  coast.  The  coast-line  being  then 
much  further  west,  this  track  would  be  in  direct  line 
from  Lancaster  to  the  lowest  fording-place  on  the  Wyre, 
at  Shard  Bridge,  formerly  Aldwath,  the  *'  old.  ford." 
The  Roman  track  to  the  north-west  would  be  joined 
about  Thornton. 

Through  Portus  Setantii  would  doubtless  pass  traffic 
from  all  parts  of  England  to  Ireland,  the  Isle  of  Man,  and 
and  Manchester.  It  would  be  the  *'  Liverpool  "  of  the 
Roman  period. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


The  Ribble  Estuary. 

The  estuary  of  the  Ribble  well  exemplifies  the 
general  silting-up  tendencies  of  river  mouths.  This  is 
due  to  the  deposition  of  matter  which  all  rivers  carry 
down,  and,  secondly,  especially  in  the  case  of  the 
Ribble,  to  the  fact  that  the  velocity  of  the  ebbing  tide  is 
less  than  that  of  the  flowing  tide.  More  suspended 
matter  is  therefore  brought  in  from  the  sea  (when  it  is 
present  outside  the  estuary)  than  is  carried  back  on  the 
ebb.  In  a  later  chapter  it  w^ill  be  made  clear  that  this 
sea-sand  comes  almost  wholly  down  the  Mersey.  The 
main  contribution  of  the  Ribble,  which  drains  an  area 
of  390  square  miles  of  glacial  drift  or  boulder  clay 
country,  is  not  sand,  but  clay.  This  clay  or  mud,  being 
the  lighter  element,  floats  in  thin  films  on  the  surface, 
and  is  quietly  deposited  by  the  receding  waves  on  the 
ebbing  of  the  tide.  No  better  illustration  of  the  manner 
in  which  clay  beds  are  formed  can  be  seen  than  on  the 
shore  at  the  north  end  of  Southport,  near  Grossens.  Clay 
beds  are  also  being  formed  at  low  water  on  the  land- 
ward side  of  the  Southport  channel,   north  of  the  pier. 

The  glacial  and  river  deposits  w^hich  are  the  source 
of  this  clay  can  be  traced  in  the  upper  portions  of  the 
Ribble  Valley  to  a  height  of  about  1200  feet.  The  pot- 
holes, so  common  in  the  Ingleborough  district,  occur 
about  the  same  height.  These  pot-holes  would  probably 
be  formed  on  the  edges  of  a  melting  glacier. 

The  River  Mersey  deposits  would  appear  to  be  an 
increasing  factor  in  the  shaping  of  the  South  Lancashire 
coast  and  Ribble  estuary.  This  may  be  partly  attributable 
to  the  artificial  agency  of  the  dredging  of  the  main 
Mersey  channel  which  was  commenced  on  a  large  scale 


THE    RIBBLE    ESTUARY.  81 

in  1890.  321  millions  of  tons  have,  down  to  1915,  been 
removed  and  deposited  for  the  most  part  at  the  north 
end  of  Taylor's  Bank,  the  most  seaward  bank  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Queen's  Channel.  Here  a  fractional 
part  goes  to  lengthen  the  bank  and  the  rest  is  carried 
back  to  the  Mersey  channels  and  banks  and  on  to 
the  Lancashire  coast  by  the  twice-a-day  tide  which 
sweeps  up  St.  George's  Channel.  The  main  current, 
after  striking  the  Lancashire  coast,  is  deflected  off 
Fleetwood  towards  the  north-west.  A  few  miles  to  the 
east  of  Ramsey  this  tidal  stream  meets  the  ocean  current 
which  comes  round  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  a  com- 
parative stationariness  is  induced  which  is  favourable  to 
the  deposit  of  suspended  matter.  The  Bahama  bank, 
about  8  miles  east  of  Ramsey  Bay,  is  the  consequence. 
This  bank  is  now  nearing  the  surface  at  low  water.  The 
main  current  returns  to  the  south  nearer  to  the  Isle  of 
Man  than  to  the  English  mainland. 

The  average  weight  of  material  annually  dredged  from 
the  Mersey  Channel  by  the  Harbour  Board's  enormously 
powerful  dredgers  is  12,769,409  tons,  one-fourth  of 
which  is  taken  from  the  river  above  New  Brighton. 
This  straightening  and  deepening  of  the  Crosby  and 
Queen's  Channels  has  had  an  important  effect  in  causing 
an  increased  carriage  of  the  natural  deposits  which  the 
river  daily  brings  down  in  such  enormous  quantities. 
The  further  out  this  suspended  matter  is  carried  and  the 
more  easily  it  is  acted  upon  by  the  tidal  currents  from 
the   south-west. 

The  gradual  but  irregular  highering  of  the  Ribble 
estuary  banks,  as  also  the  piling  up  of  the  sandhill 
ranges  on  both  sides  of  the  Ribble,  has  its  main  source 
in  the  Mersey,  and  not  in  the  Ribble.  The  northern 
extension  of  the  dunes  on  the  south  side  is  stopped  at 
Marshside,  at  the  north  end  of  Southport,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  Mersey  sand  here  meets  the  Ribble  clay, 
and  the  resulting  admixture  becomes  too  heavy  to  be 
lifted  and  drifted  into  dunes. 

The  name  "  Ribble  "  may  be  derived  from  two 
words  of  Celtic  origin,  "  rhe,"  meaning  (in  Welsh)  swift 
— ^or   in   Gaelic,    **  rea."    rapid — and    *'  bel,"    a   ford  or 


82  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

mouth.  The  earliest  mention  of  it  is  in  a  Lancashire 
Pipe  Roll  of  II 42  date,  "inter  Riblam."  (See  "Belisama" 
derivation,  Chap.  XVllI.)  The  Domesday  spelling  of 
Ribchester,  the  important  Roman  station  on  the  Ribble 
eight  miles  north-east  of  Preston,  was  Ribelcastre  or 
Bremtonacum.  It  is  the  first  British  town  of  which  we 
have  any  record.  Tradition  has  it  that  it  was  one  of  the 
richest  towns  in  Christendom.  Julius  Caesar  spent  some 
time  here,  according  to  one  historian. 

The  Ribble  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  of  British 
rivers.  In  its  lower  reaches  it  must  be  at  least  100,000 
years  old.  When  the  Preston  Docks  were  being 
excavated,  the  new  Red  Sandstone  (Triassic  Series) 
underneath  th(?  beds  of  sand  and  clay,  was  found  to  be 
grooved  and  channelled,  a  conclusive  proof  of  the  vast 
period  during  which  the  river  has  followed  this  course. 
The  estuary  bed  consists,  in  vertical  order,  of  sand, 
gravel,  peat,  blue  clay,  boulder  clay,  and  red  sandstone. 

Three  miles  below  the  docks  there  was  found  in  the 
blue  clay  which  underlies  the  peat  the  bones  of  the 
horse  and  bostaurus,  horns  of  red  deer,  a  human 
skeleton,  and  human  skulls.  An  astonishing  number  of 
heads  of  the  urus,  remains  of  whales,  a  bronze  spear, 
and  other  antiquities  were  also  found. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  both  of  the  Ribble's  principal 
tributaries,  the  Hodder  and  the  Calder,  originally  had 
independent  outlets  to  the  sea  before  their  head-waters 
were  captured  by  the  Ribble.  Between  the  upper 
portions  of  each  and  the  sea  there  is  a  valley  through 
which  a  much  more  considerable  river  once  coursed 
than  those  which  now  drain  the  Longridge  and 
Pleasington  valleys. 

The  changes  in  the  estuary  itself  within  the  last 
hundred  years  have  been  very  great.  Of  its  57  square 
miles  area,  30  per  cent,  in  1820  was  water  at  low  tide  ; 
in  1910,  only  5  per  cent.  The  accompanying  sketch 
maps  make  this  clear.  In  1809  the  site  of  the  present 
extensive  Horsebank,  off  Southport,  was  mostly  water, 
dotted  with  eight  small  islands. 

Thornber,  in  his  "  History  of  Blackpool,"  says  that 
Dodsworth,  the  antiquarian  (who  was  buried  in  Rufford 


THE    RIBBLE    ESTUARY. 


83 


5RAZ1CR'5  5URVfY 


Fig.  16— The  Ribble  Estuary  in  1820-24. 

Church  in  1654),  records  "that  as  far  back  as  1601,  a 
thorpe  or  village  existed  named  Waddum  Thorpe, 
and  that  even  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  1612,  the 
Horsebank,  now  far  out  at  sea,  was  a  pasture  for 
cattle."  Dr.  Leigh  (1700)  states  that  "Waddum 
Thorpe  was  peopled  by  some  Saxon  fishermen."  If 
these  statements  are  well  founded,  they  must  refer  to 
some  bank  on  the  north  side  of  the  Ribble.  Waddum 
Thorpe  may  have  stood  on  a  part  which  projected  into 
the  estuary  south  of  the  present  Fairhaven.  (See  Speed's 
1610  map.)  There  is  no  doubt  about  the  north  bank 
having  been  seriously  w^orn  into  by  the  sea  about  this 
point,  and  also  near  Freckleton  ;  whilst  the  south  bank. 


84  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A   COAST-LINE. 

on  the  other  hand,  has  been  gaining  on  the  estuary. 

The  one-time  existence  of  Waddum  Thorpe  and 
Singleton  Thorpe  (referred  to  in  the  last  chapter)  rests 
wholly  upon  Dodsworth  and  Thornber.  Thornber 
quotes  the  Dodsworth  MSS.  as  his  authority.  It  ought 
to  be  stated  that  the  writer,  after  a  three  hours'  search 
at  the  Bodleian  Library,  Oxford,  through  the  elaborately 
indexed  36  volumes  out  of  the  full  collection  of  161, 
failed  to  find  any  reference  to  either  Waddum  Thorpe 
or  Singleton  Thorpe.  It  is  inconceivable  that  not  a 
single  reference  in  any  pipe  rolls  or  other  documents, 
if  these  places  ever  had  an  existence,  has  survived. 

The  shape  of  the  estuary  has  become  curiously 
changed  since  Speed,  the  first  of  the  more  reliable  early 
geographers,  made  his  map  of  Lancashire  in  1610.  A 
projecting  horn  from  each  bank,  north  and  south,  at 
Crossens  and  to  the  south  of  modern  Fairhaven  then 
jutted  out  into  what  is  now  a  decidedly  wider  estuary 
at  this  point.  Both  north-east  and  south-west  of 
Crossens,  accretion  has  since  converted  a  concave 
section  of  the  coast  into  one  of  convex  form,  and  a 
similar  accretion  of  what  is  in  the  main  Mersey  sand  has 
built  out  tl*  one-time  concave-shaped  coast  on  the  bend 
where  St.  Annes-on-Sea  now  stands  into  a  convex 
section.  The  north  side  projection  has  been  apparently 
worn  back  by  the  erosion  of  the  north  channel  current. 

The  estuary  channels  have  been  extraordinarily 
unstable.  There  have  been  at  all  times  either  two  or 
three  main  channels.  That  known  as  the  Bog-hole  or 
Southport  channel  has  been  the  most  permanent  ;  yet  it 
has  varied  considerably  in  position.  There  is  strong 
evidence  for  the  belief  that  this  south  channel  flowed  a 
few  hundred  years  ago  over  the  site  of  the  Palace  Hotel, 
Birkdale.  In  1870  a  boring  here  showed  78  feet  of  sand 
before  the  peat  and  clay  were  reached,  whilst  about 
350  yards  inland  the  peat  comes  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
surface.     This  points  to  a  fllled-up  river  or  sea  channel. 

The  oldest  estuary  chart  extant  is  one  of  1689  date. 
This  shows  two  channels  open  to  the  north  and  a  short 
south  channel  from  Lytham  to  Southport.  One  of  1 736 
shows    three     channels  ;    one     up    the     North     Hollow. 


THE    RIBBLE    ESTUARY. 


85 


opposite  St.  Annes,  a  main  channel  in  the  middle,  and 
a  south  channel  from  the  last-named  past  Southport  to 
Formby  Point.  Charts  of  1820  and  1837  show  no  trace 
of  a  north  channel,  but  in  charts  of  1852  and  1889  a 
channel  by  the  St.  Annes  shore  is  well  defined.  Both 
the  1820  and  1837  charts  show  a  direct  connection 
between  the  main  channel  and  the  Southport  channel. 
But  in   1852  this  had  disappeared. 

Baines'  "  Lancashire  "   says  of  "  proud  Preston  "   at 

the  head  of  the  estuary  :    "  Preston  is  as  old  a  town  as 

"  any    in    Lancashire.        When     Ribchester     sank    into 

decay  Preston   rose   upon   its   ruins   (or   of  Walton-le- 

Dale)  and  became   the  principal   port   of   Lancashire. 


Ta-rletoa 


HolraerSVWDod 


REFERENCE 


LOW  WATER  MARK 

HlO-iWATER.ZT/fT'.DE  - 
EjANKS  not  COVEPJED  BY 
A   ZT/^TIOE 


^o^    ,•=?■  ifVAinsdale  Beach 


THE  RIBBLE  ESTUARY 


Fie.  17— The  Ribble  Estuary  in  1917. 


86  THE    EVOLUTION   OF    A   COAST-LINE. 

"Charles  I.  demanded  double  the  ship  money  from 
**  Preston  as  from  Liverpool."  Baines  is  clearly  in  error 
in  assuming  that  Ribchester  could  ever  have  been  a 
sea  port. 

The  long  series  of  attempts  on  the  part  of  Preston 
to  convert  itself  into  a  port  with  ready  access  to  and 
from  the  sea  has  interest  here  only  in  so  far  as  its 
navigation  w^alls  have  affected  the  estuary  contours. 

As  far  back  as  1806  the  first  of  a  series  of  Parliamen- 
tary powers  was  obtained  to  levy  tolls  and  to  improve 
the  navigation  of  the  river.  The  company  of  owners  of 
land  on  both  sides  of  the  river  who  obtained  these 
powers  were  quite  as  much  interested  in  the  reclaiming 
of  land  as  in  making  Preston  accessible  from  the  sea. 
As  land  reclaimers  they  have  been  strikingly  successful, 
as  many  as  7400  acres  having  since  been  enclosed  on  the 
south  side  between  Preston  and  Southport,  though  a 
small  proportion  of  this  only  can  be  credited  to  their 
efforts.  Further  powers  were  obtained  in  1838.  In  1845 
the  training  walls  were  extended  four  miles  down  the 
river,  and  in  1853  the  south  wall  was  extended  a  further 
four  miles.  In  1883  the  Preston  Corporation  relieved  the 
Company  from  its  responsibilities  and  has  since 
repeatedly  sought  for  powers  to  extend  the  walls  towards 
the  open  sea.  In  1910  the  new  channel  through  "  the 
Gut"  to  the  sea  was  first  brought  into  use.  When 
nearing  completion  the  work  on  the  training  walls  was 
discontinued  in  1915  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  the  war. 

Preston's  navigable  waterway  has  absorbed  over  two 
millions  sterling  and  imposed  a  burden  on  the  rates  in 
1918  of  approximately  ;^64,000.  The  Preston  Dock  was 
opened  in   1892. 

The  purpose  of  the  training  walls  has  been,  of 
course,  to  concentrate  the  maximum  volume  of  water 
within  the  walls,  regardless  of  the  effect  upon  other 
estuary  channels.  The  predictions  as  to  the  deteriorating 
effect  upon  the  north,  or  St.  Annes,  channel  and  the 
Southport  channel  have  been  completely  fulfilled, 
although  it  should  be  said,  in  justice  to  the  Preston 
Corporation,  that  it  has  never  been  proved  that  the 
Lytham  to  Southport  channel  would  not  have  filled  up 


THE    RIBBLE   ESTUARY.  87 

if  the  training  walls  had  never  been  made.  As  far  back 
as  the  early  'seventies  a  steady  deterioration  had  set  in 
at  the  Lytham  end  long  before  the  training  walls  had 
been  extended  to  anywhere  near  this  point.  By  1882 
the  Lytham  to  Southport  channel  had  practically  dis- 
appeared. The  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  walls 
have  been  a  hastening  but  not  even  a  main  cause  of  the 
rapid  silting  of  the  Southport  channel. 

It  ought  to  be  stated  that  the  opinion  of  the  writer 
that  the  Mersey  and  not  the  Ribble  sand  is  the  main 
source  of  the  accretions  opposite  Southport  is  not  that  of 
the  marine  engineering  expert,  Mr.  A.  F.  Fowler,  vv^ho, 
in  1909,  was  called  in  by  the  Southport  Corporation  to 
make  a  survey  and  report  upon  the  practicability  of 
maintaining  a  deep  waterway  from  Southport  pier  to  the 
sea.  Mr.  Fowler,  after  a  long  and  painstaking  investi- 
gation, reported  in  favour  of  the  diversion  of  the 
Crossens  stream  from  its  existing  outfall,  through  the 
Penfold  channel  at  the  north  end  of  the  Horse-bank,  to 
the  course  which  it  took  directly,  down  to  about  1880, 
into  the  Bog-hole  channel.  This  stream  drains  38,000 
acres  of  moss  land  lying  at  the  rear  of  the  sand-drift 
area  between  Crossens  and  Ainsdale.  Mr.  Fowler 
recommended  also  the  putting  down  of  revetment  walls 
on  both  sides  of  the  channel  and  along  the  low-water 
mark  to  Ainsdale.  The  cost  of  the  complete  scheme 
was  estimated  at  ^^49,000. 

But  the  scheme  was  not  adopted  and  Nature  has 
been  permitted  to  proceed  unhindered  with  her  fiUing-up 
processes.  There  is  a  vital  disagreement  of  opinion 
between  Mr.  Fowler  and  the  writer  as  to  the  source  of 
the  material  which  is  filling  up  the  Ribble  estuary  and 
has  piled  up  the  Lancashire  sandhills.  Mr.  Fowler 
assumed  the  changes  to  be  due  wholly  to  the  shifting  of 
sand  within  the  area  of  the  Ribble  estuary,  and  to  the 
erosion  of  the  lower  beach  between  Ainsdale  and 
Southport. 

Some  of  the  following  figures  are  taken  from  Mr. 
Fowler's  valuable  report.  They  show  how  enormous 
are  the  natural  forces  which  are  at  work  in  raising  the 


88  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINL. 

estuary  foreshores  and  sandbanks  and  in  filling  up  the 
Southport  channel. 

The  average  accretion  in  the  estuary  between  1850 
and  1910,  east  of  a  line  drawn  due  south  from  Lytham 
Pier,  had  amounted  to  4ft.  5in.  If  a  line  be  taken  from 
Southport  Pier  north,  up  the  Bog-hole  for  two  miles  and 
an  area  of  half-a-mile  on  either  side  of  this  line  is 
included,  the  increase  in  the  height  of  the  sand,  either  in 
or  out  of  the  channel,  amounted,  between  1890  and 
1909,  to  15  feet.  The  Bog-hole  watershed,  an  area  of 
about  six  square  miles  east  of  a  north-west  projection  of 
the  Southport  pier  line,  was  raised  by  27  inches  in  the 
19  years  1890—1909.  In  1871  there  was  a  depth  of  9ft. 
of  ^vater  at  a  point  one  mile  above  the  Pier,  where  in 
1905  there  was  9ft.  of  sand.  In  1887  the  head  of  the 
Bog-hole  was  2700  yards  ;  in  1903,  1200  yards  ;  and  in 
May,  I9I9,  900  yards,  from  the  Pierhead,  showing  an 
average  shortening  at  the  blind  end  of  nearly  60  yds.  a 
year.    The  bar  at  the  entrance,  which  began  to  form  about 

1902,  is  also  rapidly  lengthening  inside  the  channel.  The 
total  length  of  the  Bog-hole  at  1 5ft.  depth  was,  in  1904, 
2  miles,  and  in  1910,  1  mile  70  yards.  In  1890  the  Bog- 
hole  above  the  Pierhead  had  an  area  of  127  acres.  By 
1913  this  had  been  reduced  by  accretion  to  47  acres. 
The  Bog-hole  channel  was  in  width,  from  the  Pier  to 
the  Horse-bank,  in  1903,  700  ft.,  and  in  1919,  450  ft. 
The  total  width  of  the  Channel  on  the  Pier-line  was,  in 

1903,  1300  ft.,  and  in  1919,  800  ft.  (taken  at  L.W.  level, 
viz.,   12-37  ft.  below  O.D.). 

Despite  this  rapid  deterioration  of  the  channel,  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  there  is  a  point  about  200  yards  to  the 
north  of  the  Pierhead  where  a  deep  basin  has  always 
existed,  and  which  has  changed  little,  if  at  all,  in  the 
last  50  years.  The  cause  of  this  is  the  deposit  of  large 
quantities  of  stones  under  the  Pier  by  the  Pier  Company, 
for  the  protection  of  the  pier  foundations.  This  obstruc- 
tion, through  narrowing  the  channel,  causes  a  quickened 
tidal  flow  at  this  point,  with  a  consequent  absence  of 
deposit. 

Because  its  channel  is  undoubtedly  doomed  to  fill 
up,     the    belief    is    general    that    "the    sea    is    leaving 


THE    RIBBLE    ESTUARY.  89 

Southport."  The  open  sea  is,  on  the  contrary,  steadily 
advancing  towards  the  town.  Such  is  the  erosive  effect 
of  the  twice-a-day  south  to  north  tidal  currents  that 
fully  half  a  mile  has  been  worn  off  the  outer  edge  of  the 
Horse-bank  in  the  last  fifty  years.  Mr.  Fowler  concurs 
with  the  writer  in  this  estimate.  The  eroded  sand  is 
carried  partly  on  to  the  bank  and  partly  over  it  into 
the  Southport  Channel. 

On  the  other  hand,  high-water  mark  on  the  mainland 
is  steadily  moving  seawards  with  the  highering  of  the 
shore  by  tidal  deposited  sand,  which,  but  for  artificial 
promenades,  would  have  accumulated  in  sandhills.  The 
rate  of  this  elevation  opposite  Southport  the  writer 
estimates,  from  50  years'  observations,  at  15  feet  a 
century,  but  a  general  coastal  subsidence  of  3  feet 
reduces  the  net  average  rise  to  about  12  feet. 

The  time  is  already  ripe  for  the  making  of  a  new 
promenade,  300  yards  seaward  of  the  Marine  Drive.  In 
the  course  of  perhaps  50  years,  the  channel  then  having 
disappeared,  it  will  probably  be  no  less  feasible  to 
construct  another  new  promenade  along  the  crest  of  the 
Horse-bank.  Along  the  south  end  front  of  the  borough 
from  Birkdale  to  Ainsdale,  permanent  deep-water  is 
assured,  and  this  is  likely  to  become  in  the  near  future 
the  visitor-favoured  part. 

The  opportunity  to  lay  out  on  new  and  ideal  tow^n- 
planning  lines  so  many  hundreds  of  acres  of  land  on  the 
sea  front  of  an  existing  watering-place  is  without 
precedent  in  the  history  of  seaside  resorts.  Fortunately 
for  the  town's  finances,  the  authorities  had  the  foresight 
in  1885  to  purchase  the  foreshore  on  the  main  front 
from  the  then  Southport-Birkdale  boundary  northwards, 
3871   acres  in  all. 

It  is  safe  to  predict  that,  in  a  very  few  hundreds  of 
years'  time,  the  Ribble  estuary  will  be  almost  wholly 
building  or  cultivable  land.  Nature  is  making  land  in 
her  usual  way,  but  under  the  most  favourable  of 
imaginable  conditions. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


The  Douglas  River  to  Southport. 

The  River  Douglas,  which  17th  and  1 8th  century 
maps  show  to  have  been  wide-mouthed  as  far  as 
Hoole,  passes  through  the  Parbold  gorge  between 
Wigan  and  Burscough,  skirts  the  villages  of  Rufford, 
Tarleton,  and  Hesketh  Bank,  and  enters  the  Ribble 
estuary  seven  miles  soutli-west  of  Preston.  It  is  inte- 
resting to  recall  the  fact  that  this  river,  w^hen  canalised 
and  made  navigable  from  Wigan  to  Tarleton,  two 
centuries  ago  (1720 — 27)  was  one  of  the  first  artificial 
waterway  enterprises  in  the  North  of  England.  Baines, 
in  his  *'  History  of  Lancashire/'  describes  it  as  *  a  great 
"  and  uncommon  undertaking,"  "  a  waterway  to  the 
"  very  centre  of  Lancashire,  opening  up  new  markets 
"for  Wigan  coal."  Sixty  years  later,  in  1783,  the  new^ 
Leeds  and  Liverpool  Canal  enterprise  absorbed  the 
Douglas  navigation  and  made  an  improved  canal  to 
Wigan  from  near  Burscough. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  18th  century  large  numbers 
of  sea-going  boats  sailed  to  and  from  the  Douglas  river 
and  the  now-forgotten  port  or  village  of  Mylthorp  (now 
Mill  Hill,  Hoole),  nearly  two  miles  east  of  the  Southport 
and  Preston  W.L.  Railway.  They  were  described  as 
being  "  like  a  fleet  of  H.M.  Ships  when  they  put  to  sea." 
Reclamations  have  caused  the  river  to  move  some 
hundreds  of  yards  nearer  Tarleton  since  the  days  when 
the  Douglas  Navigation  was  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal 
of  its  time.  The  coming  of  the  railways  brought  about 
an  almost  complete  disuse  of  this  Tarleton  section  of  the 
original  canal  ;  but  the  derelict  wharves  and  warehouses 
near  Tarleton  still  witness  to  once  busy  scenes. 


THE   DOUGLAS   RIVER   TO   SOUTHPORT. 


9t 


'BLACKPOOL 
O 

MA(«TON  MCRf 


GCOLOGICAL 

'b  K  E  T  c  M  Map  =•-  5  o  utm  port 

D  I3TRICT 


Blown  Sand       ..•.■;■:.-:•;■ 
Alluvium  A.L. 

Shirdley  Hill  8ano        S.H. 
Peat  ////////////// 

Boulder  Clay       B.C. 

Coast  Line.  1841  

Coast  Line,  1895 

Low  Tide,  1841  

Low  Tide,  1895 


Fig.  18— Geological  Map  of  Southport. 
By  Harold  Brodrick.  M.A..  F.G.S.-1903. 


92  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

In  1853  a  new  and  more  direct  channel  was  cut  by 
the  "  Ribble  Navigation  Company "  for  the  Douglas 
river  between  its  mouth  and  the  main  Ribble  channel. 
Prior  to  this  date  its  course  lay  close  to  the  "Flying  Fish" 
inn  at  Longton,  a  mile  or  so  east  of  its  present  channel. 

From  draining  or  other  causes,  there  has  been  a 
considerable  subsidence  of  Tarleton  Moss  within  recent 
times.  A  windmill  once  stood  on  the  river  bank  between 
Tarleton  and  Becconsall.  This  was  formerly  invisible 
from  Banks,  but  came  well  into  view  as  the  moss  sank. 

Tarleton  is  probably  a  corruption  of  "  Jarle's  Town," 
a  name  which  may  have  been  given  to  the  village  by 
the  Danish  Vikings  who  sailed  up  the  Douglas. 
"  Asland,"  the  ancient  name  of  the  river,  is  doubtless 
derived  from  Askelon,  from  Askyr,  Norse  for  ash-tree. 
Tarleton  is  often  referred  to  in  old  documents  as  the 
"  island  of  Tarleton." 

Just  as  the  Douglas  river  represents  a  deserted  river 
highway,  so  the  coast  road  from  Hesketh  Bank  to 
Crossens  and  beyond,  may  be  imagined  as  a  once- 
important  highway  for  West  Coast  land  traffic,  the  Ribble 
being  crossed  by  the  Naze  ford  instead  of  higher  up  at 
Preston  as  in  modern  days.  At  the  Naze,  near  Freckle- 
ton,  a  castle  traditionally  stood.  (Dr.  Whitaker  believed 
this  to  be  a  Roman  town.)  That  this  was  a  traffic 
highway  as  far  back  as  the  early  part  of  the  Roman 
occupation  we  have  evidence  in  the  annals  of  Tacitus. 
It  is  there  stated  that  the  Romans,  under  Agricola,  after 
their  conquest  of  Anglesey,  traversed  the  North  Wales 
and  Lancashire  shores.  Coins  of  this  period,  when 
Vespasian  was  Emperor,  which  have  been  found  at 
Birkdale  Common  and  at  Hundred  End  (north  of  Banks) 
furnish  strong  evidence  as  to  the  route  they  followed., 
Roman  coins  have  also  been  found  at  Formby,  and 
Saxon  coins  at  Harkirke  (within  Little  Crosby  Hall  Park), 
near  Crosby.  The  road  followed  would  be  the  bridle- 
path known  as  the  Church-gate,  or  Kirk-gate,  which 
connected  in  later  times  the  parish  churches  of  Sefton 
and  North  Meols,  and  which  must  be  one  of  the  oldest 
tracks  in  Lancashire.  One  short  stretch  only  of  this  path, 
(Southport  section)  now  remains  unbuilt  upon.     This  is 


THE    DOUGLAS    RIVER    TO    SOUTHPORT.  93 

the  field  path  connecting  Roe  Lane  with  Mill  Lane, 
Churchtown.  South  of  the  old  Rectory  it  followed,  fifty 
years  ago,  a  line  along  Marsden  Road,  passing  the  rear 
of  St.  Luke's  Church  and  the  front  of  London  Hotel,  to 
the  corner  of  Cemetery  Road  and  Southbank  Road,  then 
crossing  what  is  now  the  Southport  Cemetery  to  Birkdale 
Common. 

North  of  Churchtown  it  curved  round  the  head  of  the 
bay  which  down  to  recent  times  separated  Churchtown 
from  Crossens,  by  what  is  now  Bankfield  Road,  thence 
for  over  five  miles  by  the  coast  road  past  Banks  to 
Hesketh  Bank.  At  Banks  there  stood,  as  far  back  as 
the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  a  Guide  House,  or  place  of 
entertainment  for  travellers,  marked  on  old  maps  as 
*'  Balls."  At  Crossens  the  old  road,  which  was  12  feet 
above  the  shore,  ran  slightly  inland  of  the  present  road. 
From  a  point  about  a  mile  to  the  north  of  Banks  the  road 
would  connect  with  a  ford  across  the  Ribble  to  the 
Naze  point,  near  Freckleton,  on  which  point  (since  worn 
away)  tradition  says  a  Roman  fort  stood  guarding  the 
ford.  Later  on  the  south  approach  to  this  ford  was 
moved  a  little  higher  to  Hesketh  Bank,  the  Guide 
House,  now  Whiteheads  Hotel,  becoming  the  point  of 
departure.  The  coast  road  w^as  joined  at  Hesketh  Bank 
by  the  road  from  Ruff  or  d  and  Tarleton,  formerly  an 
important  traffic  highway. 

Most  estuaries  tend  to  fill  up  or  become  shallower 
through  the  deposits  brought  dow^n  the  river.  But 
whether  a  general  subsidence  is  in  operation  or  not,  the 
stream  always  maintains  a  depth  and  width  adequate 
to  its  volume,  though  the  level  of  1000  years  ago  may 
be  30  feet  lower  than  that  of  to-day.  So  that  the  depth 
of  a  ford  does  not  necessarily  undergo  material  change 
even  when  a  general  subsidence  is  in  progress.  In  the 
Ribble  training  walls  the  effect  of  a  period  of  drought  is 
ior  the  tidal  influence  to  deepen  the  lower  reach  below 
Lytham  and  to  shallow  the  depth  higher  up.  Land 
floods  push  the  sand  from  the  upper  into  the  lower 
reaches.  The  same  tendencies  are  true  of  river  estuaries, 
generally. 


94  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST- LINE. 

The  name  of  Crossens,  the  village  at  the  north  end 
of  the  borough  of  Southport,  is  pretty  certainly  derived 
from  "Cross"  and  "Ness,"  a  one-time  point  of  land 
which  all  old  maps  show  the  village  to  have  stood  upon. 
The  oldest  spelling  extant  (1240)  is  "  Crosseness."  The 
"  Cross  "  would  presumably  be  a  landmark  for  those 
journeying  across  the  Ribble.  Crossens  stands  upon  a 
boulder  clay  knoll  which  a  few  hundred  years  ago  would 
stand  out  as  an  elevated  cliff  projecting  well  out  from 
the  adjacent  coast.  The  subsidence  of  the  land  and  a 
steady  accretion  on  the  beach  have,  between  them, 
almost  levelled  the  old  cape,  w^hilst  the  bay,  so  well 
defined  on  old  maps,  such  as  Bowen's  of  about  1760, 
between  Crossens  and  Marshside,  has  been  reclaimed 
from  the  sea.  North-east  of  Crossens  large  areas  have 
also  been  enclosed.  In  1834  and  I860  sea-embankments 
were  made  nearer  the  sea,  and  again  in  1880-4,  when 
]j  miles  in  depth  of  the  foreshore  was  reclaimed 
opposite  Hesketh  Bank  by  the  landowners,  the  Heskeths 
of  Rufford.  Such  extensive  reclamations  enable  us  to 
understand  why  coastal  gains  greatly  exceed  all  the  loss 
through  erosion  w^hich  is  in  progress  on  the  east  and 
south  coasts. 

Standing  on  this  cliff  at  Crossens  in  Elizabethan  days, 
an  observer  would  be  able  to  see  Formby  Point  across 
a  shallow  bay.  That  which  was  then  a  shallow  concave 
section  of  the  coast,  with  a  double  bay  between  Crossens 
and  Birkdale,  has  since  become  reversed  and  evenly 
convex  in  form.  Blaeu's  map  of  1662  and  C.  Leigh's  of 
^"700  make  this  clear.  The  "  History  of  Liverpool  " 
(I8i0),  p.  90,  says:  "In  the  year  1793  a  prodigious 
"  quantity  of  mackerel  was  taken  at  North  Maoles  Bay, 
"  near  Liverpool."  This  would  doubtless  be  the  bay 
between  Churchtown  and  Crossens. 

From  time  to  time  the  Scarisbrick  Trustees  have  put 
down  ever  more  powerful  pumping  machinery  at  the 
power-station  at  Crossens  in  order  to  deal  rapidly  with 
the  flooding  of  the  one-time  lake-land  district  of  the 
Southport  hinterland.  Thirty -three  thousand  acres  of 
low-lying  land  have  to  be  dealt  with,  and  48  miles  of 
-drains  kept  clear.     The  two  new  Rees  Roturbo  pumps 


THE    DOUGLAS    RIVER    TO    SOUTHPORT. 


95 


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Pallatine 

LANCASTER 

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Fig.  19— South-west  Lancashire  in  1610. 


96  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

erected  in  1912  each  deliver  40  tons  of  water  per  minute. 
The  fall  of  the  land  through  general  subsidence  and  the 
rising  of  the  shore,  through  accretion,  to  a  point  2ft.  6in. 
higher  than  when  the  sewage  works  outfall  was  con- 
structed in  1878,  compelled  the  Southport  Corporation 
to  pump  the  whole  of  the  purified  sewage  effluent.  The 
same  difficulty  decided,  in  191 34,  the  three  landowners 
concerned  to  make  a  deeper  artificial  channel  to  carry 
the  water  drained  from  the  hinterland  into  the  Penfold 
Channel,  round  the  north  end  of  the  Horse  Bank. 

The  present  pumping  station  marks  the  position  of  a 
stream  which  once,  and  doubtless  more  than  once, 
served  as  an  outfall  for  the  waters  of  Martin  Mere. 
This  old-time  extensive  sheet  of  water,  of  which  not  a 
vestige  remains,  save  after  heavy  rains,  appears  to  have 
frequently  alternated  in  its  outlet  between  the  east  end 
at  Rufford  and  the  west  at  Crossens. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Bulpit  believed  that  a  Roman  camp  once 
occupied  the  higher  ground  over  which  the  road  passes 
near  to  Crossens  Mill. 

By  the  side  of  the  coast  road,  between  Banks  and 
Hesketh  Bank,  there  was  found  about  the  year  1908, 
through  the  antiquarian  zeal  of  the  late  Rev.  W.  T. 
Bulpit,  an  immense  boundary  boulder  called  the 
"  Snotterstone  "  ("  Snotter  "  =to  sob).  Its  purpose  had 
plainly  been  to  mark  the  boundaries  of  the  West  Derby 
and  Leyland  Hundreds.  It  was  found  after  several  days 
of  digging  at  "  Hundred  End,"  about  400  yards  on  the 
sea  side  of  the  coast  road  and  within  200  yards  of  the 
boundary  as  now  defined.  We  can  only  conjecture  the 
time  when  it  was  placed  here.  We  know  that  the 
county  of  Lancashire  was  formed  about  1160,  and  it  is 
certain  that  the  Hundred  boundaries  had  been  defined 
for  some  centuries  before  then.  The  existence  of  the 
Snotterstone  was  merely  traditional  prior  to  this  re- 
discovery. An  Inspeximus  deed  of  1529  makes  reference 
to  the  Snotterstone  as  a  boundary  mark  in  William  the 
Conqueror's  time.  It  was  found  to  be  about  6  feet  in 
height,  and  its  upper  end  to  be  4  to  5  feet  below  the 
surface.     As   it   must   have  originally  stood   well    above 


THE    DOUGLAS    RIVER    TO    SOUTHPORT.  97 

high  water  mark  and  the  tide  flowed  several  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  stone  prior  to  the  enclosing  of  the 
foreshore  at  this  point  soon  after  1860,  it  furnishes 
positive  proof  of  the  subsidence  of  this  part  of  the  coast 
relatively  to  sea  level. 

St.  Cuthbert's,  the  ancient  Parish  Church  of  North 
Meols,  at  Churchtown,  the  original  building  dating  back 
to  the  ninth  century,  would  stand  as  late  as  in  Elizabethan 
days  on  a  sandy  elevation  just  above  high  water  mark 
on  the  south  side  of  the  "  North  Maoles  Bay,"  to  which 
reference  has  been  made,  and  close  to  the  sea  exit  of 
the  Otterpool  stream.  This  stream  now  forms  the  lake 
of  the  Botanic  Gardens  and  has  been  trained  across 
the  enclosed  former  bay  to  Dock  Lane,  where  a  bridge 
once  crossed  a  watercourse  marked  *  New  Poal  *  on 
old  maps. 

Excavations  in  1903  revealed  traces  of  an  old  wharf 
near  the  present  entrance  gates  to  Meols  Hall,  12  feet 
below  the  road  level  of  to-day.  Layers  of  shells  have 
been  found  four  or  five  feet  below  the  surface  in 
St.   Cuthbert's  churchyard. 

Evidences  of  the  steady  pushing  seawards  of  the 
high-water  mark  are  seen  in  the  several  sea  cops  which 
have  been  successively  made  between  Churchtown  and 
the  sea.  The  late  Rev.  W.  T.  Bulpit  is  the  authority 
for  the  following  particulars  : — 

TTie  first  sea  bank  started  from  near  Pool  Bridge 
(close  by  the  entrance  to  the  Botanic  Gardens),  and 
formed  until  recently  the  boundary  of  Bankfield  Lane, 
the  main  road  to  Crossens,  on  its  landward  side.  The 
second  cop  approximately  followed  the  line  of  the  West 
Lancashire  Railway.  The  third,  Nab's  Cop,  started  from 
Marshside  Road,  near. Baker's  Lane.  Outside  Nabs 
Cop,  Dangerts  Loan  was  made.  Shellfield  Road  followed. 
This  originally  opened  out  at  the  Crossens  end  on  to 
the  beach.  Glazebrook,  in  the  first  Guide  to  Southport, 
refers  to  a  cop  as  in  course  of  building  in  1809.  This 
would  be  what  is  known  as  the  Rossall  men's  bank 
which  now  extends  from  Marshside  Road  to  Crossens. 
The  last  shore  strip  here  was  reclaimed  in  1891-2. 


98  THE    EVOLUTION  OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

At  Banks  large  reclamations  from  the  foreshore  were 
made  about  1810,  following  upon  an  invasion  of  the  sea 
in  1807,  which  flooded  over  1000  acres  of  land.  The 
foreshore  fields  between  Fleetwood  Arms  Hotel  (no 
longer  a  licensed  house)  and  the  present  Municipal  Golf 
Links  were  enclosed  in   1863-4. 

In  all,  some  7400  acres  have  been  enclosed  on  the 
south  side  of  the  estuary.  As  to  the  effect  of  such 
extensive  reclamations  upon  the  channel-silting  difficulty, 
marine  engineering  experts  have  expressed  diametrically 
opposite  views.  Commander  Jarrad,  in  his  Preston 
Corporation  Report,  1908,  blamed  the  reclamations  for 
the  silting  up  of  the  Southport  Channel  ;  but  Mr.  Fowler, 
in  his  report  to  the  Southport  Corporation  of  1911, 
disagreed,  and  recommended  the  making  of  revetment 
confining  walls  on  both  sides  of  the  channel  to  strengthen 
the  tidal  scour.  Sir  John  Wolfe  Barry,  in  his  evidence 
before  the  Reclamation  and  Unemployed  Labour  Com- 
mittee, spoke  strongly  against  any  further  reclamations 
in  the  Ribble  estuary.  The  navigation  of  the  river,  he 
predicted,  would  be  seriously  endangered.  His  advice 
deterred  the  Commission  from  recommending  any 
further  enclosing  of  the  Ribble  foreshores.  But  Sir 
J.  W.  Barry  did  not  adequately  realise  that  Nature  is 
already  energetically  at  work  in  reclaiming  land  on  the 
south  side  of  the  estuary,  and  the  only  practical  question 
is  as  to  w^hether  it  is  wiser  to  assist  or  to  thwart  these 
natural  tendencies. 

Sugar  Hillock  was  the  name  of  a  sea  bank  midway 
between  the  sites  of  Churchtown  Station  and  St. 
Cuthbert's  Church.  The  houses  on  the  landward  side 
of  Sunny  Road  are  all  built  upon  it.  Tradition  has  it 
that  on  the  spot  where  No.  18  now  stands  the  Irish  vessel 
was  wrecked  in  1565  (probably  an  error  for  1665)  which 
contained  the  first  potatoes  ever  imported  into  England, 
in  addition  to  the  cargo  of  sugar  which  gave  the  bank 
its  name.  Some  of  the  tubers  were  planted  in  the 
neighbourhood.  Marshside,  in  the  borough  of  Southport, 
can  therefore  claim  to  be  the  pioneer  spot  where  potatoes 
were  first  grown  in  England,     A  rival  claim  on  behalf  of 


THE    DOUGLAS    RIVER    TO    SOUTHPORT.  99 

Altcar  has  been  disposed  of  by  the  late  Rev.  W. 
Warburton,  who  showed  that  the  Ahcar  potatoes  came 
from  Churchtown. 

It  was  on  Sugar  Hillock  bank  that  Mr.  Josiah  Baker, 
in  the  course  of  some  excavations,  came  upon  the 
skeleton  of  a  horse  tethered  to  a  notched  post.  Sand- 
drift  has  almost  levelled  the  bank  on  both  sides. 

Down  to  early  in  the  18th  century,  or  later,  the 
Crossens  beach  largely  consisted  of  shingle  and  boulder 
stones.  These  were  largely  used  locally  in  the  building 
of  cottage  walls  and  for  road  paving. 

The  evidence  makes  it  a  fairly  safe  inference  that 
the  high-water  mark  of  Elizabethan  days  would  roughly 
follow  the  West  Lancashire  Railway  between  Church- 
town  and  Hesketh  Park  stations,  and  then  a  line  sHghtly 
seaward  of  Marlborough  Road,  Hawesside  Street,  and 
Yellow  House  Lane,  now  a  back  street  off  the  landward 
end  of  Eastbank  Street.  Yellow  House  Lane  would 
mark  the  apex  of  the  more  southerly  of  the  two  bays 
shown  in  1 7th  and  18th  century  maps,  the  bay  between 
Churchtown  and  Crossens  being  the  other  one.  How 
the  line  then  curved  seaward  towards  the  south-west 
there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  to  show.  It  is  known 
that  a  fisherman's  cottage,  at  which  it  is  on  record  that 
some  early  visitors  lodged,  stood  as  early  as  1709  near 
Jackson's  Grove  of  to-day,  about  100  yards  on  the 
landward  side  of  Lord  Street  West  and  close  to  the  old 
Birkdale  boundary. 

The  most  dependable  aid  to  the  estimating  of  the 
Elizabethan  coast  line  is  a  carefully-drawn  Bold  Estate 
map  of  the  parish  of  North  Meols  of  1736  date.  This 
date  represents  a  midway  point  between  1550  and  the 
present  time.  Assuming  that  Yellow  House  Lane  and 
Hawesside  Street  (which,  before  the  coming  of  the 
railways,  formed  a  connected  way  leading  direct  via 
Ashley  Road  to  Roe  Lane)  formed  in  1550  a  coast  road 
reached  by  high  tides,  and  that  the  spread  of  the  sand- 
hills from  the  south  had  soon  afterwards  reached  thus 
far  north,  and  that  they  had  begun  to  form  in  ranges  on 
the    seaward    side    of    this    road,    the    high-water    mark 


100 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


THE    DOUGLAS    RIVEP    TO    .SOlITH?0«rr.>  ,     -,  ,lpl 

would  have  been  pushed  seawards  by  the  growth  of  the 
sandhills  at  the  date  of  this  map,  1736,  to  the  following 
line  : — St.  Paul's  Square,  King  Street,  Chapel  Street, 
Anchor  Street,  and  Castle  Street.  The  Lord  Street 
area — marked  "  The  New  Marsh  "  on  the  map — would 
then  be  washed  by  every  high  tide.  By  1834  a  new 
range  of  hills  had  come  into  being  between  the  Lord 
Street  chain  of  fresh-water  slacks  and  the  sea.  The 
most  seaward  range  formed  the  foundation  of  the  first 
made  section  of  the  Promenade — Nevill  Street  to  Corona- 
tion Wialk — which  was  commenced  in  1834.  Thus  the 
statements  that  200  years  ago  shrimps  were  caught  and 
cattle  grazed  on  a  sea-marsh  where  nov/  the  broad  and 
stately  Lord  Street  stands,  are  seen  to  be  easily  credible. 
The  true  explanation  of  the  imposing  width  of  this  noble 
thoroughfare  was  the  desire  of  the  pioneer  makers  of 
Southport  to  build  well  back  from  the  chain  of  pools 
which  lingered  on  until  about  1842,  and  which  flooded 
the  sandy  hollow  between  the  sandhills  at  times  of  heavy 
rain. 

In  the  earliest  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  boats 
were  anchored  in  a  lake  or  hollow,  opposite  the  present 
Prince  of  Wales  Hotel,  in  Lord  Street.  They  reached 
this  spot  at  high  water  by  way  of  the  Nile  Stream.  By 
the  same  means  boats  reached,  down  to  1870,  a  boat- 
building yard  at  the  end  of  King  Street,  at  about  the  spot 
where  Trinity  Hall  now  stands. 

The  Nile  Stream,  just  referred  to — of  which  not  a 
trace  now  remains — emptied  itself,  down  to  about  1875, 
on  to  the  shore  at  a  point  just  south  of  Duke  Street  where 
a  Recreation  Ground  has  since  been  laid  out.  Before 
being  drained  into  the  main  sewer  about  the  year  named, 
this  stream  served  a  useful  purpose  in  washing  into  the 
sea  much  of  the  sand  which  drifted  from  the  south-west, 
and  which  has  since  been  raising,  without  let  or 
hindrance,  the  levels  of  the  whole  beach  opposite  the 
town.  The  stream  received  its  name  at  a  convivial 
gathering  held  in  1798  on  the  day  upon  which  the  news 
of  the  Nile  naval  victory  was  received,  and  at  the  same 
time  as  the  name  of  "  South  Port  "  was  conferred  upon 


102  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

the  little  hamlet  which  had  originated  in  William  Sutton's 
wooden  shanty  venture  in  1 792,  the  real  beginning  of 
modern     Southport. 

The  Nile  Stream  rose  in  the  hills  about  where 
Dinorwic  Road,  Birkdale,  now  stands.  Its  course  was 
between  Kew  and  Stamford  Roads  (where  the  bed  is 
still  discernible),  east  of  Eastbourne  Road,  then  along 
the  Birkdale  boundary  to  the  junction  of  Talbot  and 
Belmont  Streets,  behind  St.  Paul's  Church,  across  St. 
Paul's  Square,  south-west  of  West  End  Church,  under 
Nos.  5  and  7,  Lord  Street  West  (built  over  the  old  bed), 
and  through  Nile  Bank  grounds  to  the  shore.  From  its 
outfall  it  crossed  the  beach  at  an  angle  under  the  Pier 
(about  half-way  down)  and  flowed  into  "  The  Hollow" 
opposite  Seabank  Road  and  thence  into  the  upper  end 
of  the  Bog  Hole  Channel.  The  Holly  Brook  was  a  small 
tributary  rising  near  Waterloo  Road,  passing  by  the 
Convent  across  Aughton  Road,  through  the  gardens  west 
of  Holly  Brook  Road,  and  joining  the  Nile  near  St.  Paul's 
Church. 

The  Nile  is  stated  to  have  been  at  one  time  1 1  fathoms 
deep  (probably  1  1  feet)  at  its  mouth,  and  what  remained 
of  it  may  have  justified  the  choice  of  the  name  "  South 
Port,"  to  distinguish  the  new  hamlet  from  the  old 
north  port  at  Churchtown  or  Crossens.  But  this  is  a 
purely  conjectural  derivation.  The  district  was  called 
"  t'  Poort "  long  before  the  South  Port  christening 
ceremony. 

The  Nile  stream  was  used  in  the  early  days  of 
Southport  as  a  landing-place  for  coal  which  would  be 
brought  by  the  River  Douglas  from  Wigan,  all  the  way 
by  boat.  The  late  Alderman  Henry  Robinson  is  the 
authority  for  this  statement. 

A  piece  of  coal  M^as  found  in  1909  in  the  course  of 
sewer  excavating  in  Rawlinson  Road,  near  to  Hesketh 
Park  Station,  in  a  layer  of  large  sea-shells,  nine  feet 
below  the  surface.  The  spot  is  on  the  inner  edge  of  the 
Sandhill  area.  It  confirms  other  estimates  as  to  the 
high-water  mark  of  some  300  years  ago. 


THE    DOUGLAS    RIVER    TO    SOUTHPORT.  103 

The  section  shown  in  the  cutting  was  :  — 
Clean  Sand  :   4  feet. 
Black  Surface  Soil  :  ^  inch. 
Sand  :  8  inches. 

Dark  sandy  soil  with  grass  roots  :  4  inches. 
Dark  sand  mixed  with  clay  :  4  feet. 
The  lower  4  feet  is  almost  certainly  a  Ribble  deposit. 
It  would  be  followed  by  a  period  of  cultivation.  Then 
the  whiter  Mersey  sand  drifted  on  to  the  top  of  it. 
Ribble  sand  is  invariably  darker  in  colour  through  clay 
admixture. 

Other  sections  exposed  within  the  borough  at  various 
times  are  appended  :  — 

At  Meols  Hall,  Churchtown — Blown  sand,  with  shells; 
Moss  ;  Sand,  no  shells  ;  Moss  ;  Slutch  or  alluvial  deposit  ; 
Boulder  clay. 

At  Crowlands  Gasworks  in  1872 — Blown  sand,  3  ft.; 
Peat,  4  ft.;  Grey  clay  (not  bottomed),  3  ft. 

At  about  12  feet  elk  antlers  and  other  remains  of 
extinct  animals,  with  shells,  were  found  here. 

At  All  Souls'  Church  site,  Norwood  Road,  Blowick — ■ 
Sand,  8  ft.  6  in.;  Peat,  6  ft.  6  in.;  Blue  loam,   17  ft. 

At  North  End,  Birkdale,  in  1868,  with  a  view  to  brick- 
making — 

Dark  sand  and  vegetable  matter,  3i  feet. 

Light  fine  sand,  2^  feet. 

Brown    Peat,    a   seam    of  hazel    and    sea 

wood,  and  black  dense  peat,  9  feet. 
Grey  estuarine  clay,  with  shells,  20  feet. 
Coarse  red  Shirdley  Hill  sand,   1   foot. 
At  the   Palace   Hotel,   Birkdale,    a  boring  of   79^  ft. 
reached  the  Keuper  Marl  bed,  but  no  bottom  of  this  bed 
was  found  at  558  feet. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Lost  Argarmeols  and  Aynesdale. 

The  available  evidence  is  so  scanty  and  indefinite 
that  it  is  impossible  to  fix  the  Southport  to  Formby 
coast-line  with  any  approach  to  accuracy  even  500  years 
ago.  It  is,  however,  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  sea 
would,  down  to  perhaps  the  15th  century,  through  a 
continued  subsidence  of  the  land,  be  a  gainer  upon  the 
land,  and  that  subsequently,  when  the  conditions  became 
favourable  to  the  extension  of  the  sandhills  ranges,  the 
dunes  would  begin  to  push  back  the  sea.  This  tendency 
is  still  in  progress.  So  that  it  may  be  the  case  that  the 
high-water  mark  at  the  time  of  the  Norman  Conquest 
was  much  the  same  as  now,  the  sea  having  advanced 
perhaps  as  much  as  a  mile  and  again  retired  in  the 
interval. 

Ample  documentary  evidence  remains  to  us  in  proof 
of  the  existence  down  to  the  early  part  of  the  14th 
century  of  an  ancient  manor  called  Argarmeols,  the 
exact  location  of  which  is  a  matter  for  speculation,  it 
is  mentioned  in  various  lawsuits  and  in  many  of  the 
Charters  of  Cockersand  Abbey,  which  stood  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Lune,  to  the  monks  of  which  many  of  these 
estates  had  been  bequeathed. 

Of  the  existence  of  an  ancient  Aynesdale,  of  which 
not  a  trace  remains,  the  same  proofs  may  be  cited. 

Many  other  place-names  occur  in  the  same  Charters 
which  cannot  conceivably  refer  to  any  existing  places. 
The  following  names  of  hamlets  or  homesteads  will 
suffice  as  examples  :  Meandale,  Romsdale,  Anoldisdale, 
Springwale,  Brownhill,  Sheephow,  Winscarthe-lithe, 
Melcanrehow,  Atefield,  Quitemeledale,  Selefures,  Alser- 


LOST    ARGARMEOLS    AND    AYNESDALE.  105 

How,  Gripnottes,  Birkedene,  Ravenskils,  Halsteadhow, 
Tongland,  Stardale,  Oddasargh,  Butterclinning,  Green- 
dale,  Scatherwolmer,  Waingate.  Narrowdale,  and 
Bleshowdale. 

We  may  be  certain  that  the  sites  of  these  farmsteads 
or  hamlets  lie  under  the  sandhills  or  the  adjoining 
foreshore.  The  continuing  subsidence  will  account  for 
the  tops  of  the  buildings  never  being  disclosed  in  the 
moving  hollows  of  the  hills. 

These  names  occur  chiefly  in  connection  with  land- 
grants  to  the  monks  of  Cockersand  Abbey.  "  Aynes- 
dale  "  is  often  referred  to  in  these  deeds  as  "  a  town." 
One  deed  refers  to  half  an  acre  of  land  as  lying 
'  between  the  town  (of  Aynesdale)  and  Romsdale." 
No  fewer  than  45  of  these  deeds  relate  to  ancient 
Aynesdale. 

The  boundaries  of  Argarmeols,  Birkdale,  and  Aynes- 
dale are  now  impossible  of  determination.  Mr.  William 
Farrar  believes  ("  Lancashire  Pipe-rolls  '*)  that  Argar- 
meols formed  part  of  the  modern  township  of  Birkdale. 
Mr.  W.  T.  Bulpit  ("  Notes  on  Southport,"  p.  32)  thinks 
that  Birkdale,  a  name  which  first  appears  in  a  deed  of 
1295,  would  be  a  part  of  Argarmeols.  At  times  Argar- 
meols may  have  been  used  as  a  term  including  Birkdale, 
but  repeatedly  in  lawsuits  the  two  places  are  separately 
mentioned. 

We  may,  at  all  events,  be  certain  that  Aynesdale, 
Birkdale,  and  Argarmeols  lay  on  the  coast  between  the 
parishes  of  North  Meols  and  Formby.  It  may  have 
been  that  Argarmeols  lay  seaward  of  Birkdale,  or  of 
Birkdale  and  Aynesdale.  Mr.  W.  E.  Gregson,  solicitor 
to  the  Crosby  Blundells,  is  definitely  of  the  same  opinion. 
A  Formby  family  estate  deed  of  1282  (or  earlier  (?)  date) 
refers  to  Argarmeols  in  connection  with  a  Hyfiin  Bridge, 
which  may  possibly  have  connected  a  detached  island 
with  the  mainland.  In  a  1597  copy  of  Ptolemy's  2nd 
century  map  a  small  island  is  shown  opposite  what  is, 
presumably,  Formby  Point. 

Mr.  Mellard  Reade  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  deep 
channel  ran  from  the  old  port  of  Formby  to  about 
Southport,  separating  a  long  bank  from  the  mainland, 


106 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


ANCASH1RE«V^- 

S.WC0A5T 


LOWWATER 


5carisbrick 

a 

■Sbirdley  Hill 

Halsall 


Ormsklrki 


A. B.C.— Pre- 1 840  Lakes,  White  Otter,  Black  Otter 

and  Gettern  Mere. 
E. — Old  Lig-hthouse.  F. — Altcar  Rifle  Rang-e. 

H. — Formby  Channel.  J. — Queen's  Channel. 


LOST    ARGARMEOLS    AND    AYNESDALE.  107 

only  a  few  hundred  years  ago,  or,  at  all  events,  well 
within  the  historic  period  when  it  may  be  safely  inferred 
that  the  land  stretched  seaward  of  the  present  coast. 
Since  then  the  sea  has  advanced  and  has  receded  again. 

The  conclusion  is  warranted  that  Aynesdale  was 
inundated  and  permanently  lost  between  the  years  1311 
and  1346,  and  that  Argarmeols  was  similarly  swallowed 
up  some  time  in  the  first  half  of  the  same  century.  That 
it  was  not  later  than  1346  is  proved  by  an  entry  in  a 
Cockersand  Abbey  deed  of  that  date  referring  to 
**  Argarmeles,  which  is  now^  annihilate  by  the  sea  and 
**  there  is  no  habitation  there." 

It  is  conceivable  that  an  earthquake  in  1328,  described 
by  Prestwich  as  "  the  greatest  ever  known  in  England," 
may  have  been  the  cause  of  a  slight  but  permanent 
subsidence  of  the  land  at  this  time.  This  date  would 
accord  with  all  the  evidence  available.  It  is  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  some  specially  high  tide,  whatever  other 
causes  may  have  been  contributory,  broke  through  what 
may  have  been  higher  ground,  and  that  the  sea  from 
this  time  permanently  covered  both  Aynesdale  and 
Argarmeols. 

Good     evidence    of    the    existence    of    these    places 

remains  in  the   records  of   a  trial  in   1503,   in  which  Sir 

Henry  Halsall,   lord   of  the   manor   of  Halsall,   Birkdale, 

and   Argarmeles,    was  sued    for    rent    due    to    the    King. 

Sir  Henry  deposed  that  the  said  Argarmelys  was  at  the 

decease  of  his  father,  and  long  before,  "  within  the  hegh 

*  see    and   drowned   and   adnihilate   with   the   sayd   see, 

and  oute  off  the  lawgh  water  marke,  and  also  oute  of 

the  bodye  of  the  said  countye." 

John  Shirlok,  born  in  1423,  stated  in  evidence  on  the 
same  occasion  that  he  had  "  hard  say  that  such  londes 
(Argarmelys)  there  were  and  drowned  in  the  sea." 

Another  witness  testified  that  "  the  Abbot  of  Cocker- 
sand  possessed  great  lands  within  four  miles  of  Halsall, 
worn  into  the  see."  Sir  Henry  won  the  case  and  no 
more  dues  were  paid  for  Argarmeols. 

In  another  trial,  which  took  place  in  1553,  and  in 
which  Sir  Henry  Halsall's  son  was  the  plaintiff,  a  witness 
said  that  "  there  was  a  certain  town  in  time  past  called 


108  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

Aynesdale,  which  said  town,  time  out  of  mind,  has 
"  been  and  still  is  overflow^ed  with  the  sea,  so  that  there 
"  remains  no  remembrance  thereof." 

The  termination  **  dale,"  which  occurs  so  commonly 
in  these  names,  means  a  small  holding  or  strip  of  land. 
Birkdale  is  obviously  a  corruption  from  Birch-dale, 
meaning  the  part  upon  which  birches  grew.  "  Birki 
is  Norse  for  birch-trees.  Its  spelling  mutations  have 
been  many:  Byrkedale,  Birkdall,  Birthille  (1736),  &c. 
The  earliest  date  of  the  spelling  as  to-day  is  in  a  deed 
of  1305  date.  The  old  native  pronunciation  is  Birt-le. 
Ainsdale,  originally  Ainulyesdale,  is  probably  a  contrac- 
tion from  Aynulf's  Dale.  Argarmeols  appears  in  the 
Domesday  Survey  as  "  Erengermeles."  Eringar  is  a 
Norse  personal  name. 

Sandhills  change  their  position  but  little  on  the 
landward  side.  The  main  road  between  Liverpool  and 
Southport  still  skirts  the  sandhills  near  Birkdale  Reforma- 
tory as  the  oldest  maps  show  it  to  have  done.  But  since 
the  planting  of  starr  grass  has  ceased  to  be  enforced  at 
other  points  a  spreading  tendency  has  been  in  evidence. 
Much  grassed  and  rough  land  south  of  Trafalgar  Road 
and  Harrod  Drive,  Birkdale,  has  recently  (1918-19)  been 
overwhelmed  with  drifted  sand. 

The  speed  with  which  entire  hills  will  sometimes  be 
shifted  w^as  exemplified  during  a  westerly  gale  in  1911, 
when  a  high  hill  between  Freshfield  and  Ainsdale,  near 
Massem's  Slack,  was  bodily  moved  between  100  and 
150  yards.  Near  the  same  spot  and  in  the  same  year 
a  curious  find  was  made  in  the  hollow  of  the  outer  line 
of  slacks  about  a  mile  to  the  north  of  Freshfield  Perch. 
Gales  having  drifted  away  the  sea-face  of  a  long  sandhill 
on  the  landward  side  of  the  hollow,  the  remains  of  seven 
wrecks  of  wooden  vessels,  apparently  from  200  to  250 
tons,  were  exposed  to  view.  Two  days  later  all  but  one 
were  again  buried  in  sand.  The  boats  lay  in  a  line 
which  doubtless  marked  an  old  channel  where  they  had 
been  beached  when  that  spot  lay  outside  the  sandhill 
area.  It  is  possible  that  a  fresh-water  stream  from  the 
moss  at  some  time  entered  the  sea  at  this  point.     Mr. 


LOST    ARGARMEOLS    AND    AYNESDALE.  109^ 

D.  Pennington,  of  Birkdale,  is  the  writer's  informant  of 
this  incident. 

Opposite  Ainsdale,  as  elsewhere,  the  dunes  are 
rapidly  extending  towards  the  sea.  The  short  Promenade 
erected  here  in  1903  has  been  overwhelmed  with  sand, 
and  the  hills  at  date  of  writing  (1919)  have  reached  a 
point  50  yards  seaw^ard  of  the  sea-wall.  The  shore  level 
is  also  rapidly  rising.  Net  stakes,  owing  to  this  rise, 
were  set  in  1912  50  yards  nearer  low  water  than  in  1900. 
Mr.  H.  B.  Ryan,  a  local  observer,  estimates  this  rise  at 
6  feet  between  1901  and  1911.  There  is  a  strongly- 
marked  tendency  for  high  and  low  water  to  advance 
towards  each  other  all  along  the  Birkdale  to  Formby 
shore.  1841  and  1895  maps  bring  this  out  clearly.  But 
it  is  the  high-water  mark  which  mostly  moves. 

Bulrush  Slack,  north  of  Ainsdale  Beach  station,  waa 
converted  into  a  boating  lake  about  1910.  Shore  Road, 
the  main  road  from  Ainsdale  L.  &  Y.  Station,  v^^cis  made 
through  to  the  beach  in   1903. 

The  "  Lost  Farm  "  which  Roby,  in  his  "  Traditions 
of  Lancashire,"  associates  with  an  incident  in  the 
rebellion  of  1745,  stood  on  the  borders  of  Ainsdale  and 
Birkdale,  near  the  L.  &  Y.  Railway  on  its  seaward  side. 
Part  of  the  building  remained  uncovered  as  late  as  1824, 
but,  like  numbers  of  other  homesteads,  it  became  buried 
in  sand.     In  1840  nothing  was  to  be  seen  of  it. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Lost  Old  Formby  and  a  Vanished  Estuary. 

The  romance  of  a  changing  coast-line  is  well 
exemplified  where  now  the  point  of  Formby  juts  out  as  a 
salient  between  the  Ribble  and  Mersey  estuaries.  At 
no  part  of  the  west  coast  have  the  changes  been  more 
striking  or  rapid. 

Standing  amidst  the  wilderness  of  sandhills,  which 
here  attain  a  maximum  width,  it  is  difficult  of  belief  that 
as  recently  as  1690,  according  to  a  statement  in  an  early 
volume  of  the  Geological  Memoirs,  "  there  were  no 
sandhills  at  Formby,"  and  that  the  part  of  the  hills  in 
Raven  Meols  then  known  as  "  Andrew's  Garden  "  was, 
200  years  ago,  one  of  the  finest  orchards  in  Lancashire. 
Its  owner,  Andrew  Brown,  w^as  one  of  fifteen  occupiers 
of  land  in  what  was  called  "  The  Park,"  who  paid  a 
property  tax  in  the  year  1670.  Yet  less  than  a  century 
later  only  one  house  remained  uncovered  by  the  all- 
conquering  sand.  In  1087  the  manor  of  Raven  Meols, 
the  south  end  of  Formby,  was  assessed  as  containing 
24  oxgangs  of  land  (about  300  acres).  By  1289  it  is  on 
record  that  12  oxgangs,  or  about  a  half  of  this,  had  been 
washed  away  by  the  sea.  So  that  here,  as  at  Ainsdale, 
the  local  landowners  and  farmers  had  as  enemies,  in 
turn,  first  the  sea  and  then  drifting  sand.  The  sea, 
mainly  through  subsidence,  attained  its  furthest  landward 
gain  anyAvhere  between  the  14th  and  16th  centuries. 
Then  the  accumulating  sand  from  the  Mersey,  and  the 
spread  of  the  dunes,  began  to  drive  the  sea  back  again, 
and  this  tendency  still  continues,  though  exceptional 
tides  occasionally  make  a  successful  attack  upon  the 
sandhills.       In   the    two    years    ending    1912,    for    about 


LOST  OLD  FORMBY  AND  A  VANISHED  ESTUARY.     1 1 1 

600  yards  south  of  Victoria  Road,  the  sea  had  worn  into 
the  hills  by  about  20  yards.  But  further  south,  at  the 
point  and  also  to  the  north  as  far  as  Southport,  the 
advance  of  the  hills  on  to  the  foreshore  has  been  fairly 
continuous  for  at  least  200  years.  The  hills  and  the 
blown  sand  at  their  rear  reach  a  width  of  about  three 
miles  at  this  part. 

Canon  Hume  contributed  a  valuable  paper  on  the 
changes  about  Formby  to  the  records  of  the  Lane.  ^ 
Ches.  Historic  Soc.  (Vol.  1866).  He  concluded  that 
there  are  four  distinct  surfaces  : — 

1.  "The   Moss,"   shown   on  maps  of   1588   and    1610 

date. 

2.  Cultivated  land,  with  streets,  orchard  gardens,  &c. 

3.  Sand  which  buried  the  last-named  between   1750 

and   1850. 

4.  The   existing  surface   soil   forming  the  gardens  of 

modern  Formby.     Much  of  the  waste  land 

was  thus  recovered  by  Mr.  Fresh,  from  whom 

Freshfleld  takes  its  name. 

Mr.    Hume   must    have    been    referring    here  to    the 

seaward    half    of    Formby,    between    Gore's    Lane    and 

the  sea. 

Of  the  old  and  once  important  port  of  Formby  not  a 
vestige  is  now  to  be  seen.  The  exact  site  of  its  quay  or 
harbour  cannot  be  identified  with  any  certainty.  The 
following  statement  was  sent  to  the  writer  by  Mr.  John 
Formby  of  Formby  Hall,  probably  the  best  living 
authority  on  the  past  of  this  district. 

"About  1711  there  was  a  fishing  hamlet  and  a  pier 
which  is  said  to  have  stood  some  600  yards  north-west 
of  the  present  St.  Luke's  Church.  (It  was  Canon 
Hume,  I  think,  who  placed  it  here).  I  have  it  at. 
second-hand  from  the  Rev.  Robert  Cort  that  his  old 
friend,  when  a  boy,  saw  the  troops  embark  at  Formby 
pier,  to  go  to  quell  the  rebellion  in  Scotland.  Now 
this  must  have  been  in  the  1715,  not  the  '45,  rising, 
for  in  the  'thirties  of  the  18th  century  the  place  was 
destroyed  by  sand.  I  have  heard  that  there  was  a 
great  discussion  whether  the  Docks  should  be  built 
at  Liverpool  or  Formby  about  1700." 


112  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

The  Rev.  Lonsdale  Formby,  joint  lord  of  the  manor 
with  Mr.  Weld-Blundell,  stated  that  there  were  Formby 
parish  records  as  to  a  loan  of  i^300  from  the  Formby  to 
the  Liverpool  authorities,  towards  the  cost  of  the  making 
of  Liverpools  first  dock. 

Tradition  supports  the  contention  that  the  old  port 
and  town  stood  on  the  edge  of  a  channel  beyond  which 
lay  a  long  tidal-covered  sandbank.  The  channel  was 
beginning,  about  1700,  to  silt  up  at  the  north  end, 
precisely  as  the  Southport  to  Lytham  Channel  began  to 
choke  up  about  1880,  and  as  the  north  channel  by  St. 
Annes  filled  up.  The  decline  of  the  old  port  dates 
from  this  time,  as  the  bank  gradually  joined  up  to  the 
mainland.  Mersey  deposits  would  here  again  be  the 
probable  cause  of  the  silting. 

Possibly  the  training  walls  which  the  Liverpool  port 
authority  had  laid  down  some  years  before  the  first 
Liverpool  dock  was  started  upon  in  1705,  may  have 
been  an  aggravating  cause  as  in  the  case  of  the  Ribble 
Training  Walls. 

Low-water  mark  would  be  thrown  seawards  at  least 
a  mile.  More  time  for  sun-drying  would  tend  to 
increase  the  drifting  from  the  foreshore  and  the  covering 
with  sand  of  cultivable  land.  Landowners  began  to 
insert  clauses  enforcing  the  planting  by  tenants  of  so 
much  starr-grass  every  year.  1711  is  the  earliest  dated 
lease  known  to  contain  this  clause.  Then  the  piling  up 
of  the  hill-ranges  proceeded  at  so  great  a  speed  that  by 
1730-40  the  whole  town  had  become  buried  in  sand. 
The  last  house  disappeared  about  1 739. 

An  old  man  who  lived  close  to  the  old  burial-ground 
(now  attached  to  the  modern  St.  Luke's  Church)  is  said 
to  have  been  the  last  inhabitant  of  the  deserted  town. 
He  declared  that  in  his  youth  this  house  had  stood  in 
the  centre  of  the  old  town.  As  a  boy  he  had  jumped 
from  the  pier  on  to  the  decks  of  ships  loading  in  the 
harbour.  This  statement  was  made  to  the  Rev.  Robert 
Cort,  curate  of  Formby  in  1 787  and  vicar  in  1 793  ;  it 
was  reported  by  him  to  Canon  Gray,  who  told  it  to 
Mr.  John  Formby  of  Formby  Hall,  the  writer's  informant. 


LOST  OLD  FORMBY  AND  A  VANISHED  ESTUARY.     113 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  witness  did  not  leave 
behind  him  some  information  as  to  the  site  of  the 
harbour.  It  is  conceivable  that  it  stood  on  the  north 
side  of  the  river  Alt,  or  at  the  sea  and  river  corner, 
w^hen  the  river  entered  the  sea  much  further  north  than 
it  does  to-day.  Dr.  Sumner,  of  Formby,  who  died  about 
1883  at  the  age  of  84,  stated  that  in  his  young  days 
there  were  evidences  as  to  what  is  now  the  Altcar  Rifle 
Range  having  been  the  site  of  a  harbour  in  which  large 
boats  rode.  He  could  remember  good-sized  vessels 
sailing  up  the  Alt  when  its  course  lay  further  to  the 
north. 

Early  maps  show  the  Alt  to  have  taken  an  almost 
due  west  course  to  the  sea  by  a  funnel-shaped  mouth. 
Saxton's  map  of  1577,  Speeds  of  1610,  Jansson's  of  1646, 
and  Morden's  of  1700  all  show  this.  But  we  must  be 
cautious  against  placing  implicit  reliance  upon  these 
early  maps.  Down  to  1778  all  map  makers  seem  to  have 
copied  either  Saxton  or  Speed,  their  errors  included. 
Yates  of  Liverpool  issued  a  Map  of  Lancashire  in  1  7^7 
which  was  based  on  a  new  survey,  and  which  w^as  a 
great  advance  in  accuracy  and  detail  on  all  that  had 
preceded  it. 

Tradition  has  something  to  say  about  another  lost 
town,  Altmouth,  which  is  shown  on  three  of  the  maps 
just  named  (not  on  Speed's),  and  also  upon  Blaeu's  of 
1662,  Moll's  of  1724,  and  Tunnicliffe's  of  1789.  Some 
of  these — e.g.,  Morden's  of  1700 — show  the  place  as 
standing  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Alt,  less  than  a  mile 
from  the  sea.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  a  misleading 
statement  in  Camden's  "  Britannia  "  may  have  started  a 
much-copied  error.  Mr.  W.  E.  Gregson,  of  Great 
Crosby,  whose  views  are  based  upon  research  and 
observation,  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  ruins  of  houses 
discovered  in  the  making  of  Crosby  sewer  early  in  the 
present  century  were  the  remains  of  a  small  hamlet 
called  "  Moorhouses,"  the  existence  of  which  is  proved 
by  certain  Crosby  and  Blundell  title-deeds.  This  hamlet 
may  have  been  the  "  Altmouth  "  of  the  maps.  It  lay 
south  of  the  river  Alt  and  east  of  the  present  L.  &  Y. 
Railway.     Some  fragments    of   mediaeval    pottery   were 


114  THE  EVOLUTION  OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

found  here  three  or  four  feet  below  the  present  land 
surface,  in  the  bed  of  an  old  stream.  Documents 
inspected  by  Mr.  Gregson  show  that  Moorhouses  was 
occupied  before  1380. 

The  old  port  of  Formby  was  certainly  the  objective 
of  an  important-looking  main  road,  shown  on  Bowen's 
Map  of  1720,  which  passed  from  Bolton  through  Wigan 
and  Ormskirk  direct  to  Formby. 

All  the  old  maps  show  "Formby  Chapel"  as 
standing  slightly  to  the  north  of  the  Alt  and  a  few 
hundred  yards  only  from  the  sea.  This  Chapel  dates 
back  to  before  the  Conquest.  The  building  standing  in 
1739  was  blown  down  in  a  gale,  and  part  of  the  material 
was  used  in  1 746  in  the  building  of  St.  Peter's  Church, 
a  mile  and  a  half  inland,  and  now  known  as  "the  old 
church."  In  1852-5  the  present  St.  Luke's  Church  was 
built  close  to  the  site  of  "  Formby  Chapel,"  the  old 
graveyard  of  which  was  enclosed.  The  old  gravestones 
are  found  at  a  depth  of  about  8  feet  below  the  modern 
level.  Several  may  still  be  seen  to  the  west  of  the 
Church. 

A  small  fresh-water  lake,  known  as  Church  Mere, 
once  lay  near  the  church,  but  became  sanded  up. 

The  manor  of  Raven  Meols  is  the  district  between 
Formby  and  the  Alt.  Canon  Hume  discovered  conclusive 
documentary  evidence  of  the  overwhelming  by  sand  of 
much  of  this  part  in  1565,  when  one  house  only  was 
left  uncovered.  Raven  Meols  Lane  would  once  lead 
through  what  is  now  Queen's  Road,  to  what  would  be 
a  populous  district  north  of  the  old  port. 

The  river  Alt  must  have  at  one  time  been  a  tidal 
estuary  of  some  importance.  Down  to  about  1860  boats 
could  still  sail  up  the  river  to  two  or  three  miles  above 
the  present  sand-narrowed  mouth.  Near  the  old  house 
in  Liverpool  Road,  Formby,  called  "  The  Waterings," 
which  was  easily  accessible  by  boats  which  loaded  here, 
the  contractor  for  the  Formby  sewer  found,  in  1907,  an 
old  spring  and  well-marked  deer  footprints  about  15  feet 
under  the  present  land  surface.  The  Downholland 
brook  opened  into  the  Alt  river  by  a  wide  inlet  on  the 


LOST  OLD  FORMBY  AND  A  VANISHED  ESTUARY.     115 


Fig.  22 — Lost  Land,  Barrow  to  Anglesey. 


landward  side  of  the  present  Liverpool  Road.  By  this 
tidal  creek  the  Danes  would  sail  when  they  made  their 
raid  upon  the  Formby — or  Fornebei — people  of  King 
Alfred's  day. 

The  remains  of  an  ancient  road,  an  extension  of 
Deansgate  Lane  towards  the  old  ford  where  now  the  Alt 
bridge  stands,  were  found  about  1860. 


116  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

At  Balling's  Warp  or  Wharf,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Alt,  vessels  going  up  the  river  threw  out  their  ballast. 

The  old  Formby  lighthouse  near  the  railw^ay  and  the 
Alt  river,  was  originally  built  as  a  landmark  close  to  the 
shore,  and  was  only  used  for  a  short  time  as  a  lighthouse. 
A  new  lighthouse  was  built  later  nearer  to  the  sea. 

Alt  Grange,  or  Grange  farm,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
Alt,  is  a  manor  house  of  some  note,  being  owned  from 
1220  by  the  Abbot  of  Stanlawe  (see  Mersey  Chapter). 

The  Alt  river  has  become  curiously  diverted  from 
its  former  point  of  junction  with  the  sea.  The  adjoining 
sketch  map  (fig.  21)  shows  how  it  now  turns  to  the  south. 
It  continues  to  wear  into  the  sandhill  ranges  on  the 
landward  side  and  occasionally  exposes  in  so  doing  the 
fresh  tree  trunks  of  an  ancient  belt  of  trees. 

The  point  seaward  of  the  river  opposite  Hightown 
is  steadily  extending  towards  the  south,  accretion  being 
induced  by  the  stakes  put  down  by  the  landowner.  It 
is  conceivable  that  the  mouth  of  the  Alt  is  a  mile  and  a 
half  further  south  than  when  Formby  was  a  port. 

The  late  Rev.  Lonsdale  Formby  could  remember  the 
tide  covering  what  is  now  the  site  of  the  present  rifle 
ranges  and  reaching  as  far  as  the  flood-gates.  The 
point  south  of  the  Lifeboathouse  then  extended  some 
hundreds  of  yards  into  what  is  now  open  sea.  On  this 
point  the  old  brick  landmark  stood. 

Formby  appears  in  the  Domesday  Survey  (1080-6)  as 
*'  Fornebei,"  and  also  in  many  of  the  older  maps.  Its 
termination  indicated  its  Danish  origin.  The  Danes 
raided  this  coast,  probably  from  the  Isle  of  Man,  where 
they  had  made  extensive  settlements,  late  in  the  eighth 
and  in  the  ninth  century.  They  may  be  accurately 
described  as  the  first  known  summer  excursionists  to  the 
Lancashire  coast.  About  the  year  840 — according  to 
the  late  Rev.  W.  Warburton — they  first  wintered  on  the 
coast.  They  have  left  many  place  and  personal  names 
as  evidence  of  their  settling  at  various  points  of  the 
sandgrounder  "  strip  of  coast  between  the  Alt  and 
the  Astland  (or  Douglas).  In  Lancashire  :  Crosby, 
Kirkby,  Ainsdale,  Birkdale,  and  Ormskirk  ;  and  in 
Cheshire  :     West     Kirkby,     Thingwall,     Helsby,     Irby» 


LOST  OLD  FORMBY  AND  A  VANISHED  ESTUARY.     117 

Pensby,  and  Greasby  are  all  of  Danish  origin.  Raven 
Meols  is  associated  with  the  Raven  flag  of  the  Danes, 
and  Meols  is  nearly  always  associated  with  sandhills. 
(See  Chapter  XII.)  Place-names  containing  thorpe, 
thwaite,  beck,  dale,  fell,  garth,  and  gill  are  all  of  Danish 
origin.  Danesgate  now  Deansgate  Lane,  crossing 
Liverpool  Road,   Formby,  bears  its  origin  on  its  face. 

The  surname  Rimmer  is  by  far  the  most  common  of 
all  names  on  the  South  Lancashire  coast.  It  is  the  name 
of  no  fewer  than  468  householders  in  Seed's  1915 
Southport  Directory.  A  Pipe-roll  of  1679  date  for  the 
Manor  of  Raven  Meols  contains  38  names,  mostly  spelt 
Rymer."  The  name  appears  to  be  peculiar  to  this 
South-west  Lancashire  coast.  No  satisfactory  derivation 
having  been  found,  the  writer  ventures  to  suggest  the 
Danish  word  "Hrimr,"  meaning  "a  giant,"  as  a  probable 
root  word.  The  spelling  has  passed  from  Rimr  through 
Rymer,  Rimer,  to  the  present  Rimmer — some  time  in 
the  18th  century. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


The  Mersey  Estuary  and  Liverpool  Bay. 

The  river  Mersey,  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Goyt 
and  Etherow  above  Stockport,  drains  with  its  tributaries 
an  area  of  1285  sq.  miles. 

There  is  little  room  for  doubt  that  in  the  time  of  the 
Roman  occupation  that  part  of  Liverpool  Bay  inland  of 
a  line  connecting  Formby  Point  and  Hilbre  Island,  at 
the  entrance  to  the  Dee,  vs^as  dry,  or  marshy  land,  and, 
not  improbably,  inhabited.  A  point  which  is  more  open 
to  question  is  as  to  whether  any  direct  connection  had 
at  this  time  been  formed  between  the  sea  and  the 
extensive  inland  lake  which,  within  the  period  of  the 
Christian  era,  occupied  the  area  of  the  broad  upper  end 
of  the  Mersey  estuary  between  Garston,  Runcorn,  and 
Ellesmere  port.  The  fact  that  fresh  water  mollusc 
remains  have  been  found  around  the  upper  reaches  of 
this  area  is  proof  that  there  was  no  direct  connection 
between  the  lake  and  the  sea  when  these  shells  w^ere 
deposited.  No  theory  is  without  its  difficulties.  If  we 
assume  a  continuous  average  fall  in  the  land  levels  of 
three  feet  per  century,  then  the  lake  would  overflow  the 
presumed  barrier  between  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead 
along  the  Mersey's  present  exit,  some  time  between  the 
fourth  and  eighth  centuries. 

The  greatest  actual  depths  at  low  water  in  the  three 
miles  seaward  of  St.  George's  Pier  at  Liverpool  vary 
between  70ft.  and  40ft.,  but  an  allowance  has  to  be 
made  for  the  scouring  effect  of  the  ebbing  tide  which 
would  flow  with  exceptional  strength  through  this  narrow 
bottle  neck  after  a  junction  with  the  sea  had  been  made. 


THE  MERSEY  ESTUARY  AND  LIVERPOOL  BAY.        119 

Parts  of  the  Mersey  now  afford  poor  anchorage  hold, 
having  .been  scoured  almost  bare  to  the  solid  sandstone. 
The  suggestion  that  the  old  exit  of  the  Mersey  was 
through  Wallasey  Float  and  the  Birket  Valley  presents 
too  many  difficulties.  The  Birket  stream  would  appear 
to  have  always  drained  in  its  present  direction.  Not 
many  centuries  ago  lakes  existed  both  at  Moreton  and 
Bidston,  as  evidenced  by  the  fresh-water  shells  found 
there  ;  the  Birket  river  wouI3  drain  these  lakes  into  the 
large  lake  between  Garston  and  Ellesmere  Port. 

The  theory  offering  the  fewest  difficulties  is  that, 
either  in  early  historic  or  pre-historic  times,  the  Mersey 
flowed  out  of  the  Garston-Runcorn  lake  by  the  Broxton 
Valley,  which  separates  the  Wirral  from  the  east  of 
Cheshire  and  crosses  the  county  from  near  Stanlaw  Point 
to  the  Dee  below  Chester.  This  valley  has  been 
recognised  by  all  geologists  as  a  dried-up  ancient  river 
bed.  It  is  a  flat,  winding  valley,  and  is  so  little  raised 
at  any  point  above  mean  tide  level  that  it  was  adopted 
as  the  course  of  the  Dee  and  Mersey  Canal  (now  the 
Shropshire  Union),  when  this  waterway  was  made  in 
1806.  It  passes  by  Stoke,  Croughton,  Chorlton.  Back- 
ford,  and  the  two  Mollingtons.  At  Chorlton,  Coghall, 
and  other  points  the  soil  has  been  examined,  and  two 
or  three  feet  belov/  the  surface  the  same  grey  sea  sand 
as  is  found  in  the  reclaimed  parts  of  the  Dee  estuary  is 
reached.  (See  Ormerod's  "  History  of  Cheshire  "  (1819), 
vol.  2,  p.  351 .)  In  the  gravel  sides  of  the  valley,  quantities 
of  sea  shells  have  been  found.  Speed's  Map  of  1610, 
and  three  other  m.aps  which  may  be  seen  at  the  Chester 
Free  Library,  show  a  continuous  river  between  the 
Mersey  and  Dee  along  this  valley,  though  it  is  possible 
that  this  is  a  cartographer's  error.  But  an  examination 
by  the  writer  upon  two  occasions  showed  that  the 
watershed  is  only  very  slightly  above  the  levels  on 
either  side.  Except  at  the  Dee  and  Mersey  extremities 
there  are  no  canal  locks,  and  the  combined  fall  of  these 
locks  scarcely  exceeds  that  of  the  difference  between 
high  and  low  water  of  a  spring  tide. 


120 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 


ANCIENT  COURSE 
OF  MERSEY 


REFERENCE 

ESTiriATED  COAST  LINE  (ROMAN  PERIOD)  ■ 


? ! i ?     ^^ 


Fig.  23.— Estimated  Coast-line  in  2nd  Century- 

When  the  mainland  extended  far  out  into  the  Irish 
Sea,  probably  as  far  as  the  Isle  of  Man  itself,  and  this  in 
fairly  recent  geological  times,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
the  drainage  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  meres 
was  towards  the  south-east.  The  river  gorges  filled  with 
stones  and  drift  of  unquestionably  northern  origin,  at 
Ironbridge  in  Shropshire,  and  at  Rudyard  in  Stafford- 
shire,  form  strong  evidence  that  this  was  the  case. 

Lord  Avebury,  in  his  "Scenery  of  England,"  says 
in  explanation  of  the  many  changes  in  river  courses 
which  are  known  to  have  taken  place,  that  "  In  times  of 
flood  a  river  may  form  a  new  channel  and  find  it  easier 
to  maintain  than  the  old  channel."     It  is  possible  also, 


THE  MERSEY  ESTUARY  AND  LIVERPOOL  BAY.        121 

but  this  is  a  mere  conjecture,  that  the  subsidence  at 
the  sea  end  of  the  Wirral  was  greater  than  at  the  east 
end  of  the  Wirral.  It  is  worthy  of  note  also  that  some  of 
the  tributaries  of  the  Mersey  below  Ellesmere  port 
and  Garston  flow  from  a  direction  contrary  to  that 
in  which  the  Mersey  now  finds  its  way  to  the  sea.  This 
is  an  exception  to  an  almost  universal  rule  that  a  main 
stream  and  its  tributaries  come  together  at  an  acute 
angle.  It  would  seem  that  when  these  side  valleys 
were  formed  the  main  stream  flowed  (south-east  of 
Wallasey  Pool,  &c.)  in  a  direction  opposite  to  that  which 
it  takes  to-day.  Bromborough  Pool  and  Wallasey  Pool 
are  examples,  amongst  others,  of  drowned  river  valleys. 

There  is  a  strong  presumption  that  sea  wear  in  the 
apex  of  Liverpool  Bay  and  a  continuing  general  subsi- 
dence of  the  land  were  the  two  factors  which  finally 
caused  the  Mersey  to  forsake  its  old  course  across 
Cheshire  and  to  make  a  direct  connection  with  the  sea 
by  its  present  outlet.  This  course  it  had  pretty  certainly 
flowed  along  prior  to  the  last  elevation  of  the  land  a  few 
thousands  of  years  ago. 

Mr.  Mellard  Reade  predicted  that  this  pre-glacial  bed 
would  be  found  slightly  to  the  north  of,  and  at  a  deeper 
level  than,  its  present  bed.  This  forecast  was  verified 
when  the  Mersey  Tunnel  was  bored  in   1886. 

But  the  late  Mr.  Lomas,  a  Lecturer  on  Geology  for 
25  years  at  Liverpool  University,  was  of  opinion  that  the 
general  slope  of  the  underlying  new  red  sandstone  was 
inconsistent  with  the  belief  that  this  was  the  Mersey's 
exit  in  more  distant  geological  times. 

Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins  thinks  that  the  course  of 
the  Mersey  was,  at  some  period,  in  the  direction  of  the 
present  Ribble  estuary.  Borings  made  at  Runcorn, 
St.  Helens,  and  slightly  north  of  Ormskirk  have  shown 
the  new  red  sandstone  to  be  over  100  feet  lower  at  these 
points  than  it  is  found  to  be  between  Liverpool  and 
Birkenhead.  A  boring  at  Burscough  station  showed  the 
sandstone  at  a  depth  of  as  much  as  240  feet,  which  may 


122  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

well  mark  the  course  of  a  deeply  cut  river  bed.     (See 
Brit.  Assoc.  Handbook  for  1896.) 

But  this  is  a  question  altogether  distinct  from  that  of 
the  Mersey's  course  to  the  sea  in  more  recent  times. 
On  this  point  Mr.  Joseph  Lomas,  the  authority  referred 
to  above,  wrote  in  a  letter  to  the  present  writer  : 
"  I  think  it  is  highly  probable  that  the  Mersey 
**  flowed  into  the  Dee  through  the  line  represented  by 
"the  Canal  from  Ellesmere  Port  to  near  Chester,  the 
"  Mersey  entering  as  a  tributary  and  draining  the  meres 
"  outside  the  Mersey  Bar." 

The  following  extracts  from  a  paper  by  the  same 
writer  (Proc,  L'pool  Geol.  Soc.  1903-4)  are  also  of  value  : 
"  The  present  course  of  the  Mersey  from  Runcorn 
to  the  sea  is  very  probably  a  case  of  post-glacial 
diversion.  The  original  exit  is  clearly  defined  from 
Ince,  across  the  southern  end  of  the  Wirral  Peninsula 
to  the  Dee.  This  line  is  in  direct  continuation  with 
the  upper  course  of  the  Mersej'.  Post-glacial  sub- 
mergence has  undoubtedly  taken  place  in  the  Mersey 
estuary,  and  is  still  in  progress.  .  .  .  Peat  exists 
some  miles  from  the  present  Mersey  mouth  ;  .  .  . 
it  is  not  conceivable  that  the  first  essential  for  the 
growth  of  peat,  which  is  obstructed  drainage,  could 
have  existed  with  the  Mersey  flowing  through  its 
present  outlet  immediately  after  the  glacial  period. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  present  estuary  and 
far  out  to  sea  was  covered  with  an  extensive  area  of 
swampy  land,  and  the  present  mouth  has  been  cut 
back  from  the  sea  in  comparatively  recent  times, 
perhaps  in  historic  times.      .  .     The  dunes  which 

fringe  the  coast  must  have  had  their  origin  since  the 
rivers  reverted  to  their  present  channels.  The  Mersey 
was  (probably)  the  last  of  the  principal  streams  to 
occupy  its  present  channel.' 

So   high   an  authority   as  the   late   Prof.   Lewis   said  : 

The  great  estuary  of  the  Mersey  has  undoubtedly  been 

produced  by  a  post-glacial  (and  probably  post-Roman) 

movement  of  depression." 

The  theory  is  not  without  its  difficulties.     Confidence 


THE  MERSEY  ESTUARY  AND  LIVERPOOL  BAY.       123 

is  not  justified  until  the  Broxton  Valley  has  been  more 
thoroughly  examined  with  the  view  to  settling  the  ques- 
tion as  to  whether  :  (a)  the  shell  remains  are  of  geologi- 
cally old  or  recent  date  ;  {b)  the  extent  and  continuity  of 
the  fluviatile  beds  ;  and  (c)  the  difficulty  presented  by  the 
slight  watershed. 

Mortimer,  in  his  "  History  of  the  Wirral,"  favours 
the  same  Vale  of  Broxton  as  the  probable  ancient  course 
of  the  Mersey.  Some  inundation  of  the  sea,  probably 
in  the  5th  century,  was,  he  believed,  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  changed  outlet.  Tradition,  he  maintained, 
also  supported  this  theory. 

Mr.  Ecroyd  Smith  (L.  &  C.  Hist.  Soc,  Vol.  8)  fixes 
on  the  date  1269  for  the  sea's  irruption  into  the  lake. 
He  writes  : — "  The  Mersey  certainly  did  not  belong  to 
the  category  of  estuaries  in  Roman  times."  Mr.  Jos. 
Boult  (Liverpool  Lit.  &  Phil.  Soc.  Vol.  XXVII.)  also 
fixes  on  the  same  date,  1269  A.D.  In  this  year  it  is  on 
record  that  Stanlaw  Abbey,  near  Ince  (between  Runcorn 
and  Ellesmere  Port)  was  overwhelmed  by  a  tidal 
inundation  which  caused  the  monks  to  remove  to 
Whalley  Abbey. 

Morton,  in  his  "  Geology  around  Liverpool  *'  (p.  279) 
wrote  :  "I  still  hold  that  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey  is  a 
"  comparatively  recent  arm  of  the  sea  and  may  have 
"  only  assumed  its  present  form  and  importance  since 
"  the  Roman  occupation."  He  thought,  however,  that 
there  must  have  been  some  stream  "  flowing  down  the 
"  centre  and  w^inding  about  the  present  mouth,  causing 
"  swamps  and  marshes."  If  subsidence  w^as  the  cause, 
the  movement,  he  thought,  ceased  about  the  1 4th 
century. 

Into  this  marshy  stream  both  the  old  Harbour  stream 
at  Liverpool  (see  later)  and  the  Cheshire  Birket  would 
fall  and,  when  the  sea  broke  through,  would  begin  to 
flow  north-west  instead  of  to  the  south-east.  In  the 
Otterspool  district  near  Liverpool  there  are  three  deeply 
cut  dingles  facing  south  where  a  1225  A.D.  map  shows 
streams  running  into  the  Mersey. 


124 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 


The  Rev.  W.  Rawson,  of  Seaforth,  has  testified  in  a 
Lancashire  &  Cheshire  Historic  Society  paper  that 
"while  the  shore  at  Seaforth  was  being  washed  away 
**  the  extremity  of  a  paved  roadway  was  undermined. 
"  As  the  stones  remained  together,  it  projected  out  Hke 
**  a  plank  for  some  weeks  "  (about   ?   1850). 

Mr.  E.  W.  Cox,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  same 
Society  (1894  vol.)  pointed  out  that  four  of  the  oldest 
roads  and  tracks  at  the  north  end  of  the  Wirral  (he  does 
not  indicate  their  exact  position)  lead  directly  to  the  sea, 
as  do  also  some  at  Crosby  and  Formby.  These  evidences 
point  to  the  Mersey  having  been  at  least  fordable  within 
the  historic  period. 

io-V2p.^(\ -~- 


Kirkhy: 

Fie-  24— South  Lancashire  Coast  in  1598. 
From  a  Harlceian  Manuscript. 

It  is  probable  that  when  the  Romans  in  the  year 
79  A.D.  marched  from  Anglesey  along  the  coast  to  the 
north  of  England  they  would  cross  the  Dee  at  the  ford 
which  Flint  Castle  was  built  to  defend,  and  would  cross 
on  foot  from  the  Wirral  to  Seaforth,  where  a  Roman  coin 
of  Vespasian's  reign  has  been  found;  thence  they  would 
march  north  through  Harkirke  (Little  Crosby),  Formby, 
Birkdale  Common,  and  Far  Banks,  at  all  of  which  places 
Roman  coins  of  this  era  also  have  been  found. 

Mr.  J.  A.  Picton,  in  a  paper  written  in  1849,  pointed 
out  that  the  Romans  had  stations  on  the  Dee  at  Chester, 
on  the  Ribble  at  Ribchester,  and  on  the  Lune  at 
Lancaster,  and  that  neither  Antoninus  nor  Tacitus  in 
their  w^ritings  ever  mention  the  Mersey.  (The  very 
significant  omission  of  the  Mersey  from  Ptolemy's,  the 
oldest  known  map  of  Britain,   is  specially  dealt  with  in 


THE  MERSEY  ESTUARY  AND  LIVERPOOL  BAY.        123 

Chapter  XVIII.)  "  We  are  irresistibly  driven  to  one  of 
"two  conclusions,"  says  Mr.  Picton,  "either  that  the 
"  Romans  display  in  reference  to  the  Mersey  an  apathy 
"  or  ignorance  which  attaches  to  them  in  no  other 
"instance,  or  that  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey  in  its 
"  present  form  did  not  exist." 

It  has  also  been  pointed  out  that  all  the  West  Coast 
rivers,  the  Conway,  Clwyd,  Dee,  Ribble,  and  Lune,  have 
Celtic  or  Cymric  names.  But  the  name  "  Mersey  "  is 
of  old  English  (post-Roman)  derivation  ;  "  Mersc,"  a 
marsh.  Baines  says  the  earliest  mention  of  the  Mersey 
is  in  a  deed  of  1004  A.D.  date.  It  first  occurs  in  Domes- 
day Book  as  "  Mersham  "  (1086).  In  modern  Dutch 
"  mersche  "  means  marsh. 

A  notable  feature  about  Liverpool  Bay  is  the  sub- 
marine forest,  of  which  plentiful  remains  in  the  form  of 
tree  stumps  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the  shores  south  of 
the  Alt  River  on  the  Lancashire  side,  and  opposite  the 
village  of  Meols  on  the  Cheshire  side.  The  tide,  as  it 
wears  into  the  sandhills  south  of  the  Alt  as  far  as  the 
coastguard  station  at  Blundellsands,  is  frequently  exposing 
fresh  tree-stumps.  The  trees  are  mostly  of  oak,  hazel, 
birch,  and  pine.  The  westward  edge  of  one  belt  of 
this  ancient  forest  has  been  traced  from  near  Hightown 
in  a  north-easterly  direction  along  a  line  between  Formby 
and  Altcar,  across  the  moss  to  Shirdley  Hill,  four  miles 
inland  from  Southport.  Big  trunks  were  found  in  a 
sewer  cutting  in  Ravensmeols  Lane,  Formby,  at  a  depth 
of  12  to  16  feet  ;  also  in  1908  near  the  corner  of  South 
Road  and  Wellington  Street,  Waterloo,  about  lOft.  deep. 
At  the  North  Docks  at  Bootle  they  were  found  35  feet 
below  high-water  level.  But  the  entire  rail  journey  from 
Bootle  to  Southport  may  be  said  to  be  made  above  the 
remains  of  either  the  ancient  forest  or  the  peat  moss, 
the  latter  extending  from  near  Formby  Point  as  far  north 
as  the  River  Douglas.  Under  the  sandhills  also,  at  most 
points,  moss  or  tree  trunks  would  be  reached  if  borings 
were  made.* 

Mr.  D.  Pennington,  of  Birkdale,  when  investigating 
in  1906  the  causes  of  the  catching  of  fishermen's  nets  on 

*  Other  authorities  state  that  the  N.W.  h'mit  of  the  peat  moss  is  along' 
a  line  south  of  Formby  village  to  Hightown  and  Seaforth. 


126 


THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 


obstructions  at  a  point  about  Ij  miles  north-west  of 
Formby  Point,  found  the  stumps  of  a  dozen  or  more 
trees  all  broken  off  about  the  same  point  from  the  bottom. 
The  area  did  not  exceed  300  yards  square. 

it  has  been  customary  for  writers  on  this  ancient 
forest  to  assign  as  the  date  when  it  was  growing,  one  of 
three  or  four  thousand  years  ago.  So  remote  a  date  is 
quite  inconsistent  with  the  evidences  collected  together 
in  this  book.  If  the  writer's  theory  of  a  recent  and 
considerable  subsidence  of  the  coast  levels  is  accepted, 
there  is  no  need  to  date  this  upper  forest  as  belonging 
to  an  earlier  period  than  that  of  Saxon  or,  at  earliest, 
Roman  times,  so  far,  at  all  events,  as  the  Alt  mouth  and 
Meols  exposures  are  concerned. 

LIVERPOOL       .-r<Tr^;^^r^-T->4i^''^'^^  ^^^^3 


"Ok!,  ^   ' 


Fig.  25 — Garston  to  Formbv>  about  1565. 
(The  word  "  Sand  "  does  not  appear  on  the  original,  a  "  Herald's  "  map). 

Underneath  these  arboreal  remains  the  Formby  clay, 
a  blue  marly  earth,  in  which  the  tree-roots  are  embedded, 
is  reached.  After  the  last  elevation  of  this  part,  the 
forest  grew,  and  the  subsidence  now  in  progress  is 
causing  the  remains  to  be  washed  away  by  the  sea  or 
covered  with  Mersey  sand  deposits.  The  levels,  when 
the  trees  were  growing,  must  have  been  at  least  30  feet 
higher  than  at  the  present  time,  but  we  need  go  no 
further  back  than  a  thousand  years  for  this  condition 
to  be  fulfilled. 

That  this  forest  was  once  continuous  across  Liverpool 
Isay  is  supported  by  tradition.     An  old  couplet  runs  : 
"  A  squirrel  could  skip  from  tree  to  tree 
From  Formby  Point  to  Hilberee  " 


THE  MERSEY  ESTUARY  AND  LIVERPOOL  BAY.        127 

' — ^off  the  Hoylake  coast.  Another  version  has  **  Birchen 
Haven  "  (Birkenhead)  and  another  one  "  Blacon  Point  ** 
instead  of  "  Formby  Point." 

The  Mersey  Docks  Board,  when  effecting  channel 
improvements  by  dredging,  found  at  a  point  nearly 
opposite  Crosby  beach  mark,  and  near  mid-channel,  peat 
and  tree  stumps  similar  in  general  appearance  to  those 
at  Leasov^e. 

When  the  Great  Crosby  sewer  was  being  made  across 
the  sandhills  to  the  River  Alt,  south  of  its  exit  on  the 
shore,  Mr.  Mellard  Reade  found  the  following  section  : — 

1 .  Brown  siliceous  sand. 

2.  Sand     stained     with      peaty      matter,      giving 

greenish  hue. 

3.  Peat  and  forest  bed  as  on  shore,   lift,  to  4ft. 

thick. 

4.  Formy  and  Leasowe  estuarine  clay  deposits  ; 

post-glacial. 

In  the  course  of  millions  of  years,  it  is  conceivable 
that  this  clay  (4)  will  have  hardened  into  the  shale  or 
fire-clay  which  is  usually  found  next  to  the  coal  beds, 
the  peat  beds  will  have  become  carbonised  into  coal, 
and  the  sand  hardened  into  sandstone. 

Mr.  Mellard  Reade  testified  before  the  Coast  Erosion 
Commission,  in  1906,  to  a  loss  of  land  of  about  44  inches 
per  annum  in  43  years  along  a  third  of  the  Great  Crosby 
coast,  and  a  gain  of  about  the  same  amount  along  the 
other  two-thirds.  At  the  Green,  Blundellsands,  the 
high-water  mark  receded  46  feet  between  1866  and  1909. 
In  recent  years  erosion  has  increased  considerably  along 
a  section  of  about  a  mile  in  length  opposite  Hall  Road. 
A  considerable  area  of  the  ancient  peaty  soil  extending 
for  half  a  mile  north  of  the  North  inner  measured  mile 
mark,  has  been  uncovered  and,  in  part,  washed  away. 
In  this  soil  many  tree  trunks  have  been  disclosed,  whilst 
further  north,  near  the  Alt  exit,  few,  where  there  were 
formerly  many,  are  now  to  be  seen.  The  Alt  river  is 
periodically  deflected  landwards  after  leaving  the  sand- 
hills, and  is  largely  responsible  for  the  constant  eating 
into  the  sandhills.  The  fixing  of  its  course  would  repay 
a  considerable  expenditure. 


128  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

Speed's  1610  map  shows  a  well-marked  bay  between 
Bank  Hall  and  the  modern  Blundellsands,  running  inland 
to  about  the  site  of  Seaforth  (L.  &  Y.)  station.  In  1815 
hundreds  of  tree  stumps  could  be  seen  here,  and  some 
of  these  remained  until  about  1866.  Mersey  deposits 
doubtless  account  for  the  filling  up  of  this  bay. 

One  of  the  most  convincing  evidences  of  recent 
subsidence  in  the  Mersey  estuary  was  the  finding  in  1845, 
in  the  making  of  a  railway  from  Birkenhead  station  to 
the  docks,  of  a  massive  wooden  bridge,  presumably  of 
Roman  construction,  at  a  depth  which  testified  to  a  fall 
of  the  land  of  at  least  30  to  40  feet,  possibly  more,  since 
the  time  when  it  was  built.  It  consisted  of  four  lines 
of  oak  beams  in  three  spans,  with  rock  abutments, 
100  feet  long  and  23  feet  wide.  The  level  of  the  roadw^ay 
was  no  less  than  14  to  15  feet  below  the  level  of  high 
tides,  and  was  found  covered  with  river  silt.  The  site 
was  at  Bridge-end,  south  of  Wallasey  Pool,  and  the 
bridge  spanned  a  small  tributary  stream  from  the  south. 
The  discovery  was  fully  described  by  the  Rev.  E.  Massey 
in  a  paper  read  before  the  Chester  Archaeological 
Society.  (See  Proc,  1850  volume.  Also  Lane.  &  Ches. 
Hist.  Soc.   1894  vol.) 

Other  but  less  definite  evidences  of  subsidence  may 
be  cited  in  the  fact  that  the  Mersey  at  Runcorn  Gap  was 
once  easily  fordable  at  low  water  ;  a  paved  road  was 
found  near  Eastham  in  the  course  of  the  Ship  Canal 
excavations,  18  feet  below^  the  surface  ;  and  several 
canoes  were  found  at  other  points,  all  at  a  depth  of  12  to 
25  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  land  and  10  to  15  feet 
below  the  water  level. 

The  extreme  range  of  the  tides  at  Liverpool  is 
exceptionally  wide,  the  difference  between  high  and  low 
water  on  the  occasion  of  a  high  spring  tide  being  as 
much  as  34  feet,  and  at  neap  tides  about  1 1  feet.  The 
highest  H.W.  on  record  in  recent  years  was  24ft.  6in. 
above  the  local  datum.  Old  Dock  Sill,  or  29ft.  2in.  above 
O.D.  This  was  on  November  26th.  1905.  The  direction 
of  the  wind  and  the  height  of  the  barometer  are  every- 
where important  modifying  factors.      Continued   north- 


THE  MERSEY  ESTUARY  AND  LIVERPOOL  BAY.       129 

easterly  winds  will  lower  the  high-water  mark  by  several 
feet.  An  increased  barometric  pressure  of  one  inch  will 
depress  the  level  of  the  water  by  about  a  foot. 

Ordnance  datum  (O.D.)  in  Great  Britain  was  settled 
on  observations  n>ade  at  Liverpool  in  1844,  of  mean  sea 
level  in  a  month  of  that  year.  A  British  Association 
Committee  found  that  this  level  varied.  At  that  period 
it  stood  5ft.  above  the  old  Dock  Sill.  The  level  of  the 
filled-up  dock  sill  is  preserved  on  the  river  face  of  the 
centre  pier  of  the  entrance  to  Canning  Dock. 

The  highest  rise  of  a  spring  tide  on  the  West  Coast 
is  at  Barrow  :  28ft.  Other  rises  are  :  Blackpool,  25-i-ft.; 
Preston,  17ft.;  Beaumaris,  23ift.  ;  and  Barmouth  and 
Aberystwyth   141ft. 

In  1687  incoming  vessels  were  partly  unloaded  at 
Hoylake  until  lightened,  to  be  able  to  complete  the 
voyage  to  Liverpool.  It  was  not  until  1839  that  the 
present  Queen's  and  Crosby  Channel  began  to  be  almost 
exclusively  used  as  an  entrance  to  the  Mersey,  the  Rock 
Channel  along  the  Cheshire  north  coast  and  the  Formby 
Channel  along  the  north-east  of  the  estuary,  being 
gradually  abandoned. 

The  powerful  dredgers  built  by  the  Mersey  Harbour 
Board  and  emploj'^ed  in  dredging  in  and  about  the 
estuary  since  1890  have  greatly  facilitated  access  to 
Liverpool.  The  "  Leviathan,"  the  largest  of  these  steam 
dredgers,  can  fill  itself  with  10,000  tons  of  sand  (180,000 
cubic  feet)  in  50  minutes  from  a  depth  of  70  feet. 

In  1890  the  depth  at  the  bar,  13  miles  from  the 
landing  stage,  was  1  1  feet  at  l.w.  of  spring  tides  ;  in  1912 
it  was  32  feet  ;  whilst  the  Queen's  channel  had  been 
widened  to  over  520  yards  between  the  three-fathom 
contours. 

As  the  erosion  of  Taylor's  Bank  had  been  causing 
an  increasing  acuteness  in  the  bend  of  the  Crosby 
Channel,  a  revetment  wall,  or  line  of  large  loose  stones, 
was  in  1909-10  deposited  at  the  south  edge  of  the  bank 
for  a  distance  of  2h  miles.  This  has  proved  a  successful 
remedy,  and  the  very  serious  erosion  of  the  north  side 
of  the  channel  has  been  stopped,  as  well  as  the  conse- 


130  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

quent  advancement  northwards  of  the  Askew  Spit. 

Liverpool  can  now  claim  to  be  the  first  port  in  the 
kingdom.  Before  the  great  war  it  could  claim  to  own 
one-third  of  the  United  Kingdom's  shipping  and  a 
seventh  of  the  world's  total  shipping.  One-third  of  the 
exports  of  the  United  Kingdom  passed  through  it. 

The  earliest  mention  is  as  "  Lieurpul  "  in  a  *'  Pipe- 
roll  "of  1 190-4  date  ;  "  Leofhure's  Pool  "  is  the  original 
form,  according  to  Wild  and  Hirst.  Llyfr-pwll,  a  Celtic 
possible  original,  has  also  been  suggested. 

A  village  or  hamlet,  then  dependent  on  Walton,  had 
sprung  up  by  the  little  creek  or  pool  which  ran  back 
from  the  Mersey  shore  where  now  the  Custom  House 
stands.  King  John  began  to  give  attention  to  the  Mersey, 
probably  through  the  silting  up  of  Chester.  In  1207  he 
offered  special  privileges  to  those  who  would  settle  at 
Liverpool.  The  creek  formed  a  natural  harbour  and 
w^as  used  as  such  for  five  or  six  centuries.  The  "  Pool  " 
extended  from  the  Custom  House,  which  stands  on  the 
site  of  the  old  flood-gates,  to  Canning  Place,  Paradise 
Street,  Whitechapel,  and  as  far  as  the  old  Haymarket. 
The  remains  of  an  old  bridge  which  once  spanned  this 
stream  were  disclosed  during  excavations  under  the 
premises  at  the  corner  of  Whitechapel  and  Church  Street. 
Here  was  a  ferry  as  late  as  1680.  The  first  seven  streets 
were  Whitacre  (now  Oldhall)  Street,  Jugler  Street  (later 
High  Street,  which  ran  across  the  Exchange  Flags), 
Castle  Street,  Chapel  Street,  Moor  (now  Tithebarn) 
Street,  Bank  (now  Water)  Street,  and  Dale  Street,  which 
crossed  the  head  of  the  pool  by  a  bridge. 

In  1565,  12  vessels  were  registered  as  belonging  to 
Liverpool,  the  largest  being  of  40  tons.  The  house- 
holders in  1561  numbered  only  151.  Chester  was  greatly 
superior  alike  in  wealth  and  population. 

By  1586  the  customs  dues  of  Liverpool  were  jQ212. 
This  exceeded  those  of  the  three  rival  ports  of  Chester, 
Conway,  and  Beaumaris,  all  combined.  Chester 
struggled  long  for  its  ancient  right  to  control  its  rising 
rival.  In  one  early  document  Liverpool  is  described  as 
*'  a  creek  in  the  port  of  Chester."     The  fight  was  settled 


132  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

in  favour  of  Liverpool  in  1658,  when  Chester's  control 
was  shaken  off.  Wallasey  in  the  middle  of  the  17th 
century  was  another  of  Liverpool's  rivals. 

Liverpool  Castle,  which  had  been  built  400  years 
earlier  on  w^hat  v/as  called  "  ye  rocke  above  ye  towne,  " 
was  demolished  soon  after  1660.  The  Queen  Victoria 
Memorial  now  occupies  part  of  the  site. 

The  rise  to  any  importance  of  Liverpool  as  a  port 
dates  from  the  Great  Fire  of  London  in  1666.  The  first 
Liverpool  dock  was  opened  in  1715.  It  was  the  first  of 
its  kind  in  England.  Dock  gates  at  the  junction  of  the 
Whitechapel  stream  with  the  Mersey  enclosed  the  pool, 
forming  a  harbour  on  the  site  now^  occupied  by  the 
Custom  House  at  the  foot  of  South  Castle  Street. 

The  Salthouse  dock  and  pier,  close  to  the  entrance 
to  the  pool  on  its  north  side,  were  completed  in  1753. 
The  old  dock  was  closed  in  1826,  and  the  Custom  House 
being  built  on  the  site,  the  last  remnant  of  the  old  pool 
became  a  thing  only  of  history. 

In  1762  a  ferry  was  established  between  Liverpool 
and  Eastham,  where  a  coach  met  the  boat  and  conveyed 
passengers  to  Chester  or  Parkgate  and  Wales.  In  1815 
the  first  steamboat  appeared  on  the  Mersey  and  plied 
between  Liverpool  and  Runcorn,  at  that  time  a  favourite 
holiday  and  bathing  resort.  Runcorn  Castle,  built  in 
916  A.D.,  was  the  oldest  known  building  on  the  Mersey. 
EUesmere  Port  was  another  little  pleasure  resort, 
consisting  of  an  hotel  and  six  small  cottages.  In  1838 
the  first  steamboat  crossed  the  Atlantic  from  Liverpool 
to  New  York,  taking  19  days  for  the  voyage. 

Toxteth  Park  appears  in  various  spellings  in  the 
oldest  maps  of  the  Liverpool  district.  It  is  a  surviving 
reminder  of  the  time  when,  according  to  Domesday 
Book,  forests  stood  outside  Liverpool  in  the  parishes  of 
Little  Woolton,  Childwall,  Roby,  Knowsley,  Kirby, 
Melling,  Lydiate,  MaghuU,  Aughton,  and  Lathom.  Ince 
Blundell,  w^hich  means  Blundell  Island,  may  have  been 
an  island  prior  to  the  last  elevation  of  land.  The  same 
can  be  said  of  the  high  ground  at  New  Brighton  and 
Bidston,  on  the  Cheshire  side. 


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134  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

The  south  side  of  the  estuary  below  Eastham  is 
bounded  by  New  Red  Sandstone  cliffs,  which  suffer  only 
very  slowly  by  erosion.  That  part  of  the  Bromborough 
district  which  is  bordered  by  the  Pool  on  the  north  and 
the  Mersey  on  the  east  is  undergoing  considerable 
wastage.  South-east  of  Price's  Candle  Works  an  average 
erosion  of  I  ft.  per  annum  is  reported. 

Woodside  Ferry  is  amongst  the  very  oldest  of  Mersey 
institutions,  dating  back  to  1282  A.D.  But  Birkenhead  in 
everything  but  its  name — Birchen  or  Birken  Haven  was 
the  original  form — and  its  ancient  Priory,  is  ultra  modern. 
In  1821  it  numbered  only  21  houses.  Fine  old  trees 
then  bordered  the  river,  as  at  Eastham  to-day,  whilst 
numerous  windmills  dotted  the  Lancashire  side.  At 
this  time  Rock  Ferry  was  a  resort  much  in  favour  with 
the  wealthy. 

Pluckington  Bank,  so  long  an  obstruction  to  river 
traffic,  took  its  name  from  William  Pluckington,  who 
lived  in  1690  near  the  site  of  Salthouse  dock. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


The  Riddle  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Sandhills. 

It  is  advisable  to  make  a  break  in  the  hitherto- 
followed  geographical  order  in  order  to  focus  attention, 
whilst  the  main  facts  about  the  Lancashire  Coast  changes 
are  fresh  in  the  reader's  mind,  upon  the  problem  which 
the  writer  of  these  chapters  originally  set  out  to  endea- 
vour to  solve.  The  problem  was  not  only  to  explain 
why  the  Lancashire  coast  south  of  Blackpool  is  steadily 
gaining  upon  the  sea  whilst  the  Cheshire  sea  front  is,  at 
most  points,  as  steadily  losing  by  the  sea's  advance,  but 
also  to  determine  why  at  some  earlier  period,  but 
probably  within  historic  times,  there  are  strong  reasons 
for  suspecting  that  the  Cheshire  coast  was  gaining  upon 
the  sea  whilst  on  the  Lancashire  section  the  coast  was 
at  some,  if  not  all,  points  being  encroached  upon. 
Obviously  some  drastic  change  must  have  taken  place 
to  have  caused  such  a  marked  reversal.  It  was  not  until 
after  some  years  of  observing  and  reflecting  that  the 
writer  began  to  wonder  whether  such  eminent  geological 
authorities  as  Mr.  T.  Mellard  Reade,  F.G.S.,  Mr.  Clement 
Reid,  F.R.S.,  Prof.  W.  Boyd  Dawkins,  and  other  writers 
of  established  repute,  could  have  been  mistaken  in  the 
belief  which  they  all  assumed  to  be  true  that  there  had 
been  no  change  in  the  land  levels  on  these  coasts 
within  the  historic  period  and  as  far  back  as  Neolithic 
times,  about  3500  or  more  years  ago. 

Ml  Joseph  Lomas.  of  Liverpool  University,  had 
certainly  given  definite  hints  in  one  of  his  pamphlets 
of  the  scepticism  which  came  to  possess  the  mind  of 
the  writer  when  he  (the  writer)  came  to  realise  the 
significance   of  certain  well-attested  evidences  of  subsi- 


136  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

dence  such  as"the  position  of  the  uncovered  bridge  near 
Wallasey  Pool,  and  of  the  Pennystone  on  the  Norbreck 
shore.  Taking  up  the  subsidence  idea  at  first  as  a  mere 
hypothesis,  he  was  struck  with  the  number  of  problems 
which  he  had  encountered,  especially  on  the  coast  of 
Wales,  which  yielded  to  it  like  a  difficult  lock  to  its  true 
key.  He  then  began  to  make  searches  under  the  sea 
for  direct  evidences  of  this  general  fall  of  the  land  which, 
there  now  remains  no  reasonable  doubt,  has  taken  place 
along  the  whole  of  the  coast  which  he  has  examined, 
from  Morecambe  Bay  to  Cardigan  Bay.  In  the  light  of 
so  many  direct  proofs  of  subsidence  as  are  pointed  out 
in  most  of  the  sectional  chapters  of  this  book,  it  w^ould 
appear  that  the  geology  of  these  coasts  should  now  be 
re-wrifcten . 

The  most  important  consequence  of  this  continuing 
subsidence  has  been  to  cause  the  River  Mersey  to  find  a 
direct  way  to  the  sea  along  its  present  course,  and  to 
forsake  its  presumable  former  course  along  the  Broxton 
Valley  from  Ellesmere  Port  to  the  Dee  below  Chester, 
which  it  probably  took  down  to  anywhere  between  400 
and  800  A.D. 

This  explanation  of  the  facts  as  described  in  detail  in 
the  preceding  chapter  is  the  only  one  as  yet  put  forward 
which  satisfactorily  accounts  for  the  contrary  tendencies 
of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  coasts  to  advance  and 
recede  (south  of  Blackpool). 

The  source  of  the  many  cubic  miles  of  sand  which 
line  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  coasts,  it  is  easy  to 
demonstrate,  is  the  Pennine  range  of  hills.  It  is  a  safe 
axiom  tTiat  the  sea  gives  nothing  to  the  land  which  it 
has   not    itself    shortly   before    received    from   the    land. 

Mr.  Joseph  Lomas  has  stated  :  "  I  know  of  no  dunes 
"  except  where  estuaries  exist,  and  the  river  must  first 
"of  all  bring  down  sand  and  form  banks  before  it  can 
"  be  blown  inland.  Rivers  deposit  matter  from  their 
'  upper  reaches,  and  not  from  the  low  ground  through 
"  which  they  flow  in  the  later  portions  of  their  course." 

Of  the  contributing  rivers,  the  Mersey  is  by  so  much 
the   most   important   that  the   Ribble   and   Dee   may  be 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  SANDHILLS.  137 

considered  as  almost  negligable.  The  Ribble  drains 
390  square  miles  of  boulder  clay  country,  interspersed 
with  patches  of  millstone-grit,  which  is  quarried  at 
Longridge,  Barrowford,  Wilpshire,  Cborley,  and  else- 
where. Triassic  sandstone  of  a  later  age  is  also  quarried 
at  Barrow,  Samlesbury,  and  elsewhere.  The  Dee  drains, 
in  the  main,  hard  rock  of  Cambrian  and  Silurian  forma- 
tions, which  yield  little  sand.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  Lake  district  rivers  which  drain  into  Morecambe 
Bay. 

The  Peak  of  Derbyshire  and  adjacent  parts  of  the 
Pennine  Range  are  the  practically  sole  sources  of  supply 
of  the  South  Lancashire  coastal  sands.  The  Peak  is 
about  2000  feet  in  height,  the  highest  and  most  remark- 
able table  land  in  South  Britain.  Its  upper  surface  is 
wholly  composed  of  millstone  grit,  which  is  for  the  most 
part  buried  under  a  thick  mantle  of  peat.  From  out  of 
the  deeply-furrowed  sides  of  the  Peak  and  the  Southern 
Pennines  the  Goyt,  the  Etherow,  the  Cart,  the  Irwell,  the 
Roach,  and  many  lesser  tributaries,  are  continually 
carrying  down  material  to  the  sea. 

Over  a  hundred  of  microscopic  examinations,  by  Mr. 
Lomas,  of  the  sand  grains  on  the  coast  and  the  grits  of 
the  Pennines  proved  conclusively,  by  the  identity  of  the 
seven  or  eight  constituent  kinds  of  grains,  that  they  are 
of  the  same  formations.  From  50  to  700  feet  in  thickness 
still  remain  of  the  higher  parts  of  Kinder  Scout,  Black- 
stone  Edge,  Ingleborough,  Penyghent,  and  Whernside 
to  be  denuded. 

In  many  of  the  valleys  of  these  hills  exposed  sections 
of  sandstone  or  grits  may  be  seen,  and  on  the  opposite 
sidesithe  correspondingsection.  Obviously  the  two  sections 
were  once  connected,  and  the  right  answer  to  the 
question  as  to  where  has  all  this  material  vanished  to,  is 
found  in  the  sandhill  ranges  which  line  the  coasts.  It 
may  be  stated  with  confidence  that  the  site  of  the  since- 
uplifted  Pennine  range  formed,  in  the  Carboniferous 
epoch,  a  shore  line  near  the  mouth  of  a  great  river 
draining  high  lands  in  the  north  of  Ireland  and  further 
west,  and  that  each  separate  grain  was  laid  down  in  that 


138  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

unthinkably  distant  past  in  precisely  the  same  way  as 
oui  shore  sands  are  to-day  being  removed  and  carried 
down  by  frost,  rain,  and  wind  agencies. 

If  the  Mersey  tributaries  drained  soluble  strata,  like 
the  Wealden  clays  and  chalks  of  the  Thames  basin,  the 
coastal  sandhills  would  be  on  as  small  a  scale  as  the 
mounds  at  the  mouth  of  the  Thames. 

The  soluble  clay  which  comes  down  the  Ribble  to  a 
calculated  extent  of  400,000  tons  a  year  is  deposited 
almost  wholly  north-east  of  Southport  and  east  of 
Lytham.  Some  clay  also  comes  down  the  Mersey,  Alt, 
and  Dee  rivers,  thin  deposits,  mostly  covered  by  sand, 
occurring  on  the  Crosby  and  Ravensmeols  coasts.  Two 
hundred  years  ago  the  river  front  of  Liverpool  was  a 
sloping  bank  of  mud  or  silt. 

Commander  Denham,  F.R.S.,  has  left  on  record 
observations  which  he  made  about  1836.  He  found  that 
there  was  carried  through  the  mile-wide  section  of  the 
Mersey  above  New  Brighton,  with  each  flood  tide, 
330,989  cubic  yards  of  matter  in  solution  (or  29  cubic 
inches  per  cubic  yard)  and  379,054  cubic  yards  (or 
33  cubic  inches  per  cubic  yard)  with  the  ebb  tide.  The 
excess  of  48,065  cubic  yards  (or  4  cubic  inches  per  cubic 
yard)  on  the  ebb,  was  due  mainly,  if  not  wholly,  to  the 
natural  processes  of  erosion  in  the  higher  reaches  of 
the  Mersey  feeders.  This  excess  would  suffice  to 
annually  cover  the  64  square  miles  of  Liverpool  Bay  with 
a  depth  of  21  inches.  But  fully  a  third.  Commander 
Denham  believed,  was  carried  outside  this  area.  It 
ought  to  be  stated  that  other  observations,  by  Mr.  G.  F. 
Deacon  in  1885  and  Captain  G.  Hill,  throw  some  doubt 
on  these  findings  of  Commander  Denham's.  Were 
similar  testings  made  to-day,  different  results  would 
doubtless  be  obtained  owing  to  the  diverting  of  the 
Mersey,  above  Rixton,  into  the  Manchester  Ship  Canal. 
Much  of  the  Mersey  sand  now  lodges  there  and  is 
removed  by  dredgers. 

The  matter  now  removed  by  the  estuary  dredgers 
and  dumped  on  the  outer  edges  of  the  Liverpool  Bay 
banks  is  partly  brought  back  by  the  following  flood-tide^ 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  SANDHILLS.  139 

the  rest  being  carried  north  into  the  Ribble  estuary 
and  as  far  as  Blackpool.  Except  during  north  or  north- 
easterly gales,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  the  sand  is  thrown 
on  to  the  Cheshire  coast.  The  twice-a-day  main  tidal 
current  which  sweeps  up  St.  George's  Channel  round 
Anglesey,  and  then  along  the  Lancashire  coast,  carries 
the  Mersey  deposits  almost  entirely  in  one  direction, 
towards  the  north.  The  main  current  turns  north-west 
opposite  the  Rossall  coast  and  meets  the  tidal  current 
which  comes  round  the  north  of  Ireland  at  a  part  a  few 
miles  eastward  of  the  north  end  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 
The  resulting  comparative  stationariness  is  responsible 
for  the  deposit  of  the  tidal  suspended  matter  where  the 
Bahama  bank  has  formed.  The  increasing  shallowness 
of  the  Irish  Sea  at  this  point  forms  a  danger  to  shipping, 
and  the  Bahama  floating  light  is  a  sign  and  warning  of 
the  danger.  From  this  point  the  main  current  turns  on 
the  ebb  to  the  south,  passing  eastward  of  the  Calf  of 
Man.  The  ebbing  tide  sets  out  of  Liverpool  Bay  directly 
towards  the  south-west  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 

In  proof  of  the  constant  northward  drift  off  the 
Mersey  two  facts  may  be  cited.  When  the  Isle  of  Man 
steamer,  the  "  Elian  Vannin,"  sank  in  a  gale  in  the 
Mersey  Channel  a  few  years  ago,  every  one  of  the 
drowned  bodies  was  found  on  the  shores  north  of  the 
scene  of  the  disaster.  The  body  of  Colonel  Gerard, 
who  was  drowned  off  Southport  in  1822,  was  found  on 
Cockerham  Sands,   some  miles  north  of  Fleetwood. 

This  important  tidal  current  fact  will  help  to  make 
clear  the  writer's  explanation  of  the  steady  wearing  back 
of  the  Cheshire  coast.  If  the  Mersey  prior  to  about 
1400  years  ago,  after  entering  the  Garston-Ellesmere- 
Runcorn  lake,  flowed  across  the  Wirral  into  the  Dee  by 
the  Broxton  Valley,  carrying  its  heavy  burden  of  sand 
down  the  Dee  estuary  and  out  to  sea,  it  would  be  thrown 
back,  in  the  main,  on  to  the  Cheshire  coast,  and  in  a 
lesser  degree  on  to  the  Flintshire  and  Formby  coasts. 
It  is  well  known  that  conditions  at  some  early  period 
favoured  accumulation  on  the  Cheshire  coast,  the  sand- 
hill ranges  having  once  been  on  a  probably  much  greater 


140  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

scale  than  they  are  on  the  Lancashire  coast  to-day.  Any 
satisfactory  theory  must  account  for  the  change  from 
accretion  to  the  erosion  which  has  been  in  progress  since 
records  have  been  made.  As  to  the  seaward  point  to 
which  the  Cheshire  coast  extended  even  400  years  ago 
estimates  vary  from  li  to  4  miles  beyond  the  coast  line 
of  to-day. 

If  the  changed  Mersey's  course  to  the  sea  is  a  correct 
assumption,  the  Cheshire  coast  would  be  bound  to 
become  subject  to  erosion  after  the  Liverpool-Birkenhead 
channel  had  been  formed.  All  accreting  tendencies  on 
the  Cheshire  sea-board  must  obviously,  after  this  change, 
have  ceased.  Erosion  and  subsidence  combined  finally 
necessitated  the  building  of  the  Leasowe  stone  embank- 
ment in  1829  by  the  Wallasey  Embankment  Commis- 
sioners, a  specially-formed  authority,  in  order  to  prevent 
the  flooding  at  high  tides  of  the  low-lying  land  of  the 
Birket  Valley.  This  embankment  extends  for  over  two 
miles  south-westward  of  Leasowe  Castle,  having  been 
extended  in  1844,  1856.  and  also  in  more  recent  years. 
This  erosion  of  the  Cheshire  sandhill  margin  still 
continues.  In  the  80  years  ending  1903  a  width  of  nearly 
200  yards  of  sandhills  had  disappeared  at  the  Leasowe 
end  of  the  range.  Eastward  of  this  point  the  erosion 
continues  as  far  as  Harrison  Drive,  Wallasey. 

Another  significant  fact  is  the  wasting  away  of  a  large 
part  of  the  great  Hoyle  Bank,  which  Collins*  map  of 
1687  shows  to  have  then  stretched  across  the  mouth  of 
the  Dee,   13  miles  in  length  by  3i  in  width. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  accretion  on  the  Lancashire 
coast  between  the  .Alt  river  and  South  Shore,  Blackpool, 
is  proceeding  at  a  rate  unexampled,  except  in  the  Wash 
on  the  East  coast,  round  the  British  Isles.  The  rise  of  the 
St.  Annes  to  Blackpool  shore  and  the  pushing  back  of 
the  low-water  mark  until  the  Blackpool  Victoria  Pier  end 
stands  now  high  and  dry  about  300  yds.  above  L.W. 
mark,  is  unquestionably  due  to  Mersey  sand,  and  only 
in  a  small  degree  to  any  from  the  nearer  Ribble. 

On  the  South  Lancashire  coast  the  very  recent 
enormous  extension   of  the  sandhills  plainly  calls  for  a 


THE  RIDDLE  OF  THE  SANDHILLS.  Ml 

theory  which  embodies  some  recent  disturbing  factor. 

In  a  paper  read  at  the  British  Association  Meeting 
in  1903,  Mr.  Lomas  expressed  the  opinion  that,  400  years 
ago,  there  were  no  sandhills  on  this  coast.  This  may 
riot  be  a  strictly  accurate  statement,  but  the  patches 
which  Peck  refers  to  as  existing  on  the  North  Meols 
(Southport)  coast  in  Queen  Ehzabeths  reign,  and  which 
doubtless  account  for  the  names  Raven  Meols  and  North 
Meols,  would  no  doubt  exist  on  a  very  limited  scale. 
For  centuries  the  sand  was  blown  inland  in  a  promiscuous 
sort  of  way  until  a  remedy  w^as  found  in  the  planting  of 
star  grass,  which  will  be  dealt  w^ith  in  the  next  chapter. 

Mr.  Robert  Gladstone,  whose  opinion  carries  weight, 
is  of  the  opinion  that  a  great  deal  of  land  was  overblown 
by  sand  during  and  after  the  period  of  the  Black  Death 
(1349).  Depletion  of  labour,  in  his  judgment,  had  the 
same  effect  in  the  hindering  of  preventive  measures 
being  taken  as  happened  during  the  recent  great  war. 
when  all  planting  of  starr  grass  was  suspended. 

Since  the  intercepting  and  binding  effects  of  star 
grass  have  begun  to  operate,  the  extension  of  the  hills 
on  to  the  shore  has  gone  on  at  a  surprisingly  rapid  rate, 
especially  where  the  conditions  are  favourable,  as,  for 
example,  outside  the  Esplanade  at  Birkdale,  where 
measurements  taken  by  the  writer  show  a  seaward 
extension  of  about  8  yards  a  year.  At  this  rate  200  years 
would  suffice  for  the  setting  up  of  ranges  a  mile  in  width. 

As  the  sandhill  range  nowhere  exceeds  one  and  a-half 
miles  in  width,  three  or  four  centuries,  at  the  outside, 
would  amply  account  for  the  extent  to  which  they  exist 
to-day. 

All  the  available  maps  seem  to  show  that  the 
sandhills  have  grown  from  south  to  north.  The  River 
Alt  appears  to  have  proved  an  obstruction.  But  after 
the  joining  up  to  the  Formby  mainland  of  the  large  bank 
which  lay  opposite  the  old  Port  of  Formby,  about  1  700, 
and  the  compulsory  planting  of  grass  roots,  the  north- 
ward extension  was  very  rapid.  171  1  is  the  date  of  the 
oldest  discoverable  lease  in  which  the  planting  of  star 
grass  was  made  obligatory.     Prior  to  1 700  almost  every 


142  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

map,  such  as  Jansson's  of  1646,  has  the  word  "moss" 
marked  on  the  strip  of  coast  from  near  Formby  Point  to 
as  far  north  as  Churchtown  (Meols).  Bowen's  map  of 
1751  shows  the  moss  shortened  at  its  southern  end  to 
about  Ainsdale.  When  we  come  to  the  Southport  district 
we  may  expect  to  find  evidences  of  hills  of  partly  Ribble 
origin,  such  as  those  long  ago  obliterated  by  drifting 
Mersey  sand,  which  probably  first  caused  the  name 
"Mele" — the  Domesday  Book  spelling — to  be  applied 
to  the  village  (now^  Churchtown)  which  represented  the 
beginnings  of  modern  Southport.  The  late  Sir  John 
Rhys  pronounced  in  favour  of  the  derivation  of  the  word 
from  a  Celtic  word  meaning  "  bald  "  or  "  bald-topped." 
In  Ireland  a  "  meyll  "  man  is  a  bald-headed  man,  and  a 
hornless  cow  is  called,  in  Manx,  a  "  meyl  "  cow.  In 
Irish,  "  Slieau  Meayl  "  means  a  bare  hill.  In  Norfolk, 
Lincolnshire,  and  in  Cumberland  sandhills  are  called 
"the  meals";  Eskmeals  stands  where  the  River  Esk 
passes  through  sandhills  to  the  sea. 

Reference  has  been  made  in  Chapter  XII.  to  the 
advance  of  the  sandhills  towards  the  sea  at  Southport  as 
shown  by  a  Bold  Estate  map  of  1736  date.  Reasoning 
by  the  aid  of  this  map  from  the  known  rate  of  extension 
back  over  the  unknown  period,  it  will  be  seen  that  we 
need  go  no  further  back  than  1636  to  account  for  the 
beginnings  of  the  hills  upon  which  Southport  came  to 
be  built,  and  which  have  now  been  almost  wholly 
covered  with  streets  and  houses. 

The  importance  of  the  Mersey  dredged  material  as 
a  source  of  supply  has  been  exaggerated  by  some  writers, 
but  the  removal  of  over  360  millions  of  tons  since 
operations  commenced  in  1890,  and  its  deposition  at  a 
part  where  the  sand  and  silt  can  be  easily  carried  north 
by  the  daily  tides,  is  a  factor  which  has  probably  tended 
to  increase  the  rate  at  which  sand  is  being  deposited  in 
the  Southport  channel  and  along  the  Lancashire  shores 
generally. 

Another  minor  factor  in  the  provision  of  sandhill 
material  is  the  disturbance  of  the  sea-floor  surface  by 
marine  boring  shell  and  other  fish.  The  material  is  thus 
Jnore  easily  acted  upon  by  tidal  currents. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Conditions  of  Sandhill  Growth. 

It  is  doubtful  if  around  the  entire  coast  of  Britain 
there  can  be  found  a  stretch  of  shore-line  where  the 
conditions  are  so  favourable  to  the  land  in  its  everlasting 
war  with  the  sea,  as  that  of  the  South  Lancashire  coast. 

The  factors  which  make  for  accretion  may  be  thus 
summarised  : — ■ 

1 .  Nearness  to  the  exits  of  rivers  which  drain  areas 

of  sandstone  and  millstone-grit. 

2.  Nearness    to    a    coast    on    the    windward    side,    as 

regards  prevailing  winds,  which  is  undergoing 
denudation. 

3.  A   wide,    flat   shore.     The   more    gradual   the  fall, 

the  greater  the  distance  between  high  and  low 
water  mark,  and  the  more  drying  time  for  the 
sand  by  wind  and  sun. 

4.  A  sandy  coast — not  of  clay,  chalk,  or  hard  rock. 

5.  Starr-grass,  or  other  vegetation. 

6.  A  coast-line  where  the  prevailing  winds  strike  the 

coast  at  an  angle  from  a  seaward  direction. 

7.  Wave-action,    breaking    up    the    surface    of    the 

beach. 

One  and  all  of  these  seven  conditions  are  present  on 
the  coast  in  question  and,  within  the  writer's  knowledge, 
nowhere  else  in  South  Britain. 

The  study  of  the  laws  which  govern  the  piling  up 
of  sand  in  hill  form  has  been  curiously  neglected  by 
most  geological  writers.  A  beginning  ma5'  be  said  to 
have  been  made  by  Mr.  Vaughan  Cornish,  F.G.S.,  who 
has  written  considerably  on  wave  motion  in  its  relation 
to    water-waves,    wind,    and    beach    ripple    marks    and 


144  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

sandhill  ranges.  One  of  his  most  interesting  discoveries 
is  that  the  same  ratio  of  length  to  height  obtains  almost 
exactly  in  all  wave  phenomena,  namely,  (1)  sandhill 
ranges,  (2)  wind  ripple  marks  on  the  surface  of  dry  coast 
or  desert  sand,  (3)  wave  ripple  marks  on  sea  beaches, 
and  (4)  wind-raised  waves  of  water.  This  ratio  differs 
only  as  1 7- 1  to  18-4  to  the  100;  in  other  words,  waves 
average  in  width  from  crest  to  crest,  and  in  depth  from 
crest  to  trough,  approximately  as  6  to   I . 

Nine-tenths  of  the  world's  coasts  being  lined  with 
sandy  beaches,  there  must  be  an  omnipresent  source  of 
supply.  The  chief  constituent  of  sand  is  quartz,  which 
is  silica  in  a  free  crystallised  state.  The  grains  have  a 
diameter  of  from  V34th  to  Vaooth  of  an  inch.  They 
have  been  originally  derived  from  igneous  rocks  by  the 
rotting  of  the  felspar  by  removal  of  the  alkalies.  The 
chemical  action  of  rain  converts  the  compound  into 
claj'^,  from  w^hich  the  quartz  is  finally  sorted  out  by  river 
action. 

Bars  at  the  mouths  of  rivers  are  due  to  the  stationari- 
ness  induced  by  the  river  current  becoming  held  up  by 
the  tidal  current,  this  being  favourable  to  the  deposit  of 
the  river-borne  suspended  matter.  The  coarser  matter, 
in  the  shape  of  small  shingle  and  coarse  grit,  is  the  first 
to  be  deposited  ;  then  sand,  and  finally  clay  muds,  which 
are  often  carried  far  out  to  sea. 

The  particular  method  by  v/hich  Nature  works  in  the 
forming  of  sandhills  may  here  be  briefly  described. 
(I)  Frosts  tend  to  split  rocks,  and  (2)  the  chemical  action 
of  rain  dissolves  the  binding  elements  in  the  rock  and 
liberates  the  quartz  or  other  insoluble  grains.  (3)  Rain 
and  rivers  carry  the  grains  to  the  sea.  (4)  Tidal  currents 
deposit  them  on  some  adjoining  coast,  usually  about 
the   time   of   high   water,    when   tidal    motion    is    at  rest. 

(5)  Wave  action  breaks  up  the  surface  of  the  shore  by 
the  fall  of  each  vs^ave,  the  result  being  a  translation  from 
low  towards  high  water  mark  of  a  larger  number  of 
grains   than    the    back-wash    of   the   wave    carries    back. 

(6)  The  drying  of  the  shore  by  sun  and  wind  agencies. 

(7)  The  lifting  of  the  dried  sand  and  its  translation  by 
high  winds  in  clouds,   to  as  much  as  12  feet  in  height. 


CONDITIONS  OF  SANDHILL  GROWTH.  145 

above   high-water  mark,  where  it  is  brought  to  rest  by 
obstructions  in  the  form  of  wreckage,  cliffs,  or  sandhills. 

It  frequently  happens  that  during  a  long  period  of 
calm  the  wind  gets  into  arrears  with  its  share  of  the 
work.  At  such  times  the  tides,  not  half  of  which 
advance  beyond  the  middle  point  between  high  and  low 
water,  accumulate  their  burden  so  as  to  form  banks 
which  are  higher  than  the  landward  half  of  the  shore. 
This  part  depends  largely  on  wind-blown  sand  to  higher 
its  level  at  the  same  rate  as  the  seaward  half  is  raised 
by  sea-borne  sand. 

Any  obstruction,  such  as  wreckage  cast  up  on  the 
shore,  may  start  not  only  a  sandhill,  but  a  new  range  of 
hills.  The  result  may  be  a  more  or  less  wide  valley 
between  the  new  range  and  the  previous  seaward  line 
of  hills.  Examples  are  common  of  valleys  thus  formed 
all  along  the  Freshfield  to  Southport  coast.  Lord  Street, 
Southport,  occupies  just  such  a  natural  hollow,  the 
original  venturers  building  well  back  from  the  chain  of 
fresh-water  pools  which  formed  along  its  entire  length. 
Hence  the  widest  thoroughfare,  and  one  of  the  hand- 
somest in  the  Empire.  These  pools  or  "  slacks  "  are 
largely  bottomed  with  sea  shells,  the  particles  of  which, 
being  mainly  composed  of  carbonate  of  lime,  help  to 
bind  the  sand  together  and  to  form  an  almost  impervious 
bottom.  For  starting  fresh  lines  of  sandhills  nothing  is 
better  than  two  brushwood  fences  fixed  parallel  with 
H.W.  mark. 

Mr.  T.  Mellard  Reade  calculated  that  about  105,000 
cubic  yards  of  sand  is  moved  every  year  by  the  wind 
on  the  sixteen  miles  of  the  South  Lancashire  coast. 
About  2600  years  would  at  this  rate  account  for  the 
entire  deposit. 

The  mean  direction  of  the  prevailing  winds,  just  S. 
of  W.,  is  well  indicated  by  the  inclination  of  the  trees 
in  unsheltered  positions  all  along  this  coast.  Twenty 
years'  hourly  records  show  that  nearly  all  the  winds  of 
sand-lifting  force  come  from  the  south-west  and  west. 
Fifteen  miles  an  hour  will  move  sand  ;  if  over  20  miles, 
the  effect  is  almost  blinding. 

The  hill  ranges  accordingly  show  a  steep  side  on  the 


146  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

W.S.W.  or  prevailing  wind  side,  whilst  on  the  leev/ard 
or  landward  side  a  long  slope  is  usually  developed. 

The  landward  limit  reached  by  drifting  sand  from 
the  shore  before  hills  had  formed  will  often  be  found  to 
be  marked  by  a  dried-up  ditch,  and  a  sudden  drop  in 
the  level  of  the  land  of  three  or  four  feet  on  the  landward 
side  of  the  ditch.  This  is  well  illustrated  in  the  higher 
elevation  of  the  blown  sand  area  all  along  the  coast 
south  of  Blowick,  at  the  rear  of  Southport,  and 
especially  near  the  Southport  Infirmary  and  the  Birkdale 
Reformatory.  The  explanation  is  that  the  sand  has 
accumulated  on  the  seaward  side  but  has  been  unable 
to  cross  what  was  once  a  running  stream.  So  that  the 
moss  remains  at  its  old  level,  and  this  has  been  further 
reduced  in  places  by  peat-cutting  for  fuel  in  pre-railway 
days. 

Among  the  most  extensive  sandhill  ranges  in  Britain 
are  those  found  on  the  north  coast  of  Cornwall,  and 
between  Nairn  and  the  River  Findhorn.  Here,  near 
Nairn,  the  entire  Barony  of  Culbin  was  destroyed  by 
sand  in  the  17th  century.  The  present  village  of 
Findhorn  is  the  third  of  that  name,  and  stands  six  miles 
west  of  the  original  village.  The  removals  have  been 
necessitated  by  advancing  sandhill  ranges. 

The  largest  sandhill  ranges  elsewhere  are  found  on 
the  Ayrshire.  Aberdeenshire,  Lincolnshire  (very  low), 
Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Cornwall,  and  Glamorganshire  (very 
high)  coasts.  On  the  Cornish  coast  they  mostly  consist 
of  shell  sand. 

Yet  when  fixed  by  vegetation,  sandhills  have  on  many 
coasts  a  high  value  as  natural  protectors  of  low-lying 
lands  from  inundation  by  the  sea.  Thanks  to  starr-grass 
also,  the  serious  losses  of  the  15th  to  17th  centuries,  due 
to  the  sand-drift  over  cultivated  land,  have  become  on 
the  Lancashire   coast  almost   wholly  things   of  the   past. 

It  was  discovered  at  an  early  date  that  the  only  way 
to  prevent  this  loss  was  to  encourage  the  growth  of 
grasses  or  trees.  Starr-grass  or  "marram,"  "sea-reed" 
or  "bent"  as  it  is  called  on  other  coasts,  has  been 
found  entirely  efficacious  on  the  Lancashire  coast.  Its 
botanical  name  (accepted  at  Kew)is  "Arundo  arenaria," 


CONDITIONS  OF  SANDHILL  GROWTH.  147 

but  some  authorities  call  it  "  Psamma  arundinacea  ** 
(Linn.),  "  Ammophila  arundinacea  "  (Baxter),  and 
"  Psamma  arenaria. 

Starr-grass  is  probably  indigenous  to  the  Lancashire 
and  Cheshire  coasts.  Roots  are  often  sent  from  here  to 
other  parts  of  the  world. 

For  over  200  years  the  planting  of  the  grass  was 
made  compulsory  in  the  leases  granted  by  local  land- 
owners, but  since  1886  the  Crosby  Blundells  have  ceased 
to  enforce  this  condition,  with  the  result  that  much  land 
has  been  laid  waste  south  of  the  Alt  river. 

In  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  the  uprooting  of  starr- 
grass  was  prohibited,  and  in  1 742  an  Act  was  passed, 
applying  only  to  Lancashire  and  Cumberland,  in  which 
uprooting  was  made  a  criminal  offence.  Since  about 
1890-5  the  mere  cutting  of  the  grass  has  been  forbidden 
by  the  owner  of  the  Birkdale  to  Formby  sandhills. 

The  height  to  which  a  sandhill  can  attain  is  limited 
to  the  distance  to  which  grass  roots  can  draw  up  moisture 
from  the  ream  water.  Usually  60  to  80  feet  above  sea 
level  represents  this  limit.  Over  a  bare-topped  hill 
blowing  sand  passes  to  raise  the  hollow  beyond.  The 
highest  hills  on  the  Lancashire  coast  are  near  to,  and 
south  of,  the  main  road  betv^^een  Ainsdale  and  the 
beach. 

The  particular  way  in  which  vegetation  promotes  hill 
growth  is  not  so  much  by  the  binding  together  of  the 
sand  by  root  ramifications  as  by  the  interception  of  the 
grains  as  they  are  caught  by  the  long  bowing  blades. 
These  fall  in  the  lee  of  the  blades,  which  push  their  way 
upwards  so  long  as  they  can  maintain  a  supply  of 
moisture  from  the  roots. 

Windy  months  which  happen  to  coincide  with  the 
grass-growing  period  of  the  year  are  the  most  favourable 
to  rapid  hill  growth.  In  April,  1912,  a  hill  grew  in 
height,  in  a  gale,  by  ovei  15  feet  in  24  hours,  and  in 
length  over  30  feet.  Seeding  plays  only  a  small  part  in 
the  spreading  process.  It  is  better  to  plant  it.  Starr- 
grass  spreads  mainly  by  means  of  its  knotted  horizontal 
roots.  A  single  root,  it  is  said  (by  Taylor,  in  Philos. 
Mag.),  will  have  lateral  shoots  radiating  to  36  feet  and 


148  EVOLUTION   OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

will  multiply  into  as  many  as  500  in  a  single  season. 

There  is  another  species  of  starr-grass,  Elmyus 
arenarius,  or  "  Psamma  Baltica,"  which  grows  all  along 
the  east  coast  of  England  and  on  parts  of  the  Scotch 
coast.  It  is  more  blue  than  green  in  colour  and  has  a 
thicker,  broader  blade  than  the  West  Coast  variety. 
Patches  may  be  seen  between  Blundellsands  and  Hall 
Road,  and  also  seaward  of  the  Southport  Municipal  Golf 
Links. 

Other  sand-binders  are  :  "  Salix  repens,  var. 
Argentea,"  or  Silver  Willow,  found  between  Birkdale 
and  Formby.  "  Triticum  repens,"  or  creeping  wheat- 
grass,  a  smaller  grass  of  blue-green  colour,  which  grows 
just  above  high-water  mark  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  ;  and 
the  sand-sedge,  *  Carex  arenaria  ";  sea  holly,  sea 
spurge,  saltwort,  and  sea  rocket. 

In  Cornwall  wild  thyme  has  been  found  a  satisfactory 
substitute  for  starr-grass.  Sir  Hyde  Page,  a  noted 
engineer  of  his  day,  found  the  planting  of  gorse  bushes 
an  effective  check  to  blowing  sand. 

On  the  coasts  of  Norfolk,  the  Moray  Firth,  Norway, 
and  Jutland  maritime  pines  have  proved  very  effective 
in  the  stopping  of  sand-drift.  A  hundred  years  ago 
forests  of  pines  were  planted  over  an  enormous  area 
of  coastal  land  south  of  Bordeaux  in  France.  The 
experiment  has  not  only  proved  completely  successful 
in  staying  the  advance  of  the  sand,  but  a  very  profitable 
timber,  resin,  and  turpentine  industry  has  been 
developed  from  it.  At  Holkham,  the  Corsican  pine  has 
been  found  to  grow  better  than  the  maritime  variety. 

On  the  margin  of  Southampton  Water  '*  spartina  " 
grass  has  proved  very  successful. 

Mr.  Charles  J.  Weld-Blundell,  the  owner  of  the 
Birkdale  to  Formby  sandhill  area,  has  within  the  last 
fifteen  years  similarly  planted  a  large  portion  of  the 
sandhills  between  Windy  Gap,  Ainsdale,  and  the  north 
end  of  Freshfield,  with  young  pines  to  the  number  of 
some  thousands  each  year.  This  enlightened  policy 
cannot  fail  to  serve  both  a  useful  and  an  aesthetic 
purpose,  as  well  as  promising  a  large  financial  return  to 
his  successors. 


CONDITIONS  OF  SANDHILL  GROWTH.  149 

"  Shirdley  Hill  Sand  "  was  a  name  given  by  Mr.  De 
Ranee  to  a  sand  which  is  found  in  considerable  patches, 
irregularly  distributed  over  the  moss  area,  between 
Bootle,  Tarleton,  and  St.  Helens.  It  was  so  named  from 
being  plentifully  found  at  Shirdley  Hill,  four  miles  inland 
from  Southport.  A  9-ft.  section  may  be  well  seen  in  a 
sand-pit  near  Holmes  Wood  Hall.  Compared  with  the 
shore  sand  of  to-day,  its  grains  are  larger  and  contain 
no  hornblende,  of  which  the  black  grains  in  the  sandhills 
of  to-day  consist.  These  patches  are  probably  the 
remains  of  an  ancient  line  of  sand-dunes  which  once 
fringed  the  coast.  This  sand  would  probably  be  sorted 
out  of  the  boulder-clay  by  the  erosion  of  the  sea 
subsequent  to  the  glacial  period. 

Observations  in  Egypt  have  proved  that  the  desert 
sand  is  heavily  charged  with  positive  electricity.  Fifty 
per  cent,  more  ozone  was  found  over  the  desert  than  the 
oases. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Ptolemy's  **  Belisama  "  Controversy  in  a  New  Light. 

Enquirers  poring  over  learned  societies'  records, 
such  as  the  *  Transactions  of  the  Lancashire  Anti- 
quarian "  and  the  **  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  Historic," 
will  be  struck  with  the  apparent  fascination  which  the 
identification  of  Ptolemy's  "  Belisama,"  in  his  second- 
century  map  of  Britain,  has  had  for  one  generation  after 
another  of  antiquarian  students.  The  controversy  has 
extended  over  at  least  three  centuries. 

Its  point  is  the  question  as  to  how  the  noted  Roman 
geographer,  Ptolemy,  came  to  omit  either  the  Mersey  or 
the  Ribble  from  his  map,  and  which  of  the  two  was  he 
ignorant  of?  All  extant  copies  of  his  map  agree  in 
showing  only  two  estuaries  within  the  same  coastal 
limits  where  modern  maps  show  three — the  Dee,  Mersey, 
and  Ribble.  The  southern  of  these,  marked  Setaeia,  is 
unquestionably  the  Dee. 

Weighty  disputants  like  Horsley,  in  his  "  Britannica 
Romana  "  (1732),  and  Whitaker,  the  historian  of 
Manchester,  also  Baines  in  his  "  Lancashire,"  and  Mr. 
T.  Glazebrook  Rylands,  F.S.A.,  &c.,  have  argued  that 
the  estuary  marked  Belisama  must  be  the  Mersey. 

These  have  been  balanced  on  the  other  side  by  the 
Ribble  partisans,  Camden  (1600),  Dr.  Whitaker,  the 
historian  of  Whalley,  Dr.  Ormerod  ("  History  of 
Cheshire  "),  Dr.  Black,  and  Mr.  Allanson  Picton. 

The  weightiest  among  the  Mersey  advocates  has 
been  Mr.  T.  G.  Rylands,  the  contributor  of  various 
papers  on  the  subject  to  the  "  Proc.  of  the  Lane.  & 
Ches.  Historic  Society."  But  in  the  folio  volume,  "  The 
Geography   of   Ptolemy   Elucidated,"    which   he    wholly 


PTOLEMY'S   "BELISAMA"  CONTROVERSY.  151 

devoted  to  this  controversy,  his  highly  technical  reason- 
ing is  more  bewildering  than  convincing,  and  it  is 
important  to  note  that  he  was  apparently  wholly  ignorant 
of  the  subsidence  evidences  which  have,  for  the  first 
time,  been  collectively  made  known  in  these  chapters. 

A  decisive  victory  for  either  side  had  long  been 
apparently  hopeless  of  attainment.  It  is  curious  that  a 
solution  showing  that  all  these  controversialists  have 
been  mistaken  in  their  common  assumption  that  Ptolemy 
was  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  one  or  the  other  river, 
should  now  have  been  reached  by  an  enquirer  having 
no  special  interest  in  the  controversy,  but  incidentally, 
whilst  endeavouring  to  solve  the  riddle  of  the  origin  of 
the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  sand  dunes. 

Ptolemy  was,  in  fact,  an  accurate  map  maker  in 
omitting  the  river  Mersey  as  we  know  it  to-day.  It  has 
been  shown  in  the  preceding  chapter  that  the  Mersey's 
outlet  to  the  sea  was  not,  down  to  a  date  which  may 
have  been  anywhere  between  the  fourth  and  ninth 
centuries,  as  it  now  is,  along  the  pre-glacial  depression 
between  Liverpool  and  Birkenhead,  but  that  it  was  a 
tributary  of  the  Dee,  which  it  joined  just  below  Chester. 

Ptolemy  fixes  the  "  Belisama  Est."  almost  exactly 
midway  between  the  Mersey  and  Ribble  estuaries  to-day. 
It  is  too  far  south  to  be  accurate  if  meant  for  the  Ribble, 
but  it  is  quite  certain  that  the  Ribble  estuary  has  been 
filling  up  rapidly  on  the  south  side  and  that  erosion  has 
been  proceeding  on  the  north  side,  both  east  and  west 
of  Lytham.  So  that  it  is  easily  credible  that  its  main 
channel  opened  out  to  sea  three  or  four  miles  south  of 
the  present  main  channels,  probably  about  Ainsdale 
Beach.  In  Chapter  XI.  it  was  pointed  out  that  Birkdale 
Palace  Hotel  stands  on  a  filled-up  deep  channel  bed. 
It  is  hardly  to  be  questioned  that  this  is  an  ancient 
Ribble   channel. 

Sir  J.  Allanson  Picton,  in  a  paper  written  in  1849, 
dealt  with  the  complete  neglect  of  the  Mersey  by  the 
Romans,  who  had  stations  on  the  Dee,  Ribble.  and 
Lune  rivers.  He  summed  up  in  the  words  : — "  We  are 
"  driven  to  conclude  either  that  the  Romans  displayed 
"  in   reference    to   the    Mersey    an    apathy  or    ignorance 


152 


EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 


Ptolemy's 
Coast  LmE 

Present 

COAST  LINE 


Fig.  28— 2nd  and  20th  Century  Coast-lines- 

"  which  attached  to  them  in  no  other  instance,  or  that 
*'  the  estuary  of  the  Mersey  in  its  present  form  did  not 
exist." 
On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  easily  be  assumed  that 
Ptolemy  could  be  ignorant  of  the  Ribble,  upon  which 
stood  so  important  a  Roman  station  as  Ribchester 
(Bremtonacum),   only  eight  miles  north-east  of  Preston. 

After  expending  much  time  in  the  endeavour  to 
discover  the  most  probable  origin  of  the  word  Belisama, 
the  writer  has  decided  to  discard  the  possible  derivations 
which  he  has  previously  put  forward  in  his  "  Battle  of 
Land  and  Sea."     After  being  privileged  to  take  counsel 


PTOLEMY'S   "BELISAMA"  CONTROVERSY.  153 

on  the  point  with  the  late  Sir  John  Rhys,  our  highest 
authority  on  Cehic  origins,  the  writer  is  of  opinion  that 
the  truth  Hes  in  the  direction  indicated  in  the  following 
sentence  from  Sir  J.  Rhys's  "Celtic  Britain,"  p.  68:  — 
"  Every  locality  (in  Celtic  Britain)  had  its  divinity, 
and  the  rivers  were  specially  identified  with  certain 
"  divine  beings,  as  witness  the  streams  that  still  bear 
"the  name  of  Dee,  and  kindred  ones";  also  on  the 
same  page  :  "  The  name  of  another  river  makes  it  out 
"  as  one  that  was  formerly  considered  divine,  the 
"  Belisama,  probably  our  Ribble  ;  the  name  occurs  in 
"Gaul  as  that  of  a  goddess  equated  with  the  Minerva 
"  of  Italy." 

Some  support  would  appear  to  be  found  for  this 
derivation  in  the  fact  that  St.  Wilfrid's  Church  at 
Ribchester  was  believed  by  Dr.  Whitaker  to  stand  on 
the  site  of  a  temple  dedicated  to  Minerva. 

McClure,     in     his     "  British     Place-names     in     their 

Historical  Setting,"  says  :    "  Belisama  appears  in  conti- 

"  nental   inscriptions  as   a  by-name   of   Minerva,    and   is 

one   of  several   instances   of  the   association  of  Celtic 

"  deities  with  river-names." 

One  other  derivation  only  is  worthy  of  consideration. 
"Bel"  is  Celtic  for  "mouth"  or  "ford."  Belfast 
means  "  mouth  or  ford  of  "  a  sandbank.  Moore,  in  his 
"  Manx  Place-names,"  quotes  the  same  meaning, 
"mouth  of"  for  "Bel"  in  "  Belegawne  "  Belowne, 
and  other  Manx  names.  Beldare  (Ireland)  means  the 
same.  "  Sama  "  would  appear  to  be  the  name  of  some 
Celtic  deity,  as  we  read  of  "  Sama's  festival  "  being 
observed  in  not  distant  times  in  the  Fylde  and  Ribble 
districts.  Possibly  Sama  and  Samhaen,  the  names  of  the 
end-of-summer  Celtic  festival  on  October  3 1st — later 
called  Hallowe'en — are   identical   in  their  roots. 

There  is  a  not  unlikely  connection  with  the  name  of 
a  village  on  the  Ribble  five  miles  above  Preston,  called 
Samlesbury.  In  pre-Christian  days  tradition  says  that  it 
was  the  site  of  an  important  temple. 

In  Speed's  Map  of  1610  it  appears  as  "  Samsbury." 
The  "  British  Gazetteer  "  contains  no  other  name 
beginning  with  "  Sam." 


154  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  Belisama  means  the 
ford,  or  mouth,  of  the  river  the  presiding  deity  of  which 
was  originally  "  Sama,"  and  in  later  times,  but  before 
the  Roman  occupation,  '*  Belisama."  In  any  case,  in 
its  bearing  upon  the  main  controversy,  it  is  significant 
that  Belisama  and  the  Ribble  are  associated  in  three 
different  connections.  Not  a  single  argument  based  on 
philological  grounds  connecting  Belisama  with  the 
Mersey  has  ever  been  put  forward. 

If  the  subsidence  theory  advanced  in  this  book  is 
accepted  as  proved,  the  contention  that  there  was  no 
Mersey,  as  we  know  it  in  its  lower  reaches,  in  the  time 
of  the  Roman  occupation,  may  also  be  regarded  as 
proved.  Supported  by  so  much  philological  evidence 
as  is  the  Ribble-Belisama  contention,  this  ancient 
controversy  may  now  fairly  be  regarded  as  finally 
disposed  of. 


See  also  relevant  jnatler.   paf^es  123,   124  aiui  125. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


The  Cheshire  Coast. 

The  examination  of  the  coast  in  geographical 
sequence  may  now  be  resumed. 

It  may  be  said  of  the  rocks  which  lie  on  or  near  the 
surface  over  the  greater  part  of  Cheshire,  that  they 
were  laid  down  in  the  Triassic  epoch,  which  began  the 
second  of  the  three  great  divisions  of  geological  time. 
Coastal  contours  were  then  vastly  different  from  those 
of  to-day.  Scotland  and  Norway  were  united,  and  the 
former  stretched  far  out  into  the  North  Atlantic  and 
round  Ireland,  to  form  a  western  extension  of  Brittany. 
A  depression  formed  a  central  sea,  stretching  eastward 
from  the  Antrim  coast,  covering  Anglesey,  mid-England, 
and  part  of  the  North  Sea. 

Into  this  sea  rivers  carried  material  which  we  have 
since  labelled  the  New  Red  Sandstone.  These  rocks 
now  jut  out  at  Hilbre  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dee, 
and  at  New  Brighton  and  Heysham.  They  are  seen  in 
railway  cuttings  at  Edge  Hill  and  at  Ormskirk.  From 
the  Cheshire  and  Shropshire  plain,  red  sandstone  islands, 
like  the  Peckforton  Hills,  still  jut  out. 

Some  mountainous  region  to  the  North  from  which 
the  Pennine  Range  projected,  or,  alternatively,  formed 
an  island  in  the  central  sea,  must  have  been  drained  by 
rivers  with  steep  gradients,  to  have  carried  down  so 
many  millions  of  tons  of  pebbles. 

These  now  form  the  Bunter  beds  from  which  so 
many  towns  in  South  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  now 
draw  their  water  supplies. 

It  is  safe  to  infer  that  Sahara-like  conditions  prevailed 
at   this    period.       Rock    salt   beds,    caused    by  excessive 


156  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

evaporation,   accumulated  where  we  now  find  them,   at 
Northwich,  Droitwich,  and  elsewhere. 

Since  this  far-distant  time  Cheshire  has  been 
repeatedly  above  and  below  the  sea,  and  glacial  and 
other  deposits  have  been  laid  down  over  the  older  layers 
at  many  different  periods.  The  combined  thickness 
of  the  various  strata  which  have  been  denuded  since 
the  period  when  the  coal-bed  forests  were  growing, 
immediately  preceding  the  Triassic  period,  has  been 
estimated  by  Mr.  Morton  as  being,  at  Huyton  Quarry, 
over  5000  feet. 

For  an  unknown  period,  probably  from  the  time 
when  the  Isle  of  Man  was  joined  on  to  Lancashire  and 
Cheshire,  subsidence  and  marine  and  aerial  erosion 
have  been  wearing  back  the  land  into  the  form  which  it 
has  now  assumed  about  Liverpool  Bay.  Reference  has 
already  been  made  to  the  rapid  advance  of  the  sea  on 
the  exposed  Cheshire  sea-board.  None  of  the  North- 
western counties  has  lost  so  heavily  by  erosion  as 
Cheshire.  The  Coast  Erosion  Commission  (1907)  reported 
this  loss  to  have  amounted  to  104  acres  of  land  and 
1  120  acres  of  foreshore  in  the  28  years  ending  1898,  with 
a  compensatory  gain  of  only  59  acres.  Estimates  vary 
as  to  the  extent  of  this  encroachment  on  the  sea  front 
during  the  last  400  years,  from   H  to  4  miles. 

Mr.  J.  N.  Shoolbred,  C.E.,  in  1876  reported  that  the 
1835  and  1857  surveys  show^ed  an  advance  of  the  sea  at 
the  Redstones,  near  Hoylake,  of  450  yards,  diminishing 
to  80  yards  at  the  west  end  of  Leasowe  embankment. 

The  place-names  about  Moreton  and  Bidston  and 
the  finding  of  many  fresh-water  shells  point  to  the 
probability  of  one  or  two  lakes  having  once  existed 
here.  It  has  been  estimated  that  3,000  acres  in  the 
Wirral  are  below  the  level  of  the  highest  tides.  The 
frequent  flooding  of  this  low-lying  land  by  the  sea  after 
the  coastal  sandhills  had  been  worn  through,  led  to  the 
construction,  in  1829,  of  the  Wallasey  Embankment  by 
a  specially-formed  authority.  This  stone  and  concrete 
barrier  is  one  of  the  most  important  protective  works 
to  be  found  around  the  British  coasts.  It  stretches 
westward  from  near  Leasowe  Castle  for  nearly  2|  miles. 


THE  CHESHIRE  COAST.  157 

But  for  this  protection,  and  that  of  the  Wallasey  Float 
flood-gates,  nearly  3000  statute  acres  would  be  liable 
to  be  flooded  at  high  tides. 

In  the  year  1883  a  large  smack  was  driven  by  a  gale 
deeply  into  the  embankment,  and  there  the  boat 
remained.  About  300  yards  west  of  Leasowe  lighthouse 
some  remains  still  jut  out. 

Near  the  Leasowe  end  the  erosion  betw^een  1823 
and  1906  amounted  to  nearly  200  yards,  but  the  wastage 
decreases  as  New  Brighton  is  approached.  West  of 
Harrison  Drive  erosion  is  in  progress,  and,  east  of  this 
point,  accretion. 

Burbo  Bank  was  pretty  certainly  occupied  land  not 
many  centuries  ago.  In  1828  a  number  of  large  square 
stepping  stones  were  uncovered  by  an  exceptionally 
low  tide.  These  had  no  doubt  been  used  for  crossing 
the  Rock  Channel  to  Burbo  Island.  Tradition  is  also 
strong  in  asserting  the  one-time  existence  on  Burbo 
Island  of  a  church  and  a  fresh-water  well  surrounded 
by  masonry. 

The  Rock  Fort  at  New  Brighton  was  built  in  1827 
as  a  river  defence.  The  Lighthouse  on  the  Perch  Rock, 
near  by,  was  built  in   1827-30. 

An  interesting  find  was  made  in  1898,  near  here,  by 
Mr.  Roeder,  of  Liverpool.  Hundreds  of  broken  flints 
were  disclosed  by  the  wearing  away  of  the  sandhills. 
These  would  be  the  remains  of  an  ancient  flint  imple- 
ment factory,  a  tool-making  Sheffield  of  late  Neolithic 
or  early  Bronze  age,  when  flints  were  still  largely  in  use. 
The  stones  had  presumably  been  brought  from  the 
Antrim   coast. 

A  similar  find  was  made  by  Mr.  T.  A.  Glenn,  of 
Meliden,  in  the  winter  of  1914,  at  Hilbre  Point,  near 
Hoylake,  and  was  reported  by  him  to  the  writer.  On 
the  rocky  platform  at  the  Point  he  found  a  collection  of 
30  well-worked  flint  implements,  including  a  lance-head, 
and  over  100  chips  and  splinters. 

The  story  of  the  lost  ancient  village  or  town  of  Meols 
forms  quite  a  romance.  It  stood  fully  a  mile  to  the 
north  of  the  village  of  the  same  name  of  to-day.  It 
appears    to    have    been    a    Roman   settlement    of    some 


158  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

Importance.  In  the  earliest  known  of  trustworthy  maps 
of  Cheshire,  one  of  1650  date,  by  Visscher,  Meols  is  the 
only  place  marked  in  all  the  Wirral.  It  stood  on  a  main 
road  which  ran  parallel  with  the  coast  at  a  part  now 
under  the  sea.  It  appears  to  have  been  finally  aban- 
doned to  the  sea  in  Tudor  times.  One  account  states 
that  it  was  in  Edward  the  Third's  time  that  the  place 
was  overwhelmed  by  the  sea. 

The  late  Canon  Hume  devoted  much  time  to  the 
collecting  of  relics  of  this  submerged  village.  At  least 
7000  of  these  antiquities,  in  the  shape  of  coins,  imple- 
ments, foot-wear,  household  utensils,  &c.,  have  been 
picked  up  on  the  adjoining  shore,  mostly  in  the  soil-bed 
under  the  sand  and  in  the  peat-bed  which  underlies 
the  soil.  They  form  a  valuable  museum  of  relics  of 
British,  Roman,  Danish.  Saxon,  and  English  date, 
belonging  for  the  most  part  to  the  13th  and  1 4th 
centuries.  Full  particulars  of  these  finds  w^ill  be  found 
in  Canon  Hume's     '  Ancient  Meols,  "  published  in   1863. 

A  British  circular  hut  was  found  in  1892  by  Mr. 
E.  W.  Cox,  18  to  24  inches  below  high-water  level.  But 
fresh  water,  probably  through  land  submergence,  and 
not  the  sea,  would  appear  to  have  been  the  cause  of 
the  destruction  of  this  and  other  dwellings. 

Mr.  G.  H.  Morton.  F.G.S.,  made  at  Dove  Point, 
opposite  Meols,  exact  observations,  which  he  embodied 
in  a  British  Association  paper  (1896  meeting).  He 
found  the  maximum  of  erosion  at  this  point.  Between 
1863  and  1894  the  two  wooden  perches,  having  a  stone 
base,  formed  standards  of  measurement,  and  showed 
that  there  had  been  an  average  wastage  of  from  four  to 
five  yards  a  year.  In  1690  it  is  estimated  that  Dove 
Point  projected  If  miles  beyond  the  coast-line  of  to-day. 

Wallasey  or  Leasow^e  racecourse,  once  one  of  the 
most  important  in  England,  is  now  almost  wholly  under 
the  sea.  Starting  at  Wallasey,  it  made  a  curve  seawards, 
then  bent  towards  the  land,  again  running  seawards,  and 
before  reaching  Leasowe  Castle  the  horses  went  round 
a  loop  before  returning  by  the  same  course.  (See 
Mrs  Gamlyn's  "  'Twixt  Mersey  and  Dee."*) 

Leasowe   Castle    was    originally    built    in     1 593    as    a 


THE  CHESHIRE  COAST  159 

grandstand  or  racing  box.  The  old  stables  still  remain 
as  a  ruin  in  a  field  off  the  road  running  through  the 
village  at  Wallasey.  The  racecourse  was  overwhelmed 
by   the   sea  in    1732   and   all   further   racing   abandoned. 

It  was  nearly  oppos\te  Leasowe  Castle  that  Dr. 
Nimmo.  in  the  course  of  a  survey  for  a  ship  canal  to 
connect  the  Mersey  and  the  Dee,  discovered,  some 
200  yards  below  high-water  mark,  a  number  of  human 
skeletons  regularly  laid  in  rows.  They  doubtless 
marked  the  site  of  an  ancient  cemetery,  the  spot  being 
within  the    1771    shore  line. 

Three  very  large  boulders,  obviously  "  wanderers," 
may  be  seen  in  the  grounds  of  Leasowe  Castle.  These 
must  have  been  deposited  by  glacial  ice.  One  composed 
of  diorite  measures  6ft.  6in.  x  3ft.  x  3ft.,  another  of  grey 
syenite  is  7ft.  x  7ft.  x  3ft.,  and  another  about  the  same 
size  of  felspathic  ash.  Large  numbers  of  these  "  wan- 
derer *  boulders  are  still  found  at  L.W.  in  the  Rock 
Channel. 

In  Burdett's  map  of  1794  a  heath  lay  on  the  seaward 
side  of  the  Castle,  with  a  shore  road  running  along  it. 
Sections  of  this  road  remained  in  1863  (Hume's 
"Ancient  Meols  "). 

The  two  original  lighthouses  at  Leasowe  were  the 
first  erected  on  the  English  coast.  The  outer  one 
disappeared  at  least  half  a  century  ago.  The  light 
of  the  inner  lighthouse  was  finally  extinguished  in  July, 
1908.  "1736,"  on  its  tablet,  is  the  date  when  the  African 
slave  traders  made  it  over  to  the  Liverpool  Docks 
Trustees. 

Nowhere  round  the  British  coasts  can  a  better 
example  of  a  submerged  (at  high  water)  forest  be  seen 
than  at  opposite  Meols,  near  the  adjoining  Dove  Point. 
As  far  back  as  1 796  these  ancient  forest  stumps  were 
the  subject  of  an  article  in  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine." 
Two  hundred  stumps  were  visible  when  the  spot  was 
visited  by  the  writer  in  April,  1909  (see  illustration), 
but  the  advancing  sea  has  since  reduced  this  number, 
and  will  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  have  worn  back 
to  the  embankmient  the  peat  in  which  the  trees  are 
rooted.      Canon    Hume    in    March,     1850,     counted    538 


160  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

stumps,  the  breadth  of  the  black  earth  in  which  they 
stood,  being  59  yards  ;  blue  clay  extended  63  yards 
seaward,  and  the  lowest  noticeable  margin,  44  yards 
further,   made  up  a  total  breadth  of  200  yards. 

The  following  section  table,  which  was  made  by 
Mr.  G.  H.  Morton,  F.G.S.,  at  Dove  Point,  where  so 
many  antiquities  have  been  found,  shows  the  order  in 
which  the  various  strata  occur. 

1 .  The  sandhills. 

2.  Peat   bed    1ft.   thick   under   traces  of  sandy  earth, 

shells,  bones,   and  teeth. 

3.  Blue   sih,    I  ft. 

4.  Large  forest  bed  3ft.  thick,  with  large  tree  trunks. 

Principal  Roman  remains. 

5.  Blue  silt,  2  to  8  feet,  with  vegetable  fibre. 

6.  Lower  forest  bed, .  I  ft.     Tree  remains. 

7.  Boulder-clay. 

Three  land  surfaces  are  traceable,  all  below  sea 
level.  The  lowest  reveals  no  human  traces,  the  middle 
one  many  hand-wrought  remains,  and  the  upper  one 
still  more.     Mr.   T.   Mellard  Reade  is  the  authority  for 

the  following  :  — 

,  _,     ,         Blown  Sand 
3rd  Land  Ssuriace  ^■^— — ^— 

r.     ^  /-I     -IT       J  c     r         Peat  ^"^  Forest  Bed 
Post-Glacial  Land  Surface  ^^^i— ^^— — — — 

^      ^.     .   .  X        .  ^     o        Scrobicularian  Clays  and  Silts 
Pre-Glacial  Land  Surface 

Triassic,  B.  or  K.  Sand-stone 

The  character  of  the  remains  warrants  the  deduction 
that  the  forest  of  the  middle  period  (4)  was  growing  in 
the  time  of  the  Romans,  the  Saxons,  and  their  native 
contemporaries.  The  upper  of  the  three  surfaces  may 
belong  to  any  time  between  the  1 3th  and  16th  centuries. 

The  making  of  the  Birkenhead  docks  in  1858  revealed 
at  the  sloping  sides  of  the  Pool,  a  natural  surface  covered 
with  large  trees.  As  this  part  rests  on  boulder-clay, 
and  the  peat  and  forest  remains  on  the  Bootle  and 
Liverpool  side  rest  on  sandstone,  it  is  clear  that  there 
has  been  a  subsidence  of  the  entire  mass,  and  not  of 
mere  local  areas. 

Mrs.  Gamlyn.  in  her  "  'Twixt  Mersey  and  Dee  " 
(p.    132),    states  that  an   old   scuoolmaster   at   Wallasey, 


THE  CHESHIRE  COAST.  161 

Thomas  Robinson,  who  died  in  1727,  wrote:  "  Before 
"  the  disforestation  of  Worrall  (in  1376)  all  the  flatt  land 
"  called  the  moss  on  which  the  salt  tide  flows,  was  a 
"  wood,  insomuch  that  I  have  heard  Richard  Watt  (who 
"  would  be  born  about  50  years  earlier  than  Robinson) 
"  say  that  he  had  heard  old  people  to  say  that  a  man 
"  might  have  gone  out  of  tree  tops  to  Birkenhead,  a 
"  token  whereof  is  in  finding  of  large  roots  when  getting 
"  of  turfs,  which  roots  lye  a  great  way  in  the  sea  at 
"  this  present." 

A  navigator  approaching  the  middle  of  the  Cheshire 
coast  250  years  ago,  would  encounter  "  Dove  Point," 
now  hardly  distinguishable  as  a  point.  The  channel  to 
the  left  was  the  only  route  at  that  time  taken  by  Liver- 
pool-bound boats.  Near  this  spot  boats  were  often 
lightened  of  cargo  to  enable  them  to  proceed  along  the 
shallow  Rock  channel  to  the  Mersey.  This  channel  has 
virtually  silted  up  at  its  west  end  during  the  war,  but  a 
new  channel  through  Burbo'  Bank,  opposite  Harrison 
Drive,  has  formed.  To  the  right  another  channel  led  to 
the  Dee  and  separated  the  Hoylake  coast  from  the  Hail 
or  Hyle  Sand,  which  was  then  one  continuous  stretch  of 
sand,  always  exposed,  except  at  very  high  tides,  instead 
of  being  divided  into  East  and  West  Hoyle  Banks,  as 
later  on  and  at  the  present  day.  Collin's  map  of  1687 
shows  it  to  have  measured  13  by  3i  miles.  The  Hoyle 
or  Hyle  Lake,  once  the  roadstead  of  Britain's  fleet, 
opposite  Hoylake,  has  continued  to  silt  up,  whilst  the 
East  Hoyle  Bank  is  increasing  in  height.  In  1700  half 
a  mile  separated  Hoylake  and  the  Hoyle  Bank,  and 
there  was  15  feet  of  water  at  the  less  deep  parts.  It  is 
now  possible  to  walk  to  the  bank  at  the  ebb  of  a  low 
tide,  and  the  "  lake  "  has  virtually  ceased  to  exist. 

As  to  whether  Hilbre  Island,  off  the  northern  corner 
of  the  Wirral,  has  been  a  part  of  the  mainland  within 
the  last  500  years,  is  a  question  upon  which  the  available 
maps  do  not  furnish  decisive  evidence.  A  map  formerly 
to  be  seen  in  Mostyn  Hall,  Flintshire,  shows  the  Hoyle 
Bank  as  an  apparently  fertile  tract  of  land.  Lluyd's 
map  of  1575  shows  Hilbre  to  have  been  then  part  of  the 
mainland,  but  another  of  1577  date,  by  Scatterus,  shows 


162  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

it  as  an  island  but  with  the  opposite  coast  projecting 
much  further  out  than  at  the  present  time.  It  is  on 
record  that  in  Elizabeth's  day  "  4000  foote  and  200  horse 
were  quartered  at  Hilbre  before  sailing  to  quell  the 
Tyrone  rebellion,"  so  that,  if  then  an  island,  it  may 
have  been,  as  has  been  stated,  eight  times  its  present 
size.  Its  name  is  probably  derived  from  St.  Hildburgh 
and  "  ey  '*  an  island. 

Where  no  protecting  walls  have  been  built  erosion 
is  still  proceeding  near  Hoylake.  The  new  red  sand- 
stone rocks  near  the  point  give  a  great  advantage  to  the 
land  in  its  everlasting  contest  with  the  sea.  This  line 
of  rock  pretty  certainly  marks,  as  also  at  New  Brighton, 
an  old  shore  line  of  no  great  geological  antiquity.  The 
*'  Red  Noses  "  have  recently  become  sand-covered. 

On  Grange  Hill,  near  West  Kirby,  there  once  stood 
an  old  mill,  which,  after  its  removal  in  1839,  was  so 
missed  as  a  landmark  that  the  Liverpool  Docks  Trustees 
built  in  1841  the  present  column.  A  cavern  was 
disclosed  at  the  time,  containing  human  bones  and 
ancient  British  urns.  At  West  Kirby  there  is  an 
interesting  exposure  showing  the  junction  of  the  Keuper 
and  Bunter  pebble  beds. 

Erosion  at  Heswall  and  Caldy,  on  the  Dee  estuary, 
between  1873  and  1897  was  estimated  at  two  yards  a 
year.  Sea-walls  have  been  made  at  Gayton,  Heswall 
(in  1889),  and  Parkgate.  At  Thurstaston  erosion  also 
proceeds  rapidly.  A  reference  to  the  tithe  map  of  1847 
shows  how  serious  has  been  the  loss  of  land  at  Neston 
and  Parkgate,  wherever  the  shore  has  not  been 
protected. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


The  Port  of  Chester  and  the  Dee  Estuary. 

No  British  estuary  has  a  past  better  worth  placing 
on  record  nor  of  greater  historical  interest  than  that  of 
the  Dee.  Fortunately,  the  main  facts  in  its  thousand 
years'  story  of  steady  deterioration  as  a  navigable  arm 
of  the  sea  are  not  matters  for  mere  conjecture. 

In  pre-glacial  times  the  Dee  would  turn  south  and 
drain  into  the  Severn  valley  after  emerging  from  the 
Vale  of  Llangollen.  Then,  probably  after  the  post- 
glacial rise  of  the  land,  it  found  a  course  to  its  present 
outlet. 

The  name  "  Dee  '*  is  the  Anglicised  form  of  the  Celtic 
"  Deva  "  or  "  the  divinity,  "  and  Chester,  which  to  the 
Britons  was  known  as  "  Caer-Legion  "  or  the  city  of  the 
legion,  was  given  that  name  by  the  Saxons,  being  *  the 
place  of  the  camp.  "  The  city  dates  back  to  the  first 
century,  when  the  Romans  formed  a  camp  here.  Good 
evidence  of  this  was  found  in  1885,  in  a  Roman  pig  of 
lead  bearing  a  date  equivalent  to  A.D.  74,  on  the  site  of 
the  gasometer  next  to  Paradise  Row. 

The  Roodee — from  "  Rood,  "  a  cross,  and  "  eye," 
an  island — ^w^ould  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  occupation 
be  almost  wholly  covered  by  every  tide.  The  depth  at 
which  the  pig  of  lead  was  found  warrants  the  conclusion 
that  a  spring  tide  would  cover  the  Roodee  to  a  depth  of 
about  23  feet.  The  old  beach  line  was  much  nearer  to 
the  city  than  it  is  to-day.  It  was  found  near  the  Water- 
gate, the  gravel  containing  sea  shells,  and  broken  pottery 
bearing  stamps  of  the  Roman  legion. 

Since  then  the  river  has  worn  back  its  western  bank 
towards  Brewer's  Hall  by  about  a  hundred  yards.     The 


PORT  OF  CHESTER  AND  DEE  ESTUARY.  165 

Causeway  is  believed  to  have  been  built  by  the  Normans 
about  1100,  and  the  silting-up  process  was  greatly 
accelerated  in  consequence.  The  records  of  Chester 
show  that  as  far  back  as  the  12th  century  its  citizens 
complained  of  lost  trade  owing  to  the  silting  of  the 
river. 

The  national  importance  of  the  Dee  estuary  in  these 
far-away  days  calls  for  some  effort  of  the  imagination. 
For  at  least  a  thousand  years  it  was  the  most  important 
shipping  highway  on  the  west  coast,  being  the  chief 
point  of  departure  for  Ireland  and,  for  a  time,  for 
Mediterranean  and  far  Eastern  ports  as  well.  Chester 
was  the  Liverpool  of  its  day,  and  the  Dee  ports  main- 
tained for  long  a  struggle  with  their  upstart  rival  on  the 
Mersey. 

It  would  probably  be  the  silting  trouble  which  caused 
King  John  to  turn  his  attention  to  the  Mersey  and  to 
confer  a  charter  upon  the  fishing  village  which  was 
destined  to  be  one  of  the  world's  greatest  ports.  It  was 
subsequent  to  this  date  that  Liverpool  is  described  in 
one  of  Chester's  records  as  "a  creek  in  the  port  of 
"  Chester,"  and  it  was  not  until  after  a  severe  struggle 
that  Liverpool  was  emancipated  from  the  control  of  the 
ancient  city  on  the  Dee. 

The  Water  Tower  at  Chester,  when  first  built  in 
1322,  was  surrounded  by  water  at  high  tide,  and  vessels 
were  moored  to  rings  in  its  walls.  The  river  then  flowed 
by  Watergate  along  the  city  walls,  by  the  site  of 
Whipcord  Lane  and  below  the  cliffs  of  Blacon,  straight 
to  the  sea  along  the  Cheshire  side  of  the  estuary. 

Chester  had  so  far  declined  as  a  port  by  the  14th 
century  that  Shotwick,  five  miles  below  Chester,  had 
largely  superseded  it.  Here,  where  now  stands  one  of 
the  loveliest  and  most  inaccessible  of  villages,  was  a 
harbour  and  military  port  of  some  importance.  From 
it  Henry  II.  set  sail  for  his  conquest  of  Ireland.  The 
main  channel  of  the  Dee  flowed  close  by,  and  as  late  as 
1637  Leland  states  that  Shotwick  Castle  stood  on  the 
very  shore.  So  did  the  Church.  The  river  flows  now 
two   miles   away.     Saxons   and  Danes  would  sail   boats 


166  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

into  the  creek  which  must  have  existed  on  the  south 
side  of  the  church.  Grassy  knolls  now  conceal  the 
foundations  of  the  Castle. 

Near  here,  opposite  Burton,  was  the  scene  of  the 
treacherous  tide  incident  upon  which  Kingsley  founded 
his  pathetic  poem,   '*  The  Sands  o'  Dee." 

The  following  passage  is  from  Blome's  "  Britannia  " 
(1673),  p.  54: — "Great  ships  in  times  past  at  full  sea, 
"  did  tfome  to  Watergate  in  Chester,  but  the  channel  is 
"  now^  so  choaked  up  w^ith  sand  that  it  will  scarce  give 
"  passage  for  small  boats,  insomuch  that  ships  may 
"  come  to  a  place  called  New  Key." 

The  "  New  Key  "  here  referred  to  was  at  Neston, 
ten  miles  below  Chester.  From  Edward  the  Sixth's 
time,  when  it  was  made,  Neston  grew  rapidly  in 
importance  and  became  the  most  populous  town  in  the 
Wirral.  In  Cromwell's  time  the  only  ports  on  the  west 
coast  of  any  importance  were  Neston,  (old)  Formby, 
Preston  and  Skippool  (Wyre).  Down  to  the  end  of  the 
18th  century  Neston  was  the  chief  point  of  departure  for 
goods  and  passengers  to  Ireland,  and  became,  in  con- 
sequence, an  important  coaching  terminus.  A  rowing 
boat  would  hardly  float  at  the  present  day  where,  in 
1684,  there  was,  at  spring  tides,  between  30  and  40  feet 
of  water  by  its  quayside. 

But  the  turn  of  Neston  came  to  be  sanded  up.  Its 
successor  was  Parkgate,  which  had  come  into  existence 
a  little  lower  down  the  estuary  as  a  waiting-place  for 
w^eather-bound  passengers  for  Ireland  and  elsewhere. 
The  name  came  from  its  proximity  to  Leighton  Park. 
It  developed  into  an  18th  century  "Llandudno"  as  a 
fashionable  pleasure  and  bathing  resort.  It  could  boast 
of  as  many  as  thirteen  hotels,  at  one  of  which  Handel 
stayed  when  on  his  way  to  Dublin  to  produce  the 
"  Messiah."  From  here  William  III.  sailed  to  fight  the 
Battle  of  the  Boyne. 

In  1813  and  later  there  was  a  regular  packet  boat 
service  between  Parkgate  and  Flint,  connecting  coaches 
running  between  Parkgate  and  Woodside  Ferry,  Birken- 


PORT  OF  CHESTER  AND  DEE  ESTUARY.  167 

head.  This  was  the  favourite  route  from  Liverpool  to 
the  North  Wales  coast. 

It  was  not  until  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth 
century  that  the  long  struggle  between  the  Dee  and  the 
Mersey  came  to  an  end,  the  contest  being  abandoned 
when  Dawpool  and  Connah's  Quay  were  given  up  as 
points  of  departure  for  Ireland  through  the  same  silting 
trouble. 

The  preservation  of  the  Dee  as  a  navigable  estuary 
was  the  subject  of  commissions  of  enquiry  as  far  back 
as  1449.  The  first  reclamation  of  land  was  made  in 
1637.  In  1732,  Nathaniel  Kinderley  obtained  powers  to 
construct  a  navigable  channel  from  Chester  to  the  sea. 
Six  hundred  acres  of  waste  marsh  land  were  purchased 
and  a  new  straight  channel  cut  on  the  Flintshire  side 
within  the  next  few  years.  The  enclosing  of  the  White 
Sands,  now  the  parishes  of  Sealand  and  East  and  West 
Saltney.  between  Chester  and  Shotwick,  justified  the 
confident  prediction  of  John  Mackay,  in  1 732,  that  the 
result  would  be  the  closing  up  of  the  Hoyle  Lake 
Channel.  The  great  Hoyle  Bank  which  stretched  across 
the  sea  end  of  the  Dee  estuary  to  the  extent  of  14x3 
miles  at  l.w.,  had  been  undivided  before  this  date.  By 
1771  it  had  been  almost  worn  through,  and  by  1839  a 
new  Dee  Channel  had  divided  it  into  the  present  East 
and  West  Hoyle  banks,  and  the  Hoyle  Lake  gradually 
silted  up. 

Land  reclaiming  schemes  followed,  and  by  1857 
about  4500  acres  had  been  reclaimed  on  the  north  side 
by  Kinderley's  successors,  the  River  Dee  Company. 

Between  1870  and  1876  an  embankment  over  two 
miles  in  length  was  made  with  a  further  land-reclaiming 
object,  between  Connah's  Quay  and  Burton  Point,  but 
within  a  few  months  of  its  completion  it  was  broken 
through  by  the  sea  and  the  breach  has  never  been 
repaired.  Twelve  hundred  acres  remain  only  partially 
reclaimed.  On  the  Hawarden  side  about  3400  acres 
have  been  reclaimed.  (See  Coast  Erosion  Commission 
Report,   Vol.   III.,  p.    130.) 

Between   Chester    and   Connah's    Quay    the    river    is 


168  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

now,  for  about  nine  miles,  practically  a  tidal  canal,  and 
is  navigable  for  only  15  day  tides  in  a  month.  The 
decline  of  the  Dee  as  a  shipping  highway  is  continuous. 
In  1830,  2689  ships  entered  and  left  Chester  ;  in  1900, 
only  554.  The  tonnage  had  fallen  in  ten  years,  1899- 
1909,  from  78,000  to  41,000  tons.  This  decline  is  mainly 
traceable  to  the  disastrous  engineering  blunders  which 
have  so  reduced  the  volume  of  the  ebb  tidal  scour. 

In  1913  a  scheme  was  adopted  by  the  Dee  Con- 
servancy Board  which,  when  carried  out,  will  extend 
the  training  walls  a  further  two  miles  to  Mostyn  Deeps. 
The  estimated  cost  is  ;^75,000, 

The  Bychan  embankment,  which  enclosed  70  acres, 
between  Llanerchy-mor  and  Mostyn  Colliery,  near  the 
river's  mouth,  was  constructed  in  1843.  Two  years 
later  the  Chester  and  Holyhead  railway  was  laid 
across  it. 

The  sea  marshes  between  Mostyn  and  Flint  were, 
as  late  as  1880,  pastures  traversed  by  tidal  rills  ;  they 
are  now  mostly  mud  flats  devoid  of  agricultural  value. 
Experience  in  many  river  estuaries  shows  that  reclaimed 
sand  or  shingle  land  has  no  agricultural  value,  but  slob 
or  clay  foreshores,  as  in  the  Wash  and  Ribble  estuaries, 
yield,  in  time,  profitable  results. 

Tree  stump  remains  on  the  shore  near  Dawpool,  and 
peat  on  the  Little  Eye,  near  West  Kirby,  yielding 
Roman  and  Saxon  relics,  warrant  the  inference  that  the 
estuary  was  less  wide  in  Roman  times,  and  later,  than 
it  is  to-day.  At  least  a  mile  in  breadth  by  about  six  in 
length,  between  Heswall  and  Hilbre  Island,  must  have 
since  been  eroded  away. 

At  Dawpool,  cliffs  of  glacial  clay  deposits  rise  for 
nearly  50  feet.  The  boulders  therein  embedded  are 
believed  to  have  been  ice-borne  from  Eskdale,  Criffel, 
and  other  northern  sources. 

The  level  stretches  which  border  most  river  estuaries 
are  due  to  two  causes,  which  operate  in  varying  degrees 
accordinc  to  local  conditions.  The  river  is  for  ever 
bearing  down  its  burden  of  sand,  clay,  &c.,  from  the 
higher   ground  which   it   drains.     The   area   of  the   Dee 


PORT  OF  CHESTER  AND  DEE  ESTUARY.  169 

\vatershed  is  813  square  miles.  Much  of  this  sediment 
is  deposited  in  the  estuary  channels  when  the  tidal 
currents  check  the  river  current.  Fresh-water  floods, 
perhaps  six  in  a  year,  do  much  to  clear  out  these 
deposits.  When  the  river  overflows  on  to  the  flat 
stretches  which  border  the  channel,  it  is  on  these  flats, 
where  the  flow  is  hardly  perceptible,  that  the  sediment 
is  mainly  deposited.  The  levels  of  these  marginal  flats 
tend  to  rise  in  consequence. 

The  other  factor  is  a  very  important  one  in  the  case 
of  the  Dee.  Erosion  is  in  steady  progress  along  the  open 
sea  front  of  Flintshire  and  Denbighshire,  and  the  set  of 
the  tidal  currents  brings  a  considerable  amount  of  sand 
and  clay  into  the  Dee  estuary.  The  tide  comes  all  the 
way  up  the  estuary  much  more  quickly  than  it  ebbs. 
This  greatly  aids  accumulation.  The  deposits  on  the 
river  margins  are  further  assisted  wherever  samphire  or 
reed  grass  has  got  a  start,  as  on  the  Mostyn  marshes, 
the  consequent  drag  on  the  speed  of  the  ebb  causing 
all  suspended  matter  to  be  held  and  dropped. 

These  are  the  main  reasons  for  the  adding  of  no  less 
than  343  acres  to  the  county  of  Flintshire  between  1869 
and  1907  (see  "Coast  Erosion  Commission"  Report) 
after  a  loss  of  70  acres  by  erosion  had  been  deducted. 

The  great  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
Dee  estuary  between  1685  and  the  present  time  are 
made  clear  in  the  accompanying  sketch  maps. 


170 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


S-lc: 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


The  Prestatyn,  Rhyl,  and  Abergele  Coasts. 

Travelling  coastward  along  the  Dee  estuary  by  the 
L.  &  N.-W.  Railway,  the  Flintshire  hill  range  may  be 
readily  imagined  as  the  sea  boundary  at  several  periods 
of  general  subsidence  in  the  past,  and  also  in  one  of  a 
not  very  distant  future. 

The  range  is  divided  into  short  ridges  by  a  number 
of  deep  passes  w^hich  furnish  interesting  evidence  of  the 
erosive  power  of  ice  in  the  glacial  age. 

After  the  Point  of  Air  is  passed  the  old  sea  margin 
recedes  to  the  escarpment  at  Dyserth,  near  which  Craig 
Fawr  (501ft.)  and  Moel  Hiraddug  (867ft.)  rise  so  promi- 
inently  as  limestone  cliff  guardians  of  the  entrance  to  the 
Vale  of  Clwyd. 

A  great  geological  fault  has  caused  one  of  the  lowest 
of  rock  formations,  the  Silurian,  to  be  thrust  up  so  as 
to  form  the  highest  points  of  the  Clwydian  range,  Moel 
Fammau  rising  to  1819  feet,  Moel-y-parc  and  other  hills, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  coal  measures,  which  occupy 
about  half  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  county,  to  be 
dropped   1200ft. 

Between  the  Silurian  and  the  coal  measures  a  ridge 
of  Carboniferous  Limestone  runs  from  Prestatyn  through 
Halkyn  and  Buckley  to  Hope.  There  are  clear  evidences 
on  the  summit  of  Halkyn  mountain  that  this  was  once 
the  bed  of  a  lake  or  of  the  ocean  itself.  Fossils  and  fish 
shells  abound.  Except  at  an  outcrop  to  the  east  of 
Prestatyn  and  one  at  the  south  extremity  of  the  county, 
the  third  or  middle  division  of  the  Carboniferous  series, 
the  Millstone  Grit,  does  not  appear  in  Flintshire. 


172  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

In  the  ice-age  the  Vale  of  Clwyd  became  covexed  with 
glacial  drift,  sands,  and  clays,  all  dropped  by  melting 
land  ice.  One  of  the  six  glaciers  which  descended 
from  the  Snowdon  valleys  met  in  Flintshire  a  stream  of 
ice  from  the  north  which  dropped  its  boulders  on  the 
sides  of  Moel  Arthur,  Moel-y-parc,  and  Ffrith-y-garreg 
Wen.  In  the  Vale  of  Clwyd  these  beds  of  drift  and 
alluvium  overlie  thick  deposits  of  red  sand  of  Triassic 
age. 


7 


Sax  Ton's    f  l  i  nts  n  i  r  t  issq. 
Prcshtz. 


Fig.  32— Saxton's  1580  Map  of  Flintshire  Coast. 

Some  remarkable  limestone  caves  which  have  yielded 
remains  of  sixteen  species  of  mammals,  including  cave 
lion,  hyena,  rhinoceros,  mammoth,  and  reindeer,  are 
found  at  Tremeirchion  and  Y  Gop,  near  Newmarket. 
From  the  coast  railway  between  Abergele  and  Llandulas, 
near  Gwrych  Castle,  there  may  also  be  seen  from  the 
train  several  caves  high  up  in  the  face  of  the  limestone 
cliffs.  One  is  a  fine  example  of  a  double  cave  with  a 
single  entrance.  In  the  Cefn  caves  a  few  miles  south 
of  this  point,  there  are  floors  of  drift  material  mixed 
with  sea-shells  overlying  detritus  in  which  the  bones  of 
elephants  and  other  mammalia  were  found. 

The  Cae  Gwyn  oave  furnished,  in  the  opinion  of 
some  authorities,  the  most  direct  of  all  evidences  of 
Palaeolithic  man  in  Britain  prior  to  the  glaciation  of  the 
district.  All  these  caves  have  been  formed  by  water 
action  from  above,  in  the  ice-age,  when  the  land  levels 
were  much  higher  thar   now. 

At  and  near  the  Point  of  Ayr,  at  the  west  corner  of 
the  Dee  estuary,  there  has  been  a  considerable  accretion 
of  land.  Between  the  Point  and  Talacre  Station  the 
Llanasa  Embankment  Commissioners  enclosed,  in   1812, 


PRESTATYN.  RHYL  AND  ABERGELE  COASTS.        173 

a  large  acreage  of  land.  Speed's  1610  map  shows  the 
H.W.  mark  as  at  least  a  mile  further  inland  of  the 
Point  than  to-day.  In  1844  a  new  Lighthouse  was 
erected  at  the  Point,  2500ft.  nearer  the  L.W.  channel 
than  the  old  one. 

Evidences  abound  as  to  the  steady  advance  of  the 
sea  upon  the  coast  from  Prestatyn  to  the  Great  Orme. 

*  Maps  and  deeds  " — says  Mr.  Edwards  in  his  excellent 
'  Flintshire  '*  (Cambridge  County  Geographies) — "  as 
'  late  as  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  are  extant  which 
'  prove  that  these  lands  now  submerged  extended  three 
'  and  more  miles  northward  of  the  existing  water-line. 

*  Four  persons  over  84  years  of  age  now^  living  in 
'  Flintshire   have   seen   corn  cut   where   to-day  heavily- 

*  laden  vessels  sail  to  and  from  the  adjacent  quarries." 

From  a  point  about  three  miles  east  of  Rhyl  and  some 
distance  west  of  it,  the  evidence  show^s  continuous 
erosion.  Between  1794  and  1906  the  loss  of  land  was 
estimated  at  250  acres.  In  the  last  eight  years  of  this 
period  the  erosion  averaged  8  to  10  feet  per  annum. 
In  the  Prestatyn  U.D.  Council  district  the  erosion  is 
shown  by  the  1840-*70  and  '98  ordnance  maps  to  have 
amounted  to  about  a  yard  a  year.  (See  Coast  Erosion 
Commission  Reports,  Vol.  I.,  p.  305,  and  Vol.  III., 
p.  66.)  The  St.  Asaph  R.D.  Council  (Dyserth  and 
Meliden  seaboard)  reported  that  the  sea- wear  "  will 
"  soon  be  a  most  serious  matter  for  the  three  seaboard 
"parishes"  unless  some  protective  works  are  carried 
out.  One  hundred  yards  of  the  sandhills  have  dis- 
appeared between   1871   and  1898. 

To  guard  against  attack  of  the  sea  upon  the  coast 
railway,  the  L.  &  N.-W.R.  Company  in  1906  raised  its 
line  two  to  four  feet  between  Prestatyn  and  Abergele 
and  built  a  protective  embankment  parallel  w^ith  the  line. 

The  earliest  record  of  sea-wear  on  this  coast  is  that 
contained  in  a  document  which  testifies  to  an  abatement 
of  quit-rent  due  to  Bishop  Trevor  (1 395- 1 410)  for  Gro- 
nant-is-y-mor_,  between  Mostyn  and  Prestatyn,  because 
the  sea  "  had  eaten  up  his  land  in  those  parts."  The 
loss   was    an   extensive    one.      The    quit-rent   ceased    in 


174  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

1508-9.  The  date  may  possibly  have  been  identical  with 
that  of  the  overwhelming  of  ancient  Aynesdale  and 
Raven  Meols  early  in  the   14th  century. 

The  often-quoted  proof  of  sea-wear  in  the  ruins  of 
Sarn  Badarn,  midway  between  Gronant  and  Prestatyn, 
usually  stated  to  have  been  the  remains  of  a  causeway  or 
a  house,  the  w^riter  is  assured  by  one  of  the  oldest  natives 
of  Prestatyn,  Mr.  W.  Cunnah  (age  77,  1918),  is  nothing 
but  the  remains  of  two  cargoes  of  stones  which  were 
wrecked  there  perhaps  a  century  ago.  Other  evidence 
supports  the  belief  that  walls  stood  here,  and  not  heap*" 
Oi  stones. 

The  little  town  of  Prestatyn,  so  modern  in  appear- 
ance to-day,  is  mentioned  in  Domesday,  and  some 
foundations  of  the  Norman  castle  which  protected  it 
may  still  be  seen  on  an  elevated  spot  in  the  meadow 
below  Nant  Hall.  This  castle,  built  in  I  164,  was  destroyed 
by  Owain  Gwynedd  in  1  167.  The  sea-wear  has  been  such 
that  the  margin  between  its  site  and  the  shore  has  been 
reduced  from  about  three  miles  to  its  present  distance 
of  one  mile  only. 

Offa's  Dyke  is  believed  by  Dr.  Guest  (Celticae 
Origiones,  Vol.  II.,  p.  278)  to  have  terminated  at  its 
northern  end  at  Uffern,  a  house  which  once  stood  close 
to  the  railway,  less  than  a  mile  east  of  Prestatyn  station. 
Thence  the  dyke's  course  lay  between  Llanasa  and 
Gwaenysgor. 

Despite  the  general  advance  of  the  sea  on  this  coast, 
the  hand  of  man  has  counteracted  it  to  an  important 
extent  opposite  Prestatyn.  Before  the  main  line  of  the 
L.  &  N.-W.  was  made  high  tides  came  in  as  far  as 
Pen-is-y-dre  farm,  on  the  landw^ard  side  of  the  station. 
There  are  two  distinct  ranges  of  sandhills  between  the 
railway  and  the  sea  separated  by  about  300  to  450  yards, 
part  of  which  area  has  been  laid  out  as  golf  links.  With 
the  valued  assistance  of  Mr.  Thomas  Edwards,  of  Hill 
Crest,  and  Mr.  William  Cunnah,  the  writer  is  able  to 
place  on  record  the  origin  of  the  second,  the  seaward 
line  of  hills.  It  was  designedly  promoted  by  a  land- 
owner, Mr.  Pochin,  by  means  of  stake  fixing  and  grass 


PRESTATYN.  RHYL  AND  ABp:RGELE  COASTS.        175 

planting  between  1860  and  1870,  to  protect  the  spoiling 
of  good  land  with  sand-drift.  The  new  range  extended 
for  nearly  2^  miles  from  opposite  Gronant  to 
Meliden  parish,  where  the  old  range  was  nearly  joined. 
But  the  outer  range  will  require  protecting  if  it  is  not  to 
suffer  from  sea-wear  like  the  rest  of  this  coast. 

From  Prestatyn  to  Abergele  borings  show  the  order 
of  stratification  to  be  generally  :  — 

1.  Blown  sand  and  shingle. 

2.  Peat  and  forest  bed. 

3.  Blue  clay,  containing  Scrobicularia. 

4.  Boulder  clay  (Glacial  age). 

At  a  boring  made  at  Rhyl  Town  Hall,  the  measure- 
ments were  : — Sand,  3ft.;  blue  clay,  5ft.  5in.;  peat  and 
forest  remains,  3ft.;  and  blue  clay,  2ft. 

Mr.  T.  A.  Glenn,  who  has  done  much  original 
antiquarian  work  in  this  district,  has  found  evidences  in 
places  of  a  low^er  peat  and  blue-clay  deposit  betw^een 
3  and  4.  The  seaward  edge  of  the  blue  clay  roughly 
follows  the  line  of  the  L.  &  N.-W.  Railway  from  Gronant 
to  the  Clwyd  river. 

The  submarine  forest  comes  well  into  view  on  the 
shore  at  the  east  end  of  the  Rhyl  promenade.  In 
August,  1918,  the  writer  counted  about  100  stumps  here 
rooted  in  clay.  In  October,  1912,  Mr.  Glenn  counted 
over  200  between  Rhyl  Pier  and  about  half-way  between 
the  east  end  of  Rhyl  and  the  centre  of  the  Prestatyn 
foreshore.  The  belt  exposed  was  from  60  to  70  yards 
in  width.  Near  Prestatyn  the  forest  bed  was  exposed  at 
the  foot  of  the  sandhills.  The  sea  was  rapidly  breaking 
up  the  clay  in  which  the  trees  were  embedded.  At  this 
point  the  bed  was  composed  of  masses  of  branches  and 
twigs.  Some  of  the  logs  appeared  to  have  been  cleanly 
cut,  as  if  by  an  axe,  possible  evidence  of  origin  since  the 
metal  age  came  in.  A  week  later  the  whole  belt  was 
again  covered  by  the  shifting  sands.  In  February,  1893, 
for  the  first  time  for  80  years,  it  was  said,  this  same 
forest  was  exposed  for  a  few  days  about  a  mile  east  of 
the  Pier.  Birch  and  Scotch  fir  are  the  most  commonly 
found   trees,    but   oak,  hazel,    elm,    and    alder    are    also 


176  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

found.  Peat  was  exposed  at  low  water  opposite 
Abergele  prior  to  1864.  Pennant,  writing  in  1810,  put 
on  record — "Tours,"  Vol.  II.,  pp.  113-4 — that  "under 
"the  parish  of  Abergelei,  in  Denbighshire,  are  to  be 
"  seen  at  low  water,  very  remote  from  the  shore,  bedded 
"  in  sand,  immense  numbers  of  oak  trees,  a  forest 
"  before  this  event."  He  also  refers  to  a  tradition  that 
the  original  Abergele  was  overwhelmed  by  the  sea. 

North  Wiales  would  seem  to  have  been  mostly  forest 

down    to    the    16th    century,     when    Sir    John    Wynne 

(d.    1616)  iwrote  : — "All   the  whole   country  then   (1400- 

1415)  was  but  a  forest,   rough   and  spacious,   as  it  ia 

'  still,  but  then  waste  of  inhabitants  and  all  overgrown 

'  with   w^oo'ds  ;    the    country    of    Nant-conway    was    not 

'  onely  w^ooded  but  alsoe  all  Carnarvon,  Merioneth  and 

'  Denbighshires,   seemed  to   be   but   one  forrest  having 

'few  inhabitants."     It  is  on  record  that  both  Henry  II, 

and   Edward   I.    cut  ways   through   the    forest   for   their 

armies  and   made    roads    from    Flint    to    Rhuddlan    and 

Rhuddlan  to  Conway. 

It  is  improbable  that  any  of  the  relics  of  the  past 
which  have  been  found  on  the  Rhyl  to  Prestatyn  coast 
date  back  any  earlier  than  the  early  bronze  age.  None 
can  be  called,  with  certainty.  Neolithic.  Amongst 
others  may  be  named  : — An  anvil  or  cup-stone  (Mr. 
Glenn)  a  l)ronze  chisel-celt,  1913  (Rev.  H.  E.  Ruddy); 
a  perforated  antler  of  a  stag,  1910  (Rev.  J.  R.  Abel);  a 
pair  of  large  red  deer  antlers  in  1914  from  the  blue  clay 
at  the  east  end  of  Rhyl  (Mr.  Glenn);  a  pig,  and  a 
pre-historic  horse  or  pony. 

Mr.  Glenn  is  of  the  opinion  that  there  existed  in 
Neolithic  times  one  or  more  fresh-water  lakes  between 
the  foot-hills  and  the  coast-line  of  that  period.  Lake- 
dwellers  may  have  lived  here  on  wood  piles.  A  lake 
certainly  occupied  the  low  ground  near  Meliden 
Vicarage,  called  Roundwood  (Pwll-y-bont). 

Mr.  Glenn  also  records  (Archae,  Cambrensis  for 
January,  1915,  p.  73)  the  discovery  of  remains  indicating 
a  prehistoric  camp  of  the  early  Bronze  age,  in  the  clay 
underlying    the    submerged   forest    at    Rhyl,    and   some 


PRESTATYN.  RHYL  AND  ABERGELE  COASTS.         177 

similar  remains  near  Rhuddlan  Road  Station,  Prestatyn. 

The  foreshore  at  the  east  end  of  Rhyl  promenade 
tends  to  get  lower.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  half  of  the 
town  is  built  on  land  lying  below  the  level  of  high  tides, 
fears  have  been  entertained  that  serious  consequences 
might  follow  the  sea's  breaking  through  the  sandhills  at 
the  east  end  of  the  town.  In  1907  the  Clerk  to  the 
Council  testified  before  the  Erosion  Commission  that 
"  the  erosion  is  serious,  and,  owing  to  the  levels,  the 
"town  of  Rhyl  would  be  the  first  to  suffer  should  the 
"water  break  through."  The  L.  &  N.-W.  Company's 
witness  submitted  the  opinion,  however,  that  the  sea 
would  not  reach  Rhyl,  the  level  of  the  land  at  the 
eastern  end  of  the  town  being  higher,  namely,  21  to 
22ft.  above  O.D.,  than  any  tide  has  been  known  to 
reach  ;  the  highest  recorded  having  been  under  1 8ft. 
above  O.D.  There  is,  however,  some  danger  of  flooding 
from  the  Clwyd  end  of  the  town  owing  to  defective 
river  banks. 

Rhuddlan,  about  three  miles  up  the  Clwyd  river  from 
Rhyl,  is  often  mentioned  in  Edward  II. *s  reign  as  an 
important  port.  River  silting,  as  in  the  case  of  Chester, 
has  been  the  cause  of  its  decay  as  a  port.  As  late  as 
tKe  early  'forties  of  last  century  50-ton  vessels  could 
still  sail  up  at  high-water.  The  L.  &  N.-W.  bridge  of 
the  Chester  to  Conway  Railway  (begun  in  1845)  finally 
sealed  its  fate. 

As  late  as  1774  Rhuddlan  marsh  is  described  as  "  a 
"trackless  waste."  In  1807  an  Act  for  embanking 
27,000  acres  of  it  was  obtained. 

This  extensive  marsh,  "  Morfa  Rhuddlan,"  was 
formerly  an  area  of  estuarine  accretion,  but  erosion  is 
now  so  active  on  the  seaboard  that  as  much  as  five 
acres  were  washed  away  between  1872  and  1899  ; 
66  yds.  in  depth  between  the  railway  and  the  sea  had 
vanished  opposite  Ty  Gwyn.  The  high  road  between 
Rhyl  and  Abergele  is  still  subject  to  invasion  by  the  sea. 

The  last  of  successive  changes  in  the  channel  of  the 
River  Clwyd,   at  its  junction  with  the  sea,  was  in  1911. 


^^  Wi 


PRESTATYN.  RHYL  AND  ABERGELE  COASTS.         179 

when  it  began  to  flow  east.  This  was  a  reversion  to  its 
course  about  I860. 

The  Abergele  beach  receives  a  generous  supply  of 
shingle  from  the  boulder-clay  cliffs  to  the  east  of 
Penmaen  Rhos  Head,  between  Llandulas  and  Old 
Colwyn.  The  wear  on  these  cliffs  has  averaged  for  a 
considerable  period  about  16  inches  a  year. 

That  the  shore  line  must  be  at  least  two  miles  further 
inland  at  Abergele  to-day  is  evidenced  by  a  stone  fixed 
on  the  north  side  of  Abergele  Churchyard  bearing  the 
following  inscription  (translated): — "Here  lieth  in  the 
"  Churchyard  of  St.  Michael,  a  man  whose  dwelling  was 
"three  miles  to  the  northward."  The  church  is  not 
now  more  than  one  mile  inland  of  high-water  mark. 

Pennant,  writing  about  the  Abergele  coast,  says  :  — 
"  I  have  observed  at  low  water  a  long  tract  of  hard  loam 
"  filled  with  the  bodies  of  oak-trees." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


CoLWYN  Bay,  the  Great  Orme,  and  Conway  Bay. 

The  three  outstanding  features  of  the  next  coastal 
section  are  the  projecting  limestone  headlands  of  (a)  Tan 
Penmaen  Head,  east  of  Old  Colwyn  ;  (h)  the  Little 
Orme  ;  and  (c)  Great  Orme's  Head.  These  terraced 
escarpments  are  standing  witnesses  to  the  denuding 
processes  of  frost,  rain,  wind,  and  sea  since  the 
Carboniferous  era  when  these  beds  were  laid  down 
under  the  sea,  and  were  continuous  across  the  Irish  Sea 
to  the  limestone  outcrop  near  Castletown,  Isle  of  Man, 
and  beyond.  (See  Chap.  II.)  The  dip  of  the  strata  is 
reversed  in  direction  in  Tan  Penmaen  Head  and  the 
Great  Orme.  This  may  be  due  to  lateral  pressure  or  to 
local  subsidence  at  some  intermediate  part. 

These  headlands  are  now  washed  and  buffetted  by 
the  sea  at  all  states  of  the  tide,  but  well  within  the 
historic  period  they  were  all  well  away  from  the  sea's 
reach.  Some  time  in  the  early  half  of  the  sixth  century 
there  is  reason  to  suspect  that  there  was  a  sudden 
acceleration  in  the  downward  movement  of  the  land 
which  caused  the  sea  to  make  a  permanent  advance  on 
the  land  all  along  the  North  Wales  coast  from  the  Dee, 
and  probably  further  east,  to  Anglesey  and  across 
Cardigan  Bay  as  well.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  disregard 
so  many  independent  traditions  at  widely  separated 
points  that  a  permanent  inundation  did  take  place, 
though  caution  must,  of  course,  be  observed  in  accepting 
such  evidence.  Apparently  an  extensive  coastal  fringe 
of  low-lying  land  on  the  north  coast,  called  Morfa 
(marsh)     Rhianedd    or     D61     Rhiannedd     (the     Ladies* 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME,  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     181 

valle),  was  overwhelmed.  The  coast-line  prior  to  this 
event  would  lie  from  one  to  three  miles  to  the  north  of 
the  existing  line  from  the  Point  of  Air  to  Puffin  Island. 
The  old  line  would  probably  include  Chester  Flats  and 
the  shallow  Constable  Bank,  and  all  the  area  within  the 
five-fathom  line  of  a  modern  ordnance  map. 

The  fact  that,  according  to  tradition,  the  people  on 
Puffin  Island,  at  the  east  end  of  Anglesey,  used  to 
record  their  votes  in  Flintshire  gives  some  colour  to  the 
statement  that  the  island  once  formed  the  western 
extremity  of  the  county.  A  more  likely  cause  was  the 
fact  that  the  island  formed  part  of  the  Kinmel  (Flintshire) 
property.  Of  this  long  coastal  plain  the  flat  neck  of  land 
upon  which  Llandudno  now  stands  is  the  only  part  now 
remaining  above  the  sea. 

Mr.  E.  W.  Cox  contributed  a  valuable  paper  to  the 
Lane.  &  Ches.  Historic  Society  (see  1894  vol.)  in  which 
he  had  collected  the  evidence  respecting  the  existence 
of  a  main  road  wrhich  traversed  this  vanished  land. 
Foryd,  west  of  Rhyl,  takes  its  name  from  the  ford  by 
which  this  road  is  believed  to  have  crossed  the  Clwyd. 
At  Pen  Sarn,  near  Abergele,  the  remains  of  a  causeway 
were  once  visible  at  low  ebb-tide.  It  is  at  least  possible 
that  this  was  the  "water  road  end"  which  once 
traversed  the  lost  land.  West  of  this  point  the  track  is 
now  deep  under  the  sea  all  along  the  coast  "  till  we  find 
"  an  ancient  trackway  crossing  by  Penrhynside,  in  rear 
"  of  Little  Orme's  Head,  where  it  appears  to  have 
"  trended  with  a  branch  towards  the  south-west,  to  meet 
"the  causeway  projecting  from  Puffin  Island."  Or  the 
coast  road  after  passing  Colw^n  Bay  and  through  (or 
north  of)  Llandrillo-yn-Rhos  would  traverse  the  Glan- 
wyddan  valley,  which  lies  betvs'een  tKe  Mochdre  valley 
and  the  Llandudno  low  land,  and  would  continue 
through  Bryn-y-Mair  across  what  is  now  Conway  Bay, 
from  a  point  near  the  Black  Rocks,  about  a  mile  north 
of  Deganwy,  along  what  is  now  the  bed  of  the  Menai 
Straits,  perhaps  a  mile  seaward  of  the  present  high-water 
mark  at  Penmaenmawr,  to  Bangor,  (by  land  to) 
Carnarvon  and  lost  Caer  Arianrhod. 


A3S310  NV 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME.  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     183 

The  ancient  Roman  fort  of  Castell  Tremlyd,  which, 
according  to  Mr.  E.  W.  Cox's  account  (L.  &  C.  H.  S.), 
stood  on  a  worn-away  point  of  land  a  mile  north  of 
Deganwy  station,  would  doubtless  be  built  to  guard  this 
road.  Every  Roman  fort  defended  a  road,  a  vale,  or 
a  plain. 

Fenton's   "Tours  in  Wales"   (1804-13,   p.    198),   con- 
tains   the    following    passage  : — "  From    Gt.     Orme    to 
Deganwy   by   sea-margin.      .      .      .     The    man 
told   me   that    after    storms    and   low   tides    a    sort    of 
causeway  is  seen   stretching   across   the   sands,    and   is 
supposed  to  have  been  an  ancient  road  coming  from 
Flintshire   made  by  the   Romans  before   the   flat   land 
there  was  encroached  on.     The  Sarn  was  called  Sarn 
Holland,  perhaps  a  corruption  for  Sarn  Helen." 
An    historical   incident    lends    strong   support   to    this 
vanished  road  belief.     It  was  for  long  a  debated  point 
as   to    where    on    this  coast    Richard    II.   was    met    and 
captured  by  the  troops  of  his  cousin,  Henry  Bolingbroke. 
No  spot  on  the  existing  coast  road  can  be  identified  by 
the  account  given  by  a  French  nobleman  in  a  manuscript 
now  in  the  British  Museum.   "  We  could  not  get  away," 
he   wrote,    "on   one   side   ow^ing  to  the   sea,    or   on   the 
"  other  owing  to  the  rock."     The  spot  must  have  been 
somewhere  between  the  Conway  and  Clwyd  rivers.     If 
the    traditional    road    did   run    at    the    foot    of    the    cliffs 
instead    of  over   the    headland  of   Tan    Penmaen    Head, 
east  of  Old  Colwyn,  as  now,  the  description  of  the  point 
of  meeting  would  correspond  with  that  of  the  road  as  it 
passed  between  the  headland  and  the  sea. 

Pennant,  in  his  "Tours,"  Vol.  I.  (1771),  writing  of 
Tan  Penmaen  Head,  says  :  "In  my  memory  the  traveller 
"  went  along  a  narrow  road  path  cut  on  its  front  like 
"the  road  on  Penmaenmawr  but  infinitely  more  terrible 
"  A  fine  coach  road  has  of  late  years  been  formed  far 
behind  this  precipice."  This  passage  enables  us  to 
date  the  present  road  over  the  top  of  the  headlands  as 
having  been  made  in  the  latter  half  of  the  18th  century. 
Mr.  C.  R.  Hall,  in  a  Liverpool  Geolog.  Soc.  paper 
(Dec.    13,    1864),  wrote  that  an  old  man  at  Colwyn  said 


184  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

that  he  remembered  a  cart-road  round  the  Tan  Penmaen 
rocks  by  Llandulas.  The  tide  (in  1864)  rose  about  12ft, 
in  the  caves  of  the  headland. 

Between  the  headlands  of  this  coast  extensive  beds 
of  boulder  clay  w^ere  deposited  in  the  glacial  epoch, 
and  these,  v^here  they  are  in  contact  with  the  sea,  are 
now  in  process  of  more  or  less  rapid  denudation.  The 
limestone  is  highly  resistant  to  erosive  influences. 

In  Colwyn  Bay  a  steady  lowering  of  the  beach  has 
been  in  progress  to  the  extent  of  as  much  as  six  feet  in 
the  six  years  ending  1907.  The  new  promenade  has 
stopped  the  erosion  previously  in  progress.  Groynes 
have  also  had  satisfactory  results.  An  old  man  living  at 
Groes  told  the  writer  in  1908  that  he  could  remember  a 
hedge  below  the  present  high-water  mark  between  the 
pier  and  Old  Colwyn, 

About  half-a-mile  below  low-water  mark  west  of  a 
point  opposite  Llandrillo  Church  may  be  well  seen  at 
low  tide  the  huge  monolith  known  as  Maen-y-Hensor. 
Rhys,  a  chief  shepherd  of  the  district  in  the  12th  century, 
is  said  to  have  blown  his  horn  from  this  stone.  If  so, 
the  fact  furnishes  evidence  of  a  sea-gain  on  the  land  of 
at  least  1000  yards  in  700  years. 

But  the  name  Maen  Rhys,  and  possibly  the  tradition 
as  well,  belongs  to  a  large  rock  which  still  projects  30 
to  36  inches  at  the  ebb  of  a  22  feet  tide,  about  400  yards 
below  L.W.  mark  opposite  Eirias  Dingle,  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  to  the  east  of  Colwyn  Bay  pier. 

North  of  Rhos  golf  links,  a  line  of  surf  when  there 
is  a  rough  sea  reveals  the  existence  of  a  line  of 
wall,  or  "  Muriau,"  which  it  is  believed  once  protected 
the  ancient  lost  land.  The  wall,  or  walls,  are  said  to 
run  out  about  a  mile  from  the  shore  for  about  four  miles 
in  a  west-to-east  direction.  A  line  of  large  boulders  is 
visible  for  about  1000yds.  at  the  ebb  of  a  high  tide  about 
half-a-mile  due  east  of  the  Little  Orme.  Tradition  says 
that  there  were  30  gates  in  the  dyke  between  Gogarth 
(Great  Orme)  and  the  Point  of  Air. 

The  writer  suggests  a  more  likely  explanation.  The 
late  Prof.  Lewis,  in  a  posthumous  work,  expressed  the 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME,  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     185 

opinion  that  at  this  very  point,  ' '  probably  close  to  the 
"  east  of  the  Little  Orme,"  the  northern  ice-sheet  met 
that  moving  north  from  the  Welsh  heights.  If  so,  an 
exceptional  deposit  of  moraine  detritus  might  be 
expected  here, 

Mr.  H.  Caraher  (says  Mr.  E.  W.  Cox,  Hist.  Soc,  1894) 
states    that    "  people    nov^    living    (1893)    can    remember 
houses  standing  in  the  low  ground  half-a-mile  seaw^ard 
of  the  present  shore." 

The  original  parish  church — then  Dinerth — "  is  said 
to  have  been  situated  on  a  spot  now  covered  by  the 
waves,  about  \^  miles  to  the  east  from  Rhos  Fynach  " 
(at  Rhos).  "  The  late  Mr.  Parry-Evans  stated  that,  when 
he  w^as  a  youth,  he  was  tossed  from  a  boat  and  sank 
among  large  pieces  of  masonry."  (Bezant  Lowe's 
Heart  of  Northern  Wales,  p.  360.) 

Ancient  forest  remains  are  again  encountered  on  the 
beach  south  of  Rhos  pier.  The  writer  found  only  a 
small  number  of  stumps  on  his  visit  here  in  1908,  but  in 
October,  1917,  he  saw,  opposite  the  point  where  the 
tramroad  turns  inland  several  stumps  in  situ  and  still 
more  prostrate.  Pennant,  in  his  "  Tours  in  Wales," 
records  a  large  number  of  them  at  this  point.  As  at 
most  other  points,  there  is  a  lower  arboreal  bed.  Tree 
trunks  could  also  be  well  seen  within  the  last  30  or  40 
years  on  the  beach  opposite  Old  Colwyn  railway  station. 
The  light  sandy  soil  upon  which  the  north-western 
half  of  Colwyn  Bay  has  been  built,  and  which  imparts  so 
much  dryness  to  its  atmosphere,  is  strongly  presumptive 
evidence  as  to  the  one-time  existence  of  a  river  emptying 
into  the  sea  not  far  away  on  the  v/indward  or  north- 
western side.  This  river  would  be  the  Conway.  The 
evidence  is  conclusive  that,  probably  as  late  as  1500  years 
ago  the  River  Conway  entered  the  sea,  not  as  now, 
between  Conway  and  Llandudno,  but  through  the 
Mochdre  and  Abergonal  Valleys,  leaving  the  present 
river  at  a'  point  between  Glan  Conway  and  Llandudno 
Junction  stations.  Mochdre  station  stands  in  the  middle 
of  the  bed  of  the  old  river.  The  name  "  Mochdre  " 
comes  from   "  Moch-trai,"   meaning   "quick  ebb";   the 


186  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST- LINE. 

names  of  farms  in  this  valley  support  the  belief  that  a 
navigable  river  once  ran  here.  Below  the  surface  of  the 
lowest-lying  parts  of  the  valley  there  is  a  deposit  of  from 
one  to  six  feet  in  depth  of  sand,  clay,  or  estuary  silt, 
no  stones  being  found  anywhere.  From  Mochdre  the 
river  would  pass  seawards  between  the  Little  Orme's 
Head  and  Bryn  Euryn,  where  now  a  dry  ditch,  which 
becomes  the  Afon  Ganol  as  Rhos  is  approached,  marks 
the  boundary  between  Denbighshire  and  Carnarvonshire. 
The  old  river  bed  is  easily  traceable  on  the  north  side  of 
the  Golf-links  house,  where  there  is  a  3ft.  depression. 
Fifteen  hundred  years  ago  the  sea  would  be  considerably 
north  of  the  shore  line  of  to-day.  "  Rhos  "  means  a 
moist  plain  or  meadow. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  when,  in  1907,  a  sewer  outfall 
was  being  laid  by  the  Colwyn  Bay  U.D.C.  midway 
between  the  Little  Orme  and  Rhos  pier,  a  massive  stone 
wall  about  12  ft.  in  diameter,  with  holes  in  w^hich  iron 
stanchions  had  apparently  been  fixed,  was  encountered 
well  below  L.W.  about  680  yds.  seaward  of  the  sea  wall. 
The  spot  is  opposite  the  old  farm  w^hich  stands  just 
above  H.W.  mark  and  which  is  known  as  "  Rhyd-y- 
cerrig-gwynion  ";  "  the  ford  of  the  white  stones."  Ford 
implies  a  river  hard  by.  This  walling  imay  have  been 
part  of  an  old  coast  road,  or  more  probably  of  a  harbour 
in  the  estuary  of  the  old  Conway  river  prior  to  the  6th 
century. 

The  ancient  course  probably  silted  up  very  gradually. 
An  old  man  living  near  Pabo  told  the  writer  (1914)  that 
his  grandmother,  born  in  1815,  could  remember  flat 
boats,  laden  with  coal,  coming  to  Mochdre  from  Clan 
Conway. 

Tradition  assigns  as  the  site  of  a  place  of  the  name 
of  Dinerth  (a  fort),  the  ancient  name  of  the  Colwyn 
parish,  a  knoll,  a  mile  or  so  inland,  between  Rhos  and 
Conway,  where  vessels  sailed  up  the  old  river  to  unload 
cargo.  "  Old  Price,"  of  Pwyllcrochan,  in  his  "  Llan- 
dudno and  How  to  Enjoy  it,"  mentions  the  fact  that 
as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  18th  century  vessels 
unloaded  coal  close  by  Dinerth  farm-house. 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME.  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     187 

Sufficient  evidence  is  not  available  as  to  the  date  of 
the  commencement  of  the  change  in  the  River  Conway's 
course  to  the  sea,  but  it  would  probably  be  connected 
with  the  great  coastal  inundation,  and  so  may  be  tenta- 
tively assigned  to  the  sixth  century.  Tudor,  in  his 
"Orkneys  and  Shedands '*  (1883)  says  that  Helig's 
Palace  (see  next  chapter)  "  was  destroyed  about  560  A.D. 
"  by  a  great  inundation  breaking  through  the  protecting 
"  embankments,  the  River  Conway  simultaneously 
"  forcing  a  new  channel  for  itself  on  the  western  side  of 
"Great  Orme's  Head,  united  to  finish  the  work  of 
"  destruction."  The  authority  for  these  statements  is 
not  given. 

Mr.  Thomas  Berts,  an  old  resident  at  Rhos-on-Sea, 
states  that  the  position  of  the  easterly  of  the  two  ancient 
fishing  weirs  at  Rhos  gives  strong  support  to  the  theory 
that  a  considerable  subsidence  has  been  in  progress. 

The  modern  resort  of  Llandudno,  with  its  double 
sea-front  and  singularly  beautiful  situation  between  two 
imposing  headlands,  owes  its  dry  salubrity  largely  to  the 
same  cause  as  St.  Annes,  South  Shore,  Southport.  and 
the  west  end  of  Colwyn  Bay,  in  the  fact  that  it  has  been 
built  mainly  on  sand  brought  down  by  a  neighbouring 
river.  Since  the  change  in  the  Conway's  exit  to  the  sea 
this  sand,  which  has  been  sifted  out  from  the  glacial  and 
other  deposits  about  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Conway, 
Llugwy,  and  Lledr  rivers,  has  been  deposited  by  tidal 
action  on  both  sides  of  the  estuary  on  Conway  Marsh, 
and  on  the  flat  shore  seaward  of  Deganwy,  and  also  on 
the  Morfa  Rhianedd.  upon  which  Llandudno  stands. 
The  sand  dunes  between  the  west  shore  and  Deganwy 
are  for  the  most  part  of  late  formation. 

Under  the  sand  is  found  at  most  prints  from  9  to  12 
inches  of  black  peat,  in  which  stags'  horns  are  occa- 
sionally found.  Islands  of  boulder  clay  which  here,  as 
elsewhere,  underlie  the  peat  beds,  crop  out,  here  and 
there,  on  this  flat  neck  of  land.  Prior  to  1820,  before 
Llandudno  had  made  a  start,  this  part  was  an  almost 
impassable  swamp.  Blown  sand  has  made  of  this  marshy 
ground  good  building  land.     Between  the  south  and  east 


J 88  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

of  Mostyn  Street  and  the  beach  was,  in  1820,  a  rabbit 
warren.  A  bed  of  sea-shells  was  found  in  1913  in  the 
course  of  sewer  excavations  at  a  point  midway  between 
the  two  bays,  between  an  extension  of  Trinity  and  Lloyd 
Streets. 

The  protecting  of  the  shores  of  the  bay  by  the  long, 
crescent-shaped  promenade  has  stayed  all  erosion  on  this 
side,  but  there  has  been  in  progress  for  many  years  a 
marked  lowering  of  the  beach  level  in  the  bay.  In  1894 
it  was  possible  to  step  from  the  Promenade  to  the  beach 
at  a  single  stride.  Since  then  a  continual  lowering  has 
been  caused  by  the  removal  by  tidal  action  of  beach 
material  towards  the  Little  Orme's  Head  side  of  the 
bay.  For  1450  yards  the  local  authorities  have  found  it 
necessary  to  construct  from  4  to  1 1  concrete  steps  to 
protect  the  promenade  and  to  facilitate  access  to  the 
beach. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  beach-lowering  has  been  to 
reveal  from  time  to  time  sections  of  an  ancient  land 
surface  with  oak  and  other  tree  remains.  Descriptions 
of  such  exposures  have  been  made  by  Mr.  G.  A. 
Humphreys,  F.R.I.B.A.,  R.C.A.,  of  tree  trunks  opposite 
Neville  Crescent,  seen  in  1909  ;  of  a  large  patch  to  the 
north-west  of  the  first  named,  in  1910  ;  and  of  a  number 
of  large  tree  trunks  off  Craig-y-don,  in  1911.  One  trunk 
lying  flat  on  the  shore  measured  24ft.  in  length. 

Mr.  Humphreys  has  noted  also  in  the  course  of  sewer 
and  other  excavations  in  Llandudno,  a  regular  layer  of 
decayed  growth,  1  to  2  ft.  thick,  at  a  depth  of  6  to  10 
feet  below  the  surface. 

Mr.  John  Roberts,  of  Bryn  Celyn,  Llandudno,  found, 
in  Sept.,  1909,  large  tree  trunks  200  yards  south-west  of 
the  Marine  Drive  Toll-house.  About  1902  some  ten  tree 
stumps  were  exposed  on  the  beach  of  Conway  Morfa, 
between  Penmaen  Bach  and  the  Black  Rocks. 

All  these  trees  would  doubtless  be  growing  as  late 
as  from  the  eighth  to  the  tenth  centuries  and  perhaps 
later. 

In  the  bay  near  the  Little  Orme  may  be  seen 
jutting  into  the  sea  at  low  tide  an  old  causeway  known 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME.  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     189 

as  Sam  "  Holland."  Its  purpose  can  only  be  conjectured 
as  having  been  a  protecting  embankment  before  this  part 
became   permanently  submerged. 

The  Great  Orme's  Head,  known  in  Welsh  as  Pen-y- 
Gogarth,  is  the  most  imposing  of  the  North  Wales 
headlands.  This  is  so  rather  by  reason  of  its  precipitous 
cliffs  on  three  of  its  sides,  than  of  its  height,  which  is 
only  676  feet  at  the  highest  point.  Ordericus  Vitalis,  a 
12l:h  century  chronicler,  called  it  "  Horma-Heva."  Isaac 
Taylor  traces  it  to  the  Norse  "  Ormr,"  a  serpent;  Worms 
Head  in  South  Wales  being  the  Saxonised  form. 

The  word  "Llandudno"  was  applied,  long  before 
the  town  itself  came  into  existence,  to  the  Great  Orme 
itself.  Pennant,  in  his  "  Tours,"  late  in  the  18th  century, 
so  applies  the  name.  "  Llan  "  means  an  enclosure 
around  a  church,  and  "  dudno  "  comes  from  the  name  of 
the  reputed  founder  of  the  old  church  on  the  headland. 
Saint  Tudno.  As  to  w^hy  a  church  should  have  been 
fixed  in  the  5th  or  6th  century  so  far  from  any  known 
haunts  of  men,  on  an  open,  wind-sw^ept  plateau,  has  never 
received  a  satisfactory  explanation.  The  most  likely  one 
is  that  it  was  built  here  to  serve  the  spiritual  needs  of 
the  people  living  on  the  plain  where  now  the  sea  rolls, 
both  on  the  north  and  south-west  sides  of  the  Head. 
Tradition  current  in  1799  asserted  that  the  British  road 
knovi/n  as  Hwilfa  Ceirw,  "  the  path  of  the  deer,"  which 
runs  from  the  farm  Lletty  Fadog  to  the  cliff,  and  thence 
down  the  steep  to  the  sea,  w^as  once  used  by  deer  to 
descend  to  the  meadows  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  Rorr»ans  in  North  Wales  was 
in  its  mineral  wealth,  and  the  disused  headings  on  the 
Great  Orme  are  signs  of  their  activities  in  mining  for 
copper  here.  The  large  finds  of  Roman  coins  in  1907 
near  Craigside  Hydro.;  in  1873,  half-a-mile  to  the  east, 
where  over  5000  coins,  mainly  of  early  fourth  century 
date,  were  found  ;  and  in  1888,  at  the  mouth  of 
Kendrick's  Cave  on  the  Great  Orme,  were  probably  of 
money  intended  for  the  payment  of  workers  in  the  Great 
Orme  mines.  Roman  coins  and  tile  fragments  have  also 
been  found,  testifying  to  the  existence  of  a  Roman  camp 


190  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

on  the  south-eastern  edge  of  the  headland  at  a  point  long 
since  eroded  away. 

The  tradition  runs  that  a  palace  of  Llewelyn  stood 
on  the  plain  near  the  Llech  Cave,  at  the  open  sea  end 
of  the  Great  Orme.  The  cave  is  also  known  as  St. 
Tudno's  or  the  Monk's  cave.  A  description  written 
60  years  ago  still  applies  to  this  cliff  recess,  which  cannot 
now  be  reached,  'save  from  the  sea,  except  at  some  risk 
to  life  and  limb  by  a  descent  from  the  cliff  above.  (The 
writer  failed  in  an  attempt  to  reach  it  from  above.) 
The  cavern  is  about  I  Oft.  high,  lined  with  smooth  and 
well-jointed,  strong  work,  with  a  plain  cornice  at  the 
height  of  7  or  8  feet.  The  fronts  on  each  side  are 
faced  w^ith  smooth  stone.  Close  to  the  entrance  is  a 
font.  The  floor  has  been  flagged."  When  originally 
used  the  place  would  probably  be  approached  from  the 
land  below,  now  covered  by  the  sea.  But  the  masonry 
is  of  much  later  date.  The  grandfather  of  the  present 
Lord  Mostyn  told  Mr.  Humphreys  nearly  50  years  ago 
that  he  had  no  doubt  about  this  masonry  having  been 
carried  out  by  an  ancestral  predecessor.  The  ancestor 
in  question  would  probably  be  the  Lord  Mostyn  of  about 
400  years  ago,  who  spent  large  sums  in  improving  his 
estate.  The  recess  was  probably  used  at  some  early 
period  as  a  monk's  cell,  as  a  grassy  path  can  still  be 
traced  connecting  the  cliff  overhead  with  Gogarth 
Abbey. 

At  other  parts  of  the  base  of  the  imposing  cliffs  of 
this  striking  promontory  the  sea  is  unceasingly  at  work 
in  excavating  caves  with  arched  entrances.  The  erosive 
action  of  pebbles  is  more  important  than  that  of  sea 
action  itself.  The  appearance  of  the  alternating  terraces 
and  scars  of  the  headland  generally  bears  a  strong 
resemblance  to  that  of  the  Eglwyseg  cliffs  above  Llan- 
gollen, which  were  similarly  acted  upon  by  the  sea. 

Almost  opposite  the  end  of  Mostyn  Street,  Llandudno, 
on  the  Great  Orme  cliff,  is  a  small  cave  in  which  some 
important  finds  have  been  made.  Thomas  Kendrick,  a 
lapidary,  used  it  as  a  workshop,  and  when  enlarging  it 
in   1879-80,  by  removing  material  from  the  back  of  the 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME,  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     191 

cave,  he  found,  under  the  stalactitic  and  other  accumula- 
tions, the  bones  and  fragments  of  some  large  animals 
and  part  skeletons  of  four  human  beings.  The  opinion 
of  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins  was  that  the  animal  remains  were 
mainly  of  the  bison  of  Pleistocene  Age,  the  badger, 
brown  bear,  boar,  horse,  and  short-horned  ox.  He 
judged  the  cave  to  have  been  used  in  Neolithic  times  as 
a  burial-place  by  a  family  of  small  Iberic  people.* 

The  Iberians  were  the  root-race  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Wales  so  far  as  anthropological  research  can  trace. 
They  were  of  a  small,  dark-skinned  type.  They  preceded 
the  Goidelic  Celts,  who  invaded  the  country  about  the 
12th  century  B.C.,  and  the  Brythonic  Celts,  who  followed 
about  the  third  century  B.C.,  and  who  brought  with  them 
the  Welsh  language.  In  places  away  from  the  main 
streams  of  traffic,  such  as  Beddgelert  and  Dinas  Mowddy, 
their  physical  characteristics  still  survive. 

About  a  mile  seaward  of  the  southern  entrance  to  the 
Marine  Drive  may  be  seen  some  ruined  walls  which  are 
all  that  remain  of  Gogarth  Abbey.  A  fragment  of  wall, 
10  feet  high  by  7  to  5  feet  wide,  stands  on  the  very  edge 
of  the  sea  cliff.  Lewis  Morris's  map  of  1748  shows  the 
Abbey  to  have  been  then  nearly  a  mile  from  the  sea. 
It  is  said  to  have  been  in  ruins  when  Conway  Castle  was 
built  in  the  1 3th  century.  The  original  Gogarth  Abbey 
was  built  and  occupied  by  the  Bishops  of  Bangor,  but 
whether  it  stood  on  the  plain  now  covered  by  the  sea 
or  on  the  site  of  the  existing  ruins  is  a  matter  of  doubt. 
Leland  (1536-9)  refers  to  "an  Arme  like  a  peninsula, 
*]caulled  Gogarth,  lying  against  PriestKolme  (Puffin  I.), 
^^  and  ther^  be  the  ruines  of  a  place  of  the  bisshops  of 
"  Bangor." 

It  would  seem  probable  that  the  last  part  of  the  plain 
around  the  Great  Orme  to  go  permanently  under  the 
sea  was  that  near  Gogarth  Abbey  and  on  the  Conway 
side  of  this  point.  An  old  lady,  Mrs.  Miriam  Jones,  who 
lived  in  a  cave  near  by,  dying  in  1910  at  about  90  years 
of  age,  was  able  to  tell  of  her  father,  when  a  youth, 
ploughing  fields  which  lay  between  Gogarth  Abbey  and 
the    sea.      This    would    be   in    the    18th   century.      The 


•  From  an  account  written   bv  Mr.   G.  A.  Humphreys,  F.R.I.B  A      or  thn 
Llandudno  Field  Club.  Janu.iry  11th,  1908. 


192  THE    EVOLUTION  OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

traditions  of  the  neighbourhood  also  strongly  support  the 
belief  that  within  the  last  200  years  cattle  have  grazed 
in  fields  at  the  foot  of  the  Orme's  Head,  but  probably 
only  on  the  south  side. 

What  is  probably  a  glacial  deposit  stretches  in  the 
form  of  a  line  of  stones — Carreg-y-Fan — from  a  point 
about  1200  yards  west  of  the  Great  Orme  Lighthouse  to 
near  the  west  entrance  to  the  Marine  Drive. 

Deganwy,  the  Cangorum  Civitas  of  Tacitus,  has  an 
historical  importance  unrivalled  by  any  of  its  holiday 
catering  upstart  competitors.  For  centuries  Kings  of 
North  Wales,  then  "  Gwynedd,"  held  their  court  here, 
including  Maelgwyn  (died  about  547),  "  one  of  the 
"  mightiest  kings  in  Britain."  In  810  lightning  is  said  to 
have  destroyed  it,  and  the  tow^n  of  Caer-  or  Aber-gyffin, 
later  known  as  Aberconway,  rose  in  its  stead.  The 
ancient  castle  of  Deganwy,  fragments  of  which  still  stand 
on  the  low  hill  above  the  village,  was  dismantled  in  1263 
by  the  last  Prince,  Llewelyn  ap  Gryffydd.  For  long  the 
ford  of  the  Conway  river,  opposite  Deganwy,  was  the 
battle-ground  of  the  contending  Welsh  and  English, 
down  to  the  final  subjugation  of  Wales  by  Edward  I. 
Some  of  the  bloodiest  battles  in  history  have  been  fought 
Jiere  and  on  Conway  Morfa.  The  name  Deganwy  is 
probably  a  corruption  of  "  Tre  Gonwy,"  meaning 
'*  Town  on  the  Conway  **;  or  it  may  come  from  the  name 
of  a  tribe  which  in  Roman  times  occupied  this  district, 
the  "  Decanti." 

The  main  stream  of  traffic  along  the  coast  had  passed 
to  the  ferry  opposite  Conw^ay  long  before  the  Conway 
Suspension  Bridge  was  built  by  Telford  in  1826.  The 
Tubular  Bridge  for  the  railway  was  made  22  years  later. 

Before  the  building  of  the  Suspension  Bridge  the  main 
channel  of  the  river  had  kept  near  to  the  opposite,  or 
right,  bank  of  the  river  from  Glan  Conway  to  Deganwy. 
The  silting  up  of  several  acres  of  this  old  river  bed 
through  the  diversion  of  the  river  by  the  long  embank- 
ment connecting  the  east  bank  with  the  rocky  islet  of 
"  Yr-ynys,"  upon  w^hich  one  end  of  the  two  bridges 
rests,  promises  to  make  some  acres  of  cultivable  land 
here  in  time. 


COLWYN  BAY.  GREAT  ORME.  AND  CONWAY  BAY.     193 

Conway  is  one  of  three  perfectly  walled  British  towns 
or  cities,  Chester  and  York  being  the  other  two  ;  it  was 
in  former  days  of  some  importance  as  a  seaport.  But, 
like  Chester,  the  sanding  up  of  the  estuary  made 
access  by  ships  increasingly  difficult,  whilst  the  making 
of  improved  roads,  both  along  the  coast  and  the 
Shrewsbury  -  to  -  Holyhead  mail  coach  road  through 
Corwen,  Bettws-y-Coed,  and  Capel  Curig,  early  in  the 
19th  century,  had  robbed  it  of  much  of  its  sea  traffic 
prior  to  the  coming  of  the  railway  in  1848. 

As  late  as  1837  a  passenger  steamer  plied  regularly 
between  Conway  Quay  and  Liverpool. 

Mr.  W.  Bezant  Lowe's  determination  of  the  order  of 
the  deposits  between  the  Conway  estuary  and  Colwyn 
Bay  is  appended  :  — 

1 .  Blown  sand  dunes. 

2.  Black  clay  (no  pebbles). 

3.  Sands  and  gravels   (Ballast  pit,  Colwyn  Bay). 

4.  Red   clay   (probably   brought  by  icebergs   from 

the  North  of  Ire'and). 

5.  Sands  and  gravels,  denoting  sihore  conditions. 

6.  Grey  stratified  clay   (ice   ground-down  slate). 

7.  Dark   grey   clay  with   Silurian    pebbles   and   ice- 

scratched  fragments  of  mountain  Limestone 
(examples  :   Rhos,  Gogarth,  and  Deganwy). 

8.  Mountain  limestone  rubble. 

9.  Bedded   mountain   Limestone   (Great   and  Little 

Orme). 

In  the  Glacial  period  a  sheet  of  ice  covered  most  of 
the  hills  of  this  part  and  moved  along  the  coast,  rounding 
the  hills  and  leaving  a  deposit  of  clay  and  boulders. 
Land  elevation  left  evidences  in  sea-beaches.  A  depres- 
sion followed,  after  which  a  second  series  of  sea-beach 
marks  testifies  to  a  later  elevation. 

The  last  vertical  change,  which  has  probably  been 
in  operation  for  three  to  four  thousand  years,  has  been  a 
downward  one. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


The  Re-discovery  of  Leys  Helig  :  The  Palace 

UNDER   THE  SeA. 

The  belief  in  a  general  subsidence  of  the  western 
coast  had  become  strong  in  the  writer's  mind  before  he 
had  come  across  any  evidence  of  a  direct  character. 
When  he  came  to  examine  the  North  Wales  coast  he 
soon  grew  familiar  with  the  tradition  that  a  royal  palace 
or  court  had  stood  on  a  site  now  covered  by  the  Menai 
Strait,  prior  to  the  great  inundation  of  the  sixth  century. 
It  was  then,  according  to  tradition,  that  the  palace  had 
been  overwhelmed. 

Was  it  possible  that  some  remains  of  this  building 
might  even  yet  be  discoverable  ?  Such  a  direct  proof  of 
subsidence  would  have  unquestionable  confirmatory 
value.  The  only  evidence  known  to  the  writer,  at  this 
time,  of  any  attempt  to  trace  the  remains  ever  having 
been  made  was  contained  in  a  manuscript  paper,  pre- 
sumably written  for  some  literary  society,  which  came 
into  his  possession  by  favour  of  Mr.  F.  Holland,  of 
Llandudno,  and  the  owner  of  the  MS.,  Mr.  R.  S. 
Simpson,  of  Craig-y-don.  This  manuscript  included  a 
description"  of  an  attempt  made  by  a  Liverpool  gentle- 
man, Mr.  Charlton  R.  Hall,  to  find  the  Llys  Helig  ruins, 
on  August  19th,  1864.  He  was  accompanied  in  a  boat 
from  Llandudno  by  five  others.  The  search  was  for 
long  a  vain  one,  and  was  about  to  be  abandoned  when 
some  black  seaweed  on  the  surface  of  the  sea  came  into 
sight.  This  seaweed  was  found  to  be  growing  "  upon 
"the  top  of  what  appeared  to  have  been  a  wall."  It 
became  evident  that  the  stones  "  ran  in  straight  lines." 


LLYS  HELIG:   A  RE-DISCOVERY.  195 

Slight  as  this  evidence  was,  it  pointed  to  a  presump- 
tion that  this  was  the  site  of  the  lost  palace.  If  so,  the 
position  was  here  fairly  clearly  indicated,  and  the  writer 
resolved  to  take  advantage  of  the  first  very  low  tide 
which  coincided  with  sufficiently  calm  weather  for  an 
independent  search  to  be  made. 

Before  describing  this  search  it  will  be  well  to  state 
what  tradition  has  to  say  about  the  overwhelming  of 
Llys     Helig. 

The  disaster  is  first  referred  to  in  a  poem  attributed 
to  the  bard  Taliesin  (520-570).  Whether  this  was  a 
genuine  or  a  spurious  poem  of  a  bard  to  whom  many 
poems  have  been  wrongly  ascribed  is  not  a  vital  matter. 
The  event  is  referred  to  as  occurring  within  the  lifetime 
of  the  writer's  own  contemporaries.  Reasons  will  be 
given  in  a  later  chapter  for  the  date  543  A.D.,  when  an 
earthquake,  which  is  said  to  have  shaken  "  the  whole 
world,"  occurred,  as  the  possible  year  of  the  inundation, 
but  several  considerations  determine  the  date  as  being 
not  earlier  than  520  A.D.  nor  later  than  563.  One 
account — Tudor 's  "  Orkneys  and  Shetlands,"  1883,  gives 
the  year  of  the  great  inundation  which  destroyed  Llys 
Helig  "  by  a  stormy  sea  breaking  through  the  protecting 
"embankments"  as  560  A.D.  The  writer's  authority  is 
not  stated. 

The  disaster  is  mentioned  in  the  12th  century 
*  Pedigrees  of  the  Welsh  Saints  ";  in  the  Welsh  "  Gor- 
hofet,"  1115-1190;  and  in  more  than  one  collection  of 
"  Triads."  The  Welsh  Triads  recount  in  verse  the 
deeds  of  early  British  heroes.  Though  merely  preserving 
oral  traditions,  they  have  a  value  in  being  our  only 
sources  of  information.  As  history,  however,  they  are 
very  unreliable.  The  sixth  century  happened  to  be  one 
of  the  darkest  periods  in  regard  to  written  chronicles. 

These  traditional  accounts  mix  up  in  a  hopelessly 
confusing  way  the  characters  and  incidents  of  two 
separate  occurrences,  the  inundation  of  Llys  Helig  and 
the  overwhelming  of  Cantref  Gwaelod  in  Cardigan  Bay. 
(See  Chapter  XXXI.) 

It  ought  to  be  stated  that  in  the  opinion  of  so  high 
an  authority  as  Prof.  J.  E.  Lloyd,  the  historian  of  Wales, 


196  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

the  story  which  has  gathered  around  Llys  HeHg  belongs 
rather  to  folk-lore  than  history.  Whatever  the  truth  of 
the  matter  may  be  the  most  complete  account  is  given  in 
an  Ancient  Survey  of  Pen  Maen  Mawr."  Mr.  J.  O. 
Halliwell,  F.R.S.,  in  1859,  reprinted  this  account,  and 
says  in  his  preface  to  it  : — *'  The  MS.,  I  have  little  doubt, 
is  the  same  which  is  quoted  in  the  additions  to 
Camden,  as  *  a  MS.  written  by  Sir  John  Gwynn,  of 
Gwedyr  (temp.  Charles  I.)  communicated  to  Bishop 
Gibson  by  his  worthy  friend,  Griffith  Jones,  school- 
master, of  Llanrwst.  Mr.  W.  Bezant  Lowe,  F.G.S., 
edited  and  published,  in  1906,  a  reprint  of  this  account. 
The  Sir  John  Gwynn  here  mentioned  was  identical  with 
Sir  John  Wynne  (1553-1626),  a  noted  antiquarian,  and 
developer  of  the  commercial  resources  of  North  Wales. 

The  Legend. 

There  is  a  very  ancient  legend  or  historical  tradition  of  the 
inundation  of  the  land  of  Helig  ab  Glanawg,  or  Morfa  Rhianedd, 
between  the  Great  Orme's  Head  and  Priestholme,  still  extant, 
preserved  also  in  ancient  manuscript.  (Here  follows  the  ancestry  of 
Helig,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  grandson  of  Caradoc  the  Valiant, 
King  of  North  Wales.)  This  Helig  was  lord  of  Abergele,  Rhos. 
Arllechwedd,  Lleyn.  Cantref  Gwaelod ;  and  he  was  also  Earl  of 
Hereford.  In  his  time  happened  the  great  inundation  which  sur- 
rounded Morfa  Rhianedd.  the  most  delicate,  fruitful,  and  pleasant 
vale  lying  from  Bangor  to  Gogarth  (Great  Orme's  Head),  and  so 
to  Tyganviry  (Deganwy)  in  length,  and  in  breadth  from  Dwygyfylchi 
(near  Penmaenmawr)  to  the  point  of  Flintshire  which  came  up  from 
Rhuddlan  (in  the  Clwyd  Valley)  to  Priestholme  (Puffin  Island) ;  and 
in  the  upper  end  whereof  did  extend  in  breadth  from  Aber  and 
Llanfair  (fechan)  to  the  river  Ell,  which  did  divide  Caernarvon  from 
Mon  (Anglesey)  and  did  likewise  divide  Mon  from  Flintshire,  running 
between  Priestholme  and  Penmon  (Point  of  Anglesey),  and  so 
discharging  itself  into  the  sea  a  great  way  beyond  Priestholme,  and 
did  surround  many  other  rich  and  fruitful  bottoms  and  vales  within 
the  counties  of  Carnarvon,  Flint,  Anglesey,  and  Merioneth,  most  of 
them  being  the  land  of  Helig  ab  Glanawg,  whose  chiefest  palace 
stood  in  this  vale,  much  about  the  middle  way  from  Penmaenmawr 
and  Gogarth  (on  the  Great  Orme),  the  ruins  whereof  are  now  to  be 
seen  upon  a  ground  ebb  some  two  miles  within  the  sea  directly 
against  Trwyn-yr-Wylfa,  or  Point  of  Wailing,  which  is  a  hill  lying 
in  the  midst  of  the  parish  of  Dwygyfylchi,  unto  which  hill  Helig  ab 
Glanawg  and  his  people  did  run  up  to  save  themselves,  being 
endangered  with  the  sudden  breaking  in  of  the  sea,  and  there  saved 
their  lives,  and  being  come  up  to  the  point  of  that  hill  and  looking 
back  beholding  that  dreadful  and  ruthful  spectacle  instead  of  their 
incomparable  vale,  excelling  all  other  vales  in  fertility  and  pleasemt- 
ness,    Helig    and    all    his    people    wringing    their    hands    together, 


LLYS  HELIG:  A  RE-DISCOVERY.  197 

bewailing  their  misfortune,  the  point  of  which  is  called  to  this  day 
Trwyn-yr-Wylfa,  the  Point  of  the  Doleful  Hill.  Helig  had  another 
manor  house  at  Pullheli,  the  ruins  whereof  are  to  be  seen  on  the 
right  hand  as  you  go  out  of  the  town  towards  Aberech  ;  this  Town 
was  called  Pullhelig,  and  of  late  Pullheli.  He  lived  for  the  most 
part  at  either   of  these  houses. 

The  tragical  occurrence  was  prophesied,  it  is  said,  for  genera- 
tions ;  and  a  threat  had  gone  for.th,  that  vengeance  should  overtake 
the  family  of  Helig  ab  Glanawg  for  the  crimes  of  his  ancestors. 
Night  after  night,  on  the  wild  rocks  and  shores,  amidst  the  hills  and 
in  the  valleys,  was  heard  the  fearful  cry  of  "  Dial  a  ddaw  !  dial  a 
ddaw  !"  but  the  wailer  was  invisible  to  all.  At  length  it  came, 
and  suddenly,  as  mighty  calamities,  even  though  dreaded,  generally 
do ; — there  was  a  great  feast  in  the  house  of  Helig,  and  the  guests 
forgot,  in  their  jovial  carousal,  that  fate  was  only  pausing  to  over- 
take them.  They  called  for  more  wine,  and  a  servant  wets 
despatched  into  the  cellar  to  procure  some,  while  the  old  harper  sat 
leaning  on  his  harp,  and  the  tears  ran  down  upon  the  strings  ;  for 
his  spirit  foresaw  some  coming  evil.  They  reproached  him  for  his 
silence,  and  he  put  forth  his  hand  to  awaken  the  chords,  when  a 
cry  struck  his  ear,  and  the  next  moment  the  servant  who  had  gone 
for  wine  rushed  wildly  into  the  hall,  shrieking — "  The  tide  !  the 
tide  !  *  Those  two  alone  had  time  to  quit  the  house  of  Helig,  and 
found  safety  in  the  mountains  ;  all  besides  were  swallowed — lands, 
flocks,  and  villages — by  the  tempestuous  torrent  ;  and  the  fertile 
vale  of  Conway  for  miles  was  all  one  sheet  of  foaming  waters,  a*  it 
reonains  to  this  day. 

The  sketch-map  shows  the  river  Ell,  referred  to  in  the 
foregoing  account,  as  identical  with  the  river  Ogwen, 
which  flows  from  Llyn  Ogwen  down  Nantfrancon,  now 
entering  Menai  Straits  near  Penrhyn  Castle.  The  coast- 
line fifteen  hundred  years  ago  would  probably  follow 
approximately  the  five-fathom  line  of  an  Admiralty  chart 
of  to-day.  This  would  be  slightly  to  the  south  of  the 
line  marked  in  the  sketch  map.  The  Ell  is  seen  to 
divide  Anglesey  from  Carnarvonshire  where  the  deep 
channel  of  the  Straits  of  to-day  runs  between  Bangor 
and  Beaumaris  to  Puffin  Island,  and  thence  to  the  sea.  It 
would  divide  the  western  extension  of  the  traditional 
Flintshire,  ending  at  Puffin  Island,  from  Anglesey. 

On  September  13th,  1908,  the  conditions  proved 
highly  favourable  for  the  making  of  a  search  for  the  lost 
Palace,  and  the  writer,  accompanied  at  early  daw^n  by  a 
Penmaenmawr  boatman,  Richard  Thomas,  after  an 
exhausting  haul  of  a  boat  from  its  winter  quarters  over 
three  or  four  hundred  yards  of  soft  sand,  was  speeding 
on   his  way  from  the   Penmaenmawr  beach  to  the   part 


198 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


Q           Zd           4o           fao          8o 
I 1 J 1 i_ 

y^rtts 


'r;        /y.Wall  (ConJ&ctured) 


Entrance 


3i 


COURTYARn 
32 


32 


The  figures  denote  depth  infeeira.t 
Zow  Wa.ter  of  Spring  Tides  -— -^-^ 

LLY5-HEUG 


Sntmnce. 


Fig.  36— Llys  Helig. 

After  a  drawing  by  Mr.  Horace  Lees.     The  east  wall  has  been  added,  having'  been 

well  seen  by  VV.  Ashton  on  his  visit  in  September,  1908. 

mentioned  in  the  Wynne  account,  namely,  about  midway 
between  Penmaenmawr  mountain  and  the  ruins  of 
Gogarth  Abbey  on  Great  Orme's  Head.  The  place  was 
known  among  local  boatmen  as  rocky  ground,  and 
therefore  to  be  avoided  when  the  tide  was  low.  Guided  by 
patches  of  black  seaweed,  the  spot  was  reached  just  as  the 
very  low  tide,  following  upon  an  abnormally  high  one 
of  21ft.  lOin.,  was  at  its  lowest.  Mounting  a  stone  w^hich 
projected  well  out  of  the  water  from  a  bank  of  boulders 


LLYS  HELIG:  A  RE-DISCOVERY.  199 

at  the  north-east  corner,  mostly  submerged,  and  which 
just  gave  standing  room,  the  writer  was  able  to  take  a 
steady  view  of  the  entire  area.  Three  sides  of  a  large 
square,  with  a  large  rectangular  recess  at  the  south-west 
side,  were  seen  to  be  well  defined  by  straight  and  almost 
continuous  lines  of  wall,  for  the  most  part  covered  by  a 
tall,  ribbon-like  seaweed.  Where  the  stones  did  not 
project  three  or  four  inches  above  the  surface  they  were 
discernible  through  the  water.  These  stones  did  not 
vary  six  inches  from  a  straight  line.  They  seemed  to 
form  the  apex  of  a  base  of  thrown-down  stones,  forming 
protecting  supports,  which  would  account  for  the  walls 
enduring  through  so  many  centuries.  One  could  not 
confidently  say  that  the  stones  had  ever  been  masoned, 
nor  that  they  had  been  mortared  together,  though  they 
may  have  been  so.  The  longest  wall,  that  on  the  east 
or  Deganwy  side,  was  130  yards  in  length.  A  stone 
stood  up  prominently  some  70  yards  from  the  eastern 
corner.  This  proved  to  have  as  a  counterpart  another 
large  stone  about  7  feet  aw^ay,  just  below  the  surface, 
as  if  they  had  formed  two  pillars  of  a  gateway.  A  cause- 
way of  stones  with  perpendicular  sides  connected  these 
two  stones  with  the  eastern  corner.  This  causeway  ran 
out  directly  towards  the  nearest  land  at  Penmaenbach, 
more  than  a  mile  away.  On  the  north  or  open  sea-side 
the  force  of  the  waves  would  appear  to  have  demolished 
the  wall,  as  no  straight  line  could  be  traced,  but  only 
odd  stones,  jutting  out  irregularly.  The  walls  appeared 
to  stand  in  about  three  to  four  feet  of  water.  The  site  is 
barely  a  mile  below  lovs^-water  mark  opposite  Trv/yn- 
yr-Wylfa,  the  low  hill  which  projects  seaward  of  the 
base  of  Moel  Llys,  midway  between  Penmaenmawr  and 
Penmaenbach.  It  is  also  about  li  miles  N.  by  N.W.  of 
Penmaenmawr  Station,  and  lies  on  a  line  connecting 
Beaumaris  with  Deganwy. 

It  is  quite  impossible  for  anyone  to  view  these  350 
or  more  yards  of  strictly  rectangular  remains  and  to 
entertain  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  their  having  been 
human  handiwork.  The  fact  that  the  site  corresponds 
with  that  indicated  in  the  Wynne  manuscript,  forms 
strong  presumptive  evidence  that  here  is  the  site  of  the 


200  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

palace  of  Helig  ap  Glanawg,  great-grandson  of  Caradoc, 
King  of  North  Wales  and  "  lord  '*  in  the  6th  century  of 
the  lost  lands  of   Morfa   Rhiannedd   and  adjacent  parts. 

But  there  are  strong  reasons  for  the  belief  that  these 
are  not  the  walls  of  any  actual  building.  They  more 
probably  formed  the  boundaries  of  a  courtyard  surround- 
ing Helig's  abode,  the  purpose  of  the  wall  being  for 
defence  against  attack  or  for  the  herding  of  cattle,  or 
for  both  purposes.  No  early  Welsh  castles,  prior  to 
about  the  13th  century,  were  built  of  stone.  Prof. 
Lloyd,  in  his  History  of  Wales,  v.  I.,  p.  313,  makes  this 
fact  clear: — "The  whole  Cantref  (hundred)  worked 
together  for  the  maintenance  of  the  royal  court  which 
formed  the  centre.  This  was  the  '  Llys  '  or  '  Castell.* 
Here  was  the  King's  summer  pastures,  and  here  was 
the  group  of  buildings  enclosed  within  a  strong  wall 
which  constituted  the  Royal  Palace  of  the  Welsh 
chief.  The  testimony  of  Giraldus  is  hardly  needed  to 
convince  us  that  the  Welsh  of  his  day  had  no  lofty 
stone  built  towers  or  stately  halls,  for  the  poverty  in 
remains  of  such  sites  as  Aber  and  Aberffraw  show 
indubitably  that  all  the  buildings  of  the  '  Llys  *  were 
timber  structures  essentially  temporary  and  of  little 
value.  The  castle  wall  had  a  gate,  watched  by  a 
porter,  whose  house  was  just  behind  it  ;  the  buildings 
were  of  the  simplest  kind.  " 

Subsequently  to  this  search  the  writer  learnt  that,  a 
year  before  his  visit,  Mr.  W.  Bezant  Lowe,  of  Llanfair- 
fechan,  and  Mr.  W.  J.  P.  Arrowsmith,  of  Deganwy,  had 
visited  the  spot,  but  the  conditions  were  not  very 
favourable  to  a  definite  opinion  being  formed  about  the 
nature  of  the  remains.  Six  months  after  the  writer's 
visit,  on  March  23rd,  1909,  a  number  of  members  of  the 
Llandudno  Field  Club  explored  the  spot,  but  not  under 
the  best  conditions.  On  this  occasion  a  party,  which 
included  Mr.  G.  A.  Humphreys,  Mr.  John  Roberts,  and 
others,  examined  the  large  boulder  stones  known  to 
fishermen  as  Burlingham  Rocks.  The  site  of  these  rocks 
is  variously  located  by  different  investigators,  but  the 
group     examined     on     this     occasion    was     immediately 


LIvs  Helig — South  Wall  ;    Trwvn-vr-Wvlfa  on  left. 


LIvs  Helig— West  and  South  Wall  ;    Gt.  Orme's  Head  in  distance. 
Figs.   37,   A  and  B. 


LLYS  HELIG:  A  RE-DISCOVERY.  201 

opposite  Penmaenbach  Point  and  about  a  mile  south-east 
of  Llys  Helig.  A  careful  examination  justified  the 
conclusion  that  human  hands  had  laid  the  stones.  This 
is  probably  a  remnant  of  a  causeway  which  pretty 
certainly  connected  Penmaenbach  with  Llys  Helig. 

Mr.  Horace  Lees,  of  Deganwy,  has  been  the  most 
fortunate  of  later  investigators.  He  visited  Llys  Helig 
on  September  3rd,  1913.  So  much  was  visible  on  this 
occasion  that  some  good  photos  were  taken,  and  the 
best  of  these  are  by  his  kind  permission  here  reproduced. 
An  abstract  of  Mr.  Lees'  description  is  appended  :  — 

"  The  place  consisted  of  wall  foundations  to  the  south 
"  and  west  and  a  bank  to  the  north  and  east  of  stone, 
"  and  was  like  a  miniature  lagoon.  About  3+  ft.  of 
"  w^ater  was  found  along  the  west  and  south  sides.  The 
"  west  wall  ran  almost  north  and  south  for  some  70  yards 
"  above  the  sea  level,  and  a  further  20  or  30  yards  to 
"  the  north  below  the  sea.  Between  the  two  pieces 
there  appeared  to  have  been  a  gateway.  At  the  south 
"  extremity  the  wall  turned  abruptly  at  a  right  angle  to 
"  the  east,  running  quite  straight  for  100  or  120  yards. 
"  A  further  stretch  of  wall  here  met  it  in  another  right 

'  angle,  running  40  yards  south,  and  was  continued  a 
"  similar  distance  east  again  at  another  right  angle.  I 
"  took  the  boat  through  the  gap  mentioned  in  the  west 

"  wall  and  took  soundings  inside,  finding  3^  ft.  of  water. 
"  Facing  the    entrance    an   appearance   of   weed    on    the 

'  surface   of   the   water   gave    indications   which  may    or 

'  may  not  mean  the  foundations  of  a  tower  beneath. 
"  The  north  and  east  sides  are  an  immense  seaweed- 
"  grown  mass  of  boulders,  about  200  or  250  yards  in 
"  length  and  80  to  90  yards  wide.  The  stones  of  this 
"part,  and  the  walls,  are  about  14x9x9  in.,  with  the 
"  exception  of  some  larger  ones  which  show  more  signs 
"  of  shaping  than  the  smaller  ones.  One  could  discover 
"  no  trace  of  mortar  other  than  what  proved  to  be  marine 
"  incrustation.  There  is  little  trace  of  shaping  or 
"  squaring  on  any  of  the  stones  examined.  The  most 
"  striking  features  are  the  three  right  angles  in  the  walls  ; 
the  perfectly  straight  lines  in  which  the  walls  remain  ; 
"  and    the    uniform    size    of    the    stones    used    in    their 


202  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

"  construction."  **  My  own  idea  "  (continues  Mr.  Lees) 
"  is  that  the  walls  served  only  to  enclose  a  courtyard 
**  where  cattle  could  be  driven  in  times  of  stress.  It  is 
"  on  the  great  bank  that  the  palace  must  have  stood, 
and  any  relics  will  be  buried  here  beneath  the  stones." 
{The  Field,  October  4.   1913.) 

Mr.  Lees'  measurements  may  be  taken  as  more 
reliable  than  the  mere  eye-estimates  of  the  writer,  as 
recorded  in  the  "  Battle  of  Land  and  Sea." 

Mr.  Lees  makes  some  interesting  conjectures  about 
the  origin  of  Llys  Helig.  After  consulting  an  authority 
on  Roman  remains,  he  is  of  the  opinion  that  Llys  Helig 
was  built  by  the  Romans.  The  main  ground  for  this 
belief  is  that  the  early  British  or  Brythonic  remains  of 
buildings  are  all  of  circular  or  oval  form,  and  usually 
form  part  of  a  hill  camp.  The  Romans,  on  the  othei 
hand,  dealt  in  right  angles  and  straight  lines  on  a  large 
scale,  and  as  often  as  not  built  on  low  ground.  The 
adjoining  sarn,  or  causeway,  assuming  this  inference  to 
be  a  correct  one,  may  be  safely  regarded  as  a  Roman 
military  road,  of  which  there  are  others  in  the 
neighbourhood. 

The  palace,  or  court,  was  of  no  recent  construction 
at  the  time  of  the  great  inundation,  between  520  and 
563  A.D.,  as  it  would  doubtless  be  built  on  a  site  where 
there  was  no  likelihood  of  its  being  in  danger  from  the 
sea.  The  Romans  withdrew  from  Britain  early  in  the 
fifth  century.  Assuming  Llys  Helig  to  date  from  the 
fourth  century,  there  would  be  plenty  of  time  in  two 
hundred  years  for  a  continuing  subsidence  of  the  land 
to  bring  the  sea  inland  to  a  point  where  some  exceptional 
tide  or  storm  might  inundate — and  perhaps  permanently 
cover — the  low-lying  parts  about  Llys  Helig.  Helig  ap 
Glanawg,  or  some  of  his  ancestors,  doubtless  possessed 
themselves  of  the  "  Llys  "  at  some  date  subsequent  to 
the  departure  of  the  Romans. 

Fenton,  in  his  'Tours  in  Wales"  (1804-13),  thus 
refers  to  the  Llys  Helig  tradition  : — "  This  story  gains 
"  the  more  credit  because  there  are  ruins  of  old  walls  to 
"  be  seen  in  that  place  to  this  very  day  at  equinoctial 


LLYS  HELIG:  A  RE-DISCOVERY.  20J 

"tides;  and  because  wrought  and  carved  free  stones 
"and  iron  bars  of  windows,  and  other  irons  belonging 
"to  buildings,  have  been  found  there." 

The  Llys  Helig  tradition  was  made,  in  1872,  the 
subject  of  a  drama  which  has  been  performed  in  many 
Welsh  towns.  The  Rev.  John  Williams,  of  Llanllechid, 
was  the  dramatist.  A  fine  poem  on  the  same  theme, 
by  'Lady  Marshall,  '  Helyg's  Warning:  A  Cymric 
Legend."  is  also  worthy  of  mention. 

The  value  of  the  find  to  the  writer  was  that  it  formed 
the  first  of  several  definite  pieces  of  human  construction 
evidence  discovered  by  him,  of  a  land  subsidence,  the 
extent  of  which  can  be  calculated  with  approximate 
exactness.  If  the  walls  stand  in  3  to  4  feet  of  water  at 
the  ebb  of  a  high  spring  tide,  to  this  must  be  added  the 
difference  between  the  lowest  of  low  and  the  highest  of 
high  tides,  which,  on  this  coast,  is  about  23  feet.  If 
the  walls  were  built  only  13  feet  above  the  highest  high- 
water  mark,  we  arrive  at  a  total  of  40  feet  as  the 
difference  between  the  land  levels  of  the  6th  and  20th 
centuries.  This  is  approximately  3  feet  a  century,  but 
w^hether  the  fall  has  been  a  slow,  continuous  one,  or  by 
jerks  at  intervals,  there  is  no  evidence  to  show.  This 
amount  of  subsidence  has  been  confirmed  at  each  of 
several  other  points  where  finds  have  been  made  along 
the  west  coast  where  the  data  are  sufficiently  exact. 

The  importance  of  the  "  Llys  Helig  "  evidence  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  the  Lancashire 
sandhills  w^ill  be  obvious  to  careful  readers  of  the  chapter 
dealing  with  "The  Riddle  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire 
Sandhills." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


The  North  Carnarvon  Coast  and  Old  Roads 
ACROSS  Conway  Bay. 

South  Britain  contains  no  county  with  a  more 
picturesquely  diversified  seaboard  than  the  120  miles  of 
the  Carnarvonshire  coast-line.  No  portion  is  more 
deserving  of  this  commendation  than  the  northern  section 
between  Rhos  and  Bangor.  Within  this  dozen  miles  of 
coast-line  no  fewer  than  four  huge  mountain  bosses  rise 
precipitously  from  the  sea.  Two  of  these,  the  two  Ormes 
Heads,  have  already  been  dealt  with.  Penmaenbach 
and  Penmaenmawr  enclose  between  them  the  modern 
resort  of  Penmaenmawr,  a  name  bestowed  in  I860  upon 
the  growing  village  at  the  west  end  of  the  parish  of 
Dwygyfylchi,  the  reason  being  that  the  old  name  was 
not  deemed  likely  to  be  attractive  to  newcomers. 

These  two  headlands  have  both  been  tunnelled  for 
•the  L.  &  N.W.  main  line.  They  consist  mainly  of  masses 
of  ejected  volcanic  matter.  Penmaenmawr  consists 
largely  of  enstatite-diorite,  an  extremely  hard  meta- 
morphic  rock.  Hence  its  withstanding  for  ages  the 
erosive  influences  of  time  whilst  surrounding  strata  have 
vanished. 

The  main  volcanic  series  of  the  Conway  district  is  of 
the  Ordovician  age,  in  which  volcanic  energy  was  at  its 
maximum .  The  order  of  the  various  erupted  ashes  ani3 
lava  flows,  and  their  relation  to  later  deposits,  have  been 
lucidly  worked  out  by  Miss  Gertrude  Elles,  D.Sc.  (see 
Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geolog.  Soc,  lVIay/*09,  Vol. 
65).  Students  are  referred  also  to  "  The  Geology  of  the 
"  Conway  and  Aber  Districts,"  by  W.  Bezant  Lowe, 
M.A.,  F.C.S.,  and  Ivor  E.  Davies.     The  vent  from  whii;h 


OLD  ROADS  ACROSS  MENAI  STRAIT.  205 

came  the  igneous  ashes  and  lavas  of  Conway  Mountain, 
Bodlondeb  Point,  and  the  Deganwy  hills  is  believed  to 
have  been  a  volcano  of  which  Penmaenbach  mountain 
is  the  remnant.  It  formed  the  hard,  solid  plug  or  core, 
and  has  thus  stood  the  wear  of  inconceivable  ages. 
Other  volcanic  vents  were  Foel  Firas  (a  few  miles  to  the 
south),  Mynydd  Mawr  (near  Llyn  Cwellyn),  one  near  the 
Devil's  Kitchen,  and  Yr  Eifl  ;  but  Penmaenbach  is 
believed  to  have  been  the  oldest  of  them  all.  The  actual 
wavy  surface  of  the  lava  may  be  well  seen  in  the  piece 
of  rock  left  standing  on  the  seaward  side  of  the  main 
road  which  was  cut  through  the  point  of  Penmaenbach. 
Some  of  the  wildest  mountain  scenery  in  Wales,  the 
Carnedds,  the  Glyders,  and  the  lakes  of  Cowlyd,  Dulyn, 
Eigiau,  etc.,  has  its  origin  in  the  great  Foel  Fras  volcano. 
Denudation  has  removed  the  greater  part  of  the  vast 
layers  of  lava  and  ash  which  must  have  covered  much 
of  Carnarvonshire  ages  ago. 

The  writer  has  it  on  the  authority  of  Prof.  Sir  Morris 
Jones,  that  the  etymology  of  Penmaenmawr  is  not  that 
as  commonly  stated,  meaning  "  great  stone  head,"  but 
that  its  original  form  was  Pen  Mon  Mawr,  meaning 
probably  "Great  Head"  against  or  opposite  Mon  (Angle- 
sey), or  "  Mawr  "  might  be  added  to  distinguish  it  from 
Penmon  Point  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Strait. 
"  Mon  "  was  an  abbreviation  of  Menapii,  a  Belgic  tribe 
mentioned  by  Caesar  ;  "  Menai  "  comes  from  the  same 
root. 

In  1911  and  1914  careful  examinations  of  the  ancient 
fortified  village  near  the  summit  of  Penmaenmawr,  were 
made  by  Mr.  Willoughby  Gardner,  Mr.  Harold  Hughes, 
and  others.  The  position  of  about  30  hut  circles  was 
traced  and  large  numbers  of  prehistoric  remains 
discovered.  (For  detailed  account  see  Archae. 
Cambrensis,  1912  and  1915,  p.   17.) 

Scores  of  our  inland  cities  and  towns  obtain  their 
supplies  of  the  hardest  granite  cube  setts  from  the  exten- 
sive quarries  on  Penmaenmawr.  Great  injury  is  thereby 
inflicted  upon  the  picturesque  aspect  of  the  coast. 
The  quarrymen  have   at  last  reached  the  summit,    and 


206  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

this  striking  headland  is  now  doomed  to  be  decapitated. 
About  a  thousand  cubic  yards  of  granite  are  removed 
every  working  day. 

The  scanty  remains  of  the  great  British  camp  of 
Braich-y-Dinas,  which  may  still  be  seen  at  the  rear  of  the 
summit,  will  also  in  time  disappear.  This  camp  with  a 
treble  wall  and  "  invincible  fortifications"  was  once  the 
most  impregnable  of  the  Welsh  strongholds.  Three 
hundred  years  ago,  Sir  John  Wynne  said  in  his  account 
that  there  were  to  be  seen  here  the  foundations  of  at 
least  a  hundred  towers  "some  sixe  yards  every  way"; 
"  there  weare  lodgynges  within  the  walls  for  20,000 
men."  Many  circles  of  stone  huts  or  "cytiau  gwyddelod" 
may  still  be  seen  near  the  summit. 

The  main  highways  of  traffic  along  this  coast  have 
a  close  connection  with  the  coastal  changes.  The  huge 
boss  of  Penmaenmawr,  rising  steeply  to  over  1 500  feet, 
has  always  been  a  serious  obstacle  to  traffic.  In  1625, 
when  the  coast  road  was  the  King's  Post  and  only 
highway  to  and  from  Ireland,  it  was  the  custom  for 
passengers  to  walk  from  Conway  to  Beaumaris,  the 
conveyance  being  taken  to  pieces  and  carried. 

Sir  John  Wynne  thus  describes  the  track  (about  1625)  : 
The  way,  beginning  at  the  seashore  within  the  parish 
of  Dwygyfylchi,  is  cut  through  the  side  of  a  steep,  hard 
rock,  neither  descending  nor  ascending  until  you  come 
to  Seiriol's  Chapel,  being  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
from  Clipyn  Seiriol,  and  all  that  way  is  two  hundred 
yards  above  the  sea,  over  which,  if  either  man  or  beast 
should  fall,  both  sea  and  rock,  rock  and  sea,  would 
strive  and  contend  whether  of  both  should  do  him  the 
greatest  mischief.  And  from  the  chapel  aforesaid  the 
way  is  cut  through  the  side  of  a  rocky,  gravelly  hill, 
still  descending  until  you  come  again  to  the  seashore 
within  the  parish  of  Llanfair  "  (fechan)  ;  "  this  way  is 
in  breadth  two  yards,  but  in  some  places  scarce  a  yard. 
And  this  way  is  ever  since  kept  by  a  hermit,  who  hath 
nothing  for  his  labour  but  the  charity  of  well-disposed 
passengers  and  a  gathering  every  year  in  the  parishes 
adjoining." 


OLD  ROADS  ACROSS  MENAI  STRAIT.  207 

The  first  passable  road  round  the  headland  was  made 
by  Sylvester,  in  1772,  about  300  feet  above  the  sea. 
In  1827  Telford  made  a  new  road  somewhat  higher  up, 
and  this  is  now  threatened  by  the  sea's  constant  under- 
mining of  the  cliff's  base,  and  also  by  the  frequent  fall 
of  rocks  from  the  overhanging  height.  No  final  security 
will  be  obtained  until  the  rock  has  been  tunnelled. 

The  coastal  strip  between  Penmaenbach  and  Pen- 
maenmawr,  as  also  between  the  latter  and  Bangor,  is 
filled  up  with  a  mantle  of  glacial  deposits,  the  neighbour- 
ing mountains  being  of  Cambrian  and  Silurian  formations. 
Coast  changes  are  only  very  slightly  in  evidence  here. 
The  Coast  Erosion  Commission  (1907)  reported  a  wastage 
of  only  1 3  inches  in  I  7  years  on  the  Llanf airfechan  side 
of  Penmaenmawr  mountain,  though  at  the  point  itself 
the  wastage  is  more  serious.  The  L.  &  N.W.R.  Co.,  by 
bridging  the  attacked  parts,  now  allows  the  sea  to  do 
its  worst  against  the  mountain  base  below. 

The  Llanf  airfechan  U.D.  Council  a  few  years  ago 
spent  ;^I500  on  a  sea-wall  and  protecting  groynes. 
These  have  also  been  placed  on  the  Aber  front.  In  a 
general  sense  there  is  a  gradual  widening  of  the  Straits 
in  progress,  through  the  combined  causes  of  erosion  and 
subsidence. 

The  wide  stretch  of  sands  opposite  Llanfairfechan 
is  known  as  the  Lavan  Sands,  or  Traeth  Lafan,  the 
name  being  possibly  derived  from  "Wylofain,"  weeping 
sands,  but  Prof.  J.  E.  Lloyd  favours  "  llafan,"  Welsh 
for  "laver,"  a  species  of  sea-weed.  A  forest  once 
covered  this  area.  Says  Sir  John  Wynne  in  his  Charles  I. 
time  manuscript: — "In  this  great  waste  (the  Lavan 
"  Sands)  upon  a  low  ground  ebb,  are  to  be  seen  the 
roots  of  great  oak  and  ash.  I  speak  as  an  eye-witness; 
"  so  that  it  should  seem  that  this  vale  before  the  inunda- 
"tion  was  a  woodland  country."  These  forest  evidences 
have  long  lain  deep  under  the  sands. 

The  Menai  Straits  were  crossed  by  those  journeying 
to  Ireland,  down  to  the  early  years  of  the  19th  century, 
at  Beaumaris.  The  route  is  clearly  shown  on  Ogilby's 
road  map,  "London  to  Holyhead,"  of  about  1675  date. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  alternative  way  to  the  shore 


208  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST- LINE. 

road  outside  the  two  Penmaen  Heads  was  a  high-tide 
w^ay  via  the  Sychnant  Pass,  inland  of  Penmaenbach, 
and  the  narrow  old  track  round  the  face  of  Penmaen- 
mawr  mountain.  This  road  across  the  Lavan  Sands  to 
Beaumaris  is  well  shown  in  Collins'  Chart  of  1693  date. 
It  continued  in  use  to  the  early  part  of  the  19th  century. 
Mr.  Elias  Owen  writes  about  this  road  : — "  I  well 
remember  35  years  ago  (circ.  1859)  noticing  the  ridge 
or  raised  roadway  then  existing,  and  which  there  was 
every  reason  to  believe  was  a  Roman  road,  raised  and 
paved,  going  over  the  sands,  and  which  most  likelj 
ended  in  a  ferry  opposite  Beaumaris." 
An  1805  map  (Laurie  &  Whittle,  London)  shows  two 
distinct  tracks  to  Beaumaris,  the  one  commencing  from 
between  Penmaenmawr  and  Llanfairfechan.  and  the 
other  from  opposite  Aber. 

Early  in  the  19th  century  the  fine  new  coach  road 
through  Nantfrancon  and  the  Llugwy  Valley,  by  Corwen, 
Bettws-y-coed,  and  Capel  Curig,  diverted  the  Irish  traffic 
to  the  Bangor  ferry,  the  Straits  being  crossed  near  the 
spot  selected  by  Telford,  20  years  later,  for  the  building 
of  his  great  experimental  Suspension  Bridge.  This  bridge 
was  opened  for  road  traffic  in  1826.  Four  years  later  the 
railway  era  was  inaugurated,  and  in  1850  Stephenson's 
great  Britannia  Tubular  Bridge,  about  two  miles  west  of 
the  Suspension  Bridge,  diverted  to  the  Chester  and 
Holyhead  railway  the  bulk  of  the  Irish  traffic  which 
Telford's  bridge  had  been  designed  to  carry. 

The  way  from  Conway  to  Beaumaris  was  joined, 
before  reaching  the  ferry  opposite  Beaumaris,  by  an 
ancient  track  which  came  from  the  Roman  station  of 
Kanovium,  or  Caerhun  (five  miles  above  Conway,  up 
the  river  Conway),  over  the  mountains  through  the  high 
pass  of  Bwlch-y-ddeufaen,  and  descending  to  the  coast 
through  a  narrow  valley,  Rhiwiau,  on  the  Aber  side  of 
Llanfairfechan,  opposite  Bryn-y-neuadd.  In  1883  two 
Roman  milestones,  of  dates  between  119  and  211  A.D.. 
were  found  in  this  valley,  proving  by  the  inscriptions 
upon  them  that  this  road  had  been  used  by  the  Romans 
as  a  way  of  approach  from  Kanovium  to  the  copper 
mines  at  Pary's  Mountain,  near  Amlwch. 


OLD  ROADS  ACROSS  MENAI  STRAIT.  209 

This  Kanovium  track  over  the  mountains  is  one  of 
the  earliest  of  roads  across  Carnarvonshire  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge.  It  was  part  of  the  Roman  road 
from  Chester  through  Denbigh,  Llansannan,  and  Llan- 
gerniew  to  Segontium  ;  others  think  through  St.  Asaph 
and  Bettws- Abergele  ;  the  evidences  are  very  vague. 
Near  Careg  Vawr  (overlooking  Llanfairfechan)  the  road 
forked,  the  left  leading  through  Aber  to  Segontium,  and 
the  right  towards  Anglesey.  The  writer  has  taken 
some  pains  to  trace  the  way  on  Anglesey  taken 
by  the  Romans  to  reach  the  Amlwch  copper 
mines.  Precisely  opposite  the  old  road  across  the 
mountains  from  Kanovium,  near  Llanfairfechan,  about 
3i  miles  east  of  Beaumeiris  on  the  Anglesey  coast, 
the  old  way  probably  went  between  Penmon  School  and 
the  sea  ;  east  of  Cornelyn,  Llangoed  ;  above  the 
Methodist  Chapel  and  past  the  windmill  ;  then,  after  a 
sharp  turn  to  the  left,  to  the  hill  Marian  Dyrys  ; 
by  Coed  Cywydd  Farm  and  Dinas  Sylwy,  and  thence 
direct  to  Red  Wharf  Bay  at  a  point  nearly  a 
mile  below  its  head.  Here  it  is  joined  by  a  direct  road 
from  Beaumaris,  which  would  be  an  alternative  way 
from  across  the  Straits.  Subsidence  having  caused  the 
sea  to  advance  up  Red  Wharf  Bay  to  this  extent,  the 
old  track  is  now  submerged  for  about  21  miles  of  its 
course.  On  the  opposite,  or  west,  side  of  the  Bay  a 
well-defined  road  ascends  from  close  to  the  north  side 
of  the  Ship  Inn  ;  thence  by  Llanbedrgoch  and  Penrhos 
Llugwy  (where  quantities  of  Roman  pottery  and  coins 
have  been  found)  to  the  Copper  Mines  at  Pary's 
Mountain.  It  seemed  worth  while  to  make  this  examina- 
tion, as  the  support  which  it  gives  to  the  subsidence 
theory  is  incontrovertible.  A  marked  characteristic  of 
Roman  roads  is  their  directness,  a  conditfon  well  fulfilled 
in  this  case. 

"  The  remains  of  a  paved  Roman  way,  according  to 
"  Lewis,  may  be  traced  leading  through  Penmon, 
**  towards  Llaniestyn."  (Williams'  "  Guide  to  the  Menai 
Straits.") 

By  this  road  the  army  under  Brocmail,  w^^hich 
retreated  in  606  or  613  A.D.  to  the  British  stronghold  of 


OLD  ROADS  ACROSS  MENAI  STRAIT.  211 

Bwrd  Arthur,  remains  of  which  may  be  seen  at  the  top 
of  the  headland  east  of  Red  Wharf  Bay,  would  probably 
travel . 

The  assistance  readily  given  the  writer  in  this  enquiry 
by  the  Rev.  W.  Pritchard,  of  Pentraeth,  and  the  Rev. 
Grey  Edwards,  vicar  of  Llangoed,  is  deserving  of  grateful 
acknowledgment. 

The  writer  was  informed  by  Mr.  H.  Tomkinson, 
of  Colwyn  Bay,  that  about  the  year  1880  he  saw  under 
the  sea,  from  a  boat  in  Red  Wharf  Bay  about  half-a-mile 
from  the  head  of  the  bay,  distinct  remains  of  houses. 

The  interesting  problem  as  to  the  old  routes  across 
the  Menai  Straits,  prior  to  the  great  inundation,  has 
received  the  special  attention  of  Mr.  Horace  Lees,  of 
Deganwy.  In  the  course  of  some  years'  yachting  in  the 
Straits  he  has  made  many  observations  of  the  various 
sarns  and  heaps  of  stones  which  mark  the  old  routes  and 
probably  also  the  sites  of  ancient  villages. 

The  appended  map  of  the  Morfa  Rhianedd  shows  a 
number  of  these  roads  for  which  Mr.  Lees  has  found, 
in  each  instance,  good  evidence. 

The  sketch  map  of  the  Conway  estuary  (the  latest 
issued  by  the  Cruising  Association)  will  help  in  making 
two  of  these  routes  more  clear.  In  Chap.  XXII.  the 
ancient  road,  now  under  the  sea  north  of  Abergele  and 
Colwyn,  was  traced  to  Rhos  and  a  point  on  Conway 
Bay  a  mile  north  of  Deganwy.  Here  it  was  guarded  by 
the  Roman  fortress  of  Castell  Tremlydd,  at  or  near  the 
spot  now  known  as  the  Black  Rocks.  This  main  road 
may  be  assumed  to  have  traversed  the  length  of  the 
Straits  as  far  as  the  lower  end  of  Bangor,  perhaps  joining 
on  to  what  is  now  the  High  Street.  Or  it  may  have  been 
continued  in  the  submerged  road  which  could  once  be 
seen  at  low  tide  between  Llantisilio,  or  Church  Island, 
and  the  Tubular  Bridge. 

It  is  not  certain  whether  the  lines  of  stones  marked 
"  Gt.  Sarn  "  or  "  Little  Sarn  "  on  Fig.  38  mark  the  site  of 
this  road  or  of  ruined  houses — the  position  is  such  that 
investigation  would  be  difficult.  Local  legends  affirm 
the   one-time   existence   of  villages   at  various   points  in 


212 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


the  Straits,  the  larger  sites  being  in  the  vicinity  of  Great 
Orme's  Head  and  Penmaenbach.  The  Dutchman's 
bank  is  said  to  have  been  the  site  of  one  of  these  villages. 
Mr.  Cox,  writing  about  1893,  says:  "A  boatman 
pointed  out  to  me  a  position  in  the  sea,  opposite  the 
village  of  Penmaenmaw^r,  v^hich  is  called  '  Muriau,' 
'the  v^alls,'  and  informed  me  that  his  father  had 
pointed  out  to  him  the  ruins  of  houses  below  the 
water";  "some  were  square  like  houses,  others 
resembled  sheep-folds";  "all  were  certainly 
buildings." 


Fig.  39— Chester  to  Anglesey  Road  in  1724. 


A  Roman  camp  is  known  to  have  existed  at  some 
point,  now  submerged,  a  little  way  from  the  Great 
Orme's  Head.  Fishermen  assert  that  pottery,  presumably 
Roman,  has  been  found  at  the  point  near  the  outfall, 
marked  "  Bank  of  Stones  "  on  Fig.  38.  This  may 
conceivably  have  been  the  camp  in  question. 

"  Burlingham  Rocks,"  on  the  land  side  of  the  channel 
between  Nos.  I  and  2  buoys,  may  possibly  be  vestiges 
of  the  causeway  which  certainly  connected  Penmaen- 
bach with  Llys  Helig,  and  traces  of  which  may  still  be 
seen  at  the  landward  end.  The  mass  of  small  rocks 
and  boulders  between  Nos.  4  and  5  buoys,  marked  "  the 
Scabs,"  Mr.  Lees  thinks,  may  also  be  a  village  site. 
The  Great  Sam  may  have  led  to  the  Roman  camp 
on  Great  Orme's  Head,  and  the  Little  Sarn  to  the 
camp  at  Deganwy  on  the  hill  upon  which  Deganwy 
Castle  was  afterwards  built. 


OLD  ROADS  ACROSS  MENIA  STRAIT. 


213 


From  Penmaenmawr  two  causeways  have  been 
traced,  the  one  going  towards  Beaumaris  and  the  other 
to  the  west  end  of  Priestholme,  now  better  known  as 
Puffin  Island.  This  runs  for  half-a-mile  from  "  Middle 
Rock,"  off  the  west  point  of  the  island  pointing  towards 
Penmaenmawr,  and  may  be  seen  at  a  low  state  of  the 
tide  from  the  Liverpool  steamer  as  it  passes  through  the 
narrow  passage  called  "  The  Sound."  Traces  of  the 
Sarn  can  also  be  seen  (best  after  a  storm)  at  the 
Penmaenmawr  end. 


Fie-  40. 

"Sam"  usually  means  a  raised  road,  but,  occa- 
sionally, an  embankment  defence  against  the  sea. 

If  we  accept  as  good  history  Sir  John  Wynne's  17th 
century  account,  the  following  passage  throws  light  on 
the  origin  of  this  causeway.  The  spelling  is  here 
modernised  :  — 

"  Seirial,  brother  to  Helig,  was  termed  the  holy  priest, 
and  was  head  of  the  religious  house  in  Priestholme,  in 
Flintshire,  which  house  was  called  Priestholme  from 
Seirial.  This  Seirial  had  also  an  hermitage  at  Penmaen 
Mawr,  the  place  being  then  an  uncouth  desert  and 
inaccessible  both  in  regard  of  the  steepness  of  the 
rock  and  of  the  desertness  of  the  wilderness  there 
being  so  thick  of  wood  that  a  man  having  once  entered 
thereinto  could  hardly  behold  sky  or  firmament.  From 
Priestholme  to  Penmaen  Mawr  did  Seirial  cause  a 
pavement  to  be  made,  whereupon  he  might  walk  dry 
from    his    church    at    Priestholme    to    his    chapel    at 


214  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A   COAST-LINE. 

"  Penmaen  Mawr,  the  vale  being  very  low  ground  and 
"  wet,  which  pavement  may  at  this  time  be  discerned 
"when  the  sea  is  clear.  Since  this  great  inundation, 
"the  way  and  passage  being  stopped  in  this  strait,  in 
"  regard  the  sea  was  come  in,  this  holy  man,  Seirial, 
"  did  cause  a  way  to  be  beaten  and  cut  through  the 
"  main  rock."     (Pen  Men  Mawr  to  Llanfairfechan.) 

Pugh,  in  his  "Tour  through  North  Wales"  (1812), 
described  this  causeway  as  "  easily  visible."  "  It 
"  seemed  to  be  about  nine  feet  wide  and  well  built  with 
"  mossy  stones."  Mr.  Cox,  about  25  years  ago, 
described  this  as  a  raised  causeway,  12  to  15  feet  wide, 
apparently  paved  with  large  stones,  well  fitted  together, 
and  visible  for  about  li  miles  at  the  north  end.  Another 
causeway  appears  to  have  connected  the  west  end  of 
Puffin  Island  with  Llys  Helig. 

Tradition  has  it  that  it  was  once  possible  to  walk 
dryshod  from  Gogarth  Abbey,  on  the  Great  Orme.  to 
Puffin   Island. 

"  Puffin  Island  "  is  a  modern  substitute  for  the  correct 
name,  Priestholm.  The  name  "Puffin"  arose  from 
the  large  number  of  birds  of  that  kind  which  breed 
there.  Its  original  name  was  "  Ynys  Lannog,"  or 
"  Glannog's  Isle,"  from  Glannog,  the  father  of  Helig. 
Later  it  was  known  as  "  Ynys  Seiriol,"  Saint  Seiriol, 
brother  to  Helig,  having  lived  here.  The  carboniferous 
limestone  of  which  it  is  composed  forms  abrupt 
precipices  on  all  sides. 

Only  a  narrow  strait  separates  the  island  from  the 
eastern  end  of  Anglesey.  But  not  for  a  geologically 
distant  period  can  there  have  been  any  actual  connection, 
the  river  Ogwen,  formerly  Ell,  having  coursed  through 
this  strait,  from  its  source  in  Llyn  Ogwen,  when  the 
open  sea  was  much  further  to  the  north  than  Priestholme. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


Anglesey  and  the  Menai  Straits. 

The  name  Anglesey  is  of  Norse  origin,  coming  from 

'  onguU  **     and    "  ey,"     meaning     "the    island    of    the 

strait."        In    modern    Welsh    and    in    mediaeval    times 

"  Mon  "    was    its    designation,     and    in    remoter    times 

"Mona." 

Anglesey  resembles  Midland  England  in  its  gently 
undulating  character  rather  than  North  Wales.  Yet  its 
surface  represents  an  astonishing  variety  of  geological 
strata.  Almost  everywhere,  when  the  rocks  are  stripped 
of  earth,  signs  of  glaciation  may  be  seen,  with  other 
evidences  of  the  Ice-age  in  boulder  clay  and  drift  gravel 
and  sand.  The  oldest  rocks  in  the  world  may  be  seen 
on  the  south-west  coast  between  Rhos-neigr  and 
Holyhead  in  contact  with  overlying  blown  sand,  of  all 
formations  the  most  recent.  Silurian  rocks  bound  the 
north  coast  from  Amlwch  to  Carmel  Head  ;  Ordovician 
crop  out  north  of  Beaumaris  ;  Old  Red  Sandstone  is 
found  at  Dulas  Bay  ;  Carboniferous  Limestone,  with 
fossils,  are  seen  at  the  Priestholme  end  of  the  island  at 
Penmon  marble  quarries  ;  at  Castle  Rock  on  the  north 
corner  of  Red  Wharf  Bay  ;  and  south  of  the  Tubular 
Bridge.  Serpentine  (Mona  marble)  is  found  on  Holyhead 
island  and  on  the  adjacent  mainland,  and  a  narrow  belt 
of  volcanic  rocks  crosses  the  island  just  south  of  Llaner- 
chymedd.  At  Pary's  Mountain,  near  Amlwch,  igneous 
rocks  are  found  in  patches  ;  these  have  been  extensively 
mined  for  copper,  ochre,  and  umber. 

The  writer,  in  various  perambulations  along  the 
Anglesey  coasts,   has  noted  many  interesting  evidences 


216  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

which  support  the  belief  in  a  general  subsidence  in  recent 
times.  The  island  is  largely  rockbound  with  highly 
resistant  rocks,  and  horizontal  erosion  is  quite  inadequate 
to  account  for  the  many  instances  of  sea  encroachments 
which  are  seen,  especially  in  the  numerous  bays  and 
inlets  on  the  south-west  coast  between  Malldraeth  Bay 
and  Rhoscolyn.  An  old  road  repeatedly  ends  at  an  inlet 
or  bay  and  reappears  on  the  other  side.  Formerly  the 
road  would  be  continuous.  Examples  of  such  encroach- 
ments may  be  seen  at  Forth  Gwyfan  ;  at  Cable  Bay 
(where  the  Irish  Cable  ends);  at  Cemaes  Bay  on  the  north 
coast  ;  at  Dulas  Bay,  about  5  miles  east  of  Amlwch  ;  and 
elsewhere.  At  Treaddur  Bay,  Holyhead  Island,  an 
ancient  cemetery,  believed  to  have  belonged  to  the  old 
church  of  St.  Fraed,  has  been  eaten  into  by  the  sea  and 
three  skeletons  revealed.  Of  the  original  church, 
founded  in  the  fifth  century,  every  vestige  has  dis- 
appeared in  the  sea.  (See  Anglesey  Antiq.  Soc.  Report 
for  1913-4.)  At  Rhos-neigr  a  hundred  yards  of  land  at 
the  west  end  of  the  village  have  been  worn  away  in  the 
last  50  years,  according  to  a  statement  made  to  the  writer 
by  an  old  resident.  Maelog  lake,  near  here,  is  a  former 
arm  of  the  sea,  sandhills  having  blocked  up  the  sea  end. 

About  li  miles  from  Aberffraw,  where  the  sovereign 
Princes  of  North  Wales,  or  Gwynedd,  had  their  residence 
from  843  to  1282,  is  a  small  island  in  the  bay  marked  on 
ordnance  maps.  Forth  Gwyfan.  On  the  island,  about 
60  X  30  yards  in  area  when  the  writer  visited  it  in  June, 
1914,  the  ancient  and  now  disused  church  of  Llangwyfan 
stands.  Five  gravestones  only  are  left,  dated  1703  to 
1869.  Between  the  island  and  the  nearest  point  of  the 
mainland  at  the  head  of  the  bay,  was  a  space  of  210 
paces  which  is  covered  by  every  high  tide.  The  church 
area  was  once  part  of  the  mainland.  It  has  now  been 
left,  despite  the  protecting  wall  which  has  been  built 
against  the  cliffs,  to  its  inevitable  fate  at  the  will  of  an 
ever-destructive  sea.  Erosion  of  the  6  to  10  feet  of 
boulder  clay  which  overlies  the  rock  at  the  head  of  the 
bay,  is  in  rapid  progress. 

Malldraeth  Marsh  ("  The  Sodden  Sands  "),   which  a 


ANGLESEY  AND  THE  MENAI  STRAIT. 


217 


subsidence  of  about  100  feet  would  convert  Into  another 
Menai  Strait  running  across  Anglesey  to  Red  Wharf  Bay 
on  the  opposite  side,  was  reclaimed  between  1790  and 
1819,  to  the  extent  of  3000  acres. 

Holyhead  mountain,  719  feet,  is  the  highest  and  most 
prominent  feature  of  Anglesey.  The  arch  caverns  and 
great  precipices  of  the  South  Stack,  with  its  famous 
lighthouse  (erected  in  1809)  and  250,000  candle-power 
light,  are  striking  features.  The  lighthouse  is  approached 


Tht5ktrries' 
CarmtlHi 


ANGLESEY 

AND  MENAI  STRAIT 


Fig.  41 — Anglesey  and  Menai  Strait. 


by  a  suspension  bridge  and  380  steps  cut  in  the  rock. 
The  Holyhead  route  to  Ireland  has  been  in  use  by 
packets  since  as  far  back  as  William  the  Third's  reign. 
A  royal   post  existed   as   early    as    1574,    going   through 


218  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A   COAST-LINE. 

Chester,  Conway,  Beaumaris,  and  Holyhead.  The  great 
harbour  at  Holyhead  was  completed  in   1880. 

Boulders  of  the  glacial  or  "wanderer"  type  are 
common  at  various  parts  of  Anglesey.  A  train  of  these, 
half-a-mile  long  and  150  yards  in  width,  may  be  seen 
near  Llanfairpwll,  between  the  farms  Llwynon  and 
Tyddyn  Fadog.  Some  of  these  Anglesey  boulders  have 
been  identified  as  having  been  ice-carried  from  Ailsa 
Craig,  Wastwater,  Eskdale,  and  the  high  grounds  of 
Kirkcudbrightshire.  Examples  are  the  Cromlech,  9x5x5 
feet,  opposite  Plas  New^ydd  on  Menai  Strait  ;  others  are 
identical  in  composition  with  the  felsitic  rocks  of  the 
Snowdon  heights.  Their  mixed  origin  is  probably  due 
to  the  northern  and  Welsh  ice  fields  shouldering  each 
other,  that  from  Scotland  being  much  the  stronger 
influence,  along  the  line  of  the  Menai  Strait.  Prof.  Sir 
A.  C.  Ramsay  doubted  whether  any  Carnarvonshire 
glacier  crossed  the  Strait.  He  pointed  out  as  highly 
significant  of  the  probability  of  a  common  origin  in 
northern  ice  action,  namely,  the  fact  that  the  ice  striations 
on  the  rocks  distributed  over  Anglesey  show  the  travel 
of  the  ice  to  have  been  generally  30  to  40  degrees  west 
of  south,  which  shows  the  same  direction  as  the  Menai 
Strait  and  Malldraeth  to  Red  Wharf  Bay  depressions. 

The  fact  that  the  Menai  Strait  is  known  to  the  Welsh 
as  "  Yr  Afon  Fenai,"  or  "  river  Menai,"  may  have 
significance  in  pointing  to  a  large  section  at  either  end 
having  formerly  been  the  bed  of  a  river  each  flowing  in 
opposite  directions.  Continuous  wearing  back  at  the 
head  would,  in  time,  establish  a  connection.  This  would 
be  finally  made,  in  Prof.  Ramsay's  opinion,  by  glacier 
erosion. 

From  Port  Penrhyn,  below  Penrhyn  Castle,  to  Port 
Dinorwic  the  narrow  valley  about  six  miles  long,  in 
which  Bangor  city  and  station  stand,  is  the  bottom  of  an 
old  strait  through  which  strong  tidal  currents  would  once 
course  their  way  as  they  do  through  the  Menai  Strait  to- 
day. Near  Bangor  station,  Mr.  D.  Mackintosh  has  pointed 
out,  there  is  a  deposit  of  pebbles  and  sand,  and,  further 
south,  a  level  terrace  and  escarpment  which  represents 


ANGLESEY  AND  THE  MENAI  STRAIT. 


219 


an  old  coast  line.  Lower  Bangor  lies  under  its  steepest 
part. 

Menai  Strait  takes  perhaps  the  first  place  for 
picturesque  charm  amongst  all  British  channels.  Naviga- 
tion is  very  intricate  between  Carnarvon  and  the 
Suspension  Bridge.  At  "  The  Swellies,"  a  rocky  part 
between  the  two  bridges  and  opposite  Vaynol  Park,  the 
tides  run  as  swiftly  as  12  to  15  miles  an  hour,  and  with 
a  whirlpool  motion  due  to  the  tidal  currents  meeting 
here.  At  some  points  four  tides  a  day  may  be  observed. 
The  tide  from  the  south-west  reaches  Beaumaris  about 
two  hours  earlier  than  that  which  comes  round  the  north 
of  the  island  and  Priestholme. 

Beaumaris  received  its  name,  a  French  one,  in  Edward 
the  First's  time.  But  long  before  this  time,  as  "Gwygyr" 
it  was  a  port  of  great  importance.  Tradition  has  it 
that  it  was  one  of  the  three  privileged  ports  of  the  Isle 


The 

Ancient 
City 


Bangor. 


220 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


of  Britain,  the  other  two  being  what  we  know  now^  as 
Newport,  Mon.,  and  Gwyddno,  the  overwhelmed  capital 
of  the  lost  Cantref  Gwaelod  in  Cardigan  Bay.  The  walls 
which  once  enclosed  it  are  shown  on  the  accompanying 
1610  map.  The  sea  wall  ran  about  20  yards  on  the 
town  side  of  the  existing  Pier  entrance.     The  cliff  at  the 


ANGLESEY  AND  THE  MENAI  STRAIT.  221 

north  end  of  Beaumaris  is  wholly  glacial  drift  material. 
The  great  mound  upon  which  Penrhyn  Castle,  opposite 
Beaumaris,  stands,  is  also  the  product  of  the  Ice-age, 
consisting  of  moraine  deposits  brought  down  from 
Niantfrancon. 

Beaumaris  before  the  inundation  would  form  a 
harbour  a  few  miles  up  the  river  Ell,  as  Liverpool  stands 
up  the  Mersey  estuary  to-day.  Though  separated  by  so 
small  a  space,  the  geological  formation  of  Puffin  Island 
shows  that  it  has  never,  within  historic  time,  been  joined 
to  Anglesey. 

At  the  Swellies  the  Strait  is  at  its  narrowest,  being 
less  than  300  yards  across.  The  accounts  by  Tacitus, 
the  Roman  historian,  of  the  crossing  of  the  Strait  by  the 
Romans  in  60  (or  61)  A.D.,  under  Suetonius,  and  in 
79  A.D.,  under  Agricola,  give  some  reason  for  the  belief 
that  the  Strait  was  then  much  shallower,  as  it  was 
certainly  much  narrower,  than  it  is  to-day.  Though  the 
crossing  place  is  usually  assumed  to  have  been  at 
Porthamel  (Moel-y-don),  opposite  Port  Dinorwic,  there 
is  no  definite  evidence  in  support  of  this  conjecture. 

An  old  road,  submerged  probably  at  least  a  century 
ago,  certainly  ran  below,  or  near,  the  low  water  mark 
between  the  two  bridges,  on  the  Anglesey  side,  presum- 
ably being  an  extension  of  Cambria  Road  in  the  village 
of  Menai  Bridge.  Erosion  alone  would  not  account  for 
its  disappearance.  Natives  confidently  assert  the  former 
existence  of  this  road. 

Carnarvon — i.e.,  Caer-yn^ar-fon,  "the  fortress  over 
against  Mona,"  with  its  noble  castle,  the  most  spacious 
in  Britain  and  the  most  imposing  of  all  Welsh  castles, 
stands  on  the  site  of  the  Roman  military  station  of 
Segontium,  which  was  held  by  the  Romans  from  the  first 
century  to  about  350  A.D.  This  station  was  the  objective 
of  the  road,  already  described,  which  branched  south- 
west through  Aber  from  the  Kanovium  to  Anglesey 
track.  From  Dinorwic  to  Carnarvon  the  old  road  is 
easily  traceable,  and  from  Segontium  there  would 
doubtless  be  a  continuation  to  Dinas  Dinlle,  a  Roman 
camp  ten  miles  to  the  south.     "One  very  fine  fragment 


222 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


"remains,  pointing  south  towards  Dinas  Dinlle,"  the 
Rev.  H.  D.  Griffith,  of  Caerhun,  wrote  in  1807.  "It  is 
"  carried  over  a  flat  morass  broken  in  one  part  by  the 
river,  the  ford  over  which  is  called  '  Rhyd-y-Pedestre,' 
"  the  '  ford  of  the  infantry.'  "  This  will  probably  be 
the  1200  yds.  straight  and  broad  road  which  connects 
Rhyd-y-Meirch  with  the  sea. 


ANGLESEY  AND  THE  MENAI  STRAIT.  223 

Twthill,  the  hill  which  rises  close  to  Carnarvon,  is 
composed  of  pre-Cambrian  rock,  the  oldest  known. 

A  century  ago  Carnarvon  was  much  in  favour  as  a 
resort  of  the  well-to-do,  having  its  season,  like  Bath  and 
Aberystwyth. 

The  passage  into  Carnarvon  harbour  from  the  south 
through  the  narrow  and  shifting  sandy  entrance  to  the 
Strait  is  difficult  and  often  highly  dangerous.  Near 
Abermenai,  Leland  records,  "  the  sea  hath  eaten  up  a 
"little  village  on  the  Carnarvon  side."  It  would  be 
this  vanished  village  or  port  which  once  formed  a  port 
of  embarkation  for  Ireland.  Belan  Point,  on  the  south 
side  of  the  entrance,  is  covered  with  a  range  of  low 
sand-hills  backed  by  reclaimed  marsh  lands.  Eastward 
of  it  is  Foryd  Bay,  a  sandy  inlet.  Belan  Fort  was  made 
during  the  Napoleonic  war,  for  the  defence  of  Carnarvon, 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


Lost  Caer  Arianrhod. 

An  air  of  romantic  interest  hangs  about  towns  which 
lie  under  the  sea.  But  the  traditional  accounts  of  the 
submerged  town  or  camp  of  Caer  Arianrhod  had  a 
special  interest  for  the  writer  as  likely  to  furnish  definite 
evidence  as  to  the  subsidence,  and  not  the  mere  eroding 
away,  of  this  part  of  the  Carnarvonshire  coast. 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  site  is  marked  in  Camden's 
(1607),  Speed's  (1610),  and  Saxton's,  as  also  other  maps, 
as  off  the  coast,  between  Dinas  Dinlle  and  Clynnog, 
some  ten  miles  south  of  Carnarvon,  the  writer,  after 
making  numerous  enquiries,  could  learn,  neither  from 
local  enquiries  nor  by  reading,  that  any  sign  or  remains 
of  the  old  town  had  ever  been  seen.  The  nearest 
approach  to  this  was  a  passage  in  Mr.  C.  Croker's 
"Fairy  Tales  of  Ireland,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  175,  in  which  he 
attributes  the  discovery  of  the  site  to  Dr.  Pughe,  and 
says  that  an  Anglesea  friend  of  his  had  told  him  (Mr. 
Croker)  "  that  there  was  a  remarkable  ruin  in  the  sea, 
"  nearly  midway  between  Llanddwyn  Point  and  Clynnog 
"  Church  in  Carnarvonshire,  which  the  sailors  in  passing 
"  over  see  in  the  water,  and  called  by  them  Caer 
"Arianrhod."  F.  G.  Wynne,  Esq.,  of  the  neighbouring 
Glynllifon  Park,  had  made  searches,  but  with  no  definite 
results. 

The  spot  is  on  a  very  little  frequented  part  of 
the  coast,  yet  one  of  striking  picturesqueness.  After 
making  three  special  and  fruitless  journeys  to  this  part, 
the  writer  at  last  found  himself  in  a  position  to  examine 
the  spot  under  fairly  favourable  conditions,  except  that 


LOST  CAER   ARIANRHOD.  225 

the  ebb  tide  might  have  been  a  lower  one.  The  preceding 
tide  was  tabled  at  20  ft.  2  in. 

It  was  on  August  Bank  Holiday  of  1909  that  the 
writer,  accompanied  by  a  boatman,  Edward  Lloyd,  an 
assistant,  Owen  Owen,  and  the  writer's  son  (equipped 
with  a  camera),  sailed  out  in  a  yacht  with  a  punt  in  tow 
from  Carnarvon  harbour,  ten  miles  north  of  the  site. 
Rough  water  was  encountered  at  the  bar.  This  being 
passed,  the  Carnarvonshire  heights  stood  out  finely 
against  a  golden  yellow  sky,  the  panorama  extending 
from  Holyhead  Island,  through  Penmaenmawr  and  the 
entire  Snowdon  range  as  far  as  Yr  Eifl  and  Bardsey  Isle. 

Our  skipper  was  familiar  with  the  shingle  patch 
which  was  our  first  objective  ;  he  had  often  fished  over  it 
and  seen  through  the  water  regular  lines  of  stones  ;  also 
— with  the  aid  of  a  little  imagination — crockery  !  (really 
a  cream-coloured,  cup-shaped  seaweed).  The  spot  was 
reached  half  an  hour  before  low  water  was  due. 
Numerous  boulders  of  irregular  shape  rested  on  the 
shingle  and  seaweed-covered  patch  which  the  tide  was 
not  sufficiently  low  to  uncover.  Percy  Ashton,  Owen 
Owen,  and  the  writer  entered  the  punt,  and  eventually 
our  submarine  search  was  rewarded. 

At  a  point  three-quarters  of  a  mile  (an  estimate  only) 
below  low  w^ater  mark  and  about  three  miles  west  of  the 
village  of  Clynnog,  we  found,  about  200  yards  north-west 
of  a  huge  stone,  about  9x6x6  ft.  (above  water)  in  size, 
standing  amidst  a  cluster  of  smaller  ones,  a  semi-circle 
of  flat-topped  stones,  about  25  yards  from  point  to  point. 
The  tops  of  these  stones,  of  which  15  were  counted, 
were  oblong  square  in  shape  and  about  15  x  II  in.  in  size. 
At  one  point  a  short  straight  line  of  stones  was  also 
noticed.  All  these  were  seen  about  a  foot  below  the 
surface  of  the  sea.  The  form  of  the  semi-circle  seemed 
to  be  quite  regular,  as  also  the  distances  separating  each 
stone.  The  water  was,  unfortunately,  insufficiently  deep 
for  the  punt  to  be  rowed  round  what,  presumably,  we 
should  have  found  to  be  a  full  circle,  yet  too  deep  for 
wading  to  be  practicable.  At  a  minimum  ebb  tide  the 
spot  in  question  would  be  dry,  or  nearly  so. 


dO    (HZ) 


LOST  CAER  ARIANRHOD.  227 

After  three  photos  had  been  taken  we  rowed  back 
hurriedly  to  the  yacht  just  as  a  stiff  breeze  was  beginning 
to  threaten  the  safety  of  the  small  punt.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  stones  is  such  as  to  leave  little  room  for 
doubt  that  this  is  an  ancient  British  or  Brythonic  circle, 
such  as  it  has  been  customary  to  call  a  Druid's  circle. 

But  these  stone  circles  are  no  longer  believed  to  have 
been  either  Druidical  altars  or  tournament  places.  It  is 
now  generally  agreed  that  they  are  of  Neolithic  or  Bronze 
Age  date,  but  their  use  or  origin  is  still  obscure.  Human 
bones  have  been  occasionally  disinterred.  The  crom- 
lechs, consisting  usually  of  two  upright  stones  with 
another  lying  horizontally  across  their  tops,  are  believed 
to  have  been  the  entrance  porches  to  circular  burial 
chambers  constructed  of  earth  and  stones,  the  cromlechs 
being  the  only  part  to  have  withstood  the  destructive 
effects  of  wind  and  rain. 

There  is  no  question  about  the  considerable  extent  to 
which  the  sea  has  encroached  upon  the  land  at  this 
point.  Even  in  recent  times  the  local  tithe-maps  show 
a  considerable  loss.  Evidences  of  roads  under  the  sea, 
parallel  with  the  coast,  are  plentiful.  The  present  coast 
road  is  believed  to  be  the  third.  There  exist  at  one 
part  of  Carnarvon  Bay  the  stumps  of  a  submerged  forest 
called  "  the  old  garden,"  in  which  fishermen  lose  their 
nets.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  coast,  in  the  time  of 
the  Roman  occupation,  would  follow  approximately  the 
5-fathom  line  of  an  Admiralty  chart.  This  would  make 
the  high  water  mark  further  out  by  from  nearly  one  mile 
to  over  two  miles,  between  Yr  Eifl  mountains  and 
Llanddwyn  Point  on  Anglesey.  Outside  the  5-fathom 
line  the  sea  deepens  rapidly. 

Dinas  Dinlle,  on  the  coast,  about  a  mile  north-east 
of  the  submerged  site,  is  a  low  but  remarkable  hill, 
110  feet  in  height,  with  a  flat  top.  It  is  the  site  of  a 
prehistoric  fortress,  remains  of  which  are  easily  traceable. 
Pennant  over  a  century  ago  described  it  as  **  a  vast 
"  mount  of  gravel  and  sand.  The  ground  slopes  to  the 
"  sea  and  is  quite  open,  Roman  coins  have  been  found 
"here."     Since  Pennant  wrote  this  description  the  sea 


228  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

has  attacked  the  hill  itself,  which  is  now  half  consumed. 
Instead  of  a  slope,  there  is  now  a  vertical  cliff,  and 
erosion  is  proceeding  rapidly. 

It  is  a  warrantable  supposition  that  Caer  Arianrhod. 
which  was  presumably  contemporary  w^ith  Segontium, 
w^as  used  by  the  Romans  as  a  port  or  landing  place  when 
access  to  Carnarvon  (Segontium)  from  the  sea  was  much 
more  difficult  even  than  it  is  to-day. 

Evidence  was  given  before  the  Coast  Erosion  Com- 
mission that  "  When  the  Romans  occupied  Britain  they 
"  had  on  the  coast  of  Carnarvon  Bay  a  town  called  now 
"  Caer  Arianrhod,  which  had  a  paved  road,  still 
"  existing,  leading  direct  to  the  great  Roman  station, 
"Segontium,  now  Carnarvon."  The  Roman  walling 
which  is  said  to  exist  at  Porth-yn-Llyn,  which  is  in  a 
direct  line  with  Segontium,  may  possibly  be  a  part  of 
this  ancient  way. 

The  legends  of  the  Goidelic  Celts,  who  were 
conquered  and  displaced  by  the  Brythonic  Celts,  who 
brought  with  them,  about  the  third  century  B.C.,  the 
language  now  known  as  Welsh,  were  perpetuated  in 
some  of  the  folk-lore  stories,  which  were  collected 
together  about  1200-1250  under  the  name  of  "The 
Mabinogion."  In  the  Mabinogi  of  "  Math,  the  Son  of 
"  Mathonwy,"  recorded  in  the  Red  Book  of  Hergerst, 
the  lost  stronghold  of  Arianrhod  is  always  referred  to 
as  then  in  existence.  The  legend  can  thus  be  dated  as 
belonging  to  a  time  almost  certainly  antecedent  to  the 
great  inundations  of  the  sixth  century. 

Lady  Guest,  the  translator  of  this  folk-lore  collection 
into  English  (now  published  in  cheap  form  in  Dent's 
"Everyman's  Library"),  in  a  note  appended  to  the 
"  Math  "  story,  says  that  "  Arianrhod,  the  silver-circled, 
"  a  daughter  of  Gwydion,  is  a  prominent  character  in 
"  this  legend,  one  of  three  beauteous  ladies  of  the  island. 

Caer  Arianrhod '  means  simply  the  *  Camp  of 
"  Arianrhod.' 

Prof.  Rhys,  in  his  "Celtic  Folklore,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  208, 
mentions  no  fewer  than  six  variations  which  he  met  with 
in  one  day,   in  the  attempts  made  locally  to  reproduce 


LOST  CAER  ARIANRHOD.  229 

the  full  original  form  of  "  Tre-Gaer-Arianrhod."  The 
writer  had  the  same  experience  when  making  enquiries 
on  two  visits  to  the  district.  "  Tregar  Anthreg  "  would 
seem  to  be  the  name  now  applied  to  the  large  stone, 
already  described,  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  lost  town. 
According  to  a  tradition  in  the  neighbourhood  (Prof. 
Rhys  adds),  "  the  place  was  inundated  on  account  of 
the  wickedness  of  its  inhabitants.  So  it  would  appear 
that  Gwennan,  Elan,  and  Maelan,  Arianrhod's  sisters, 
were  the  just  ones  allowed  to  escape.  Arianrhod 
was  probably  drowned  as  the  principal  sinner  in 
possession." 

In  a  poem  attributed  to  Taliesin  (probably  the 
spurious  one)  (Guest's  "  Mabinogion,"  p.  273),  Taliesin 
says,  "  I  have  been  three  periods  in  the  prison  of 
Arianrhod."  And  in  another  poem,  "My  beloved  is 
"  below,  in  the  fetter  of  Arianrhod." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


The  Lleyn  Peninsula. 

There  is  a  solitariness  and  sense  of  remoteness  from 
the  haunts  of  men  about  the  highly-diversified  Lleyn 
coast  which  gives  it  a  special  charm  for  Nature-lovers. 
The  last  survivors  of  scarce  species  of  wild  birds  linger 
on  these  coasts.  Cormorants,  eagles,  peregrines,  ravens, 
and  herons  are  frequently  seen.  Mr.  A.  C.  Bradley,  in 
his  "  Highways  and  Byways  of  North  Wales,"  lauds 
its  lofty  rock-bound  cliffs,  its  curving  bays  and  towering 
headlands  backed  by  ranges  of  shapely  mountains,  in  the 
words  :  "  This  is  the  gem  of  all  Welsh  scenery. 
"  No  other  coast  scenery  in  Britain  compares  with  it, 
"  save  in  the  West  Highlands."  The  Rivals  ("  Yr  Eifl," 
the  fork),  the  three-peaked  headland  between  Clynnog 
and  Nevin,  rising  precipitously  for  1000  feet  up  to  1849 
feet  within  a  thousand  yards  of  the  sea,  is  truly  "an 
"  awesome  headland,  tremendous  in  bulk  and  height." 
Yr  Eifl  stands,  says  Prof.  Ramsay,  as  the  worn-down 
root  of  an  ancient  volcano.  The  coast  view^  looking 
norith  from  the  high  cliff  of  Penrhyn  Nevin,  is  one  of  the 
most  impressive  to  be  found  in  the  British  Isles. 

East-north-east  of  Port  Trevor  under  "  Yr  Eifl" 
there  is  a  long  stretch  of  boulder-stones,  probably  of 
glacial  origin. 

Granite  quarries  of  augite  porphyry  are  worked  at 
Trevor.  On  the  landward  side  of  "  Yr  Eifl,"  high  up  on 
the  slope  of  the  middle  peak,  may  be  seen  the  remains 
of  the  most  extensive  of  all  British  hill  fort  prehistoric 
ruins,  Tre'r  Ceiri. 

Nevin  Bay  is  bounded  by  lofty  cliffs  of  red  sand  and 
clay.       The  shingle   bank   at  the   foot   does   not   prevent 


THE  LLEYN  PENINSULA. 


231 


rapid  erosion  here.  The  wastage  has  averaged  about 
8  inches  a  year  for  the  last  50  years.  Landslips  are 
frequent.  Over  a  century  ago  it  was  planned  to  make 
of  Forth  Dinllaen,  a  bay  adjoining  Nevin  Bay,  a  rival 
port  to  Holyhead,  but  the  scheme  never  matured. 

From  this  point  south  to  the  end  of  the  peninsula 
considerable  erosion  is  proceeding.  A  ridge  of  meta- 
morphic,  or  pre-Cambrian  rocks  extends  from  Nevin  to 
the  end  of  the  promontory.  This  is  one  of  the  few 
exposures  in  Britain,  south  of  the  Hebrides,  of  the  oldest 
and  hardest  series  of  rocks. 


.^■li'    f^,V.}'.\\ 


Fig.  46— Yr  Eifl  from  Nevin. 

Along  the  coast,  north  of  Bardsey  Island,  there  is  a 
succession  of  coves  similar  in  size  and  shape  to  the  many 
inland  mountain  cwms  at  higher  levels,  such  as  those 
of  Cwm  Glas  and  Cwm  Idwal.  These  coast  examples 
support  the  theory  that  the  mountain  cwms  originated 
when  the  land  levels  were  sufficiently  low  to  subject 
these  cliffs  to  marine  erosion. 

Bardsey  Island,  lying  two  miles  off  the  end  of  the 
peninsula,  has  many  points  of  interest.  Its  famous 
St.  Mary's  Abbey  is  the  oldest  in  all  \V«ales.     As  a  holy 


232  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

place  it  was  the  Mecca  for  centuries  for  countless 
pilgrims,  and  the  Welsh  Westminster  Abbey  as  a  burial- 
place  for  the  best  of  the  race.  Approach  to  the  island 
is  difficult  owing  to  a  strong  tide  race  through  the 
intervening  Sound. 

Braich-y-pwll  Head  is  a  lofty  and  striking  headland 
at  the  extremity  of  the  Lleyn  promontory,  rising  steeply 
for  500  feet  from  the  sea.  Pennant  described  it  as 
"  a  vast  precipice,  black  and  tremendous."  Within 
3  miles,  and  1 7  miles  from  a  railway  station,  lies  snug  in 
a  rock-bound  inlet  the  little  fishing  village  of  Aberdaron, 
the  Ultima  Thule  of  civilisation  in  this  part  of  Britain. 
Two  hundred  years  ago  the  place  was  two  miles  from 
the  sea,  v^nhich  through  combined  subsidence  and 
erosion,  now  threatens  it  with  destruction.  Nearly  30 
years  ago  a  sea-wall  w^as  built  to  protect  its  ancient  little 
church.  The  graveyard  had  been  worn  into  by  the  sea 
and  coffins  washed  away.  The  two  Gull  Islands  off  the 
Bay  must  once  have  formed  part  of  the  mainland.  Once 
on  a  time  Aberdaron  was  a  port  of  departure  for  Ireland. 

The  explorer's  way  along  the  coast  eastwards  is 
blocked  by  Rhiw  mountain,  which  rises  steeply  and 
imposingly  from  the  sea  for  nearly  1000  feet.  Struck 
with  the  form  of  its  table-topped  summit,  with  a  pinnacle 
at  one  end,  resembling  a  church  roof  and  spire,  the 
writer  decided  to  examine  it.  A  climb  to  the  top 
disclosed  what  had  every  appearance  of  being  an  ancient 
volcano.  The  flat  form  of  the  summit  appeared  to  be 
the  upstanding  edge  of  a  crater-like  oval  hollow  some 
300  yards  in  length.  This  hollow  was  gaily  carpeted 
throughout  with  bright  crimson  heather  and  yellow  gorse 
in  solid  masses.  Rocks  of  igneous  or  metamorphic 
character  compose  the  entire  mountain,  and  the  pinnacle 
at  the  west  end  has  every  appearance  of  being  a 
thrown-up  cone.  A  manganese  mine  is  worked  high  up 
on  the  same  side. 

Descending  through  a  forest  which  clothes  the  eastern 
side  of  the  mountain,  the  fine  bay  of  Forth  Nigel,  better 
known  as  Hells  Mouth,  is  reached.  Its  fearsome  name 
is  due  to  its  resemblance  to  a  boiling  cauldron  when  the 


5 

o 


CD   S 


234  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

sea  is  churned  up  by  south-westerly  gales.  A  strong 
tidal  in-draught  increases  its  dangers  for  navigators. 

On  the  Rhiw,  or  west  side,  sea-wear  is  going  on  with 
great  rapidity.  The  main  road  above  Treheili  Farm  had 
to  be  abandoned  from  this  cause  40  years  ago,  when 
the  present  road  from  the  foot  of  Rhiw  mountain  was 
made.     The  new  road  is  now,  in  its  turn,  threatened. 

Hell's  Mouth  Bay,  which  is  bounded  on  both  sides 
by  steep,  rocky  cliffs,  presents  on  its  broader  landward 
side  some  unique  features.  Here,  between  the  head- 
lands, thick  deposits  of  glacial  drift  in  the  form  of  boulder 
clay  and  gravel  have  been  worn  back  by  the  sea  into 
lofty  cliffs.  The  clay  is  of  peculiar  tenaciousness,  and 
presents  along  a  front  of  a  mile  or  more  a  succession  of 
lofty  spires  and  knife-edge  points  separating  deep  gullies 
which  land-streams  have  aided  the  sea  in  wearing  back 
deep  into  the  cliffs.  The  shingle  beach  contains  a 
striking  variety  of  high-coloured  pebbles,  red,  orange, 
green,  slate,  white,  and  black,  mostly  of  igneous  or 
metamorphic   origin. 

Passing  the  bold,  projecting  headland  of  Penkilan,  the 
southern  extremity  of  Carnarvonshire,  the  explorer  reaches 
another  bay,  Forth  Ceiriad,  where  sheer  precipices  rise 
from  curious  platforms  of  rock.  Rounding  another 
point,  Trwyn-yr-Wylfa,  he  passes  the  two  small  but 
interesting  islands  of  St.  Tudwals  and  reaches  the 
unconventional  but  rising  little  watering-place  of  Aber- 
soch.  At  Glan  Aber,  by  Abersoch,  erosion  threatens 
the  high  road  along  the  shore.  From  Abersoch  to 
Llanbedrog  Point  there  is  an  unbroken  stretch  of 
sandhills. 

Six  miles  further  along  the  coast  Pwllheli  is  reached. 
The  name  is  derived  from  two  words  meaning  either 
"  salt-water  pool"  or  "Helig's  pool."  Pwllheli  possesses 
a  fine  beach  of  sand  and  shingle,  but  its  two  most 
striking  features  are  Carreg-yr-Imbill,  or  the  Gimlet  rock, 
and  a  spacious  square-shaped  harbour  at  the  entrance 
to  which  the  great  granite  rock  stands  guard.  Why 
"  Gimlet  "  rock  no  one  can  explain.  Two-thirds  of  this 
rock  have  been  quarried  away.     Like  Yr  Eifl  and  Carn 


THE  LLEYN  PENINSULA.  233 

Fadryn,  six  miles  away,  this  is  a  rock  of  volcanic  origin 
intruded  through  sedimentary  strata.  The  granite 
quarried  is  that  known  as  diabase.  Less  than  150  years 
ago  boats  were  moored  to  rings,  which  may  still  be  seen 
under  stone  refuse  heaps,  fastened  into  the  north  inner 
side  of  the  rock,  where  a  deep  harbour  then  stood. 
Two  rivers,  the  Rhyd  Hir  and  the  Erch,  enter  the  present 
harbour. 

The  local  authorities  have  expended  large  sums 
(1903-9)  upon  the  conversion  of  this  harbour  into  a 
Marine  Lake,  with  a  weir  and  gates  at  the  exit.  But 
the  sand  which  is  brought  down  by  the  two  rivers  is 
constantly  tending  to  silt  it  up.  Silting  is  also  in  progress 
outside  the  entrance,  where  a  bar  has  formed.  Two 
experienced  seafaring  men,  a  native  Captain  and  the 
Lifeboat  Secretary,  informed  the  writer  that  the  Pwllheli 
coast  is  certainly  slowly  sinking. 

Abererch,  a  village  lying  to  the  north-east  of  Pwllheli, 
formerly  stood,  as  its  name  implies,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Erch  river.  But  since  the  formation  of  a  range  of  sand- 
hills between  the  village  and  the  sea,  the  river  has  been 
diverted  and  now  flows  parallel  with  the  coast  into  the 
harbour  at  Pwllheli,  three  miles  away.  Some  sedimentary 
strata  crop  out  near  Pwllheli  which  are  rich  in  fossil 
remains  of  the  most  primitive  forms  of  life. 

Nowhere  on  the  Welsh  coast  is  wastage  through  the 
sea's  advance  proceeding  more  rapidly  than  on  the 
Afonwen  sea-front.  East  of  the  station  the  Railway 
Company  has  built  a  protecting  wall.  At  points  between 
here  and  Criccieth  the  erosion  averages  as  much  as  6  feet 
a  year.  This,  if  continuous  since  the  Roman  occupation, 
would  mean  that  the  coast  would  then  be  two  miles 
further  south  than  it  is  to-day.  Mr.  J.  E.  Greaves,  a 
local  landowner,  has  estimated  that  36  acres  have  been 
washed  away  near  Afonwen  between  1808  and  1908. 
The  tidal  currents  from  the  south-west  strike  this  part  of 
the  coast  with  specially  erosive  force.  The  Cambrian 
Railway  protective  wall  east  of  Afonwen  has  been 
recently  extended. 


236  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  Criccieth  the  evidences  of 
change  are  plentiful  and  unquestionable.  A  breadth  of 
125  feet  for  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  at  Criccieth  has 
been  washed  away  between  1835  and  1908.  Both  on 
the  east  and  west  sides  of  the  Castle  this  loss  of  land  is 
going  on.  Half-a-mile  west  of  the  Castle  the  path  along 
the  cliff  top  has  been  put  back  four  to  six  times  since 
1880.  But  there  is  a  length  further  west,  200  yards  east 
and  600  yards  west  of  the  Dwyfor  river,  where  accretion 
is  in  progress.  So  continuous  have  been  the  sea's 
inroads  both  east  and  west  of  the  Castle  Rock  that  it 
was  found  necessary  a  little  over  a  century  ago  to 
construct  a  new  coast  road  further  inland.  The  present 
High  Street  of  Criccieth  is  the  new  road  of  about  1805. 
An  old  Criccieth  man,  John  Pritchard,  who  died  in  1907 
or  1908,  aged  103,  said  he  was  born  in  the  year  in  which 
the  new  road  was  opened.  The  old  road  went  entirely 
out  of  use  about  the  middle  of  the  century,  except  a 
section  above  the  present  main  road  a  quarter-mile  east 
of  Criccieth,  past  Tanrhiwian  Farm.  Westward  of  the 
point  where  the  present  road  is  crossed,  it  passed  along 
what  is  now  a  hollow  in  a  cultivated  field  on  the  seaward 
side,  then  by  Merllyn,  the  cottages  at  the  east  end  of 
the  Esplanade,  then  across  the  bay  to  the  present  lifeboat 
house  and  by  the  existing  Castle  Walk  immediately 
behind  the  castle  ;  then  on  the  west  it  passed  down  to 
the  level  of  the  beach  in  front  of  Marine  Terrace, 
traversing  what  is  now  the  sea-shore  as  far  as  Cefn  Castell 
farm,  about  f  of  a  mile  west  of  the  Castle. 

This  road,  now  largely  below  high-water  mark,  was 
the  high  road  of  its  day  between  Pwllheli  and  Portmadoc. 
Erosion  is  the  rule  along  this  coast,  but  between  the 
cliffs,  500  yards  east  of  the  Criccieth  Esplanade  and 
Black  Rock,  shingle  tends  to  accumulate. 

Criccieth  Castle,  from  which  an  unsurpassable  pano- 
ramic view  of  the  Merionethshire  mountain  range  can 
be  had,  is  believed  to  have  been  fortified  by  Llewelyn 
the  Great.  Criccieth,  which  is  mentioned  as  early  as 
the  5th  century,  was  spelt  in  1300  "  Cruccaith  "  :  in 
English,  a  hillock  by  the  sea. 


THE  LLEYN   PENINSULA.  237 

An  experienced  boat-owner  and  a  native  of  Criccieth, 
Mr.  D.  Cadwalader,  expressed  to  the  writer  his  confident 
belief  that  this  coast  is  slowly  subsiding. 

Nearly  a  mile  to  the  east  of  Criccieth  the  Cambrian 
coast  railway  (constructed  about  1867)  crosses  low-lying 
ground  inside  a  shingle  embankment.  This  shingle  bank 
is  neither  a  storm  beach  nor  was  it  made  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  railway.  It  was  constructed  about  200  years 
ago  for  land  reclaiming  purposes.  About  400  acres  of 
what  is  now  good  grazing  land  about  Ystumllyn  and 
Pentrefelin  were  thus  enclosed.  There  may  still  be  seen 
on  the  rocky  elevation,  once  an  island,  on  which 
Ynyscynhairn  Church  stands,  iron  bolts  to  which  boats 
would  once  be  moored.  Camden's  Britannica  Map  (1607) 
shows  an  extensive  two-branched  inlet  here,  as  does  also 
Speed's  map  of  1610,  where  our  maps  of  to-day  show  a 
straight  line  of  coast. 

East  of  this  embankment  progress  along  the  beach 
at  high-water  is  intercepted  by  Craig  Du,  the  Black 
Rock,  156  feet  high.  In  the  cliff  of  this  headland  may 
be  found  an  abundance  of  fossils  and  petrified  remains, 
including  the  Lingulella,  or  tongue  shell,  which  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  series  in  which  the  earliest  traceable  and 
simplest  forms  of  life  are  found. 

The  trend  of  the  shingle-travel  from  Pwllheli  and 
Criccieth  is  eastwards  ;  but  this  has  been  largely  stopped 
by  the  groynes  put  dow^n  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Greaves  and  the 
Cjiccieth  U.D.C.,  and  also  further  east  by  the  natural 
obstacle  of  the  Black  Rock. 

From  the  Black  Rock  to  Borth-y-gest,  a  small  snug 
bay,  three  miles  further  east,  the  conditions  are  highly 
favourable  to  accretion.  This  is  due  to  the  sand  and 
silt  brought  down  by  the  Glaslyn  and,  in  a  much  lesser 
degree,  the  Dwryd  river.  This  is  causing  the  rapid 
accumulation  of  sandhills  at  and  east  of  Morfa  Bychan, 
**  the  little  sea-marsh  "  which  lies  between  the  imposing 
height  of  Moel-y-gest,  southernmost  of  the  Snowdonian 
outlying  peaks,  and  the  sea.  Morfa  Bychan  was  at  one 
time  the  site  of  a  racecourse. 


238  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

The  Barmouth,  or  Egryn,  lights,  so  much  discussed 
a  few  years  ago  in  connection  with  the  statements  of  a 
pious  lady  of  Egryn,  may  conceivably  have  had  a  similar 
origin  to  some  curious  phenomena  rep>orted  in  the 
following  passage  by  Pennant  ("  Tours,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  372) 
as  having  occurred  at  Morfa  Bychan.  "  In  1694,  a 
pestilential  vapour,  resembling  a  weak  blue  flame, 
arose,  during  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks,  out  of  a  sandy 
marsh  tract,  called  Morfa  Bychan,  and  crossed  over  a 
channel  of  8  miles  to  Harlech.  It  set  fire  on  that  side 
to  16  ricks  of  hay.  It  moved  only  by  night." 
Ynys  Cyngar  (Cyngar  Island),  now  surrounded  by  sand 
and  some  500  yards  above  high-water  mark,  was  about 
50  years  ago  surrounded  by  every  high  tide. 

The  approach  to  Portmadoc  harbour  grows  every 
year  more  difficult  through  the  always-extejiding  and 
constantly-shifting  sandbanks.  The  river  channel  in  the 
estuary  alters  its  position  with  perplexing  frequency,  and 
as  much  as  a  mile  in  a  few  weeks. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


A  Great  Reclamation  and  a  Snowdon  Valley. 

At  Portmadoc,  the  slate  quarry  port  in  the  north- 
■eastern  corner  of  Cardigan  Bay,  we  come  to  the  scene 
of  the  most  remarkable  change  in  a  natural  coast-line 
which  the  hand  of  man  has  effected  in  Britain.  A  glance 
at  any  map  of  older  date  than  1810  will  make  this  clear. 

The  whole  of  the  low-lying  valleys  which  radiate 
towards  the  north-west,  north  and  north-east  from  the 
point  where  Portmadoc  now  stands,  were  then  tidal 
estuaries.  The  sketch-map  appended  shows  the  differ- 
ence between  then  and  now. 

It  is  to  the  long  vision,  courage,  and  perseverance  of 
William  Alex.  Madocks,  M.P.  for  Boston,  Lines.,  a 
century  ago,  that  the  credit  for  this  great  transformation 
is  due. 

Mr.  Madocks  began  by  purchasing  in  1798  extensive 
estates  between  Penmorfa  and  Traeth  Mawr,  including 
that  of  Tanrallt  (associated  with  his  friend  and  helper, 
the  poet  Shelley),  and  in  1800  he  commenced  the  great 
work  of  enclosing,  for  cultivation  purposes,  2000  acres 
in  the  north-west  inlet,  where  high  tides  had  flowed  up 
as  far  as  Penmorfa  and  Penamser.  At  the  eastern 
corner  of  this  area  he  planned  the  new  town  of  Tremadoc, 
including  a  market  hall,  assembly  hall,  and  church.  He 
next  made  and  completed  a  good  road  from  Pen-y-gwryd 
^four  miles  from  Capel  Curig  on  the  London-Holyhead 
main  road),  down  Nant  Gwynant  to  Beddgelert,  Tre- 
madoc, Criccieth,  and  Pwllheli  to  Porth  Dinllaen,  by 
which  he  planned  to  open  out  a  route  between  London 
and  Ireland.      But  Porth  Dinllaen  (near  Nevin)  did  not 


240  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

become  a  rival  to  Holyhead,  the  project  being  defeated 
in  Parliament  by  one  vote  only. 

These  preliminary  works  completed,  Mr.  Madocks 
obtained  in  1808  a  Parliamentary  grant  which  secured  to 
him  and  his  heirs  all  the  Sands  of  the  Glaslyn  estuary 
from  Aberglaslyn  to  the  Point  of  Gest,  an  area  of  about 
7  miles  by  from  I  to  3  miles  wide.  By  1811  he  had 
completed  the  great  work  of  throwing  a  mile-long 
embankment  across  the  entrance  to  the  Traeth  Mawr 
which  secured  posterity  in  the  use  of  about  1500  acres 
of  good  farming  land,  reaching  nearly  to  the  Aberglaslyn 
Pass  and  enclosing  an  additional  3000  acres  which  are 
still  liable  to  river  flooding. 

But  a  disaster  befell  the  embankment.  On  February 
14th,  1812,  a  hurricane  gale  made  a  great  breach  which 
absorbed  three  more  years  in  effectually  making  good. 

The  magnificent  scenery  of  this  neighbourhood  is 
referred  to  by  Pennant  in  his  "  Tours  "  (Vol.  II.  p.  358). 
The  Penmorfa  enclosure  Pennant  saw  carried  out  ;  the 
larger  Traeth  Mawr  undertaking  was  only  a  project  at 
the  time  he  wrote,  but  his  description  applies  equally  to 
both.  "  A  tract  of  meadows,  sprinkled  with  insulated 
"  rocks  rising  in  various  places  and  embosomed  with 
"woods,  rocks,  and  precipices." 

The  rocky  prominences  which  now  stand  out  from 
the  pastures  of  Traeth  Mawr  must  have  presented  a 
highly  picturesque  appearance  when  surrounded  by  tidal 
water. 

These  reclamations  were  followed  by  a  scheme 
(sanctioned  in  1821)  to  provide  a  harbour-town  for  the 
shipping  of  slates  from  the  Festiniog  quarries.  The  site 
of  the  new  town  of  Portmadoc,  thus  projected,  was  then 
a  sandhill  and  tidal  waste.  The  new  town  throve  apace 
and  soon  threw^  the  older  Tremadoc  into  a  position  of 
secondary  importance. 

Mr.  Madocks  had  by  this  time  exhausted  a  fortune  of 
over  ;^1 00,000.  He  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing, 
however,  before  dying  in  Paris  in  1829,  that  he  had 
conferred  incalculable  boons  on  posterity. 


A  GREAT  RECLAMATION:  A  SNOWDON  VALLEY.      241 

The  narrow-gauge  tramway  from  Portmadoc  up  the 
winding  sides  of  the  beautiful  Vale  of  Festiniog  was  once 
one  of  the  world's  engineering  wonders.  Its  purpose 
was  the  carrying  of  slates  from  the  Blaenau  Festiniog 
quarries  (which  were  first  opened  out  in  1 765),  700  feet 
above  the  sea.  Prior  to  1836,  when  the  line  was  opened, 
the  method  of  transit  had  been  by  pony  panniers  to 
Congl-y-wal,  below  Manod  Station  (G.W.R.).  From  this 
point  the  conveyance  was  by  carts  to  Maentwrog,  a 
quarter-mile  below  which  village  the  old  disused  wharf  of 
Cemllyn  may  still  be  seen.  Here  the  slates  were  trans- 
ferred to  shallow  draft  barges,  which  were  hauled  down 
to  Traeth  Bach,  "the  little  Traeth  or  tidal  sand,"  and 
there  shipped  for  sea  transit.  Other  pre-railway  slate 
shipping  quays  were,  on  the  south  side,  at  Gelligrin, 
li  miles  below  Maentwrog,  and  at  Cei  Newydd,  1000 
yards  above  Brewit  Bridge  ;  and  on  the  right  side  at 
Trwyn-y-Garnedd. 

The  first  ship  was  built  at  Portmadoc  in  1824,  but 
long  before  this  date  ships  were  built  at  Carreg-hylldrem, 
a  rock  which  overhangs  the  road  between  Beddgelert 
and  Tan-y-bwlch,  in  Llanfrothen  parish,  now  five  miles 
inland.  Many  ships  had  also  been  launched  at  Borth-y- 
gest,  at  Abergafren  and  Borthwen  in  the  Traeth  Bach  ; 
and  on  the  south  of  the  Traeth  at  Ty  Gwyn  and  at 
Glan-y-Mor.  These  facts  are  stated  in  proof  of  the  great 
change  in  the  coast-line.  Glan-y-mor,  two  miles  south- 
west of  Talsarnau,  is  now  fully  a  mile  from  the  sea, 
sand  accretion  being  the  sole  cause  of  the  change. 

Portmadoc  a  few  years  ago  owned  over  300  vessels, 
but  its  prosperity  has  declined,  one  of  the  contributory 
causes  being  the  increasing  difficulty  of  approach  to  the 
harbour  through  the  constant  silting  and  shifting  of  the 
channel. 

Travellers  along  this  coast  now  cross  the  two  Traelhs 
by  train  in  a  few  minutes'  time.  Prior  to  the  making  of 
Madocks'  embankments  across  the  two  estuaries,  the 
low-tide  passage  on  foot  was  so  hazardous  as  to  involve 
frequent  loss  of  life.  The  safe  way  for  travellers  from 
Criccieth  and  Pwllheli  was  to  journey  by  a  rough  horse- 


242  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

track  over  the  hills  between  Penmorfa  and  Aberglaslyn, 
at  the  head  of  Traeth  Mawr,  and  thence  over  the  hills 
to  Maentwrog,  at  the  head  of  Traeth  Bach.  This  must 
have  taken  the  best  part  of  a  day.  The  only  alternative 
way  was  by  a  ferryboat  from  Penamser,  a  point  about  a 
mile  west  of  Penmorfa  ("head  of  the  Marsh"),  where 
passengers  embarked.  From  here  the  boats  were  rowed 
across  the  two  traeths  to  a  hamlet,  Ty  Gwyn  (White 
House),  near  Talsarnau,  three  miles  to  the  north  of 
Harlech.  Disasters  to  these  boats  not  unfrequently 
occurred  in  stormy  weather.  This  Portmadoc  and  Ty 
Gwyn  ferry  was  maintained  by  means  of  a  hand-paddle 
boat  down  to  the  opening  of  the  Cambrian  coast  line 
about  1867,  or  a  little  later.  The  deserted  wharf  at  Ty 
Gwyn  is  still  to  be  seen,  and  the  once  busy  inn  is  now  a 
farm  house. 

The  accretion  which  is  in  steady  progress  at  this 
corner  of  Cardigan  Bay  is  due  in  part  to  the  tidal  drifts 
from  the  west  and  south,  but  it  is  mainly  due  to  the 
considerable  amount  of  sand  carried  down  by  the 
Glaslyn  river.  This  river  rises  in  the  chain  of  lakes 
under  the  precipitous  eastern  face  of  Snowdon.  It 
derives  its  sand  and  silt  mainly  from  the  glacial  drift 
beds  in  the  bottom  and  sides  of  Nant  Gwynant,  through 
which  most  picturesque  of  Welsh  vales  the  river  flows 
to  Beddgelert — above  which  point  it  is  called  the 
Gw^ynant — and  Aberglaslyn.  The  decay  through  frost, 
rain,  and  aerial  erosion  of  the  hard  rocks  of  this  mountain 
region  is  a  contributory  factor.  Underneath  the  green 
meadows  and  furzy  commons  of  the  reclaimed  and  highly 
picturesque  estuary  will  everywhere  be  found  the  sandy 
bed  deposited  there  in  the  course  of  many  thousands  of 
years  by  the  Glaslyn  river.  Exposures  of  pure  white 
sand  on  its  banks  may  be  seen  in  places,  as  from  the 
road  two  miles  below  Aberglaslyn.  Beds  of  cockle 
shells  may  also  be  seen  in  abundance  between  this  point 
and  the  Glaslyn  Hotel. 

The  famous  Pass  of  Aberglaslyn,  with  its  steep, 
pine-clad  cliffs,  has  been  described  as  "the  finest  gorge 
"  with  an  expansion  above  and  below  it  in  Wales." 


A  GREAT  RECLAMATION :  A  SNOWDON  VALLEY.      243 

About  300  yards  below  the  much  photographed 
bridge  and  six  miles  above  Portmadoc  there  stood,  150 
years  ago,  a  busy  little  port  of  12  to  15  houses.  Boats 
dotted  the  head  of  the  tidal  estuary  sands.  All  that 
remains  to-day  is  a  short  quay-wall  on  the  Nanmor  side, 
and  on  the  Portmadoc  road  side  a  small  inhabited  house, 
Aber  Cottage — once  a  custom  house.  Between  it  and 
close  to  the  main  road  stands  a  roofless  ruin,  once  part 
of  the  Harp  Inn.  Some  small  forts  on  the  hills  near  by 
guarded  this  port,  where  all  kinds  of  goods  and  produce 
were  shipped  or  landed. 

At  Aberglaslyn — its  most  picturesque  gateway — we 
are  close  to  Snowdonia,  and  some  of  the  most  impressive 
rock  scenery  in  the  British  Isles.  The  summit  of 
Snowdon  itself,  like  so  many  of  the  Carnarvonshire 
higher  peaks,  is  of  volcanic  origin,  interbedded  with 
thick  bands  of  fossil-bearing  grits  and  slates  of  the 
Silurian  period.  The  summit  was  once  the  hard  core 
which  formed  a  plug  deep  down  in  the  vent  of  a  volcano. 
All  the  higher  and  surrounding  parts  of  the  original 
mountain  have  since  been  worn  away.  Under  the 
volcanic  ashes  are  beds  of  lava  and  felspathic  porphyry, 
amounting  in  thickness,  on  Glyder  Fach,  to  as  much  as 
1500  feet.  These  igneous  rocks  were  formerly  covered 
by  vast  thicknesses  of  strata  which  would  be  deposited 
when  Snowdon  was  a  submerged  mountain,  each  layer 
being  separated  from  the  next  by  inconceivable  spaces 
of  time.  All  these  strata  have  been  abraded  away  by 
Nature's  own  agencies,  leaving  outstanding  only  the 
most  age-defying  of  rocks. 

To  the  student  of  glacial  phenomena  the  Snowdon 
district  is  one  of  fascinating  interest.  In  the  Ice  Age — 
that  era  of  the  day  before  yesterday  in  geological  time 
compared  with  the  inconceivably  remote  Silurian  and 
Cambrian  periods — the  general  aspect  of  the  country 
was  not  much  unlike  that  of  to-day.  Anywhere  between 
25,000  and  40,000  years  ago  great  glaciers,  such  as  still 
abound  in  Norway  and  Switzerland,  occupied  six  of  the 
valleys  and  great  cwms  which  lie  between  Snowdon's 
buttress    supports.      The    hollow    rock    basins    of    Llyn 


244  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

Llydaw  and  Llyn  Dulyn  have  been  scooped  out  by  the 
grinding  action  of  glaciers.  The  evidences  of  these 
rivers  of  ice  may  be  seen  up  to  a  height  of  about  1 200  feet 
in  glacier-rounded  and  often  ice-scratched  rocks  of  the 
district,  the  striations  always  pointing  down  the  valley. 
An  excellent  example  of  such  ice-action  may  be  seen 
about  a  hundred  yards  below  Aberglaslyn  Bridge,  on 
the  right  bank  and  twenty  feet  above  the  road. 

The  large  boulders,  perched  where  no  agency  but 
melting  ice  could  have  placed  them,  can  be  particularly 
well  seen  high  up  on  the  sides  of  the  Pass  of  Llanberis 
near  its  upper  end. 

What  is  termed  "glacial  drift"  is  the  burden  of 
stones,  sand,  and  clay  which  every  glacier  carries  on  its 
surface,  and  which  have  been  eroded  from  the  valley 
sides.  These  are  carried  down  to  the  point  where  the 
glacier  melts.  As  a  milder  climate  gradually  begins  to 
prevail,  the  glacier  end  recedes,  leaving  concentric 
moraines  or  mounds  such  as  block  the  mouths  of  Cwm 
Idwal,  Cw^m  Glas,  and  other  "  cwms  "  (hollows),  save 
where  a  stream  has  carved  a  course  for  itself  through 
them. 

Nant  Gwynant,  at  the  south-east  foot  of  Snowdon, 
the  gem  of  all  Welsh  vales  for  mountain  grandeur  and 
varied  lake  and  woodland  beauty,  well  exemplifies  the 
connection  between  glaciers  and  lakes.  It  contains  two 
lakes,  Llyn  Dinas,  three  miles  above  Beddgelert,  and 
Llyn  Gwynant,  a  mile  higher.  At  the  head  of  Llyn 
Dinas  are  rounded  mounds  which  once  filled  up  the 
valley.  These  are  obviously  glacial  moraines,  or  heaps 
of  stones  and  detritus,  dropped  here  by  a  glacier  when  this 
was  its  melting  point.  It  is  known  that  the  glacial 
epoch  was  broken  by  at  least  one  milder  interval.  At 
such  times  the  glacier  end  would  recede  higher  up 
the  valley  and  pile  up  similar  heaps  of  moraine  matter. 
This  has  happened  in  Nant  Gwynant.  Two  miles  higher 
up  than  these  moraine  mounds,  between  the  main  road 
and  the  head  of  Llyn  Gwynant,  may  be  seen  four  \ovf, 
rounded  hills  which  are  also  memorials  of  glacial  times. 
Gwynant  Lake,  w^hen  the  Ice-age  passed  away,  would 
originally  extend  as  low  down  as  the  moraine  dam  above 


A  GREAT  RECLAMATION :    A  SNOWDON  VALLEY.    245 

Llyn  Dinas.  At  this  time  there  would  be  dropped  on 
the  lake  floor  the  sand,  pebbles,  mud,  tree  branches  and 
leaves  which  every  lake  receives  from  higher  levels. 
Thus,  instead  of  the  original  underlying  inequalities  of 
the  valley  bottom,  we  have  now  the  flat  meadow  land 
which  occupies  the  mile  length  between  the  two  lakes. 
The  draining  of  the  part  now  dry  was  due  to  the  Glaslyn 
river  carving  a  ravine  for  itself  at  one  side  of  the  moraine 
mound  above  Llyn  Dinas. 

At  Capel  Curig,  eight  miles  away,  where  the  Gwryd 
joins  the  Llugwy  River  to  form  a  tributary  of  the  River 
Conway  at  Bettws-y-Coed,  flat  grass  land  has  been  made 
in  exactly  the  same  way  w^hen  the  lake  extended  to  a 
point  above  Cobden's  Hotel.  Then  the  river  carved  out 
a  deep  gorge  for  itself  opposite  the  hotel  and  to  Pont-y- 
Cyfing,  and  drained  away  the  lower  lake. 

A  few  hundred  feet  above  this  gorge  (opposite 
Cobden's  Hotel)  may  be  seen  a  deeply  ice-scored  rocky 
table  top,  showing  that  a  glacier  once  filled  the  valley 
up  to  and  above  this  level.  The  needle-pointed  rocks 
just  above  the  junction  of  the  three  roads  at  Capel  Curig 
show,  on  the  other  hand,  that  no  glacier  ever  passed 
over  this  side  of  the  valley. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


The  Ancient  Port  of  Harlech  :  A  Problem. 

The  Traeth  Mawr  is  the  boundary  of  Carnarvonshire 
and  Merionethshire.  The  latter  county  is  entered  at 
Minffordd,  the  village  of  Penrhyndeudraeth  (the  head  of 
the  ridge  of  the  tw^o  traeths)  standing  on  the  south  side 
of  the  promontory.  Immediately  south  of  it  the  River 
Dwryd  ('*  two  fords  ")  drains  the  Vale  of  Festiniog  into 
the  Traeth  Bach  and  is  crossed  by  the  Breweit  railway 
bridge,  the  coast  road  having  been  made  alongside  it. 

There  are  two  noteworthy  facts  about  the  Dwryd 
river  ;  first,  the  absolute  fixity  of  its  course  as  it  emerges 
from  the  mountain  country  through  hard,  rocky  elevations 
close  to  Breweit  Bridge  ;;  and,  secondly,  its  extraordinary 
vagaries  after  it  has  passed  through  this  natural  gateway. 
Ynys  Gyftan  is  the  name  of  the  island  w^hich  stands  so 
prominently  in  the  middle  of  the  Traeth  Bach.  The 
river  has  oscillated  in  its  course  to  the  sea,  between  the 
north  and  south  sides  of  this  island.  Prior  to  1825  it 
flowed  on  the  south  side.  Its  course  to-day  is  to  the 
north  of  the  island,  but  it  is  now  threatening  to  make  a 
new  channel  on  the  south  side,  where  the  sands  are 
covered  at  half-tide.  Lower  down  the  map-makers 
cannot  keep  pace  with  its  wanderings.  The  latest 
ordnance  map  shows  the  junction  of  the  river  with  the 
Glaslyn  at  a  point  near  the  Portmadoc  ballast  bank, 
nearly  two  miles  above  the  actual  present  point  of 
junction,  near  Ynys  Cyngar. 

The  wanderings  of  the  Dwryd  river  are  associated 
with  a  problem  which  has  proved  a  greater  tax  upon  the 
writer's  patience   and   imagination  than  any  with  which 


THE  RIVER  DWYRYD 

OLD  &  NEW  COURSES 


A.Penrhyndeudraech 
BPestinioa  B^'dway 
C  Ynys  Cijft3.n 
D  Ty  Q\'^yn 
E.  UanfihSingfiy-traeinajj 
F  Fwchwy'h  Farm 
q  Las  ynys 
H  Old  road  io ferry 
J  Ra.cerCourse: 
K3andhiHs  ;?>v^- 
LHouth  of  Artroio-day 
Ml&nz   riadoce,  " 
Fmbar}kmer>iB 

COA5TUNE  IST.5TAGE 

-      2nd.      -     

TODAY  « 

ROADS  = 


RAILWAYS 


Fig.  48.— Portmadoc  and  Harlech  Coast— estimated  changes 


248  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

he  has  had  to  deal.  For  long  the  absence  of  apparent 
clues  made  it  an  apparently  insoluble  one. 

Harlech — probably  from  "Ar  llech  "  or  "  lechwedd," 
meaning  "  on  the  slope  "^ — stands  now  about  a  mile  from 
high-water  mark,  and  its  site  is  unconnected  by  any 
stream  with  the  sea.  Yet  there  is  ample  evidence  that 
a  very  few  centuries  ago  it  Avas  a  port  with  easy  access 
from  the  sea.  Documents  in  Lord  Harlech's  collection 
at  Brogyntyn,  Oswestry,  the  writer  has  been  informed, 
show,  in  bills  of  lading  and  harbour  due  accounts,  that 
the  tradition  that  Harlech  was  once  a  port  has  good 
evidence  to  rest  upon.  Other  accounts  also  support  the 
statement. 

In  the  story  of  "  Branwen,  the  Daughter  of  Lyr,  "  in 
the  "  Mabinogion,"  a  collection  of  the  most  ancient  of 
all  Welsh  traditions,  an  incident  is  related  in  which 
some  ships  from  Ireland  came  to  Harlech  Castle.  The 
words  occur  : — "  And  the  men  drew  near  that  they 
"  might  hold  converse.  Then  they  put  out  boats  and 
"  came  towards  the  land.  And  they  saluted  the  king. 
"  Now  the  king  could  hear  them  from  the  place  where 
"  he  was,  upon  the  rock  above  their  heads." 

A  petition  from  the  people  of  Harlech,  of  about  1604 
date,  prayed  that  the  quarter  sessions  assizes  should  be 
continued  there  on  the  ground  that  Harlech  was  "  a 
"very  poore  towne  "  and  its  Castle  "being  upon  the 
"  sea-side  with  diverse  havens,  creeks  and  other 
"  landinge  places  of  eche  side,  neere  unto  the  same." 

Again,  at  the  time  of  the  Gljmdv^r  rising,  when  the 
Castle  was  besieged  by  Henry  IV. 's  forces,  it  is  on 
record  that  "  the  besieged  were  in  the  advantageous 
situation  of  being  able  to  receive  their  necessary 
"supplies  from  the  sea."  These  may  have  been 
obtained  through  an  opening  near  the  base  of  the  Castle 
at  the  old  river  side,  which  was  disclosed  in  1916  when 
an  overgrowth  of  vegetation  had  been  cleared  away. 

But  how  was  Harlech  reached  from  the  sea  ?  It  is 
obvious  to  every  geologist  that  the  peat  beds  resting 
upon  boulder  clay,  which  lie  between  the  sea  and  the 
high  land  upon  which  Harlech  stands,  200  feet  above 
the   coastal   plain,    could  not  have   been   washed  by  the 


THE  ANCIENT   PORT  OF   HARLECH. 


249 


sea  for  at  least  a  couple  of  thousand  years.  The  only 
possible  explanation  is  that  there  must  have  been  access 
by  some  river  or  inlet. 

No  assistance,  either  in  maps  or  any  local  tradition, 
could  be  found.  Nor  was  any  clue  discoverable  until 
the  w^riter  noticed  a  small  map  of  Harlech  Castle  in  the 
margin  of  a  county  map  of  John  Speed's  of  1610  date, 
here  reproduced  : — 


R 


E 
C 

H. 

IM 

i6i0 

Fro/*i  Map 
BY 

John  Speed. 


Fig.  49. 

The  clue  in  this  plan  is  the  broad  river,  half  the 
width  of  the  castle  itself,  which  is  shown  as  flowing  at 
the  foot  of  the  rock. 

The  result  of  observations  and  enquiries,  extending 
over  some  years,  was  the  conviction  that  this  was  the 
old  course  of  the  Dwryd  river  to  the  sea.  The  grounds 
upon   which   the   belief   rests   that   the   Dwryd   originally 


250  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

turned  south  at  the  point  marked  "  Breweit  Br."  (see 
page  247)  are,  not  only  that  It  explains  the  broad  river 
on  this  map  and  the  one-time  accessibility  of  Harlech 
from  the  sea,  but  the  following  facts. 

Between  the  sea  embankment,  north  of  Talsarnau, 
and  the  railway  there,  are  to  be  seen  clear  traces  of  an 
old  river  bed,  though  the  greater  portion  has  been  filled 
in.  This  bed  is  traceable  from  the  railway  at  a  point 
1100  yards  north  of  Talsarnau  Station  (near  telegraph 
pole  marked  751).  The  bank  winds  like  a  river.  At 
one  part  a  stony  bed,  4  feet  below  the  marsh  level,  is 
overgrown  with  reeds.  It  cannot  be  traced  either 
beyond  the  sea-embankment  nor  inside  the  railway,  a 
now  well-cultivated  area.  It  was  Mr.  James  Lloyd,  the 
host  of  the  Ship  Aground  Inn  at  Talsarnau,  who  directed 
the  writer's  attention  to  this  dried-up  river  bed,  the 
origin  of  which  had  for  long  been  a  puzzle  to  him.  He 
guided  the  writer  to  it  on  the  first  of  several  visits. 
Whether  this  is  or  is  not  a  section  of  the  original  course 
of  the  Dwryd  is  not,  how^ever,  vital  to  the  general  theory. 

Returning  to  the  village,  an  old  Talsarnau  native, 
Mr.  John  Thomas,  a  shoemaker,  now  (1917)  over  70, 
was  encountered.  Mr.  Thomas  said  that  about  the  year 
1855  he  had  helped  to  fill  up  the  bed  of  the  old  river 
upon  the  spot  where  we  stood.  This  was  on  the  road, 
midway  between  Talsarnau  Station  and  the  village. 
The  bed  was  about  4  to  5  feet  deep.  He  pointed 
towards  Harlech  as  the  direction  which  the  bed  took 
from  this  point,  passing  Fwchwyn  farm  and  between 
Las  Ynys  and  the  high  ground.  Near  Las  Ynys,  a 
rocky  islet  of  the  plain,  the  writer  had  previously  found 
evidences  in  a  reedy,  stony  bed  at  a  part  which  it  had 
not  been  deemed  worth  while  to  fill  in  for  agricultural 
use. 

A  mile  north-east  of  Harlech  there  are  also  signs  of 
the  river  bed  in  the  shape  of  water-v^orn  stones  in  a 
space  30  to  40  yards  in  width,  at  the  foot  of  a  cliff. 

The  derivation  of  "Talsarnau"  had  been  previously 
unexplained.  It  is  now  clear.  Its  English  meaning  is 
"  above,  or  opposite  the  stepping  stones."  Obviously 
this  implies  a  river-crossing,   and  there  is  no  other  river 


THE  ANCIENT  PORT  OF   HARLECH.  251 

near.  It  exactly  describes  the  position  of  the  village, 
which  would  stand  on  the  eastern  bank. 

From  Las  Ynys,  the  course  followed  would  be  close 
to  the  high  ground  under  the  main  coast  road  (made 
about  1836),  where  the  ground  is  low  and  often  flooded  ; 
then  under  Harlech  Castle  and  the  south  end  of  the 
present  station.  Its  place  of  outfall  into  the  sea  can 
only  be  conjectured.  It  would  probably  be  somewhere 
west  of  the  boulder-  and  shingle-strewn  point  south  of 
Harlech,  where  it  may  sometime  have  joined  the  River 
Artro  before  falling  into  the  sea.  Leland,  in  his  "  Itine- 
rary "  (1536-9),  refers  to  the  "  Artro  river  that  goeth  into 
"the  sea  about  a  mile  above  Harlech." 

A  broad  earthen  embankment  three  or  four  times 
the  width  usual  for  field  boundaries  still  runs  north  from 
a  point  about  100  yards  north  of  Harlech  Castle.  Its 
purpose  would  be  to  protect  the  fields  on  the  seaward 
side  of  the  river  at  times  of  flood.  This  bank  now 
bounds  the  old  coast  road  which  descended  from 
between  the  Castle  and  the  more  modern  higher  road 
before  the  railway  era,  when  so  much  of  the  coast  traffic 
passed  over  Harlech  Morfa,  the  coastal  plain,  for  Ty 
Gwyn,   and  thence  by  boat  over  the  Traeths. 

Boats  would  come  to  Harlech  from  the  South  by  the 
original  mouth  of  this  river,  perhaps  350  years  ago.  But 
the  earliest  maps — all  more  or  less  undependable— seem 
to  show  that  the  first  and  second  stages,  shown  on 
Fig.  48,  should  be  assigned  to  an  earlier  date.  Camden, 
who  toured  between  1578  and  1600,  describes  the  Castle 
of  Harlech  as  "  next  to  the  sea  on  a  steep  rock."  If  the 
river  opened  out  to  the  sea  anywhere  near,  the  descrip- 
tion w^ould  not  be  an  inaccurate  one.  But  much  later 
than  this,  after  the  old  course  lay  deep  under  sandhills, 
boats  would  be  able  to  come  to  Harlech  at  flood-tide 
from  the  north.  An  old  lady  who  died  about  1880 
could  remember  boats  being  unloaded  at  a  point 
200  yards  N.N.E.  of  the  Castle  rock,  and  a  native  told 
the  writer  that  when  digging  about  the  same  spot  he  had 
come  across  a  large  piece  of  timber  which  had  the 
appearance  of  being  part  of  a  boat. 


252  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

As  late  as  about  1750  there  was  a  boat-building 
yard  2h  miles  north  of  Harlech,  on  a  site  now  planted 
with  trees  and  close  to  the  old  river  course,  but  \h  miles 
from  the  nearest  point  of  the  coast  to-day.  In  1807 
remains  were  found  near  Talsarnau  of  an  old  water- 
wheel  in  position,  also  close  to  the  old  river  bed. 
Another  mill,  which  must  also  have  been  water-driven, 
stood,  down  to  about  1880,  near  the  old  bed  between 
Las  Ynys  and  the  main  road. 

The  general  subsidence  theory,  if  adopted,  would 
explain  the  changes  which  have  taken  place.  It  is  the 
fall  of  the  coast  levels  which,  presumably,  caused  the 
sea  to  advance  up  Traeth  Bach  and  also  up  the  low-lying 
Harlech  Morfa  until  a  junction  was  effected  with  the 
original  course  of  the  Dwryd  river  when  it  flowed  by 
Talsarnau  and  Harlech  to  the  sea.  At  whatever  date 
this  took  place,  the  sea  came  up  to  Harlech  Castle  along 
the  old  river  bed  from  the  north  in  1610,  when  John 
Speed,  the  most  reliable  of  all  map-makers  down  to  this 
time,  made  the  map  which  gave  the  clue  to  the  solution 
of  the  problem.  But  the  junction  having  been  made  at 
Las  Ynys  (see  "  G  "  on  sketch)  or  near  and  west  of 
Breweit  Bridge,  the  seaward  section  between  either  of 
these  points  and  the  original  mouth  would  soon  silt  up. 
When  this  had  taken  place  Harlech,  instead  of  being 
approached  by  the  old  river  from  the  south-west,  would 
then  be  approachable  only  from  the  north  by  the  still 
lov/-lying  hollow  in  Morfa  Harlech  (see  "D"  to  "G")  on 
sketch).  It  would  probably  be  only  a  high-tide  approach 
and  for  boats  of  shallow  draught,  down  to  the  end  of 
the  18th  century.  Evidences  of  this  sea-inlet  between 
Ty  Gwyn  and  Talsarnau  are  found  in  an  abundance  of 
sea-shells  a  few  inches  below  the  surface  in  the  lower- 
lying  parts.  Two  hundred  years  ago  Llanfihangel 
Church,  on  the  high  ground  west  of  Ty  Gwyn,  was  only 
approachable  by  boat  from  Talsarnau  across  this  inlet. 
In  Camden's  Britannica  Map  of  Merionethshire,  1607 
A.D.,    this  inlet  is  shown   as  reaching  nearly  to   Harlech. 

Levels  taken  at  the  foot  of  Harlech  Castle  by  Mr. 
LI.  Lloyd  Jones,  of  Carnarvon,  showed  only   14  ft.  O.D., 


THE  ANCIENT  PORT  OF  HARLECH.  25J 

and  2  feet  lower  still  about  300  yards  north  of  the  Castle. 
In  1808  powers  were  obtained  to  enclose  land  on  the 
Merionethshire  coast,  and  the  Harlech  Morfa  Commis- 
sioners then  reclaimed  all  the  low  land  south  of  a  line 
connecting  Ty  Gwyn  with  Talsarnau,  in  addition  to  a 
large  area  north-west  of  Talsarnau.  This  sea  embank- 
ment and  the  erection  of  strong  banks  from  Ty  Gwyn  to 
the  south-east,  which  trained  the  River  Glyn  in  a  direct 
course  to  the  sea,  finally  cut  off  all  access  to  Harlech 
from  the  sea.  Captain  Williams,  an  old  resident  at 
Ty  Gwyn,  says,  in  proof  that  the  land  is  sinking,  that 
the  sea  has  advanced  some  hundreds  of  yards  in  liis 
time. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  cause  and  consequence 
of  the  alteration  of  the  Dwryd's  course  to  the  sea  were 
precisely  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  Mersey's 
changed  exit  to  the  sea.  The  general  subsidence  of  the 
coast  caused  an  advance  of  the  sea,  leading  to  a  more 
direct  exit  to  the  sea,  and  in  each  case  the  consequence 
was  the  piling  up  of  a  range  of  sandhills  along  a  coast 
where  few^  or  none  had  previously  existed.  When  the 
Dwryd  opened  out  south-west  of  Harlech,  the  bulk  of 
its  burden  of  sand  and  shingle  would  be  thrown  on  to 
the  island  of  Mochras,  which  is  wholly  composed  of 
these  deposits.  Since  the  change  of  outlet  the  island 
has  been  steadily  eroded  on  the  seaward  side,  and  the 
Dwryd  sand,  as  well  as  a  contribution  from  the  Glaslyn 
river,  is  being  deposited  on  the  Harlech  coast,  where  it 
is  blown  into  dunes. 

These  hills  are  of  recent  origin.  In  the  year  1868  a 
native  lady,  then  85  years  of  age,  said  that  in  her  young 
days  there  were  no  sandhills  on  the  Harlech  coast, 
except  a  few  near  the  cliff  to  the  south.  Since  1870 
their  average  extension  in  breadth  has  been  about  five 
yards  a  year.  The  Dwryd  river  itself  has  smothered 
under  sandhills  its  original  outlet  to  the  sea. 

Opinions  differ  as  to  whether  the  land  here  is 
gaining  on  the  sea,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Coast 
Erosion  Commission  reported  a  net  gain  of  land  on  the 
Merionethshire  coast  of  286  acres  (gain  300  ;  loss  14)  in 
the   13  years  ending  1899,  it  is  highly  probable  that  the 


254  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

gain  is  mainly  at  the  north  end  of  the   Morfa-Harlech 
coast,  where  accretion  is  considerable. 

Harlech  Castle  was  built  by  Edward  I.  on  the  ruins 
of  a  building  dating  back  much  earlier.  Viewed  from 
its  commanding  elevation  over  a  lowland  and  estuary 
foreground,  the  Snowdon  range  and  South  Carnarvon- 
shire heights  present  as  fair  and  imposing  a  mountain 
panorama   as  any  point   on   the  British   coast   can   show. 

Between  a  point  about  a  mile  south  of  Harlech  and 
as  far  as  the  River  Artro,  extensive  erosion  has  long 
been  in  progress.  Llandanwg  Ohurch,  two  miles  south 
of  Harlech,  stands  in  lonely  isolation  on  the  edge  of  the 
sea,  a  deserted  building.  When  it  was  built  here  it 
would  doubtless  serve  the  needs  of  people  living  on  land 
now  covered  by  the  sea. 

Immediately  to  the  south  of  this  point  the  River 
Artro,  which  drains  Cwm  Bychan  lake,  enters  the  sea 
round  the  north  of  the  island  of  Mochras.  A  century 
ago  this  river  entered  the  sea  by  a  channel  which  can 
still  be  made  out  amongst  the  sandhills  at  the  south  end 
of  the  island.  This  changed  outlet  was  the  result  of  an 
artificial  diversion  made  about  1819,  and  which  was 
part  of  a  land-reclaiming  scheme. 

Mochras  or  "Shell"  Island  is  so  called  from  the 
abundance  and  variety  of  sea-shells  to  be  found  on  its 
beach.  A  collection  of  132  kinds  picked  up  here  is  in 
the  possession  of  Mrs.  Davis,  of  Llanfair  Rectory. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


The  Barmouth  to  Aberystwyth  Coast. 

Geologically  considered,  the  outstanding  feature  of 
Merionethshire  is  the  great  Harlech  dome  which  persists 
and  forms  a  rough  oval  of  hard  Cambrian  grits, 
embracing  the  wilderness  of  wild  and  lofty  mountains 
between  Harlech  and  Dclgelly,  w^ith  Barmouth  at  the 
south-west  corner.  No  fossils  are  discoverable  in  these 
green  and  purple  slate  rocks.  A  good  exposure  may 
be  seen  where  the  angle  of  inclination  is  almost  vertical, 
close  by  the  main  road  at  Barmouth,  opposite  the  end 
of  the  viaduct.  The  entire  dome  is  of  the  Cambrian 
age,  the  oldest  but  one  of  all  sedimentary  deposits.  The 
dome  represents  a  bending  of  strata  many  thousands  of 
feet  in  thickness  into  a  gigantic  arch,  the  upper  parts  of 
which  have  been  denuded  away  along  with  the  super- 
imposed deposits  by  the  planing-down  agencies  of 
Nature.  Since  these  fine  clay  beds  were  deposited  on 
the  floor  of  the  sea  and  the  Cader  Idris  range  came  into 
being,  the  Pennine  range,  the  Derbyshire  and  North 
Wales  coast  limestones,  the  Cheshire  plain,  and  the 
Lancashire  and  Flintshire  coal  beds  have  all  been 
formed  or  laid  down. 

The  hardening  of  clay  into  green  and  purple  slate 
rock  is  wholly  a  matter  of  time  and  pressure.  Through 
these  clay  deposits  there  was  in  the  Ordovician  period  a 
great  up-thrust  of  ash  and  lava  from  a  great  curve  from 
Cader  Idris  and  Aran  around  to  Rhobell  Vawr  and 
Arenig.  Cader  Idris,  the  loftiest  of  Welsh  peaks  south 
of  Snowdon,  consists  largely  of  these  volcanic  intrusions 
thrust  through  slate  and  porphyry  beds  of  Ordovician 
age.      Its    vertical    precipices    consist    of    volcanic    ash. 


256  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

Rhobell  Fawr,  2409  feet,  about  five  miles  north-east  of 
Dolgelly,  forms  an  even  more  extensive  mass  of  ancient 
lava.  Though  little  visited,  it  is  the  most  striking  of  all 
Welsh  mountains  of  volcanic  origin.  This  volcanic 
girdle  has  since  been  fractured  by  great  N.E.-S.W.  faults 
giving  rise  to  the  line  of  lower  land  from  Bala  to  Tal-y- 
llyn  and  Towyn,  and  the  parallel  Barmouth  estuary,  and 
leaving  the  hardest  parts  outstanding  in  Cader  Idris, 
Rhobell  Fawr,  the  Arans,  and  the  Arenigs. 

About  Dyffryn,  midway  between  Harlech  and  Bar- 
mouth, land  and  sea  are  fighting  a  fairly  even  battle. 
From  a  point  south  of  Dyffryn,  where  a  small  river,  the 
Yscethin,  flows  into  the  sea,  very  decided  erosion  is  in 
progress.  At  Egryn  a  lake  has  been  encroached  upon 
by  sand  and  beach  shingle.  As  the  sea  advances, 
exposures  of  the  underlying  peat  beds  and  forest  remains 
are  made.  Near  Egryn,  N.  of  Barmouth,  a  large  skull 
and  antlers  of  a  deer  w^ere  found  in  1914  in  a  bed  of  clay. 
About  1 890  many  stumps  of  trees  to  the  north  of  Llanaber 
Church  were  visible. 

It  was  stated  before  the  Coast  Erosion  Commission 
that  a  strip  of  coast  400  yards  in  width  had  been  worn 
away  since  1834,  in  the  Parish  of  Llanaber. 

The  name  of  Llanaber,  meaning  "  the  church  of  the 
conflux,"  is  presumptive  of  its  position  having  once  been 
near  a  river  mouth.  Although  the  village  is  over  two 
miles  north  of  the  Mawddach,  there  are  other  reasons 
for  the  belief  that  this  river,  centuries  ago,  when  the 
coast  lay  much  further  west,  entered  the  sea  opposite  this 
point.  The  course  w^ould  be  over  the  site  of  St.  David's 
Church  (at  Barmouth),  Aber  House,  the  Corsygedol 
stables,  by  Hendre  Villas,  Victoria  Place,  Parsel,  and 
opposite  Plascanol  ;  then  close  to  the  high  ground  to 
Llanaber.  During  sewer  excavations  about  1875,  in 
Church  Street,  opposite  the  Barmouth  Hotel,  a  ship's 
anchor  was  found  ;  also  an  iron  ring  fixed  in  a  sea-wall, 
apparently  the  site  of  a  harbour.  An  old  mussel  and 
cockle  bed  underlay  the  spot.  Another  confirming 
discovery  was  made  about  1884  in  the  hulk  of  a  ship  of 
about  20  tons  burden,  betw^een  Manchester  House  and 
Greenwich  House,  in  High  Street. 


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Fig.  50 — Barmouth  to  Aberystwyth  showing  Lost  Cantref-y-Gwaelod. 


258  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

When  Ty  Gwyn,  the  old  house  with  a  stone  arched 
doorway  by  the  harbour,  was  built  (at  least  a  century 
ago),  it  would  almost  certainly  stand  on  an  island. 

Land  is  still  being  lost  north  of  Barmouth  Promenade, 
but  accretion  is  going  on  between  Marine  Terrace  and 
the  Bath  House,  and  on  the  river  front.  The  building  of 
the  front  row  of  houses.  Marine  Terrace,  about  1875, 
checked  sea-wear  at  this  point.  Big  farms  are  said  to 
have  existed  400  years  ago  on  the  seaward  side  of  the 
town.  This  is  quite  credible.  Ynys  Brawd  (Friars' 
Island)  was  a  sheep  pasture  down  to  the  middle  of  last 
century.  An  old  man  who  died  about  1890  said  that 
when  a  boy  he  had  taken  sheep  to  pasture  on  a  part  of 
Friars'  Island  now  under  the  sea. 

About  300  years  ago  the  Mawddach  flowed  north  of 
Friars'  Island.  The  channel  on  the  south  side  would  be 
adopted  about  1600.  Another  proof  of  erosion  is  found 
in  a  map  of  Gorllwyn  Farm,  showing  that,  before 
Aberamffra  House  was  built,  this  farm  occupied  the 
w^hole  ground  to  the  south  and  west  of  Creigiau  y 
Gorllwyn  on  the  west  side  of  the  estuary  bridge,  and 
Penrhyn  Farm  on  the  Golf  Links  side. 

The  various  islets  or  bosses  of  rock  which  line  the 
south  side  of  the  estuary  were  rounded  by  the  glacier 
which  passed  over  them  towards  the  sea  in  the  Ice-age. 
All  the  passes  through  the  Harlech  dome  range  are 
ice-grooved. 

The  name  Barmouth  is  an  anglicised  form  of  Aber- 
maw,  the  original  name  of  the  place.  It  was  adopted  by 
vote  in   1 768. 

The  six-mile  road  along  the  north  side  of  the  estuary 
has  been  described  by  Ruskin  in  terms  of  superlative 
praise  for  the  unsurpassed  beauty  of  its  mountain  and 
wooded  estuary  views. 

The  tide,  which  now  runs  for  six  miles  up  the  estuary, 
had  in  olden  times  so  narrow  an  entrance  to  go  through 
that  little  of  it  passed  Barmouth.  The  Mawddach  above 
v^as  therefore  a  fresh-water  river,  but  useless  for  naviga- 
tion. At  Penmaenpool  the  estuary  filled  the  whole  of 
the  flat  ground  as  far  as  Llanelltyd  and  much  further 
than  to-day  in  the  Dolgelly  direction. 


BARMOUTH  TO  ABERYSTWYTH. 


259 


Two  or  three  centuries  ago  the  estuary  was  described 
as  having  been  *'  an  impassable  bog."  Over  200  years 
ago  the  river  was  canalized  for  the  conveying  of  goods 
to  and  from  Barmouth  from  a  point  where  St.  David's 
Church  stands  to-day.  The  boats  were  sailed  as  far  as 
the  old  storehouse  between  Llanelltyd  and  Dolgelly. 
Other  landing  places  for  cargo  brought  by  sea  a  century 
ago  were  at  Maes-y-Garnedd,  near  Llanelltyd,  and  at 
Borthwynog,  opposite  Penmaenpool.  The  course  of  this 
channel  or  canal  lay  through  Arthog  and  Farch  Ynys, 
It  went  out  of  use  long  before  the  making  of  the  railway 
to  Barmouth  in   1866. 

Fenton,  in  his  "  Tours  in  Wales  '*  (1804-13),  refers  to 
"  Penmaen  (pool)  the  port  of  Dolgellau,  where  goods 
"are  shipped  and  unshipped." 


Fig.  51— The  Mawddach    Estuary. 

The  Mawddach  is  very  unstable  at  most  points  of  its 
course.  The  outlet  north  of  Friars'  Island  has  been 
gradually  silting  up  for  many  years,  and  the  channel  on 
the  south  side  widening. 

The  bar  and  harbour  were  greatly  improved  and  the 
breakwater  constructed  under  the  powers  of  an  Act 
passed  in  1802.  Penrhyn  point,  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river  mouth,  is  steadily  extending  eastward  by  the 
estuary.  It  has  advanced  by  300  yards  in  80  years  in 
this  direction. 

The  writer  is  indebted  for  valuable  information  to 
the  late  Mr.  O.  Owen,  Hendre  Hall  (1832-1920),  and  to 


260  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

the  Rev.  Z.  Mather,  of  Barmouth,  two  of  the  best- 
informed  of  local  antiquaries.  Both  these  authorities 
are  of  the  opinion  that  there  is  a  decided  fall  in  the  land 
in  progress.  As  Mr.  Owen's  memory  stretches  back 
over  eighty  years  and  his  observing  faculties  have  been 
well  exercised,  his  opinion  is  of  value. 

Crossing  the  Barmouth  viaduct  and  journeying  south 
by  the  coast  railway,  we  come  in  a  couple  of  miles  to  a 
two-mile  length  where  there  is  only  just  room  between 
the  mountain  land  and  the  sea  for  the  road  and  the 
railway.  Between  Fairbourne  and  Llwyngwril,  the  next 
station,  there  is  an  excellent  example  of  a  storm  beach, 
or  series  of  terraces  of  shingle  arranged  by  wave  action. 
These  are  usually  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  cliffs 
in  course  of  erosion,  especially  of  boulder  clay  and 
gravel  cliffs.  Other  examples  are  seen  south  of  the 
Castle  Hill  and  Harbour  at  Aberystwyth,  at  Borth,  at 
Hell's  Mouth,  and  a  mile  south  of  Harlech.  No  form  of 
artificial  embanking  forms  a  better  coast  protection  than 
this  of  Nature's  own  providing.  Such  shingle  beaches 
are  common  all  along  Cardigan  Bay,  the  solid  rock 
being  usually  faced  with  a  margin  of  loose  glacial  drift. 
At  many  points  on  the  Cardigan  Bay  coast  these  foot 
slopes  of  clay,  sand,  and  gravel  are  being  steadily  worn 
back  into  ever-highering  cliffs.  South-westerly  gales 
give  enormous  force  to  the  heavy  seas  which  sweep  into 
the  Bay  direct  from  the  Atlantic.  A  good  example  is 
seen  in  the  lofty  cliffs  extending  for  two  miles  north  of 
Tonfanau. 

Fenton,  in  his  "Tours"  (1804-13).  refers  to  "the 
"new  embankment  under  the  Act  for  enclosing  the 
"common  near  Towyn  "  by  which  the  River  Dysinni 
"  is  made  straighter  and  the  estuary  deeper."  The 
reclaimed  area  was  about  two  miles  by  one. 

At  Towyn,  the  local  authorities,  about  35  years  ago, 
stopped  the  sea-wear  in  progress  there  by  building  a 
Promenade.  Erosion  proceeds  to  a  considerable  extent 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Dysinni  river  mouth,  and 
in  a  less  degree  between  here  and  the  Maw^ddach 
estuary.  Further  south  there  is  less  change,  the  forces 
of    erosion    and    accretion    being,    at    Aberdovey,    about 


BARMOUTH  TO  ABERYSTWYTH.  261 

balanced.  Sandhills  line  the  coast  north  of  Aberdovey 
and  are  extending  northwards.  The  River  Dovey  is  the 
source  of  the  supply,  just  as  the  Mersey  is  that  of  the 
Lancashire  dunes.  The  estuary  is  growing  more  shallow 
from  the  same  cause.  If  the  scheme  to  bridge  the  Dovey 
opposite  Aberdovey  is  carried  out,  an  area  of  about 
8  sq.  miles,  with  great  agricultural  possibilities,  will  be 
reclaimed. 

The  tradition  about  a  lost  town  of  Aberdy^  under 
the  sea,  commemorated  in  the  well-known  "  Bells  of 
Aberdovey,"  not  improbably  rests  upon  a  basis  of  fact. 
(See  next  chapter.) 

South  of  the  Dovey  the  sea  would  be  gaining  rapidly 
on  the  land  all  the  way  to  Borth  and  beyond  but  for 
the  storm  beach,  which  lengthens  steadily  towards  the 
north.  In  1916  it  had  reached  to  a  point  opposite  Moel 
Ynys  House,  about  a  mile  south  of  the  estuary.  The 
source  of  supply  of  this  shingle  is  the  boulder-clay  cliffs 
between  Borth  and  Aberystwyth. 

The  Rev.  G.  Edwards  reported  in  a  contribution  to 
Archae.  Cambrensis  for  1849  the  finding  "not  many 
"  years  ago  of  a  considerable  number  of  large  oak  trees 
"  under  the  bed  of  the  sea  near  the  mouth  of  the  Dysinni 
"river."  Meyrick's  "History  of  Cardiganshire,"  1808, 
p.  74,  refers  to  a  turbary  under  the  sands  between 
Towyn  and  Aberdovey  which  "  at  low  water  the  people 
"  scrape  off  the  sand  and  dig  turf  from  it."  In  a  paper 
contributed  to  the  Geolog.  Socy.  in  1832  the  Rev.  James 
Yates  described  the  submarine  forest  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Dovey,  extending  north  and  south  of  that  river. 
These  tree  stumps  can  still  be  seen  between  tide  marks 
on  an  area  of  about  two  acres,  about  a  mile  to  the  north 
of  Borth. 

At  Borth,  a  small  seaside  town  about  four  miles 
south  of  the  Aberdovey  estuary,  the  sea  is  frequently 
wreaking  havoc  on  property.  The  town  is  built  on  a 
storm  beach  of  shingle,  and  the  sea,  washing  over  this 
in  times  of  storm,  floods  the  extensive  low-lying  turbary 
or  bog  land  at  the  rear.  Many  relics  of  the  past  have 
been  found  here. 


262 


THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 


In  a  storm  of  furious  violence  which  raged  on  the 
night  of  December  15th,  1910,  Borth  was  almost  swept 
away.  It  was  reported,  in  evidence  before  the  Coast 
Erosion  Commission,  that  so  great  has  been  the  deteriora- 
tion in  the  value  of  the  land,  due  to  these  repeated 
assaults  of  the  sea,  that  it  was  doubtful  whether  the  cost 
of  constructing  and  maintaining  defence  works  would 
not  exceed  the  value  of  the  land. 


Fig.  52 — Submerged  Forest  Remains    near  Borth. 

From  the  Dovey  estuary  to  Aberystwyth  a  decided 
loss  of  land  has  been  for  long  in  progress  through  the 
sea's  onslaughts.  Boulder  clay  slopes  are  rapidly  con- 
verted into  cliffs,  which  grow  steadily  higher.  Landslips 
are  of  frequent  occurrence. 

Seen  from  a  boat  in  Cardigan  Bay,  the  hills  are 
noticeable  as  generally  low  near  the  coast  and  gradually 
rising  towards  the  Plynlimmon  range,  there  being  no 
peak  of  oustanding  prominence.  This  part  of  mid- 
Wales  south  of  the  Dovey  represents  what  was  in 
pre-glacial.  Pleistocene,  or  Pliocene  times,  a  plain,  which 
has  been  tilted  downwards  towards  the  sea. 

In  the  Cretaceous  period,  when  chalk  beds  were 
being  deposited  in  a  sea  which  covered  the  greater  part 
of  England  and  Wales,  the  sea  floor  would  be  what  has 
since  become  the  high  plateau  of  central  Wales. 
Plynlimmon,  the  Brecknock  Beacons,  and  Cader  Idris 
standing   out   as   islands.      After   several   elevations  and 


BARMOUTH  TO  ABERYSTWYTH.  263 

depressions  the  old  chalk  sea  floor  has  been  lifted  up 
at  least  800  feet,  most  of  it  having  been  eroded  away, 
and  the  usual  agents  of  denudation  have  done  their  w^ork 
in  carving  the  country  into  ravines  and  valleys,  deep  or 
broad,  or  both.  So  far  back  have  some  of  these  rivers 
worn  into  the  old  table-land  that  they  have  broken  into 
valleys  down  which  streams  ran  south  to  the  Bristol 
Channel.  When  the  head  waters  were  captured,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  Upper  Rheidol  above  the  Devil's  Bridge, 
the  upper  part  of  these  streams  began  to  drain  west  into 
Cardigan  Bay. 

Near  Aberystwyth  the  sea  silts  or  bars  the  valleys 
which  open  out  to  the  sea,  and  wears  back  the  sides 
rather  than  the  ends  of  the  intervening  ridges. 

Cardigan  Bay  is  noted  for  its  pebble  beaches.  These 
are  obviously  due  to  the  washing  out  of  the  clay  in  the 
cliffs,  in  which  these  stones  would  be  embedded  in  the 
Glacial  age.  Quantities  of  shingle  are  brought  into 
Aberystwyth  Bay  with  a  north  wind,  whilst  a  south-west 
or  south  wind  brings  mostly  sand.  Near  Aberystwyth 
several  striking  coves  occur  in  a  coast-line  generally 
straight. 

The  course  of  the  Ystwyth  river  has  changed  more 
than  once  in  modern  times.  Less  than  100  years  ago  it 
entered  the  sea  further  south  by  the  Castle  hill.  It  was 
then  trained  about  a  quarter-mile  to  the  north  in  order 
to  promote  a  scour,  and  joined  to  the  Rheidol.  The 
Rheidol  rises  on  Plynlimmon.  It  has  played  a  leading 
part  in  chiselling  out  the  deep  and  wonderfully 
picturesque  gorge  which  is  spanned  by  the  much-visited 
Devil's  Bridge. 

Aberystwyth  can  look  down  with  the  dignity  of  a 
person  of  venerable  old  age  upon  all  its  many  West 
Coast  mushroom  rival  resorts.  Its  townsfolk  can  think 
of  the  first  castle  standing  near  Tan-y-bw^lch  in 
Norman  days,  eight  centuries  ago.  The  present  ruins 
date  from  1277.  For  at  least  400  years  the  town  was 
surrounded  by  walls  and  ditches.  These  walls  were 
taken  down  for  the  most  part  in  1760,  and  the  rest 
50  years  later.     A  century  ago  the  town  numbered  only 


264  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

350  houses,  yet  it  returned  a  Member  to  Parliament 
230  years  before  Manchester  or  Birmingham.  Only 
since  Queen  Elizabeth's  days  has  it  been  known  by  the 
name  of  Aberystwyth,  its  older  name  being  Llanbadarn 
Gaerog,  or  "  fortified  Llanbadarn,"  Llanbadarn  Fawr 
being  a  place  of  great  antiquity  higher  up  the  Rheidol. 

The  old  Parish  Church  of  Aberystwyth  stood  on 
what  is  now  the  beach,  and  the  University  College  stands 
on  land  which  was  once  a  churchyard.  The  church 
disappeared  between  200  and  300  years  ago.  Many  of 
these  facts  were  given  in  evidence  before  the  Coast 
Erosion  Commission  by  Prof.   J.   E.   Lloyd. 

The  wooden  breakwater  was  completely  washed 
away  in  1903,  vs^hen  the  existing  stone  breakwater  was 
erected,  mainly  for  protective  purposes.  South  of  the 
harbour  is  an  immense  storm-beach  analogous  to  that 
on  which  Borth  has  been  built. 

An  interesting  find  in  the  form  of  a  pre-historic  flint 
implement  factory  was  made  on  the  site  of  the  Aber- 
ystwyth Isolation  Hospital.  The  flints  unearthed  were 
placed  in  the  University  Museum. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 


The  Lost  Cantref  Gwaelod. 

There  is  a  strong  flavour  of  romance  about  the  past 
of  Cardigan  Bay.  The  trouble  to  the  explorer  of  this 
past  is  to  disentangle  romance  from  fact  in  the  accounts 
which  have  come  dov^^n  to  us  about  the  overwhelming 
of  the  Bay  at  some  date  as  to  which  agreement  has  not 
yet  been  reached. 

The  discrepancies  in  these  accounts  strongly  dispose 
the  critical  enquirer  to  reject  them  altogether  and, 
instead  of  relying  upon  them,  to  follow  up  such  clues  as 
direct  observation  of  the  changes  now^  in  progress  may 
warrant  ;  in  other  words,  to  proceed  deductively, 
backwards. 

The  writer  is  informed  by  Prof.  J.  E.  Lloyd  that  the 
tradition  cannot  be  traced  further  back  than  about 
1200  A.D.,  the  date  approximately  assigned  to  the  writing 
of  a  poem  in  the  "  Black  Book  of  Carmarthen,"  so  that 
the  accounts  down  to  that  time  must  have  been  orally 
transmitted. 

Briefly  told,  the  tradition  is  that  when  Gwyddno 
Garanhir  was  Prince  or  King  of  the  Cantref  Gwaelod  or 
"  lowland  hundred."  a  rich  and  important  part  of  what 
is  now  Cardigan  Bay,  this  flat  land  w^as  overwhelmed 
by  a  great  inundation  of  the  sea.  One  named  Seithenyn 
had  been  appointed  to  guard  the  floodgates  in  a  huge 
embankment,  the  gates  of  which  were  opened  at  the 
ebb  of  the  tides  to  discharge  the  contents  of  the  various 
rivers  which  flowed  into  the  Cantref.  Seithenyn, 
through  some  drunken  carousal,  neglected  one  night  to 
close  the  gates,  and  the  tide,  assisted  by  a  favouring 
gale,  rushed  in  and  overwhelmed  the  country.     "  Sixteen 


266  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

*'  fortified  cities,  the  largest  and  finest  that  were  in  Wales, 
"  excepting  only  Caerlleon  upon  Usk,  were  entirely 
"  destroyed,"  including  the  capital  town,  Caer  (or  Forth) 
Gwyddno.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  were  drowned,  a 
few  only  escaping  to  the  high  lands  about  Snowdon. 

This  legendary  account  has  been  popularised  by 
T.  L.  Peacock  in  his  story,  "The  Misfortunes  of  Elphin," 
and  also  in  a  long  poem  by  Mr.  T.  J.  L.  Prichard,  called 
"The  Land  beneath  the  Sea"  (1825).  Both  the  late 
Sir  John  Rhys  and  Prof.  J.  E.  Lloyd  have  expressed  the 
opinion  that  this,  like  other  legendary  lore,  may  have 
been  handed  down  from  a  very  remote  past,  and  may 
have  been  based  upon  some  actual  great  incursion  of 
the  sea.  The  Cardigan  Bay  area,  no  one  disputes,  was, 
at  some  date,  dry  land.  Prof.  Sir  John  Rhys  believed 
that  the  root  legend  is  the  Mabinogion  story  of  Branwen, 
in  which  it  is  stated  that  when  Bran  and  his  men  sailed 
from  Wales  "  towards  Ireland  it  was  not  far  across  the 
"  sea,  and  he  came  to  shoal  water.  It  was  caused  by 
"  two  rivers  ;  the  Lli  and  Archan  were  they  called. 
"  Then  he  proceeded  with  what  provisions  he  had  on 
"  his  own  back  and  approached  the  shore  of  Ireland. 
Since  then,  the  story  says,  "  the  sea  has  multiplied  its 
"  realms  between  Ireland  and  the  Isle  of  the  Mighty, 
as  Britain  is  called.  "  The  legend  has  a  probably 
"  connected  parallel  in  Brittany  in  the  story  of  Is.  A 
"  well-known  botanist  ranks  as  Iberian  a  considerable 
percentage  of  the  flora  of  Cornwall  and  Kerry.  Can 
"these  British  and  Breton  legends  have  come  down  to 
"  us  from  so  remote  a  past  as  the  time  when  land 
"  extended  unbroken  from  the  north  of  Spain  to  the 
"south  of  Ireland?"* 

Prof.  Lloyd  points  out  in  his  "History  of  Wales" 
that  the  embankment  is  a  recent  feature  of  the  story. 
But  in  addition  to  frequent  references  to  it  in  the 
"Triads,"  there  has  also  been  preserved  in  the  Myvyrian 
Archaiology  (1.  165)  a  poem  which  is  probably  as  old  as 
the  sixth  century,  from  which  the  following  lines,  which 
include  a  reference  to  "the  ramparts,"   are  culled:  — 


*   From  a  Cymrodorian   Society  paper,    1892-3   Vol. 


THE  LOST  CANTREF  GWAELOD.  267 

"  Stand  forth  Seithenin  and  behold  the  dwelling 

"  of     heroes, — the    plains    of    Gwyddno     the     ocean 

**  covers  ! 

"  Accursed     be     the     watcher,     who     after     his 

"  drunken  revelry,  loosed  the  fountain  of  the  desolat- 

"  ing  sea. 

"  A  cry  from  the  sea  arises  above  the  ramparts  ; 

'*  even  to  heaven  does  it  ascend.'* 

An  important  light  is  thrown  on  the  problem  by  the 
demonstrated  subsidence  of  the  western  coasts  in 
historic  time.  It  is  a  reasonable  inference  that  what  is 
probably  a  primitive  tradition  took  a  fresh  lease  of  life 
after  being  recast  subsequently  to  the  sixth  century 
inundation.  It  is  not  known  upon  what  authority 
Meyrick,  in  his  "  History  of  Cardiganshire  *'  (1808)  stated 
that  the  catastrophe  occurred  in  the  year  520  ;  nor 
upon  what  authority  Carlisle,  in  his  "Topographical 
Dictionary"  (1811),  says  that  it  happened  "towards  the 
"close  of  the  sixth  century";  though  he  also  says  that 
Gwyddno  Garanhir  was  the  Prince  of  the  Cantref  about 
the  year  500.  The  event  is  referred  to  in  the  Welsh 
Triads  of  Myvyrian  Archaeology  as  "  one  of  the  three 
"  chief  disasters  of  Britain." 

"It  is  said  the  inundation  happened  about  A.D.  550 
"or  '60."     {Fenton's  "Tours  in  Wales.") 

Those  historians  or  antiquarians  who  venture  to 
assign  the  limits  of  the  inundated  area  give  the  enquirer 
no  reason  to  regard  the  statements  as  anything  other 
than  conjectural.  Lewis,  in  his  "  Topographical 
Dictionary  of  Wales,"  says  that  the  Cantref  Gwaelod 
"  is  said  to  have  occupied  the  northern  part  of  the 
"  present  bay  of  Cardigan."  The  southern  boundary 
he  indicates  as  having  been  those  "  vestiges  of  the 
"southern  embankment  called  Sarn  Gynfelyn."  Others 
give  Sarn  Badrig  as  the  northern  boundary.  Carlisle 
(Topog.  Dicty.)  says  :   "  Cantref  of  Gwraelod  is  suoposed 

*  to  have  occupied  that  portion  of  St.  George's  Channel 
'  which   lies  between    the    mainland    and    a   line    draw^n 

*  from    Bardsey    Island    to    Ramsey,    in    the    county    of 

*  Pembroke  ;    and    the    proprietor    is   called    in    ancient 

*  authors  lord    of   Cantref   y   Gwaelod    in   Dyfed    (Pem- 


268  THE    EVOLUTION  OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

"  brokeshire).*'  It  may  here  be  mentioned  that  some 
support  is  given  to  the  belief  that  Bardsey  Island,  off 
the  Lleyn  peninsula  end,  was  once  connected  with 
Pembrokeshire,  in  the  fact  that,  as  stated  by  T.  J.  L. 
Prichard  in  the  preface  to  his  long  poem,  "  Bardsey 
Island  is  still  considered  a  part  of  Pembrokeshire  and 
"pays  its  taxes,  &c.,  as  such."  To-day  (1919)  the 
islanders  vote  as  in  the  parish  of  Aberdaron. 

It  is  significant  that  Ptolemy's  map  of  the  2nd  century, 
in  the  copy  reproduced  as  the  frontispiece  plate  to 
Rhys's  **  Celtic  Britain,"  shows  the  Cardigan  Bay  coast 
as  extending  much  further  west  than  it  does  to-day,  as 
well  as  the  North  Cornwall  coast,  the  reputed  site  of 
the  lost  land  of  King  Arthur. 

The  three  remarkable  submarine  sarns,  or  causeways, 
which  are  found  running  out  from  three  points  of  the 
Cardigan  Bay  coast  have  provided  a  subject  of  contro- 
versy as  to  whether  they  are  of  natural  or  artificial 
origin.  These  three  shingle  ridges  or  lines  of  water-worn 
stones  are  Sarn  Badrig,  Sarn-y-Bych,  and  Sarn  Cynfelin, 
The  word  "Sarn"  in  Wales  is  used  to  mean  a  raised 
road  or  an  embankment  or  defence  against  the  sea. 
Sarn  Badrig  (the  boat  destroyer)  is  the  longest  and  most 
extraordinary  of  these  straight  shingle  banks.  It  starts 
at  the  landward  end  about  a  mile  below  low-water  mark, 
at  a  point  nearly  2  miles  south  of  Mochras  Isle,  about 
midway  between  Harlech  and  Barmouth  ;  and  runs  out 
in  a  south-westerly  direction  for  about  13  miles.  It  is  as 
straight  as  an  artificial  breakwater,  except  for  one  very 
slight  bend,   perhaps  of  five  degrees. 

The  writer  made  a  special  hundred-mile  journey  in 
September.  1910.  in  order  to  examine  the  sarn  on  the 
occasion  of  the  lowest  tide  of  the  year.  The  photo 
reproduction  on  the  opposite  page  gives  no  idea  of  its 
length. 

Our  yacht,  under  the  capable  guidance  of  Mr.  John 
Morris,  the  coxswain  of  the  Barmouth  lifeboat,  made  a 
course  west  by  north  for  eight  miles  from  Barmouth 
harbour.  We  landed  an  hour  and  a-half  before  the 
tide  was  at  its  lowest,  about  the  middle  of  the  length, 
at    a    part    called    '*  Bird    Rock."      The    name    seemed 


THE   LOST  CANTREF  GWAELOD.  269 

appropriate  in  view  of  the  swarm  of  herring  gulls — 
anywhere  between  one  and  two  thousand — which  were 
in  sight,  ravenously  dining  upon  the  leavings  of  the  tide. 
A  five-rayed  starfish,  deep  cream  in  colour,  as  well  as 
some  uncommon  varieties  of  seaweed,  abounded  every- 
where. In  width  the  bank  varied  from  20  to  about 
80  yards.  The  sarn  is  a  mass  of  loose  rounded  stones 
and  boulders  from  an  inch  to  a  foot  in  diameter.  On 
the  side  of  our  approach,  the  south  side,  the  bank  was 
steep  enough  for  us  to  be  able  to  step  from  the  boat  on 
to  the  bank.  On  the  north  side  it  shoaled  more 
gradually,  but  into  much  deeper  water  than  there  is  on 
the  side  of  our  approach.  The  total  length  is  about 
13  miles,  the  seaward  end  being  about  14  miles  west  of 
Barmouth.  Some  ten  miles  from  the  landward  end 
there  are  very  large  stones,  as  much  as  20  feet  long. 

The  following  description  of  the  seaward  end  is  taken 

from    the     Admiralty     "  Sailing     Directions  "  : — "  Tho' 

"the  ridge  is  very  narrow,  its  outer  end  is  an  extensive 

"patch  of  rocks  and  stones,   one   of  which  dries    H  ft. 

"  at   L.W.    springs.     Two   prongs,    each  about  one   mile 

"  in   length,  with  from   6  to   9   ft.    and   steep-to,    project 

"  from   the    drying   rock.     About   4    cables    eastward    of 

"that  rock  is  another   just   awash    at   low  water;    from 

"thence   for    li   miles   the   depths  are  from    1    to   3   feet 

"on   the   top    of   the    ridge.      This   is    succeeded    by    a 

"  swashway   IJ  miles  in  width,   with  from  7  to  9  ft.,  but 

"  with  a  3  ft.   patch  near  the  centre.     The  ridge  from 

"thence    reappears,    with    from    1    to   3   ft.,    to    a    point 

6  miles  from  the  outer  end.     Here  it  becomes  a  bank, 

dry  2   ft.    at   L.W.    to    within    5    cables  of  its    eastern 

*  extreme,  where  it  drops  suddenly  to  3  and  4  fathoms 

in    Badrig    east    pass.       The     shoal    is    comoaratively 

"  9teep-to  on  its  southern  side,  but  on  the  N.W.  side  of 

"  its  inner  half  the  bottom  is  extremely  irregular." 

Off  the  south  end  of  Mochras  Isle,  running  due  west, 
there  is  a  short  sarn,  2  miles  in  length  and  visible  only 
at  very  low  water,  called  Sarn  Cirvan.  South-east  from 
it  are  16  vertical  stones  about  8  feet  in  length,  standing 
at  a  low  tide  about  6  ft.  out  of  the  sea.  Cerig  Cirvan 
by  name. 


270  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A    COAST-LINE. 

Sarn-y-bwch  (the  causevvay  of  the  hart  or  buck)  is  a 
similar  shingle  bank  running  out  for  4  to  5  miles  from 
a  point  morth  of  the  Dysinni  river,  12  miles  south  of 
Sarn  Badrig,  the  direction  being  south-west  by  west. 
For  only  a  mile  or  so  from  the  shore,  and  then  only  in 
patches,  is  any  part  of  it  visible  at  ebb-tide.  Further 
out  it  gradually  deepens.  It  is  steep-sided  on  both 
sides.  Seen  from  above,  as  from  the  high  ground 
above  Llwyngwril,  the  visible  portion  has  the  appear- 
ance of  a  wall  or  breakwater. 

Sarn  Cynfelin,  or  Sarn  Wallog  as  it  is  called  at  the 
landward  end,  runs  out  from  a  point  about  2i  miles  to 
the  north  of  Aberystwyth.  The  writer  examined  it  for 
the  300  yards  from  shore  which  was  uncovered  at  the 
time.  At  spring  tides  it  dries  700  yards  out.  It  appears 
to  be  from  20  to  30  yards  in  width.  The  stones  are 
from  I  to  12  inches  in  diameter.  It  was  perfectly  straight 
so  far  as  visible.  About  3  miles  from  the  land  there  is 
a  break  of  about  }  mile.  Big  boulders  are  common  for 
a  further  4  miles,  when  what  are  called  the  "  Cynfelin 
patches"  are  reached.  The  "patches"  cover  an 
irregular-shaped  area  of  about  2  by  3  miles.  "  At  the 
"  eastern  end  of  the  outer  patch,"  an  Admiralty 
observer  reported  in  1901,  "are  three  large  stones  which 
formerly  uncovered  at  L.W.  springs,  but  now  are 
always  covered.  One  of  these.  15  to  20  ft.  across,  had 
the    appearance    of    being    a    mass    of    ruin."  The 

northern  and  western  extremes  of  the  bank  fall  quickly 
into  5  fathoms." 
Another  report  says  that  "  the  large  stones  formerly 
"  visible  above  H.W.   are  now  two  feet  below  it."     It 
would  appear  that  the  floor  is  sinking. 

It  has  been  contended  by  Prof.  Ramsay,  Prof.  J.  R. 
Ainsworth-Davis,  M.A.,  and  the  Rev.  Z.  Mather,  of 
Barmouth,  that  these  sarns  are  of  wholly  natural  origin, 
and  that  the  submergence  took  place  in  pre-historic 
times.  Sarn  Badrig  is  believed  by  them  to  be  a  continua- 
tion of  the  strike  of  a  rock  ridge,  or,  in  other  words,  a 
prolongation  at  a  lower  level  of  the  spur  which  comes 
down  to  the  coast  between  Harlech  and  Llanbedr. 
Sarn-y-Bych  they  believe  to  be  a  similar  extension  of  the 


THE  LOST  CANTREF  GWAELOD.  271 

Cader  Idris  range.  Or  these  sarns  may  be  straight 
outcrops  of  rock  which  rose  above  the  land  plain  which 
all  agree  once  did  exist  where  we  now  have  the  Bay. 
When  rock-strata  are  of  uniform  hardness  and  the 
inclined  strata  do  not  lie  at  very  high  angles,  it  is  possible 
for  lengths  of  straight  outcrops  to  occur. 

These  opinions  apply  to  the  solid  foundations  of  the 
sarns.  The  loose  stones,  upon  any  theory,  there  is 
agreement,  are  the  natural  accumulations  of  centuries, 
and  are,  in  part,  the  product  of  the  boulder-clay  deposits 
which  were  laid  down  during  the  Ice-age  upon  the  low 
land  w^hich  forms  the  present  Bay.  Considerable 
beaches  of  pebbles  were  sorted  out  from  the  ice-carried 
burden.  These  beaches,  together  with  quantities  of 
shingle  carried  down  in  times  of  flood  by  the  rivers 
entering  the  Bay  from  the  higher  lands,  and  the  w^asting 
of  gravel  cliffs  as  the  sea  pushed  inland,  would  form 
ample  sources  for  the  material  which  covers  these  sarns. 
The  same  laws  which  govern  the  piling  up  of  sand  into 
hills  govern  the  accumulation  by  tidal  currents  of  loose 
stones.  Any  obstruction  to  their  free  movement  suffices 
to  cause  a  bank  to  form.  The  power  of  tidal  and  river 
currents  to  effect  such  transportation  is  not  open  to 
question.  The  weight  of  a  stone  is,  of  course,  consider- 
ably reduced  in  water. 

Chesil  Bank,  which  runs  lor  18  miles  parallel  with 
the  Dorsetshire  coast,  is  as  remarkable  for  its  length  as 
Sarn  Badrig.  It  has  been  explained  as  having 
been  formed  from  the  sweepings  of  all  the  gravels 
and  rocks  that  once  occupied  this  part  when  it  was  part 
of  the  mainland.      It  is  not  now  fed  from  anyAvhere. 

The  arguments  for  an  artificial  origin  shall  next  be 
considered. 

The  author  of  a  valuable  modern  handbook  on  sea 
embankments,  writes  about  Sarn  Badrig  in  a  letter  to  the 
writer  of  these  chapters  : — **  Everything  seems  to  point 
to  its  entirely  artificial  formation,  and  its  position  and 
direction  must  undoubtedly  have  brought  about  an 
immense  deposition  of  littoral  drift  travelling  from  the 
south-west,  especially  so  after  its  submersion.  I  am 
also  much  inclined  to   consider  the  possibility  of  the 


272  THE    EVOLUTION    OF    A   COAST-LINE. 

existence  of  a  former  raised  beach  covering  Cardigan 
Bay,  and  this,  if  indeed  a  fact,  would  have  formed  a 
huge  source  from  which  the  accumulations  would  be 
derived.  The  ancients  frequently  turned  their  ener- 
gies and  skill  into  works  of  reclamation  and  sea 
defence." 

The  theory  of  the  subsidence  of  the  w^est  coast  south 
of  Morecambe  Bay  to  the  extent  of  nearly  three  feet  per 
century  during  the  last  fifteen  hundred  years,  and 
probably  for  a  much  longer  period,  throws  a  new  light 
upon  this  problem,  both  as  regards  the  date  of  the 
inundation  and  the  origin  of  the  sarns.  It  can  hardly  be 
questioned  that  this  subsidence  is  still  in  progress.  At 
least  a  score  of  experienced  observers  on  this  coast  have 
told  the  writer  that  they  are  convinced  that  the  coast  is 
sinking.  Such  a  vertical  movement  would  mean  a 
depression  amounting  to  about  42  feet,  or  7  fathoms,  in 
the  14  centuries.  By  examining  an  Admiralty  chart 
upon  which  the  soundings  are  indicated  at  I  or  2  mile 
intervals,  and  draw^ing  a  line  betv^een  the  7  and  8  fathom 
depths,  we  obtain  some  idea  as  to  where  the  coast  line 
ran  in  the  sijCth  century.  Something  should  be  allowed 
for  the  deposits  brought  down  by  rivers,  but  these  are 
mainly  thrown  back  by  tidal  action  on  to  the  adjoining 
coasts.  The  sea  depths  are  therefore  affected  to  only 
a  small  extent  for  a  very  few  miles  from  each  river 
mouth. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  area  which  w^ould  be 
dry  land  if  the  bay  was  uplifted  42  feet,  corresponds 
fairly  well  with  that  assigned  by  tradition  to  the  lost 
Cantref  Gwaelod.  It  would  embrace  all  the  bay  between 
Sarns  Badrig  and  Cynfelin,  and  at  the  landward  ends  a 
small  area  beyond.  In  width  from  the  coast  of  to-day 
seawards  it  would  extend  for  from  5  to  8  miles. 

Assuming  the  fall  to  have  proceeded  at  the  same  rate 
before  the  sixth  century,  the  following  table  and  accom- 
panying sketch  map  show  the  position  of  the  coast-line 
as  determined  by  the  depths  in  an  Admiralty  chart  of 
to-day  :  — 


THE  LOST  CANTREI^  GWAELOD.  273 

The  coast-line  would  approximately  follow  the 

Years  ago 
7  fathom  line  (42ft.)  in  the  6th  century  A.D.  or  1400 

10  ,.  (60ft.)       ,,       1st         ,,  B.C.  or  2000 

Investigations  on  the  east  coast  have  established  the 
fact  that  material  is  moved  from  deep  water  during 
on-shore  gales  from  depths  of  ten  fathoms  and  over. 
So  that,  if  allowance  is  made  for  this  tendency,  the 
periods  in  the  foregoing  table  should  be  shortened 
accordingly.  Nearly  all  strong  gales  blow  shorewards 
in  Cardigan  Bay. 

With  a  steady  subsidence  in  progress  there  would  be 
an  increasing  liability  for  the  coastal  low  lands  to  be 
flooded  whenever  wind  and  tide  conditions  were  favour- 
able. A  fertile  and  comparatively  flat  district  would 
support  a  considerable  population  and  the  land  would  be 
valuable  enough  to  repay  the  cost  of  protecting  it  by 
embankments  such  as  have  been  made  for  the  same 
purpose  in  many  other  countries  liable  to  sea-inundation. 
Such  embankments  have  been  made  20  or  more  feet  in 
height  for  long  distances  along  the  North  German  coast. 
De  Luc  has  traced  the  history  of  the  making  of  these 
embankments  to  the  early  time  when  the  tribes  called 
"Sea  Warriors"  planted  themselves  on  the  marshy 
isles.  From  time  to  time  catastrophic  inundations 
occurred,  the  embankments  being  again  and  again 
extended  or  strengthened. 

A  great  deal  of  embanking  was  done  by  the  Romans 
on  the  South  Holland  coast.  Yet  three  banks  on  inner 
lines  had  been  made  before  the  Roman  banks,  and  two 
more,  each  two  miles  nearer  to  the  sea,  have  been  made 
since  their  time.  If  the  dykes  of  Holland  were  opened 
the  land  would  be  submerged  without  any  sudden  drop 
of  the  coast-line.  The  large  enclosures  on  the  w^estern 
bank  of  the  Severn  estuary  at  the  Caldicott  and  Wentloog 
Levels,  amounting  to  20,000  acres,  were  made  as  the 
result  of  the  embankment  constructed  by  the  Romans  by 
the  2nd  legion  that  lay  at  Caerleon  (Ernest  Rhys' 
"  South  Wales  Coast  ").  The  Romans  constructed  large 
embankments  also  on  the  Kent  and  Lincolnshire  coasts, 
including  a  sea-wall  from  Boston  to  the  Wash. 


274  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  similar  protecition 
would  be  made  on  the  subsiding  Cardigan  Bay  coast.  It 
is  equally  reasonable  to  believe  that  advantage  w^ould  be 
taken  of  any  lines  of  natural  elevation  upon  w^hich  to 
erect  such  embankments.  The  irregular  breadth  of 
Sarn  Badrig  and  the  extensive  area  of  the  Cynfelin 
patches  do  not  support  the  belief  that  the  whole  of  these 
sarns  are  of  human  handiwork.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
extraordinary  straightness  and  narrowness  of  all  the  three 
sarns  is  against  the  wholly  matural  origin  theory. 

Sarn  Badrig  not  improbably  did  enclose  the  north  side 
of  the  lost  land,  and  Sarn  Cynfelin  the  south  side  ;  a 
connecting  bank  between  their  two  existing  ends  might 
have  formed  part  of  the  complete  sea  barrier.  If  this 
had  not  the  advantage  of  a  solid  rock  foundation,  it  would 
be  the  first  part  to  yield  to  the  sea.  Gates  might  have 
been  made  to  let  out,  at  ebb  tide,  the  accumulated  river 
water  which  may  have  been  conveyed  across  the  low 
land,  just  as  river  water  is  conveyed  in  Holland  at  the 
present  time.  Sarn-y-bych  may  have  served  a  similar 
protective  purpose  at  a  later  period  of  the  sea's  advance. 

If  a  breach  was  once  made  in  such  an  embankment 
the  two  points  would  be  rapidly  worn  back  by  the  sea 
until  a  protective  bank  of  shingle  had  had  time  to  form. 
This  may  account  for  the  wide  gap  of  about  18  miles 
between  the  ends  of  Sarns  Badrig  and  Cynfelin.  If  we 
assume  that  such  embankments  were  once  constructed 
on  the  natural  rocky  ridges  of  Cardigan  Bay  and  accept 
the  theory  of  subsidence  as  a  proved  one,  the  appear- 
ance of  these  banks,  now  thickly  covered  and  extended 
on  either  side  by  many  centuries  of  stone  accumulations, 
is  precisely  what  we  should  expect  to  find. 

One  of  the  traditional  accounts  says  that  when  the 
ocean  threatened  the  land,  Gwyddno  Garanhir,  Prince  of 
the  Lowland  Hundred,  ordered  a  great  dam  to  be  built. 

Mr.  R.  G.  Humphreys,  of  Portmadoc,  has  informed 
the  writer  that  some  years  ago  he  saw  a  layer  of  6  or  8 
large  oblong  stones,  as  if  part  of  a  wall,  on  the  south 
side  of  Sarn  Badrig,  near  the  end  before  it  forks.  They 
must,  in  his  opinion,  have  been  placed  in  this  position 
by  human  hands.     In  size  they  were  approximately  5  ft. 


THE  LOST  CANTREF  GWAELOD.  275 

long  by  2  ft.  deep.  Other  accounts  of  these  large, 
squared  stones  support  this  view. 

Mr.  David  Jones,  of  Barmouth,  told  the  writer  that 
he  had  found,  when  dredging  in  6  fathoms  of  water, 
stones  with  mortar  adhering  to  them,  opposite  Dyffryn, 
six  or  seven  miles  from  land. 

Not  many  years  ago  a  paved  road  was  found  below 
Gorsdolgan,  Dyffryn,  going  in  the  direction  of  Sam 
Badrig  and  from  the  direction  of  Drws  Ardudwy. 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations  we  can  hardly 
dismiss  as  unsupported  legendary  lore  the  tradition  that 
the  chief  of  the  sixteen  lowland  towns,  Caer  Gwyddno, 
did  once  stand  near  the  end  of  Sarn  Cynfelin.  It  is  said 
to  have  been  one  of  the  three  "  privileged  "  harbours 
of  the  isle  of  Britain,  the  other  two  being  Gwygyr 
(Beaumaris)  and  Ysgewyn  (Newport,    Mon.). 

We  can  even  conceive  as  being  well-founded  the 
tradition  that  Bardsey  Island  and  Pembrokeshire  were 
once  connected,  but  this  would  be  far  back  in  the  Neo- 
lithic polished  stone  period.  It  is  significant  that  Bardsey 
Island  traditionally  belongs  to  Pembrokeshire. 

It  is  even  credible  that  fact  underlies  the  tradition  that 
a  great  river  once,  in  times  more  distant  than  the 
embanking  period,  flowed  along  river  bottoms  which 
can  still  be  traced  on  an  Admiralty  chart,  from  near 
Portmadoc  south-west  and  west  along  the  south  Car- 
narvon coast,  and  out  to  sea  between  Bardsey  Island 
and  the  mainland,  near  where  is  said  to  have  stood  one 
of  Britain's  greatest  seaports,  by  name  Mansua.  This 
river,  tradition  says,  received  as  tributaries  from  the 
south,  the  Ystwyth  and  the  Dovey,  which  were  joined 
by  the  Dysinni  and  the  Mawddach,  flowing  north  through 
the  mile  gap  at  the  landward  end  of  Sarn  Badrig  before 
joining  the  main  river,  which  flowed  down  the  depression 
now  known  as  "St.  Cilan's  Gutter."  Richard  Roberts, 
of  Cilan,  Abersoch,  informed  the  writer  of  two  very 
large  stone  erections,  which  were  believed  by  seafaring 
men  of  the  coast  to  be  the  buttresses  of  a  bridge  which 
once  spanned  an  ancient  river.  The  position  was  under 
the  sea  between  St.  Tudwal's  Isles  and  Sarn  Badrig, 
several  miles  from  the  nearest  point  of  land. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


Traditions.  Dates,  and  Causes. 

At  leeist  one  writer  on  the  geology  of  the  west  coast 
has  declined  to  take  account  in  any  w;ay  whatever  of 
tradition  in  the  formation  of  his  theories.  The  present 
writer,  on  the  contrary,  is  of  the  opinion  that,  like  a 
place  name,  tradition  is  often  valuable  as  a  pointer  or 
clue,  but  that  it  should  not  be  relied  upon  further  than 
probabilities  based   upon   direct  observation  warrant. 

It  seems  especially  unreasonable  to  ignore  tradition 
when  the  same  feature,  such  as  a  date,  repeatedly 
appears  in  widely  separated  local  traditions.  It  is 
significant,  for  example,  that  the  sixth  century  is  the 
date  assigned  by  every  chronicler  with  one  exception 
(or  two  at  most),  as  that  when  the  overwhelming  of  the 
North  Wales  coast,  the  Menai  Strait,  Caer  Ari^nrhod, 
and  the  Cantref  Gwaelod  of  Cardigan  Bay  took  place. 
These  traditions  for  the  most  part  stand  independently 
of  each  other.     And  there  are  others. 

All  laccounts  of  the  lost  land  of  Lyonesse,  which  lay 
off  the  west  coast  of  Cornwall,  say  that  the  loss 
occurred  in  the  6th  century.  It  is  generally  zissociated 
w:ith  an  outstanding  hero  of  early  British  legend  and 
history,  King  Arthur,  and  is  often  referred  to  as  "  the 
lost  land  of  King  Arthur."  It  is  highly  probable  that 
this  much-sung  hero  did  actually  rule  over  Cornwall  and 
part  of  Devon  and  Somerset.  He  is  believed  to  have 
been  born  in  501  A.D.,  a  date  which  agrees  with  the 
6th  century  catastrophe  date.  Mr.  J.  Cuming  Walters, 
in  his  book  ' '  The  Lost  Land  of  King  Arthur  "  (1 909  : 
Chapman  &  Hall),  has  entirely  rescued  King  Arthur  from 
the  land  of  myth.     Lyonesse  was  a  region,  according  to 


TRADITIONS.   DATES   AND  CAUSES.  277 

tradition,  "  of  extreme  fertility,  uniting  the  Scilly  Isles 
"  with  Cornwall."  A  thousand  years  B.C.  it  is  said  to 
have  been  a  rich  and  flourishing  land,  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  Phoenician  traders.  The  rocks  called 
"  Seven  Stones  "  rnark  the  site  of  the  largest  city. 
According  to  another  account,  that  of  the  Saxon 
Chronicle,  the  date  of  its  overwhelming  was  1099.  But 
it  probably  did  not  disappear  at  a  single  inundation. 
Another,  a  modern  Cornish  authority,  names  the  end  of 
the  14th  century  as  the  period  when  190  square  miles 
of  the  county  of  Cornwall  were  carried  away.  In 
Edward  the  First's  time  the  Duchy  of  Cornwall  com- 
prised 1,500,000  acres.  In  1760  a  Parliamentary  report 
states  that  it  held  only  960,000  acres.  Dr.  Guest,  in  his 
"  Origiones  Celticae,"  states  in  reference  to  Cornwall, 
under  the  date  1014,  that  the  sea-flood  "  came  widely 
"  over  the  land  and  drowned  many  towns  and  a  countless 
"  number  of  people." 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  in  the  only  map 
of  pre-sixth  century  date  that  we  possess,  that  of  the 
Roman  geographer  Ptolemy,  Cornwall  is  shown  as 
extending  much  further  west  than  to-day. 

It  was  in  the  sixth  century  also  that,  according  to 
tradition,  a  great  tidal  wave  overwhelmed  Winchester 
and  Rye,  in  Sussex.  The  course  of  the  Rother  river, 
near  Rye,  was  entirely  changed.  At  Glastonbury  Tor, 
a  hill  in  Somersetshire,  there  exist  the  remains  of  an 
ancient  church,  presumably  Roman,  which  was  shaken 
down,   according  to  local  tradition,  in  the  sixth  century. 

Mortimer  states,  in  his  "History  of  the  Wirral " 
(p.  141),  that  "traditions  have  for  ages  existed  that  the 
"two  counties,  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  were  at  one 
"  period  connected  until  rent  asunder  by  some  violent 
"  convulsion  which  is  believed  to  have  occurred  in  the 
"  tremendous  earthquake  and  inundation  which  visited 
"  the  west  of  Britain  in  the  5th  century."  He  also  refers 
to  a  tradition  that  a  port  on  the  Ribble  ' '  at  the  neb  ol 
"the  Naze  was  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,"  and  that 
there  were  tremendous  inundations  in  Cheshire  and 
Lancashire  about  the  end  of  the  Roman  occupation. 


278  THE  EVOLUTION  OF   A  COAST-LINE. 

If  we  cross  the  English  Channel  we  encounter  another 
tradition  assigned  to  the  same  century.  It  concerns  the 
overwhelming  by  the  sea  of  a  former  extension  of  the 
coast  of  Brittany,  the  western  exti-emity  of  France.  The 
city  of  Is  stretched  from  Douarnenez  to  Port  Blanc. 
The  Seven  Isles  are  all  that  are  left  of  it. 

So  many  traditions  implying  sudden  changes  of  level 
in  north-western  Europe,  all  referred  to  as  occurring  in 
the  fifth  or  sixth  centuries,  cannot  be  lightly  dismissed 
as  a  pure  coincidence.  An  isolated  tradition  might  be 
disregarded.  But  a  number  of  them  point  to  the 
probability  that  traditions  so  widely  extended  had  facts 
behind  them,  and  the  cause  was  some  deep-seated 
convulsion  affecting  an  area  usually  immune  from 
serious  disturbance.  The  following  facts  constitute  a 
case,  at  all  events,  for  such  an  explanation. 

According  to  Roper's  "  List  of  Most  Remarkable 
"  Earthquakes  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  despite 
the  poverty  of  the  records  of  the  6th  to  8th  centuries, 
no  fewer  than  seven  are  recorded  as  having  occurred 
in  the  6th  century.  One  of  September  6th,  543  A.D., 
was  "  General  and  of  great  extent."  Robert  Mallett, 
in  his  list  (quoted  in  the  British  Association  Lisit  of 
Earthquakes,  1911  Report),  says  of  the  same  convulsion 
that  it  was  felt  "  throughout  the  then  known  world." 
No  other  earthquake  in  the  list  is  so  forcibly  described. 
The  date  may  well  have  been  the  year  when  all,  or 
most  of,  these  sixth-century  inundations  happened. 

The  British  Isles,  which  stand  in  a  direct  line  between 
the  volcanic  areas  of  Sicily,  Italy,  and  Iceland,  have 
experienced  both  volcanic  phenomena  and  destructive 
earthquakes  within  historic  times  on  quite  a  considerable 
scale.  In  1788,  on  the  Hill  of  Knock,  co.  Antrim,  a 
volcanic  eruption  occurred,  and  a  stream  of  lava, 
60  yards  wide,  destroyed  a  whole  village  and  the  lives 
of  nearly  all  its  people.  In  448  A.D.  it  is  on  record  that 
57  of  Ireland's  famous  Round  Towers  were  destroyed 
by  an  earthquake.  In  1490  a  volcanic  eruption,  causing 
(the  death  of  100  persons,  occurred  in  Sligo.  Besides  the 
North  of  Ireland,  the  Inner  Hebrides  of  Scotland,  the 
isles  of  Mull,  Skye,  and  Rum,  and  the  Cader  Idris  and 


TRADITIONS.  DATES,  AND  CAUSES.  279 

Snowdon  regions  have  all  been  the  scenes  of  great 
volcanic  activity  in  the  distant  past.  Milne  says  that 
out  of  110  recorded  earthquake  shocks  in  England  and 
Wales,   31    originated  in  Wales. 

Through  its  "  thick  covering  of  loose  and  inelastic 
"materials  damping  shocks  like  a  feather  bed"  (Bonney), 
England  rarely  suffers  seriously.  But  the  front  of  Lincoln 
Cathedral  was  cracked  by  an  earthquake  in  1  185.  In 
an  earthquake  at  Scarborough,  December  29,  1737,  the 
sands  on  the  shore  rose  so  that  people  came  out  to 
watch  them,  and  the  head  of  the  Spa  water  well  was 
forced  in  the  air  about  10  yards  high.  In  1750  six  shocks 
were  experienced  in  England. 

In  Britain,  as  elsewhere,  earthquakes  are  associated 
almost  invariably  w^ith  geological  faults  or  lines  of 
vertical  displacement.  Five  earthquakes  occurred  in 
Pembrokeshire  in    1892,   and  one  at  Beddgelert  in    1904. 

Those  who  altogether  distrust  tradition  hold  that 
these  vertical  earth  movements  take  place  gradually, 
especially  outside  volcanic  areas,  and  doubtless  this 
opinion  is  well  grounded.  It  is  at  the  same  time  not 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  there  have  been  at  long 
intervals  larger  jerks  in  these  earth  movements  in  the 
British  area,  and  wfhich  have  possibly  resulted  in  an 
accelerated  vertical  movement.  This  may  have  been 
the  case  in  the  sixth  century,  along  the  Wiest  Coast  from 
North  Wales  to  France 

Whether  subsidences  and  elevations,  extending  over 
perhaps  thousands  of  years,  proceed  continuously  with 
almost  unmeasurable  slow^ness,  or  by  minute  jerks,  as 
is  more  generally  believed,  there  are  no  data  upon  which 
to  base  a  judgment  ;  but  if  by  jerks,  these  are  tolerably 
certain  to  be  associated  with  those  frequent  and  minute 
earth  pulsations  which  are  discernible  only  with  the  aid 
of  modern  seismological  instruments.  Scotland  holds 
the  record  in  these  Islands  for  the  number  of  such 
recorded  shocks.  Between  1889  and  1916  no  fewer  than 
279  were  recorded  ;  England  having  5  I ,  and  Wales  27. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


Vertical  Movements  of  the  Earth. 

The  evidences  of,  and  the  inferences  to  be  made 
from,  the  rise  and  fall  of  land  on  the  west  coast,  may 
now  be  collectively  considered. 

According  to  Mr.  Mellard  Reade  in  his  work  on 
"  The  Evolution  of  Earth  Structure  '*  (1903),  chemical 
and  temperature  changes  in  deep-seated  layers  of  the 
earth's  crust  constitute  the  main  cause.  The  contraction 
of  the  globe — this  causing  wrinkling,  as  happens  in  the 
case  of  a  cooling  baked  apple— he  thinks,  plays  a  very 
minor  part.  In  this  oft-used  illustration  the  ridges 
correspond  with  mountain  ranges,  and  the  lower  parts 
w^ith  ocean  bottoms. 

Professor  Gregory  and  Mr.  W.  B.  Wright  (Quater- 
nary Ice-age,  1914)  are  of  the  opinion  that  there  is  an 
automatic  adjustment  in  operation  which  ensures  the 
raising  of  the  land  which  is  being  denuded  as 
fast  as  it  is  being  worn  away.  Scandinavia  has  been 
exposed  to  denuding  agencies  for  so  long  that  it  would 
have  been  all  planed  down  to  sea-level  if  it  had  not  been 
uplifted  at  about  the  same  speed,  and  at  times  even 
faster.  Coal  seams,  representing  land  areas  upon  which 
vegetation  grew  and  decayed,  alternate  in  South-west 
Scotland  through  a  thickness  of  over  4000  feet,  with 
beds  of  limestone  and  shales,  &c.,  which  would  be  laid 
down  in  estuarial  or  shallow  sea  deposits.  A  regular 
see-saw  motion  of  land  and  sea  areas  apparently 
continued  over  long  periods.  Sir  Archibald  Geikie  has 
stated  that  "  no  features  occur  more  continually  than 
'  the  alternations  of  different  sediments." 

There   is  apparently  some   direct   connection,    as  the 


VERTICAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARTH.  281 

irates  of  subsidence  and  of  deposition  are  so  often  the 
same.  Professor  Gregory  thinks  that  "  the  extra  weight 
"  of  the  fresh  sediment  itself  causes  the  sinking  of  the 
**  area  over  which  it  is  spread,  and  the  Hghtening  of  the 
"  adjacent  land  by  the  removal  of  a  layer  of  sediment 
**  enables  it  to  rise.  The  newly-raised  land  is  then 
"  attacked  by  denudation,  a  fresh  layer  of  material  is 
transferred  from  the  land  to  the  sea  floor,  which 
*'  therefore  sinks  again  ;  and  the  process  is  continued 
"  indefinitely." 

A  weakness  in  this  "  see-saw  *'  theory  is  that 
subsidences  do  not  always  occur  in  lines  parallel  with  a 
coast  line.  One  well-marked  node  of  stationariness, 
north  of  which  elevation  would  seem  to  be  in  progress, 
and  subsidence  on  the  south  of  the  line,  is  believed  to 
run  almost  at  right  angles  with  the  Lancashire  and 
Cumberland  line  of  coast.  It  apparently  crosses  the 
Irish  Sea  from  Dublin  Bay  to  Morecambe  Bay,  just  off 
the  south  of  the  Isle  of  iVIan. 

In  view  of  so  many  divergences  of  authoritative 
opinion,  the  problem  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  land  must 
for  the  present  be  regarded  as  only  very  imiperfectly 
understood. 

A  kindred  problem  is  the  origin  of  mountain  ranges. 
Professor  Gregory  groups  the  disturbing  causes  which 
produce  mountains  into  four  :  — 

1.  Subsidence   of   the   adjoining  parts — e.g..    Table 

Mountain,   near  Capetown. 

2.  Folding,    caused   by   a  crumpling  of   the   earth's 

crust,  due  to  uplift  owing  to  the  intrusion  of 
great  masses  of  igneous  rock,  causing  dome- 
shaped  swellings — e.g.,  The  North  Merioneth 
anti-cline. 

3.  Residual     mountains  ;     left     by     the     denuding 

agencies,  mainly  of  heat,  which  splinters,  and 
frost,  which  shatters — e.g..  Great  Orme's 
Head  and  Holyhead  mountain. 

4.  Volcanic  forces    heaping    up    lava    and    erupted 

matter  around  a  volcano — e.g.,  Vesuvius  and 
Etna. 
These  form  a  far  more  satisfying  set  of  causes  than 


282  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

the  old  belief  that  mountains  are  due  to  simple  uplifts 
resulting  from  earth  shrinkage.  (The  writer  is  responsible 
for  the  examples  cited.) 

Prof.  Suess  contends  that  an  important  factor  is  the 
fall  of  ocean  floors,  towards  which  areas  water  will  flow 
from  all  parts,  giving  the  appearance  of  land  elevation 
outside  this  area. 

The  most  noteworthy  of  the  movements  at  present 
in  progress  are  :  the  subsiding  of  the  entire  Antarctic 
region  :  of  the  West  India  Islands  (this  part  formed  the 
Antillean  continent  within  the  Pleistocene  period)  :  the 
coasts  of  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  New  Jersey  (about 
2  feet  a  century),  Newfoundland,  Labrador,  the  w^est 
coast  of  Greenland  ;  and  in  Europe,  the  Netherlands  and 
Dogger  Bank  area  of  the  North  Sea.  The  coast  about 
Sidmouth  (Devon)  was  said,  in  a  British  Association 
Report  (1895),  to  be  sinking  at  the  rate  of  10  inches  a 
century. 

The  parts  which  are  known  to  be  in  course  of 
elevation  include  Scandinavia  north  of  Stockholm,  North 
Russia,  Denmark,  Scotland,  and  northernmost  England, 
and  the  Atlantic  coast  of  South  America.  Remains  of 
ancient  docks  27  ft.  above  the  sea  level  have  been  found 
in  Crete. 

A  forcible  proof  of  large  subsidence  may  be  pointed 
to  in  the  fact  that  in  some  districts  coal  is  being  mined 
at  depths  as  much  as  3000  feet  below  the  level  at  which 
the  plants  must  have  grown.  An  example  of  the 
oscillating  kind  is  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Serapis  on  the 
Italian  coast,  seven  miles  from  Naples.  The  existing 
remains  were  built  on  the  top  of  another  temple  which 
had  subsided  v/ith  the  land.  After  sinking  down  to  the 
end  of  the  15th  century,  the  site  rose  rapidly,  probably 
in  consequence  of  the  eruption  of  Monte  Nuovo  in  the 
immediate  neighbourhood.  Early  in  the  19th  century  it 
w^as  again  falling,   at  the  rate  of  one  inch  in  four  years. 

In  1822  and  1835  the  Chili  coast  was  uplifted  from 
2  to  4  feet.  Many  examples  of  sudden  changes  of  level, 
obviously  due  to  deep-seated  displacements  along  faults 
in  the  earth's  crust,  are  on  record.  In  the  year  375  B.C. 
the   entire   city  of  Helike,   on  the  Gulf  of  Corinth,   sank 


VERTICAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARTH.  283 

under  the  sea  to  the  depth  of  100  feet.  In  times  not 
geologically  distant,  Italy,  Corsica,  Sardinia,  and  Sicily 
were  connected  in  one  unbroken  tract.  The  Tyrrhenian 
Sea,  which  now  separates  them,  covers  the  area  which 
has  thus  sunk  as  the  result  of  hundreds  of  earthquake 
shocks.  The  frequent  earthquakes  which  disturb  levels 
of  the  neighbouring  shores  show  that  these  earth 
movements  are  still  in  progress. 

In  the  well-known  Lisbon  earthquake  of  1  755  the  site 
of  the  harbour  sank  600  feet.  The  most  striking  example 
in  recent  times  was  the  raising  of  the  beach  in  Yakutat 
Bay.  Alaska,  from  7  ft.  to  45  ft.  in   1899. 

As  regards  the  conditions  on  the  w^est  coast  of 
England  and  Wales,  the  writer,  in  the  earlier  stages  of 
his  investigation,  accepted  unquestioningly  the  findings 
of  such  recognised  authorities  as  are  represented  in  the 
following  citations  :  — 

T.  Mellard  Reade,  F.G.S.  : — "  There  have  been  no 
**  measurable  changes  in  the  relative  levels  of  land  and 
"  water  for  the  last  2500  years."  "  There  has  been 
"  no  appreciable  downward  movement  since  Roman 
"  times." — (Western    Coasts    of    England    and    Wales.) 

Lord  Avebury  : — "  We  have  no  clear  evidence  of 
change  (in  land  levels)  in  historical  times." 

Coast  Erosion  Commission  Report,  Vol.  III.,  p.  4  :  — 
**  There  is  no  clear  evidence  that  movements  leading  to 
*  the  submergence  or  emergence  of  land  (on  the  coasts 
"  of  England  and  Wales)  are  now  proceeding,  except 
**  possibly  on  the  coasts  of  Northumberland  and 
'*  Durham." 

Mr.  Clement  Reid,  F.R.S.  (Coast  Erosion  Commission 
evidence)  : — "  The  rise  of  the  sea-level  {i.e.,  the  subsi- 
"  dence  of  the  land)  may  have  been  completed  about 
3500  years  ago.  Only  then  commenced  the  coast 
"  erosion  w^hich  we  now  see."  The  peat-beds  ind 
sunken  liver  channels  round  the  Anglo-Welsh  coasts, 
Mr.  Reid  believes,  never  extend  to  a  g^reater  depth  than 
60  to  80  feet  below  sea-level. 

The  same  authority,  in  his  "  Submerged  Forests," 
p.    115: — "About   3500  years   ago  we   get  back   to   the 


284  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

*'  beginning  of  the  period  of  unchanging  sea  level  in 
"which  we  are  still  living." 

Professor     W.     Boyd     Dawkins,     at     a     meeting     in 

Manchester,   January  20,    1903,    said   "  he   did  not  know 

'  of  any  depression  of  the  coast  line  or  changes  of  level 

"  in   any   part   of  the   country  that  had   not  taken   place 

"  before  Roman  times." 

Mr.  W.  Whitaker,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S.,  &c.,  said  in 
evidence  before  the  Coast  Erosion  Commission  (p.  142, 
App.  X.) : — "  I  know  of  no  good  evidence  of  movements 
"  now  going  on." 

The  writer  of  these  chapters  is  unable  to  agree  with 
the  opinions  here  so  definitely  expressed,  and  he  now 
invites  the  open-minded  enquirer  to  consider  the 
evidences  which  his  investigation  has  enabled  him  to 
bring  together.  The  conclusion  is  unavoidable  that  not 
only  did  the  last  dowmward  movement  not  cease  2500 
or  3500  years  ago,  but  that  it  is  still  in  operation. 

The  question  for  settlement  is  as  to  whether  the  last 
movement,  which  presumably  did  commence  over  2500 
years  ago,  has  continued  into  historic  and  present  times. 
Such  submarine  finds  as  that  of  Llys  Helig,  and  the 
vestiges  of  a  Roman  port  in  Morecambe  Bay,  are 
obviously  incompatible  with  the  stationary  theory.  The 
writer's  theory  is  that  the  subsidence  between  Fleetwood 
and  Aberystwyth  has  amounted  to  from  about  30  feet 
at  the  north  end  to  about  45  feet  at  the  south  end  in  the 
last  fourteen  centuries,  or  an  average  of  from  2  to  3  feet 
a   century. 

The  evidences  upon  which  chief  reliance  is  placed 
are  here  summarised  :  — 

(a.)  The  absence  of  any  previously  known  objective 
for  the  Roman  road,  traces  of  which  have  been  found 
between  Ribchester,  Kirkham,  Poulton,  and  running  out 
to  sea  at  the  west  end  of  Fleeitwood,  well  below  existing 
road  levels.  The  evidence  strongly  supports  the  belief 
that  the  objective  was  a  Roman  port,  presumably 
Ptolemy's  Portus  Setantii.  The  depth  at  which  these 
evidences  are  found  coincides  with  that  which  might  be 
expected  if  the  estimated  subsidence  had  occurred. 
(See  Chap.  X.) 


VERTICAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARTH.  285 

(b)  The  level  at  which  the  Pennystone,  opposite 
Norbreck,  now  stands.  It  once  stood  w^ell  above  high- 
water  mark.  It  now  appears  only  at  the  ebb  of  the 
tide.     (See  Chap.  IX.) 

(c.)  The  position  six  miles  N.E.  of  Southport  of  the 
Snotterstone,  a  boundary  stone  the  top  of  which  is  now 
several  feet  below  the  level  covered  by  the  tide  less 
than  50  years  ago.  The  base  of  the  stone  presumably 
stood  well  above  high-water  mark  in  Norman  times. 
(See  Chap.  XII.) 

(d.)  The  necessity  to  raise  the  pumping  engine  outfall 
at  Crossens,  3  miles  north-east  of  Southport.  (See 
Chap.  XII.)  Sand  accretion  was  doubtless  a  contributory 
cause. 

(e.)  The  submergence  of  Argarmeols  and  Aynesdale 
about  1300-1400  may  be  safely  assumed  to  have  been 
caused  by  a  gradual  coastal  subsidence.  Had  this 
subsidence  not  continued,  the  tops  of  the  houses  would 
have  been  since  revealed  in  the  hollows  of  the  shiftmg 
sandhills  which  now  cover  the  sites.     (See  Chap.  XIII.) 

(f.)  Tihe  former  existence  of  old  roads  running  down 
to  the  sea  at  Seaforth,  Crosby,  and  on  the  New  Brighton 
coast,  apparently  objectless  unless  they  at  one  time 
crossed  the  bed  of  the  estuary.  (See  1894  Vol.,  Lane. 
&  Ches.  Hist.  Soc.     Paper  by  E.  W.  Cox.) 

(g.)  The  evidences  point  to  the  submerged  tree  trunks 
found  between  the  mouth  of  the  Alt  river  and  the  Meols 
shore,  as  well  as  along  the  North  Wales  coast,  as  having 
been  grow^ing  as  recently  as  700  to  1500  years  ago.  (See 
Chaps.  XV.  and  XIX.) 

{h.)  The  discovery  near  Birkenhead,  in  1845,  of  a 
wooden  bridge,  presumably  Rorruan,  spanning  a  tributary 
of  Wallasey  Pool,  the  roadway  of  which  was  not  less 
than  14  to  15  feet  below  the  level  of  high  tides.  (See 
Chap.  XV.);  also  of  Roman  remains,  and,  of  later  date, 
in  the  submarine  forest  off  Leasowe. 

(i.)  The  Mersey  at  Runcorn  Gap  was  once  easily 
fordable  at  low  water.  A  paved  road  was  found  near 
Eastham,  18  feet  below  the  surface,  a  level  below  that 
of  high  water.     (See  Chap.  XV.) 

(;'.)  Observations   at   the    old    dock   sill    at   Liverpool 


286  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

showed  a  rise  of  714  inches  in  the  tide  level  (or  a  fall  of 
the  land)  in  20  years  ending  1873,  being  equivalent  to 
3  feet  a  century.     (See  Lane.  &  Ches.  Hist.  Proc,  1897.) 

1854-59 4-948  ft.  deep 

(859-64 5073  ft.  deep 

1864-69 5-208  ft.  deep 

1869-73 5-265  ft.  deep 

ik-)  The  fact  that  the  problem  of  the  recent  rise  of 
the  Lancashire  sandhills,  the  simultaneous  erosion  of  the 
Cheshire  sea-front,  and  the  making  of  a  new  and  direct 
conneotion  of  the  River  Mersey  with  the  sea  between 
Liverpool  and  Birkenhead,  can  only  be  accounted  for  on 
the  theory  that  there  has  been  a  large  subsidence  in 
operation   within   historic  times.      (See  Chap.  XVI.) 

(/.)  The  omission  of  a  river  estuary,  presumably  that 
of  the  Mersey,  from  Ptolemy's  second-century  map  is 
the  most  satisfactorily  accounted  for  on  the  theory  which 
may  safely  be  deduced  from  all  these  evidences,  that 
no  such  estuary  was  then  in  existence.  (See  Chap. 
XVIII.) 

(m.)  The  tradition  that  the  coasts  of  North  Wales, 
the  Menai  Strait,  the  Caer  Arianrhod  district  and 
Cardigan  Bay  were  overwhelmed  by  an  inundation  or 
the  sea  in,  or  about,  the  sixth  century,  is  found  at  so 
many  points  that  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  it  is 
founded  on  fact.  Horizontal  erosion  being  inadequate 
to  account  for  the  effects  upon  Llys  Helig  and  other  parts 
previouslly  beyond  the  reach  of  the  sea,  compel  the 
adoption  of  the  only  alternative  cause,  a  subsidence  of 
the  land.     (See  Chaps.  XXI.  to  XXVI.) 

(n.)  Letters  received  in  1909  from  the  U.D.  Council 
Surveyors  of  Rhyl  and  Llandudno  testified  to  a  slow 
subsidence  of  those  coasts  ;  the  opinions  independently 
expressed  by  a  dozen  competent  observers  on  the 
Cardigan  Bay  coast  point  to  the  same  conclusion. 

(n2.)  The  submarine  discovery  in  1907  of  a  causeway 
or  harbour  wall  opposite  Rhos-on-Sea  golf  links. 

(o.)  The  finding  of  the  two  ends  of  the  Roman  road 
which  connected  Kanovium,  near  Conway,  with  the 
Amlwch  copper  mines,  at  each  side  of  Red  Wharf  Bay, 
at   a   part   now   permanently  covered   by   the    sea,    also 


VERTICAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARTH.  287 

the  many  traces  of  roads  under  the  Menai  Strait,  can 
only  be  explained  on  a  theory  of  subsidence.  The 
permanent  advance  of  the  sea  up  various  inlets  of  the 
S.W.  Anglesey  coasts  is  more  probably  due  to  subsi- 
dence than  to  simple  erosion.     (See  Chap.  XXIV.) 

(p.)  The  evidences  that  the  Menai  Strait  w^as  formerly 
much  shallower  and  narrower  than  it  is  to-day  point  to 
subsidence.     (See  Chap.  XXV.) 

(q.)  The  advance  of  the  sea  on  the  South  Carnarvon 
coast  at  Aberdaron,  Criocieth,  and  at  other  points  cannot 
be  wholly  accounted  for  by  horizontal  erosion  only. 
(See  Chap.  XXVll.) 

(r.)  If  the  theory  advanced  in  Chap.  XXIX.  in 
explanation  of  the  problem  as  to  how  Harlech,  when  a 
port,  was  reached  from  the  sea,  a  subsidence  of  the  land 
leading  to  a  more  direct  connection  of  the  sea  w^ith  the 
River  Dwryd,  is  the  only  seitisfactory  explancition.  The 
rise  in  recent  times  of  the  Harlech  sandhills  is  similarly 
explained.     No  other  explanation  has  been  put  forward. 

(s.)  The  widening  and  deepening  of  the  Mawddach 
estuary  so  that  it  has  become,  in  recent  centuries,  a  tidal 
river  for  some  miles  higher  up  than  formerly,  is 
accounted  for  on  the  same  subsidence  theory. 

{t.)  The  reasonableness  of  the  explanation  advanced 
in  Chap.  XXXI.  of  the  origin  of  the  sarns  underlying 
Cardigan  Bay  must  be  left  to  speak  for  itself  ;  a  subsi- 
dence of  the  whole  bay  within  historic  times  is  a 
necessary  pre-supposition.  (See  Chap.  XXXI.)  Worked 
flints  have  been  recovered  from  submarine  spots  on  the 
Pembrokeshire  coast. 

(u.)  A  strongly  supporting  fact  is  that  where  the 
available  data  is  sufficiently  exact,  the  amount  of  the 
subsidence  at  different  points  is  in  striking  agreement 
when  allowance  is  made  for  the  inclination  of  the  fall, 
north  to  south.  The  fall  would  appear  to  be  greater 
towards  Cardigan  Bay  than  on  the  Fylde  coast. 

Prof.  Gregory  throws  out  the  warning  that  submerged 
forest  remains  are  sometimes  due,  not  to  a  general 
subsidence,  but  to  a  local  shrinking  of  loose  underlying 
beds,   or  a   drying  of  waterlogged  beds.      But  such   an 


288  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

explanation  cannot  apply  to  the  subsidence  of  a  150-mile 
coast  length. 

The  writer  does  not  stand  alone  in  the  belief  that 
the  stationary  theory  of  the  land  levels  relatively  to  the 
sea  must  now  be  abandoned.  After  having  adopted  it 
as  a  working  hypothesis,  he  learnt  that  Mr.  Joseph 
Lomas,  one  of  the  best-informed  students  of  the  past  of 
these  coasts  of  his  time,  and  for  25  years  Lecturer  on 
Geology  at  the  Liverpool  University,  had  been  driven  by 
his  reflections  in  the  same  direction.  The  following 
extracts  from  writings  of  his  may  be  quoted  in  proof  :  — 
Depression  is  now  going  on  in  most  of  our  river 
valleys."  "The  only  evidence  of  changes  of  level 
round  our  coast  is  one  of  subsidence.  In  1215  A.D. 
the  monks  of  Stanlaw  Abbey  were  flooded  out  by  the 
sinking  of  the  land  and  removed  to  Whalley."  "The 
land  about  the  Mersey  estuary  has  been  depressed 
during  historic  times,  and  it  is  probably  still  slow^ly 
sinking.  We  have  evidence  of  this  in  the  gradual  rise 
of  mean  tide  level  at  Liverpool,  and  also  in  the 
occurrence  of  pools,  such  as  Wallasey,  Bromborough 
Pool,  and  Liverpool,  which  are  drowned  river  valleys." 
Mr.  Lomas,  shortly  before  he  met  a  tragic  end  in  a 
train  accident  in  Africa,  after  a  month's  consideration 
of  the  writer's  explanation  of  the  recent  rise  of  the 
Lancashire  sandhills  through  the  changed  course  of  the 
Mersey,  wrote  him  a  letter  in  which  he  briefly  stated  his 
agreement  with  the  theory  as  the  probably  true  solution 
of  the  problem.  His  wide  knowledge  was  of  great 
value  to  the  writer,  and  his  help,  whenever  approached, 
always  readily  given. 

Mr.  Morton,  in  his  "  Geology  around  Liverpool," 
expressed  the  opinion  that  if  subsidence  was  the  cause 
of  the  sea's  advance  into  the  old  Mersey  lake,  the 
movement  ceased  about  the  14th  century. 

The  more  recent  changes  on  the  west  coast  may  be 
summarised  as  follows  : — 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Pleistocene,  the  very  cold 
period,  the  deposition  of  the  boulder  clay  ceased  and  a 
long  period  of  marine  denudation  of  the  clay  beds  set 
in.     The  clay  cliff,  then  a  coast-line,  which  underlies  the 


VERTICAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARTH.  289 

peat  beds  six  miles  east  of  Southport  was  formed  at  this 
time.  An  elevation  followed,  and  the  Ribble,  Dee, 
and  possibly  the  Clwyd,  rivers  joined  before  falling  into 
the  sea  in  the  deep  wiater  west  of  Holyhead.  The  Isle 
of  Man  was  joined  by  the  raised  Irish  Sea  floor  to 
Scotland,  Cumberland,  and  probably  Lancashire.  The 
lower  forest  and  peat  beds  were  formed  upon  this 
elevated  land. 

At  this  period  the  Dogger  Bank  in  the  North  Sea 
formed  the  northern  edge  of  a  great  plain  which 
connected  Lincoln  and  Norfolk  with  Denmark  and 
Holland  on  the  east  and  south.  The  Rhine  flowed 
through  the  western  area  of  this  fen  and  forest  land. 
During  the  maximum  glacial  elevation  the  Humber, 
Forth,  and  Tay  were  tributaries  of  the  Rhine  when  it 
was  at  least  twrice  its  present  length  and  flowed  into  the 
ocean  somew^here  in  the  latitude  of  the  Orkneys.  The 
Straits  of  Dover  would  be,  when  the  lower  forest  was 
growing,  a  watershed  with  a  valley  sloping  to  the  N.E. 
and  S.W. 

A  subsidence  followed,  and  the  Irish  Sea  again 
covered  its  present  area  and  to  a  slightly  further  line 
on  the  Lancashire  side.  The  Formby  and  Leasowe 
estuarial  blue  clay  beds  were  laid  down  during  this  late 
general  submergence.  A  20-feet  thickness  of  marl  beds 
between  Formby  and  Halsall  proves  that  this  subsidence 
w^as  of  long  duration.  The  valleys  were  widened  and 
contours  rounded  during  this  period. 

About  the  middle  of  the  Neolithic  period  there  set 
in  the  last  generally  extended  rise  of  land,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  upper  peat  and  forest  beds  were 
formed.  The  last  subsidence,  which  began  from  2500 
to  3500  years  ago,  is  still  in  progress.  It  is  this  latest 
general  subsidence  which  has  sent  Holland  below 
sea-level  and  compelled  the  making  of  protective  dykes 
and  strong  embankments  along  the  German  coasts.  In 
1421  72  Dutch  villages  were  swept  away  by  an  irruption 
of  the  se^. 

As  before  stated,  this  general  statement  has  refer- 
ence, in  the  main,  to  the  western  coasts  south  of 
Morecambe   Bay.     Reasons  were   given  in   Chap.    VIII. 


290  THE   EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

for  the  belief  that  a  node  or  neutral  axis  runs  across 
Morecambe  Bay,  north  of  which  an  elevation  of  land, 
increasing  in  vertical  range  to  the  west  coast  of  Scotland, 
and  south  of  which  a  fall  of  the  land,  are  in  progress. 
This  stationary  line  probably  extends  in  an  easterly 
direction  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  mouth  of  the  Tees, 
and  in  a  westerly  direction  a  few  miles  south  of  the 
Isle  of  Man  and  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Dublin. 

One  of  many  evidences  of  this  upward  movement 
north  of  Morecambe  Bay  is  the  fact  th-at  at  the  end  of 
the  18th  century  the  remains  of  old  Roman  docks  were 
visible  near  the  end  of  the  wall  of  Antoninus,  which  the 
Romans  built  to  connect  the  Clyde  and  Forth  estuaries. 
The  spot,  on  a  stream  called  the  Carron,  is  now  far 
above  high-water  mark.  Both  the  eastern  and  western 
ends  of  this  wall  have  been  lifted  some  distance  from 
and  above  high-water  mark.  The  position  of  the 
remains  of  the  Roman  wall,  which  ended  on  the  south 
shore  of  the  Solway,  furnishes  similar  evidence. 

Another  definite  evidence  of  recent  emergence  is  the 
line  of  raised  beach  which  marine  erosion  has  cut  like 
a  shelf  into  the  sloping  shore  of  Ayrshire  and  also  at 
many  points  further  north.  Those  at  a  level  of  about 
25  feet  date  from  a  time  later  than  that  at  which  Neolithic 
man  arrived  in  Britain.  Those  at  higher  levels  up  to 
100  feet  all  probably  belong  to  the  Glacial  period. 

For  the  Channel  Isles  a  similar  investigation  to  the 
writer's,  and  of  the  utmost  value,  has  been  carried  out 
by  Mr.  Joseph  Sinell,  who  has  embodied  the  results  of 
forty  years'  observations  in  *  Prehistoric  Times  and 
**  Men  of  the  Channel  Islands,"  and  "The  Geology  of 
"  Jersey  "  (published  by  J.  T.  Bigwood,  Printer.  Jersey). 

Mr.  Sinell  has  examined  exhaustively  the  abundant 
records  which  the  Channel  Isles  exhibit,  and  he  has 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  main,  or  lower,  forest 
bed  cannot  date  back  less  than  17,000  years.  Yet 
beneath  this  layer  of  soil  are  found  relics  of  Neolithic 
man.  The  land  then  stood  100ft.  higher  than  to-day.  A 
subsidence  followed  and  marine  deposits  covered  the 
coastal  iforest  bed.  The  land  levels  were  then  25ft. 
lower  than  to-day.     A  land  elevation  succeeded  to  the 


VERTICAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARTH.  291 

extent  of  about  80ft.,  and  upon  this  grew  the  vegetation 
which  we  know  as  our  upper  great  bed.  Then  set  in 
the  latest  subsidence,  which  Mr.  Sinell  beheves  to  be 
still  proceeding.  This  fall  has  now^  extended,  he  believes, 
to  over  60ft.  The  rates  of  rise  and  fall  give  an  average 
of  nearly   I  Sin.  per  century. 

Mr.  Smell's  findings,  it  is  interesting  to  note,  are  in 
general  agreement  (the  rate  of  the  last  subsidence 
excepted)  with  those  reached  by  the  writer  as  regards  the 
west  coasts. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


The  Isle  of  Man. 

A  brief  notice  of  the  Isle  of  Man  wiill  close  our  brief 
survey  of  the  past  of  the  west  coast  and  Irish  Sea. 

The  age  of  the  great  mass  of  uplifted  slate  mountains 
which  forms  the  backbone  of  the  island  from  Bradda 
Head  to  the  North  Barrule,  belongs  to  the  same  Upper 
Cambrian  period  as  the  larger  part  of  the  western  halves 
of  Carnarvonshire  and  Merionethshire.  At  all  events, 
in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  G.  W.  Lamplugh  (whose  valuable 
"  Geology  of  the  Isle  of  Man,"  1903,  students  are 
referred  to),  the  date  is  not  later  than  Lower  Silurian. 

Since  this  inconceivably  remote  age,  at  least  forty 
millions  of  years  ago,  in  which  we  find  the  earliest  of 
fossils  in  simple  life  forms,  the  island  has  been  above 
and  below  sea-level  at  least  half-a-dozen  times.  Rounded 
summiits,  rather  than  peaks,  characterise  the  Manx  hills, 
and  these  lare  due  to  the  vast  amount  of  marine,  aerial 
and  glacial  erosion  to  which  they  have  been  subjected. 

Spanish  Head,  the  southern  extremity  of  the  island, 
is  the  most  imposingly  lofty  of  its  headlands,  and  belongs 
to  the  same  Cambrian  age.  It  is  cleft  vertically  by 
several  narrow^  chasms.  These  are  due  to  the  strong 
lateral  pressure  which  forces  huge  blocks  of  the  cliff 
along  a  sloping  under-bed,  and  causes  them  eventually 
to  fall  into  the  sea.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  pointed 
rock  known  as  the  "  Sugar  Loaf." 

These  ancient  primary  strata  lie  at  very  different 
angles.  On  the  south-east  coast  volcanic  disturbance 
accounts  in  part  for  this  and  for  the  extraordinary  variety 
of  strata  which  appear  at  the  surface  between  Scarlett 
Point   and  Poyllvash   Bay,    south  of  Castletown.      Near 


THE  ISLE  OF  MAN.  293 

here  a  volcano,  the  site  of  which  is  now  under  the  sea, 
must  have  been  active,  probably  in  the  Carboniferous 
era.  The  Stack  of  Scarlett,  a  basaltic  pile  ;  the  trap 
dykes  which  traverse  the  older  strata  and  other  igneou* 
and  fire-altered  rocks  hereabouts,  are  all  evidences  of 
this  eruptive  period. 

The  writer  noticed  in  Poyllvcish  Bay,  near  Castletown, 
in  April,  1916,  a  considerable  number  of  tree  stumps 
below  high-water  mark,  almost  level  with  the  shingly 
beach.  These  trees  would  be  growing  here  prior  to  the 
last  subsidence.  Forests  doubtless  covered  much  of  the 
island  after  the  last  phase  of  the  Ice-age  passed  aw^ay, 
and  probably  as  late  as  when  man  first  appeared  on  the 
island  in  Neolithic  times.  Remains  of  the  Irish  elk  have 
been  found  in  the  peat  near  St.  John's  ;  near  Andreas, 
near  Ballaugh,  and  in  the  south  at  Strandall  and  Ken- 
traugh.  It  may  quite  possibly  have  crossed  the  ice  from 
Britain  prior  to  glacial  land  elevation.  A  full-size 
skeleton  may  be  seen  in  Castle  Rushen.  Boyd  Dawkins 
considers  it  "  the  sole  survivor  from  the  Pleistocene  into 
"the  Prehistoric  age,  which  has  since  become  extinct. 

The  old  red  sandstone  (Devonian),  of  which  Peel  rs 
largely  built,  appears  for  two  miles  north  of  that  town. 
Lower  Carboniferous  beds  are  found  only  in  a  basin  of 
about  8  square  miles  near  Castletown.  A  1595  map 
shows  a  small  lake  near  here,  draining  into  Poyllvash 
Bay.  Great  Meadow,  artificially  drained  centuries  ago, 
marks  its  site. 

The  Isle  of  Man  in  the  early  part  of  the  Glacial 
Epoch  would  be  an  independent  centre  of  glaciers,  v^ith 
many  small  glaciers  filling  most  of  the  glens.  Evidences 
are  to  be  seen  in  many  glens.  Later  these  were  merged 
in  the  great  Irish  Sea  glacier  which  at  its  maximum 
buried  the  entire  island,  including  Snaefell  (2054  ft.), 
under  a  thick  mantle  of  ice  and  frozen  snow,  the  move- 
ment of  which  rounded  all  the  mountain  tops.  The 
leuter  glacial  drift  deposits  include  native  wandering 
boulders,  which  are  almost  invariably  found  south-west 
of  their  place  of  origin,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Foxdale 
granite  boulders,  which  were  transported  for  two  miles 
and  lifted  up  728  ft.  to  a  point  on  the  South  Barrule. 


294  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

1385  ft.  above  sea-level.  Other  wanderer  boulders  v/ere 
carried  from  Galloway,  Antrim,  Ailsa  Craig,  and  the 
Lake  district.  The  enormous  lifting  and  pushing  power 
of  land-ice  is  responsible  for  the  elevation  at  which  some 
of  these  erratics  are  now^  found. 

The  undulating  plain  north  of  Ballaugh  and  Ramsey 
has  been  more  frequently  submerged  during  the  various 
land  depressions  than  the  hill  parts,  and  accordingly 
shows  a  larger  variety  of  deposits.  The  boulder  clay 
and  sand  deposits  were  the  gift  of  the  great  Irish  Sea 
glacier.  Near  and  under  the  surface,  deposits  of  Triassic. 
Carboniferous,  and  Permian  age  have  been  bored 
through.  The  Bride  Hills  are  glacial  mounds  rising  from 
100  to  250  feet  above  the  plain. 

Various  16th  and  17th  century  maps  by  Camden, 
Speed,  and  Bleau,  show  lakes  to  have  existed  at  Lezayre, 
in  Andreas  parish,  and  near  Ballaugh.  A  large  lake 
shown  in  T.  Durham's  1595  map,  called  Myreshaw  or 
Mirescogh,  occupied  a  considerable  area  of  the  northern 
plain  called  the  Curragh,  a  marshy  district  at  the  foot 
of  the  hills  north  of  Sulby  Glen.  This  part  -was  drained 
towards  the  end  of  the   17th  century. 

Further  back,  probably  in  the  14th  century,  Canon 
Quine,  who  has  made  a  special  study  of  the  glacial  and 
peat  deposits  and  levels  of  this  northern  plain,  believes 
that  an  extensive  lake.  Lough  Malor,  would  cover  the 
sites  of  these  lesser  lakes  and  the  entire  district  now 
known  as  the  Curragh,  from  a  point  H  miles  north-west 
of  Ramsey,  stretching  towards  Andreas,  Jurby,  and  as 
far  as  the  Killane  river.  (See  map  which  Canon  Quine 
has  kindly  sketched  at  the  writer's  request.)  The 
western  exit  of  this  large  sheet  of  water  must  have  been 
by  the  Killane  river,  but  it  is  more  than  possible  that 
this  is  an  artificieJ  cutting  made  at  the  same  period,  as 
a  length  of  the  present  Sulby  river  starting  from,  and 
extending  about  a  mile  above,  its  junction  with  the  Glen 
Auldyn  river,  1000  yds.  above  Ramsey  Bridge.  Here 
the  Sulby  river  flows  in  a  deep,  limited  trench  through 
comparatively  high  ground.  Originally,  there  is  no 
doubt,  the  Sulby  flowed  into  Lough  Malor,  the  main 
natural  exit  of  which  would  then  be  the  Lhane  river  to 


THE  ISLE  OF  MAN. 


295 


ISLE  OF  NAN 


PtojAyr?  ■- 


ANCIENT  LAKES 
HEIGHTS  SHOWN  IN  FEET 


Fig.  54 — The  Isle  of  Man. 


The  5  fathom  line  represents  the  approximate  coast  line  in  the  5th  century 
(except  at  Point  of  Ayre).  The  shadedparts  show  lake  areas  In  the  14th  century. 
The  figures  denote  altitude  in  feet.  The  coast  from  Glen  Wyllin  to  Rani.sev, 
by  the  Point  of  .\yre.  is  of  soft  sand  or  clay,  and  south  of  these  points  is 
generally  hard  and  rocky. 


296  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

the  north.  Five  to  six  hundred  years  ago  this  land  was 
owned  by  the  Cistercian  farmer  monks  of  Rushen 
Abbey,  and  these  trenches  would  doubtless  be  cut  by 
them,  with  land-reclaiming  aims  in  view.  The  surface 
of  the  Curragh  is  now  about  35  ft.  above  sea-level,  a 
proof  of  the  extraordinarily  rapid  manner  in  which  peat 
beds  can  accumulate  and  rise,  under  certain  conditions, 
by  sub-pressure.  In  part  this  change  is  doubtless  due  to 
a  slight  general  elevation  of  the  island. 

The  changes  about  Ramsey  are  of  peculiar  interest. 
The  Glen  Auldyn  river,  centuries  prior  to  the  Sulby  river 
joining  it,  entered  the  sea  at  Ramsey,  but  not  at  the 
(Sulby)  outlet  of  to-day.  The  name  Ramsey  is  probably 
a  corruption  of  "  Raumsey  "  or  "Raven's  Isle,"  which 
is  suggestive  of  a  Danish  origin. 

The  Mooragh  promenade  is  a  fragment  of  what  w^as 
once  Ramessey  Isle  (as  the  ancient  rent-rolls  spell  it), 
the  rest  of  the  islet  having  been  worn  away.  "  Iti 
151 1,"  says  Canon  Quine,  '*  Ramessey  Isle  was  a  farm 
on  the  delta  between  two  estuaries  of  the  Sulby  river. 
The  two  estuaries  have  been  filled  up  and  a  new 
channel  for  the  river  cut  direct  through  the  Mooragh  ; 
the  Mooragh  now  forming  the  sea-front  promenade." 
The  Market  Place  is  a  filled-in  section  of  the  southerly 
of  these  two  outlets  of  the  Sulby  river.  From  this  point 
the  old  course  wound  tortuously  between  \'^''aterloo 
Road  and  Church  Street  towards  the  Old  Cross  and  the 
Iron  Pier  of  to-day.  The  old  bed,  upon  which  the 
Presbyte>-ian  kirk  stands,  was  filled  up,  probaFTy  early 
in  the  18th  century,  when  the  river  was  diverted  to  its 
channel  outlet  of  to-day.  The  village  of  Ramsey 
originally  stood  on  the  south-west  side  of  the  Mooragh 
island,  the  site  of  the  bridge  or  stepping-stones  from  it 
to  the  new  Ramsey  being  about  the  Old  Cross  of  to-day. 
The  modern  Mooragh  Park  and  Lake  occupy  the  hollow 
through  "which  the  river  originally  follow^ed  the  northerly 
of  its  two  outlets  to  the  sea. 

Ramsey  Bay  has  been  hollowed  out  by  long-continued 
sea  erosion.  Mr.  Lamplugh  is  of  the  opinion  that  this 
erosion  has  been  due  to  tKe  tidal  streams  being  deflected 


THE  ISLE  OF  MAN.  297 

Against  this  coast  by  the  Bahama,  King  William's,  and 
Balla-cash  banks,  which  lie  east  and  south-east  of  the 
Point  of  Ayre.  These  banks  are  new  land  in  course  of 
formation,  the  material  probably  being  mainly  derived 
from  the  rapidly  eroding  length  of  the  north-'west  coast 
between  a  point  a  mile  south  of  Kirk  Michael  and  Blue 
Point,  Jurby.  Old  maps  show  Jurby  point  as  extending 
much  further  west  than  to-'day.  Little  of  a  point  now 
remains.  The  wastage  on  this  length  may  be  safely 
estimated  as  averaging  six  feet  a  year.  The  sand,  clay, 
and  shingle  which  is  being  eroded  from  these  soft  cliffs 
is  swept  north  by  the  south-westerly  tidal  current,  and 
is  responsible  for  the  steady  northerly  extension,  with  a 
well-marked  trend  towards  the  east,  of  the  Point  of 
Ayre  The  rate  of  erosion  of  the  cliffs  north  of  Ramsey 
is  not  imuch  less.  The  5-fathom  line  on  the  sketch  map 
represents  'an  estimate  of  the  coast  line  about  the  fifth 
or  sixth  century.  The  form  of  the  coeist  is  not  believed 
to  have  undergone  much  change. 

At  Peel  and  Castletown,  especially  near  Hango  Hill, 
the  sea  is  also  making  destructive  advances. 

Such  evidences  of  a  recent  change  of  level  as  are 
discernible  point  to  the  latest  movement  being  an  upward 
one.  If  the  inference  is  a  correct  one,  that  a  stationary 
node  crosses  the  sea  from  Morecambe  Bay  to  Dublin 
Bay,  only  a  few  miles  to  the  south  of  the  island,  the  signs 
of  elevation  w^ill  not  point  to  a  large  movement.  We 
know  that  in  historic  times  Douglas  harbour  formed  a 
natural  estuary,  at  all  events,  at  high  weiter,  the  tide 
reaching  as  far  up  the  River  Glass  as  Port-e-Chee,  the 
"haven  of  peace,"  a  point  a  mlile  and  a  half  above  the 
head  of  the  harbour  of  to-day.  But  the  authority  for 
this  sitatement  is  doubtful. 

Cumings,  in  his  "  Isle  of  Man  "  (1848),  attributes 
this  change  to  land  elevation,  "  probably  the  last 
'*  movement."  He  recalls  the  time,  geologioally  recent, 
when  the  land  lay  lower  and  the  island  formed  a  cluster 
of  seven  islands.  Channels  would  then  connect  Port 
Erin  with  Port  St.  Mary.  Poyllvash  with  Fleshwick  Bay, 
Peel  with  Douglas,  and  Port  Lewaigue  (south  of  Ramsey) 
with  Port  Mooar.     Beds  of  yellow  sea  sand  may  be  seen 


298  THE  EVOLUTION  OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

near  St.  John's,  two  miles  from  the  sea  at  Peel,  200  feet 
above  the  sea  in  terraces  at  Douglas,  and  elsewhere. 

The  same  writer  quotes  as  an  evidence  of  elevation 
the  fact  that  a  village  called  Cranston  is  show^n  on  a 
1595  map  at  a  point  north  and  inland  of  Cranstal  Point 
(5  miles  north  of  Ramsey),  near  Lake  Balla  Mooar.  It 
had  gone  to  ruin  w^hen  he  w^rote  in  1848.  It  had  been 
built  on  a  raised  beach  like  the  old  town  of  Douglas. 

We  may  safely  infer  that  the  raised  shelf  or  old 
beach  which  is  found  at  10-12  feet  above  high-water 
mark  at  so  many  places  round  the  island,  indicates  a 
long  stationary  period,  marking  the  hig'hest  point  reached 
during  the  last  elevation  prior  to  that  of  to-day.  The 
worked  flints  found  on  its  surface  point  to  the  date  being 
the  comparatively  recent  one  of  the  Neolithic,  or  bronze, 
period.  These  probably  belong  to  the  same  date  as 
the  25-feet  beaches  ol  the  West  of  Scotland.  Other 
raised  beaches  of  doubtful  date  are  found  up  to  200  feet. 
Of  Palaeolithic  man  the  island  furnishes  no  evidence. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


The  Coast  Erosion  Commission  Report. 

One  of  the  unexpected  findings  of  the  Royal  Coast 
Erosion  Commission  which  reported  to  Parliament  after 
a  four  years'  enquiry,  on  June  26th,  1912,  was  that  the 
land  is  giving  back  far  more  ground  to  the  sea-board 
than  all  the  factors  of  waste  are  taking  awiay.  The 
difference  results,  of  course,  from  the  extent  by  which 
land  levels,  hills  and  valleys  are  being  lowered. 

There  had  been  alarmist  reports  as  to  the  extent  of 
land  losses.  South  of  Flamboro'  Head,  on  the  Yorkshire 
coEist,  11  sq.  miles  had  been  worn  away,  or  since  the 
Roman  occupatioTi  115  sq.  miles,  including  12  towns  and 
villages  had  disappeared,  and  the  waste  at  the  present 
time  -was  as  much  as  from  2  to  4  yds.  a  year.  On  the 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk  coasts  at  certain  points  the  losses 
were  greater  still.  Yet  the  Ordnance  Survey  records 
showed  that  "within  a  period,  on  the  average  of  about 
"  35  yeeu-s,  about  6640  acres  have  been  lost  to  the  United 
*'  Kingdom,   while  48,000  acres  have  been  gained." 

The  following  table  shows  the  losses  and  gains  as 
indicated  by  variations  in  the  positions  of  the  high  and 
low^  water  lines,  between  Cumberland  and  Cardiganshire 
(Coast  Erosion  Report,  1911,  Vol.  1,  Part  2,  append., 
pp.  89-90). 


300  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

Latid  (acres) 
County.  Dates  of  Survey.       Lost  Gained         Chiefly  at 

r  Barrow 

Lancashire    1842-1888      ...     545     9090         ]Morecambe 

(Southport 

Cheshire     1870- 1897      ...      104         59        Dee  Estuarj- 

Flintshire   1869-1897      ...       70       413         Mouth  of  Dee 

Denbighshire    1870-1898      ...        12  39 

Merioneth  1886-1899      ...        14       300         Harlech  Coast 

Carnarvonshire    ...      1887-1898      ...  c         44      |^-f "   °^,P*"^°'" 

"  ^^       (^and  Pwllheli 

Anglesey    1886-1899      •••         9       -38 

Balance 

Total  759     10174  gained,  9415 

Everywhere  the  accretions  are  mainly  due  to  the 
sediment  brought  down  by  rivers,  and,  secondly,  to 
eroded  material  from  adjoining  coasts.  The  gains  laxe 
chiefly  in  tidal  estuaries  and  the  losses  on  the  open  coast. 
The  largest  gains  round  the  whole  British  coast  "ire  off 
Southport  ;  in  Morecambe  Bay  ;  and  in  the  Wash.  For 
every  square  mile  worn  aw^ay  from  the  Holderness  coast 
three  have  been  gained  in  the  Humber  estuary  and  the 
Wash.  Spurn  Point  has  been  wholly  formed  in  the  leist 
three  hundred  years.  Between  Preston  and  Southport 
7400  acres  have  been  reclaimed  w^^ithin  the  last  hundred 
years.  Even  on  the  east  coast  the  gains  more  than 
balance  the  losses. 

The  general  surprise  at  this  main  finding  of  the 
Commission  was  wholly  due  to  the  general  ignorance 
which  exists  even  among  the  educated  classes  of  Nature's 
processes,  and  which  has  resulted  from  the  almost 
complete  neglect  of  the  teaching  of  geology.  Like 
astronomy,  a  knowledge  of  geology  has  a  doubtful 
bread-and-butter  earning  value.  Yet  ignorance  has  its 
price  w^hen  coast  erosion,  or  accretion,  or  water  supply 
problems  have  to  be  dealt  w^ith,  and  when  not  a  single 
member  of  the  local  authority,  nor  even  the  expert 
engineer  who  is  called  in  as  adviser,  has  any  clear  idea 
as  to  ordinary  geological  processes.  Through  such 
ignorance  immense  sums  may  be  ineffectively  expended. 

Among  the  recommendations  in  the  C.E.C.  Report 
the  following  only  need  here  be  cited  :  — 


THE   COAST   EROSION   COMMISSION   REPORT.        301 

That  the  Board  of  Trade  should  be  the  sole  controller 
of  foreshores,  this  control  to  be  delegated  to  the  County 
Councils  ;  that  larger  powers  be  conferred  on  the  Board 
to  control  the  removal  of  materials  land  the  consitruction 
of  protective  works  ;  that  the  law  be  amended  so  as  not 
to  deprive  the  Crown  of  accreted  land,  instead  of  such 
becoming  the  property  of  the  adjoining  landow^ner  ;  that 
it  be  the  duty  of  some  authority  to  take  observations  and 
preserve  records  ;  that  the  cost  of  protective  works 
should  be  met  by  the  local  authorities,  companies,  or 
individual  property  owners  primarily  affected  ;  the 
special  rating  of  beneficiaries  ;  precepts  om  county 
funds  ;  loans  from  the  Public  Works  Loan  Commissioners 
and,  in  certain  circumstances,  grants  under  the  Develop- 
ment Act  of  1909. 

On  June  26th,  1912,  it  was  stated  in  Parliament  that 
a  Bill  was  in  preparation  dealing  with  the  Coast  Erosion 
Commission's  recommendations.  So  far  nothing  more 
has  been  heard  of  this  Bill. 

Experience  has  proved  that  neither  sea  walls  nor 
gioynes  of  any  particular  form  can  be  reconnmended  as 
the  best  adapted  to  every  foreshore.  Local  conditions 
must  determine  this.  Groynes  are  usually  essential  to 
prevent  sea-walls  from  being  undermined  by  the  sea, 
and  where  land  or  buildings  are  of  low  value  inexpensive 
groynes  may  answer  sufficiently  well.  But  vs^here  the 
land  values  are  great,  a  permanent  sea  wall  is  to  be 
recommended.  Reinforced  concrete,  by  present  api>ear- 
ances,  is  likely  to  revolutionise  the  making  of  marine 
walls. 

The  Commission's  Report  has  made  clear  how 
fragmentary  is  our  knowledge.  It  has  disclosed  also  an 
almost  complete  absence  of  systematic  observation  as  to 
the  rise  and  fall  of  the  land,  the  depth  to  which  wave 
action  extends,  and  the  ultimate  destination  of  coast 
eroded  material.  The  Director-General  of  the  Ordnance 
Survey  informed  the  writer  on  Feb.  22nd,  1917,  that 
"  The  only  accurate  Ordnance  Survey  determinations 
"  are  those  being  made  at  Dunbar  and  Newlyn.  We 
"  have  no  tidal  observations  on  the  Lancashire  or  Welsh 
"  coast." 


302  THE  EVOLUTION   OF  A  COAST-LINE. 

The  ukimiate  effect  of  a  continuance  of  the  existing 
down"ward  tendencies  in  the  land  levels  of  the  west 
coast,  even  to  (half  the  extent  which  has  occurred  since 
the  landing  of  Julius  Caesar,  will  be  the  overwhelming 
by  the  sea  of  many  ports,  resorts,  and  fishing  ^nillages, 
or,  alternatively,  very  large  outlay  on  protective 
measures. 

Before  setting  "  finis  "  to  his  recreative  task — the 
book  has  been  mainly  written  in  summer  vacations — the 
writer  would  express  the  hope  theit  the  sister  sciences  of 
Astronomy  and  Geology,  which  are  concerned  with  the 
very  beginnings  of  earth  and  human  history,  will  soon  be 
given  a  more  prominent  place  in  our  school  curricula. 
His  effort  will  have  been  worth  while  if  it  arouses  interest, 
here  and  there,  in  the  fascinating  story  of  the  genesis  of 
rock  and  life  forms,  the  evolution  of  coast  line  and 
landscape  and  the  many  problems  arising  out  of  the 
changes  which  Nature  is  so  ceaselessly  working. 


FINIS. 


^ 


v«-^^ 


.£ii 


^. 


Printed  by 

\Vm.  Ashton  &  Sons,  Ltd. 

Grosvenor  Works, 

Southport. 


For  Index  see  early  part 
of  book,  before  Preface. 


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