subject to constant slips. The Promenade is protected by a seawall half a mile long, which has recently been built. This wall is vertical and composed of concrete, the base being sunk 2 feet into the clay beach, the height above this being 9 feet. The thickness is 2 feet at the top and 4 feet at the bottom, the batter on the sea- -face being 1 in 5. The top of the wall is 1 foot above the pathway, 5 feet above an ordinary spring tide, and 4 feet 9 inches above the highest known tide. The space on the beach in front of this wall has been filled with clay, trimmed to a batter of 1 in 3, and on this is laid a pitching of basalt blocks varying in thickness from 6 to 9 inches, the joints being pointed with fine concrete. The front of the slope is not protected by piling or otherwise. Blackpool. The promenade along the south frontage at Blackpool is protected by a sloping sea-wall, locally termed "hulking." Originally the sloping cliffs or sand-banks were protected by stone pitching. As the beach became scoured away, this hulking was extended and carried further seaward until the present structure was developed. The limit of this extension does not seem to be reached yet, as the beach is still being scoured away. The pitching consists of rough granite blocks containing about 2 cubic feet, laid at an angle of about 2 to 1. It is divided into panels by planking fastened to piles driven into the bank, and in some cases with sheet piles. The promenade at the north end has recently been extended, at a cost of £115,000, for three-quarters of a mile along the foot of the cliffs, which consist of a mixture of clay and sand derived from glacial drift. This promenade is protected by a concrete wall 21 feet high and 74 feet wide at the base, which acts as a retaining wall to the foot of the cliffs behind. In front of this is an ashlar facing 8 feet high, curved to a radius of 8 feet, finishing with a bull nose projecting about 1 foot. Above this is a parapet wall 3 feet high. The top of the wall at the foot of the coping is 12 feet above H.W.O.S.T., and the bottom is a little above high water. From the base of this upright wall is a sloping face consisting of stone pitching laid on a foot of concrete to a slope of 2 to 1. This pitching consists of rough granite blocks averaging about 2 cubic feet, and is divided into panels 18 feet long and 23 feet wide, the divisions consisting of 2-inch planks fastened to round fir piles. The pitching as at first designed was 23 feet long and carried to the level of the beach. The foot of this wall was placed about 20 yards further seaward than the point to which high water previously reached. Since its construction the beach has been scoured away from 5 to 6 feet, and the pitching has consequently had to be extended a further 10 feet. VII. Dymchurch. This wall will be found described in Chapter Herne Bay. The sea-front, promenade, and road here, which extend for over a mile and a quarter, have been protected by a timber wall or breasting consisting of horizontal fir planks bolted to fir piles, and reclining from the vertical at an angle of 20 degrees. The piles are spaced 5 feet apart and have a 12 inches by 12 inches raking strut every 20 feet apart. Where this wall has recently been renewed the timber has been creosoted. In front is a bank of shingle, the surface of which varies from 2 to 10 feet below the top. In December, 1881-83, considerable damage was done to the wall, and a sum of £2600 expended on the seadefences. During the gale and high tide of November, 1897, the waves broke over the wall and cut out the roadway, doing damage, which cost over £700 to repair. The height of the waves during this storm was estimated at 5 feet. In 1898 it was proposed to replace the timber by a concrete wall, the foundation of which was to rest on the London Clay. The face was to project 15 feet in front of the present line. The height was to be 20 to 24 feet, and the top 17 feet above Ordnance datum, or 75 feet above high water, or about the height to which the water reached during the great tide of November, 1897. The face was to be stepped in the same manner as the wall described at Margate. The estimated cost was £40,000. The condition imposed by the Local Government Board, that the money borrowed should be repaid within 20 years, being considered too onerous by the authorities, the scheme has not so far been proceeded with. Cliff הן Felixstowe. The cliffs to the north of this place, which consist of London Clay, are protected by a sea-wall consisting of a combination of timber and concrete. Fir piles, 6 inches square and spaced 3 feet apart, are driven in the clay and support 11-inch by 2-inch planking. The piles are supported by timber ties. At the back of the boarding is a concrete wall 9 feet high, 1 was Beach foot 6 inches wide at the top, and 3 feet at the bottom. The beach in front consists of sand and small shingle. Section Plan Felixstowe. FIG. 16. Morecambe Bay. An example is afforded here of a sea-wall constructed on the sand partly for reclaiming land, but principally for carrying a railway across the estuary. Morecambe Bay is a wide indent on the coast of Lancashire and facing the Irish Sea, having a width of 8 miles and a depth inland of 16 miles. The area dry at low water is about 90,000 acres, which is covered to a depth of from 5 to 10 feet at ordinary spring tides at the part where the embankment is placed, the rise of tide above low water in the outer part of the bay being 27 feet. The depth of the sand forming the floor of the estuary is not known, but borings made in some places to a depth of 30 feet, and in others to 70 feet, did not pass through it. The embankment across the estuary of the Leven was constructed by Mr. Brunlees between 40 and 50 years ago, and is situated in the upper part of the bay, and is therefore less exposed than it would be on the coast, but for the greater part of its length there is a fetch of 50 miles in a south-westerly direction across Liverpool Bay (Fig. 17). The body of the embankment consists entirely of sand, the width at the top being made sufficient for two lines of railway. The outer side of the slope was made at a batter of 2 to 1, and the inside 13 to 1. The slope on the sea side was first covered with clay puddle to a depth of 12 inches. On this was laid small quarry rubble 8 to 16 inches diameter, 18 inches in thickness, and on this was placed limestone pitching 18 inches thick at the The pitching was bottom, diminishing to 12 inches at the top. carried 3 feet below the surface of the sand. varied from 15 to 25 feet in height, and was made 15 feet 6 inches above the level of ordinary spring tides, and 6 feet 3 inches above an extraordinarily high tide that occurred in December, 1852. The sands along the wall have increased in height since the bank was constructed, and in places are now covered with grass. The wall appears to have stood well (Min. Proc. Inst. C.E., vol. xiv.). Clontarf.—The embankment across the Clontarf estuary for the Dublin and Drogheda Railway was made in a somewhat similar manner, the body of the bank being of sand, and the face having 3 feet of clay puddle and pitched with stone, the outer slope being 2 to 1 and the inner 1 to 1. In this and the previous case the facing with heavy pitching on a steep slope was found to answer better than the use of a flatter slope and lighter pitching. Sutton. The Lincolnshire coast is bordered by sand-dunes which extend from Saltfleet to the Wash, the land behind being below the level of high tides. The foot of these dunes is above the level of ordinary high water, and is only reached by the waves during very high spring tides. A large outlay has been incurred in protecting the dunes between Mablethorpe and Sutton, where they are liable to be washed down and broken through. This protection consists of covering the face of the sandbank with 3-inch planking spiked to walings bolted to fir piles 9 feet long by 7 inches square, spaced 4 to 5 feet apart each way, driven through the sand into the clay bed below. The lower part, which extends about 40 feet up the face, rakes at an angle of 15 degrees, and the upper length of 10 feet at an angle of 30 degrees (Fig. 18). The planks are bedded on a layer of clay. When this protection was first adopted, the heads of the piles projected above the planking, and 14-inch boarding was used. In the newer work the pile-heads are covered by the boarding, and the thickness of the planking has been increased to 2 and 3 inches. The foot of the dunes, and consequently of the boarding, being above the level of high water of mean spring tides, it is H.W.O.S.T. Plan Trusthorpe Section Sand Hills only in case of very high tides and on-shore gales that the protection of this boarding is required. Belgium and Holland. The sea breaks very heavily on that part of this coast which is exposed to the full range of the North Sea, and which has an uninterrupted fetch up to the North Pole of about 3000 miles. A great part of the country lies below the level of high water, and the struggle between the sea and the land has been continuous since the first attempt at reclamation was made in the time of the Romans. The history of Holland is studded with records of disaster and ruin caused by storms, and of determined attempts to maintain the land. In some cases the efforts have been successful, but in others, only the record exists of towns and villages buried beneath the water of the sea. The vast extent of the works which have been carried out for the reclamation of this land may well justify the saying in Holland that God made the sea, but man made the land. The methods of protection in Holland are as various as in this country, and the engineers having charge of the sea-works differ on most important questions of procedure. The massive earthen banks, some of them having a base of over 300 feet in width, and 30 feet high, with long flat slopes, are costly to construct and expensive to maintain, and appear, to those accustomed to English methods, as more costly to keep in order, and less effective than if steeper slopes and heavier protection were adopted; but the fact must not be lost sight of, that the Dutch methods are the outcome of long years of experience, |