The first wall was constructed in 1838, to the east of Old Steyne for a distance of 2 miles to Kemp Town, at a cost of £100,000, the average height of this wall being 60 feet, and the width of the base 23 feet, diminishing to 2 feet at the top.

The next wall was constructed at Hove about 1884. Owing to the gradual denudation of the beach, it became lowered 11 feet, and where formerly there was a slope of 1 in 10, the face of the shore became vertical, and 100 feet of the esplanade was washed away. For the protection of the roadway and promenade, a concrete wall was erected, of which a description is given in Chapter VI. on Sea-walls.

After this wall was completed, the reflex action of the waves scoured out the beach at the foot of the wall nearly to the bottom of the foundation. Piles were then driven in front of the wall, but as the denudation still continued, groynes 70 to 100 yards in length were placed along the beach of a similar character to those then in use at Brighton. Those first placed were fixed at an angle of 45 degrees, but as this was not found to be satisfactory, they were afterwards placed at right angles.

Subsequently the sea-wall was extended westward along the Medina for a length of about the third of a mile. In 1899 leave was obtained by Hove from the Local Government Board for a loan, amounting to £17,000, for the purchase of land and foreshore and the extension of the sea-wall.

About four or five years ago a concrete wall was constructed on the Brighton frontage to the east of Hove, in front of the Brunswick Lawns, extending from the Hove wall to the concrete groyne to the east of the west pier, being about a quarter of a mile in length. This wall was constructed of concrete faced with flints, and was 20 feet high, 12 feet wide at the base, and 3 feet at the top; and at the time of its construction the top was 8 feet above the beach. The line of this wall was set back from that of the Hove wall from 40 to 50 feet.

Two concrete groynes were at the same time constructed on the east and two on the west side of the west pier, one being of sufficient width at the top to form a promenade. These replaced old wooden groynes which had become in ruins. The cost of these works was about £20,000.

A concrete sea-wall faced with flints was also constructed at the east end of Brighton, 150 feet in front of the chalk cliffs, with a road at the back 60 feet wide, and a promenade from Paston

Place nearly to Black Rock. The top of this wall was placed 12 feet 6 inches above high water. A concrete groyne was also constructed at the east end 120 yards long, and another more to the west 166 yards long and 10 feet 6 inches wide at the top, with a parapet so as to form a promenade. The cost of this wall and the groynes was about £14,000.

The Madeira Road Terrace was also extended at a cost of £14,000.

Beyond the concrete wall the roadway was protected by a timber breast work rising 10 feet above the shingle. Subsequently the sea-defences were extended from the Albion Groyne to Black Rock, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, and four more concrete groynes were constructed at distances of 166 yards apart, the lengths varying from 75 to 150 yards, at a cost of £18,500.

The time allowed by the Local Government Board for repayment of the loan for these works was twenty years.

In 1900 the sanction of the Local Government Board was obtained to borrow the money for erecting an additional concrete groyne at Kemp Town 180 yards in length, and a tender of £4500 was accepted for the construction of the same.

At the beginning of 1901 the sanction of the Local Government Board was obtained to a further loan for the lengthening of the three principal groynes at the east end, and a contract was entered into for £5100 for the execution of the work.

The concrete groynes are very substantial structures, and vary in length and width, the larger ones extending from the seawall to low water, a distance of about 150 to 160 yards. The top varies from 10 feet to 15 feet in width, and some of the groynes, being provided with parapet walls, form a promenade. For about two-thirds of their length the top is above the line of high water, the lower end gradually sloping towards the beach. The largest of these groynes is stated to have cost over £10,000.

The two concrete groynes erected opposite East Street and the Old Steyne, which are 120 yards long, cost £12,000.

Altogether there are twenty-three concrete groynes along the Brighton foreshore, averaging 200 yards apart. These concrete groynes have superseded the massive timber erections formerly adopted, but which are still in use on the beach in front of Hove.

The Hove groynes are placed about 120 yards apart, and are

100 yards in length, rising about 16 feet above the ordinary level of the shingle beach at the upper end, and 6 feet above the sand at the lower end, the line of direction being at right angles to the shore. The construction varies a little, but generally they may be described as consisting of 3-inch horizontal planking fastened to fir piles 9 inches square driven into the beach, and spaced 3 feet 6 inches apart, and tied together with double 7-inch by 6-inch waling at top, and 6-inch by 6-inch lower down bolted to them. These are held in place by unsquared oak timber ties from 30 feet to 35 feet long, and 15 inches diameter, the butt end passing through the boarding, and notched and secured by wooden cotters and cross-pieces. The other end of the support

is made secure to two short piles driven into the beach, and held together by cross-ties.

These supports are placed on the windward side, or that from which the regular supply of drift comes, and they thus act in tension. As the shingle collects and its depth increases, it buries these ties, and adds to their ability to support the groyne. With high groynes, struts placed on the leeward side are liable to be washed out; with an oblique wind, the waves flow freely up the slope of the shingle and over the top of the

groyne, and in falling the impact of the water cuts out the beach and undermines the support of the stays. The cost of these groynes for a length of 300 feet may be put at about £540, or 36s. per foot run.

Under normal conditions the shingle accumulates on the west side of these groynes, and becomes heaped up near the upper end above high-water mark, and there is a difference in level of the shingle on the two sides of the groynes of from 10 to 15 feet, and even, in some cases, as much as 20 feet. As these groynes are only 120 yards apart, the beach is very much impared for use by visitors, and rendered dangerous for children, owing to the great drop from one side of the groyne to the other; and its appearance is much detracted from by the existence of these unsightly structures. They only afford a partial protection to the sea-wall, for while at one end of the bay between them the shingle is heaped up, at the other end it is exposed to the full force of the waves acting on a denuded beach, and the part supported is varied according to the direction of the on-shore gales, which shift the shingle from one side to the other.

Although these high massive groynes have been the means of trapping a considerable amount of shingle, they have failed so far in permanently raising a level beach along the whole of the frontage; and considering that their general condition has been the same for the last forty or fifty years, there does not seem much prospect of their ever attaining the end to be sought by a proper system of groyning.

The large accumulation of material that has resulted on the neighbouring part of the coast at Shoreham since the construction of the west pier, and also at Folkestone by the construction of a single jetty at the leeward end of the beach, from which the shingle tails out to the windward side for a distance of 1 to 2 miles, and which would have reached even further if the jetty had been extended more seaward, affording a level unbroken strand all along the sea-front, contrasts greatly to the disadvantage of the system pursued at Hove and Brighton of breaking up and spoiling the beach by a constant succession of large unsightly structures erected at great cost and giving a far less efficient protection.

Shingle is constantly being removed from the beach at the east end for concrete and other purposes.

The shingle at the east end of Brighton consists of large rounded chalk flints, averaging about 2 inches in diameter, which is heaped up against the sea-wall on the west or windward side of the groynes. On the east side of the last groyne at Black Rock the beach is quite bare, the chalk floor being exposed, and the tides washing the foot of the cliffs.

The flints have been derived from the waste of the cliffs before they were protected, and from flints set loose from the beach during heavy gales.

Considerable erosion is taking place, and recently, owing to a large fall of chalk, the old road on the top of the cliff, leading to Rottingdean, becoming dangerous, was stopped, and its course diverted. The beach continues bare of shingle to Rottingdean, where in front of the village, owing to the presence of three large groynes, a considerable amount of shingle has been trapped. These groynes appear to have been in existence for at least half a century. They are substantial timber structures, built much on the same design as those already described at Hove. The shingle is piled up against these groynes 12 feet next the cliff, higher on the west than on the east side, and consists of large rounded flint pebbles derived from the chalk cliff. The cliff between Brighton and Rottingdean, 80 to 100 feet high, is composed of chalk with flints in layers from 4 to 8 inches thick, and 4 feet apart. There are also vertical bands of flint about an inch thick.

The beach, except in front of the village, is covered with large chalk boulders and unrolled flints, and the foot is washed by the sea at high water.

The question of the protection of the chalk cliffs eastward of Brighton to Rottingdean and Saltdean, and of continuing the Madeira promenade to Rottingdean village, has from time to time been under consideration, but the difficulty of determining which is the proper authority to carry out the work, and of finding the money required for the purpose, has hitherto prevented any progress being made with the scheme.

Newhaven and Seaford.-From Rottingdean to Newhaven the chalk cliffs, containing flints, continue, rising above the beach from 80 to 100 feet. No works have been carried out for the protection of these cliffs, which are wasting away, falls of chalk continually taking place.

At Newhaven and Seaford the coast consists of two chalk headlands at the west and east sides of the harbour, respectively