from 6 to 9 feet above high water of spring tides; there is then a steep slope of about 1 in 3, after which the inclination of the beach to the end of the shingle, a total distance of 60 yards, is 1 in 9. The greater part of the groyning is now completely buried. The shore fronts south by east. The heavy gales of the winter do not appear to have affected this bank of shingle, the material being evenly distributed all along the coast. The groynes are spaced from 80 to 100 yards apart, and are from 50 to 60 yards in length. They incline to the westward, the direction from which the supply of shingle comes, at an angle of 115 degrees, and rake at the rate of 1 in 9. They are constructed of pitchpine piles 9 inches square, spaced 4 feet apart centre to centre, to which are spiked 3-inch boards, the waling being 9 by 6 inches. The groynes are supported by pitchpine baulks 12 inches square, placed on the windward side, spaced 34 feet apart, which, passing through the boarding, are notched on to a short waling on the lee side bolted to three of the piles.

Further along the coast, at St. Leonards and Hastings, a seawall and promenade extends along the frontage a distance of 3 miles. Along the whole sea front of this wall there exists an elaborate system of high timber groynes of a similar character to those at Hove already described, and at intervals between these about ten concrete groynes have been added. These groynes are of various lengths, and spaced at varying distances averaging about 100 yards apart, and from 50 to 70 yards in length. They only extend from half to two-thirds of the way to low water at spring tides. The largest are from 15 to 20 feet in height above the beach. Like those at Eastbourne and Bexhill, they slope away from the sea-wall to the westward at an angle of about 110 degrees. The general trend of the coast-line faces. south-south-east.

At the eastern end a very substantial concrete groyne was constructed about thirteen years ago, and extends beyond lowwater line into a depth of about 3 feet.

During the last four years works have been going on for the construction of a harbour, and this groyne will form part of its eastern side. At present only part of the western wall has been constructed, the end of this next the shore being composed of open timberwork.

The construction of these two walls projecting out from the shore for a considerable distance has led to the accumulation of a

large bank of shingle, which spreads out from the shore for 40 or 50 yards, the upper part being from 10 to 12 feet above high water, and reaching the top of the sea-wall. Since 1897 the low-water contour has grown seaward 500 feet, and an area of 5 acres, which was then below low water, has become covered with shingle and sand. The bank in 1899 extended westward for about a quarter of a mile, but the influence of the projections was felt for nearly double this distance, the shingle nearly up to the Queen's Hotel being within a few feet of the top of the sea-wall, notwithstanding some heavy on-shore gales.

The result obtained by the erection of high short groynes, placed at short intervals, as carried out along this frontage generally, cannot be considered as having been successful in either accumulating or holding up the shingle. The fact that the larger portion of the timber of which the groynes are composed is always visible, especially after rough weather, shows that the material is not disposed to the best advantage, and the fact that after on-shore gales the beach is denuded to a very great extent, tends to prove that these high groynes are as useless in preventing denudation as in moderating the force of the waves, while they are as unsightly as detrimental to the use of the beach.

There appears to be a plentiful supply of shingle, which drifts from the west; but it is very irregularly disposed, the mounds on one side of the groynes being from 6 to 10 feet, and even in some places 15 feet, higher than on the other side. In heavy south-west gales the shingle is either piled up in these mounds or else completely washed out of the bays. In many of the bays, especially at the western end, the beach between the bays is nearly bare of shingle, and the surface from 15 to 20 feet below the top of the sea-wall, the depth of water on the beach at H.W.S.T. being 15 feet.

Near the public baths at White Rock the beach is fully 20 feet below the top of the wall, and the waves at times during the gales of winter break against the wall with such force that the water is thrown across the promenade and on to the road and to such an extent as almost to stop the traffic. Near the Queen's Hotel, where the width of the roadway is less, the shingle has been thrown against the houses and through the windows into the bedrooms.

Recently it has been determined by the town council to replace four wooden groynes at West Marina with concrete, 180 feet long, at a cost of £940 each; and to erect two

additional concrete groynes opposite the baths at White Rock at a cost of £2000.

Basalt stone, hexagonal in form, has been used to some extent in the sea-works at Hastings, and, owing to its hardness and shape, found to be both economical and effective.

It has been the constant practice for the last half-century to remove material for road-making, concrete, and building purposes from this beach. In fact, it has been said that the new portion of the town has been largely built out of the sea.

Rye. This harbour is situated in the outfall of the river Rother. The coast is low and flat, consisting of alluvium, which has formed a considerable delta. The nearest cliffs, which consist of clay and sandstone, are 5 miles to the westward.

According to Camden, the sea at one time made considerable inroads on this part of the coast, "the ancient town of Winchelsea being swallowed up by the raging and tempestuous ocean in the year 1250." The site of the old town is given as being a mile outside the present shore, at a place known as Boulder Bank, the depth of water over which at the present time is 2 fathoms, while between it and the shore it is 3 fathoms.1 On an old map of the harbour, dated 1623, a spot outside the old west harbour is marked as "Old Winchelsea, drowned 1250." Since then there has been great accretion from alluvial deposit brought down from inland.

The Ordnance map of 1872 shows the high-water mark in front of Rye about three-quarters of a mile more seaward than Grenville Collins' chart of 1779; but from Sherrad's map, there does not appear to have been much alteration since 1840. In the middle of the last century the harbour is described as being situated 2 miles to the westward of its present position, the river Brede then discharging through the west harbour.

The drift of shingle from the west has always been a constant source of trouble in the maintenance of the outfalls. In the middle of the last century an attempt was made to open out the west harbour, under the advice of Captain Perry. Two piers were built, and a cut three-quarters of a mile long made for the purpose of diverting the water of the river Brede to the harbour. Owing to the easterly drift of the shingle, these works were a failure. Subsequently Smeaton was consulted, and further works

1 "An Account of the Origin and Formation of the Harbour of the Ancient Town of Rye," by J. Mergon, Weale's Quarterly Papers, vol. iv., 1845.

were carried out under his direction, for the purpose of keeping the west harbour open. But these works proved ineffectual, owing "to the falls of shingle coming from the west," and the neglect of works on the west side of the harbour to prevent this. The west harbour was finally abandoned about the year 1797.

Since then the shingle-bank known as the Nook has gradually extended from the old west harbour in an easterly direction to the present eastern outfall, where its further progress is stopped.

In 1839, Mr. Cubitt, who was consulted as to the maintenance and improvement of the outfall of the river Rother and the east harbour, which was then in about the same position that it now occupies, advised the construction of a jetty on the west side to prevent the drift of the shingle from the west entering the harbour, but, contrary to his advice, the present stone wall or jetty was erected on the east side. This was subsequently extended, making its total length 1300 yards. A jetty or large wooden groyne was erected about the same time on the west side of the channel, and this was extended about five years ago. Although this groyne has been the means of stopping the eastward progress of the shingle, and preventing to a great extent its getting into the harbour, yet, owing to its not being carried out far enough, the shingle works past it and forms a bar across the channel, and also drifts into it and is deposited in patches. There is a large accumulation of material on the west side of the jetty, the bank being from 20 to 30 feet high. Recently a large quantity of this shingle has been removed for the concrete used for the works in Dover Harbour.

Dungeness.—One of the most remarkable collections of shingle to be found on the English coast is at Dungeness. This deposit extends out from the shore seawards as an ever-increasing promontory, the base of which measures, approximately, 6 miles, the distance from the base to the apex being 3 miles.

There is every reason to suppose that the cliffs in front of Hastings, on the west, at one time extended much further seaward than they do at the present time; and as the shingle due to the wasting back of these cliffs travelled eastward, it gradually extended across the mouth of the estuary of the Rother, and choked the outlet of the river, which finally became diverted from its original course to Rye. The shingle-bank thus formed led to the silting up of the estuary of the river, and the formation

of marshes, from which the tide was excluded, and the land reclaimed by the existing artificial banks.

The flood tide, entering the new outfall, eddied round and gradually drifted the shingle in a south-easterly direction, and so formed the nucleus of the salient angle which now exists.

The point formed by the seaward side of this bank has extended a mile outward during the present generation, and the growth of the shingle has pushed the harbour of Rye a quarter of a mile further out from the land.

Since the time of Elizabeth this point has been gradually pushed seawards at an average rate of 6 yards a year. The growth in recent years, since the erection of the lighthouse in 1782, has been at the rate of 2·61 yards a year.

The shingle-bank at the point is very steep, lying at an angle of 2 to 1, and it slopes down to deep water; at 50 yards from the shore the bottom is mud.

This feature appears always to have been maintained for a long period, as Grenville Collins, in his Pilot Chart published in 1779, described Dungeness as a "low beachy point on which is a lighthouse. The place is very bold; you may keep within 9 and 10 fathoms of it close by the shore; there is good anchorage on the east side, with a westerly wind."

The amount of shingle accumulated during a period of thirtyfive years covered 430 acres 7 feet deep, representing 7,000,000 tons, or at the rate of 200,000 tons a year.

The total shingle deposit covers an area of 6000 acres, the surface being from 4 to 6 feet above high water, and the thickness of the shingle being estimated at 22 feet. The only source of supply of this shingle under existing geological conditions is flint derived from the cliffs between Dungeness and Beachy Head, a distance of 20 miles. The average height of the cliffs along this coast is about 200 feet. Taking Lamblardie's estimate (Chapter II.), that erosion takes place on these chalk cliffs at an average rate of one foot a year, and that about 7 per cent. of the total mass consists of flints, and that these lose two-thirds of their bulk in the process of being ground to pebbles, the average supply of shingle would be 13,037 cubic yards per mile, equal to 260,740 for the 20 miles. If the whole of this was deposited at Dungeness, a period of 816 years would be required to produce the quantity deposited there. In the paper on Littoral Drift (Min. Proc. Inst. C.E., vol. cxxv.), the