SECT. II.-OTHER SELECTED PAPERS.

No. 1,515.—“The Encroachments of the Sea from Spurn Point to Flamboro' Head, and the Works executed to prevent the Loss of Land." By ROBERT PICKWELL, Assoc. Inst. C.E.

THE Author believes that an account of the ceaseless loss of land going on along this part of the coast of Yorkshire, of its geological formation, and of the works constructed as defences, some of which have been carried out under his personal direction, may prove of interest to the Institution. The subject

bears, to some extent, upon the vexed question of the source of the enormous amount of alluvium in suspension in the waters of the Humber, which is so great a difficulty in dealing with the improvement of the navigable channels of the estuary. There is another question upon which this subject also bears, namely, the possible ultimate outflanking and destruction of the Spurn neck and lighthouses, and the consequent loss of the great harbour of refuge in the Humber. In order to give reliable facts and data, the Author made a personal survey of the coast from Spurn Point to Flamboro' Head, examined all the old plans of the district upon which reliance could be placed, and took careful measurements and notes in each parish along the coast.

The communication may

be divided as follows:

:

1. An account of the loss of land along the coast from early times down to the present from actual admeasurement.

2. An account of the engineering works to resist the inroads of the sea, with their relative cost, &c.

3. The Author's view of the effect of this waste of coast upon the navigation of the Humber.

1. AN ACCOUNT OF THE LOSS OF LAND ALONG THE COAST FROM EARLY TIMES TO THE PRESENT. (Plate 4).

This subject has already been alluded to in communications by Mr. Oldham, M. Inst. C.E.,1 and by Mr. Shelford, M. Inst. C.E.2 Smeaton, in his "Narrative of the Building of the Eddystone

1 Vide Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xxi., p. 454.

2 Ibid., vol. xxviii., p. 472.

Lighthouse," put the loss at 10 yards per annum.

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Mr. Oldham, in evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Holderness Embankment and Reclamation Bill, April 1866, chap. 360, p. 20, reckons it at 21 yards, Mr. Shelford at 21 yards per annum, and the North Sea Pilot" states it to be 10 feet per annum. The Author believes that the loss named in the above papers, though correct for a limited locality, and at the time when the measurements were taken, cannot represent the loss along the entire coast.

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Although Spurn Point does not strictly come within the subject of the wasting cliffs, it may fairly claim attention. This long, spoon-like neck, projecting from the mainland at Kilnsea for 2 miles southward into the Humber, is entirely formed of shingle and sand, through which the sea percolates freely. About the year 1860 a boring was made in the lighthouse, and nothing but shingle was found at a depth of 50 to 60 feet; the water rose and fell with the tide, and corresponded nearly with the sea both in level and taste. Ravenser" was situated here and on the mainland; for in Kirby's Inquest, 1295, it is stated that "The heirs of Ingram de Risum hold in Ravenser 2 carucates (240 acres), where 48 carucates make a knight's fee." Mr. Shelford has stated the known movements of Spurn Point southwards and westwards to 1864.3 The Author's measurements in September 1875 show a further southward extension of 60 yards since 1864, or 5.4 yards per annum, while the movement westward has been arrested. Since 1864 there has been a gain of land extending eastward, due to the joint effect of the prohibition by the Board of Trade of the removal of shingle from the beach, and of the groynes built by Sir John Coode, M. Inst. C.E. There has been no waste at the High Lighthouse from 1869-70 to 1875, the gain of land eastward along the entire length of the neck varying from 30 to 80 yards in width, or an average of 6 yards per annum. The material is composed of shingle and drift sand, in many places 8 to 10 feet above high water spring tides, grown over with mat grass.

Proceeding northward, the mainland is first met with at Kilnsea. Here the boulder clay sinks low, and the drift is exposed to the action of the waves. Hence, at this and similar depressed cliffs, the sea has made greater inroads than on higher cliffs, where the boulder clay forms a strong natural revetment wall at their foot. The loss at this point has been great. In Doomsday, 1080, Morcar had 13 carucates of land to be taxed, or 1,620

1 Vide Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xxviii., p. 480.

acres. In 1852 the extent of Kilnsea was only 911 acres, giving a total loss of 709 acres since 1080. This, with the present frontage to the sea taken as an average, gives a width of 1,950 yards washed away in seven hundred and seventy-two years, or 2.5 yards per annum. In 1766 the chancel of Kilnsea Church was 95 yards from the cliff; in 1833 only 4 yards of the west end of the church were standing, so that, allowing 30 yards as the length of the church, there had been a waste of 120 yards in sixty-seven years, or 1.8 yard per annum. From 1833 to 1847 the average loss was 5 yards per annum, and the whole of Kilnsea has been destroyed during the last century. The "Blue Bell" in New Kilnsea has a stone built into its east wall, inscribed, "Built in year 1847; distance from sea 534 yards." In September 1876 it was 392 yards from the sea, so that the loss has been 5 yards per annum. At the north end of the parish, Mr. Tennison's farmhouse is 242 yards from the cliff, the loss since 1840 having been 5.3 yards per annum. The parish has lost 220 acres, including the entire village and church, since 1818, which if the land be valued at £50 per acre, gives a loss of £11,000. It has been necessary from time to time to construct at this place embankments across the depression in the cliffs, to prevent the flood tides inundating an extensive area of cultivated land.

The same irregularity in the loss appears at Easington, where the boulder clay sinks below high water. On the Author's recommendation, and for future reference, a stone was built into the east wall of Mount Pleasant Cottage, at the east end of Easington, to indicate that in 1876 the cliff was 616 yards distant due east. In 1771 the same point was 880 yards distant, and up to 1852 the annual loss was 1.8 yard per annum; from 1852 to 1876 it was 5 yards per annum. North of the village another depression occurs in the cliff, and the sea has scooped out a bay 300 yards across the mouth, and 40 to 50 yards broad. Easington Church in 1771 was 1,056 yards from the cliff; in 1833 this distance had been reduced to 968 yards, causing a loss of 1.4 yard per annum ; and from that time up to 1852 the loss was 1.4 yard per annum. In 1876 the distance of the church from the cliff was 861 yards, the encroachment having been at the rate of 3·3 yards per annum.

At about 1 mile north of the village is the manor of Dimlington. Here the cliffs rise to a height of 60 feet at the south end. According to Doomsday, "In Dimelton there are 5 carucates of land to be taxed," equal to 600 acres, “value in King Edward's time thirty-two pounds, now eight pounds," or £652, now £163. Here certain monks of Meaux Abbey lost 55 acres between 1291 [1877-78. N.S.]

and 1396. The waste opposite Dimlington Farmhouse has been as follows:-From 1771 to 1852 it was 1.8 yard per annum. In 1876 the distance from the cliff was 194 yards, giving a loss of 5.1 yards per annum. From this point the cliff rises, and at "Dimlington High Lands" attains an elevation of about 110 feet, with 15 to 20 feet thickness of boulder clay at the base. From here the cliffs gradually become lower, and at Outnewton they are from 60 to 70 feet in height. Near the alleged site of the old manor Garth are the ruins of the old chapel. The loss opposite this ruin from 1771 to 1852 was only 0.8 yard of land per annum. In 1876 the ruin was 60 yards distant from the cliff, the loss since 1852 having been 3 yards per annum. The distance of the northeast wall of the cart shed of this farm is 184 yards from the cliff.

At the gorge, separating the parishes of Outnewton and Holmpton, the rate of encroachment by the sea from 1802 to 1852 was 0.9 yard, and from 1852 to 1876 3.5 yards per annum.

The cliffs at Holmpton are about 30 feet high. From Holmpton Church the distance to the cliff in 1786 was 1,200 yards, the loss up to 1802 being 0·5 yard per annum. From that date up to 1833 the loss was 2 yards per annum; then to 1852 it was 0.3 yard per annum; and in 1876 the distance was 1,050 yards, the loss having been more than 3 yards per annum.

The parish of Withernsea has a sea frontage of 2 miles, and has suffered much; the cliffs are from 10 to 25 feet in height at the south end of the parish. Opposite "Nevilles" farmhouse, from 1794 to 1852, the waste was 0.7 yard per annum. In 1876 the distance from the cliff was 375 yards, the waste having been 2.3 yards per annum. Half a mile farther north the "Intack" farm in 1876 was 220 yards from the cliff. Between 1833 and 1852 the loss of land was 2.4 yards per annum; and since then it has been at the rate of 2 yards per annum. At the village of Withernsea, where only half-a-dozen of the old cottages remain, opposite the southernmost house of the old village on the east side of the high-road, from 1794 to 1852, the loss was 1·1 yard of land per annum. The distance of the house from the cliff in 1876 was 455 yards, and the loss of land had been 145 yards in the twentyfour years, or at the rate of 6 yards per annum. A little north of this are the poor-houses, standing back to the east of the road. Opposite these, from 1794 to 1852, the loss was only 0.5 yard per annum; but the distance from the cliff in 1876 was only 290 yards, the loss having been 135 yards in twenty-four years, or 5-6 yards per annum. Opposite the church the loss from 1794 to 1833 was 1.15 yard per annum; from 1833 to 1852 it was 2 yards per annum,