IX.
of Alton once existed here, and one of the farms is
called Alton Park, but no mention of the fact is made
by Morant and other writers,and possibly the account
arose from the existence of this wood. Similar legends
are common round the coast, but are generally ex-
plicable by reference to the removal of cliffs, as at
Walton Naze and Harwich. This bed is evidently
due to subsidence. The existence of foundations on
the very verge of the tidal flat of St. Peter's Sands,
7 miles W.S.W., seems to favour the theory of subsi-
dence within the Historic era, as at present alluvium
is being deposited there. This subject is further dealt
with hereafter.
St. Osyth Beach.
The marshes south of St. Osyth are bounded on the
seaward side by a broad ridge of shingle and sand,
which rises above the level of the highest tides, and
still continues to increase in width, though freely used
for road metal and ballast. At its foot there stretches,
at low water, a broad shelf of soft mud, covered with
a few inches of compacted gravel, giving a firm footing.
A large variety of marine curiosities, shells, sea-
urchins, hermit-crabs, starfish, sea anemones, and
brightly - tinted seaweeds, occur in the numerous pools
with which this terrace is interspersed.
Subsidence in East Essex.*
By W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., of H.M. Geological Survey.
That the latest movement of the South-East of
England has been one of depression is evidenced by
the numerous "submerged forests" which occur at
intervals round the coast, ranging downwards, not
only to half-tide level, but to beyond the lowest ebb;
and therefore not explicable merely on the hypothesis
of sheltering sandbars, or lines of dunes, even where
such can be shown to have existed.
In East Essex the question is complicated by
the variety of possibilities that have to be taken
into consideration. The rapid waste of the cliffs at
Harwich, Walton Naze, and Clacton sufficiently
accounts for the disappearance of towns and villages
mentioned in ancient records as existing on that
part of the coast, as they were almost invariably
erected on land above the sea-level, and therefore
liable to be attacked and destroyed by the sea.
Southward and westward from Clacton deposition
is still going on, and the "saltings," as the uninclosed
land is termed, continually widen seaward, fresh strips
being inclosed frequently.
Though the surface of the saltings, covered with
coarse grass and maritime plants, rises to the average
*Read before the Colchester Natural History Society, Oct. 5,
1876, and published in the Geological Magazine, dec. 2,
vol. iii., pp. 491-493.