298 THE ENCROACHING SEA ON THE EAST COAST.
From Aldeburgh to Orfordness Lighthouse (6 miles), which
stands on a spit of shingle, the sea is gradually forcing the
shingle-beach back over the marshes, and the river Aide, which
runs parallel to the sea for 12 miles, will eventually be choked
by the shingle bank, which must inevitably, in the course of a
few years, be thrust into its channel. A serious state of things
will then occur unless a cutting is dug between the river and the
sea at Slaughden to allow the former a free exit for its waters.
If some strong measures are not taken, Aldeburgh will share
the fate of Dunwich, which, owing to a very similar situation,
has almost entirely disappeared.
Twelve miles south of Aldeburgh and Slaughden, at the
mouth of the river, a slight sea-wall of mud and wooden "shies"
alone prevents the heavy seas experienced there from overflow-
ing an immense tract of land by Hollesley, which lies many feet
below high water mark. But whether the landlords who own
these marshes are prepared to spend a princely fortune in sub-
stantial and costly stone dykes remains to be seen. A few years
more, and they will be too late. South of this again, Sir Cuth-
bert Quilter has built his fine red brick "Chateau" on the cliffs
bordering Bawdsey Ferry, and both he and Mr. Felix Cobbold,
at Felixstowe, are doing all they can to protect their respective
domains.
Below Felixstowe and Harwich, however, the denudation
becomes more marked and serious. Here there are no dwarf
cliffs and no shingle to accumulate against the shies. The
inadequate sea-walls have fallen in, and in some cases, between
Dovercourt and Great Oakley in Essex proper, they have been
left to their fate. Two substantial farms have been submerged,
and at high water the sea penetrates over the marshes to the foot
of the dwarf Essex hills. Old stumps of trees and tops of hedge-
rows can then be seen far out, just emerging from the shallow
water spread around, and the rich pasturing fields are now
great stretches of ooze and saltings. I have not learnt the date at
which this particular invasion of the sea took place, but it cannot
be many years ago, as the dead-hedges still remain.
Close by, in Handford Waters (a ramification of salt
estuaries), nearly all the islands have gone in the same way, and
the sea is threatening those which are still left. To the naturalist
these salt islands are interesting as being resorted to more and
more by immense flocks of gulls and other wild fowl.