100 SUBSIDENCE OF EASTERN ENGLAND.
"There is a big bit of land at Steeple showing old cultivation, now flooded
by salting-tides, and present conditions would not have allowed the cultivation.
But I have no doubt you know all the places I have drawn your attention to.
"When the Romans began the embanking of the several little islands
of which the present Fowlness is composed, it is very questionable whether they
were so far below the present tide-level. If they were, I question whether they
would ever have begun the work.
"I daresay you remember a great tumulus on Northey. It is probably
Saxon or Danish, and I should not readily believe these people put their burial on
land flooded twice daily. If they did, it was an extraordinary thing to do.
"There are so many proofs all round the coast of Essex and of Eastern
England generally, that I think you will have little difficulty in proving that
subsidence is going on, and at a much greater rate than people imagine."
DISCUSSION.
At the reading of Mr. Dalton's paper, Mr. S. Hazzledine
Warren made the following remarks:—
He thought that great caution should be exercised in the case of apparent
evidence of comparatively recent changes of level. In many districts round the
coast, there are large areas which are considerably below high-water mark, and
only protected by lines of sand-dunes. When these places become subsequently
invaded by the sea, the foundations of the houses which formerly stood upon
them will then be seen upon the shore—in some cases, possibly, even below low-
water mark; thus giving a false appearance of depression where none has
actually taken place.
In Lincolnshire, at least, there is positive evidence that no appreciable change
in level has taken place since the Roman occupation. An earthwork, known as
the Roman Bank, extends for many miles along the coast. This has always
been considered to be a defence work against the sea, dating from the time of the
Roman occupation. There can be little doubt that this view is correct. It
receives confirmation from the fact that rolled Romano-British pottery is found
in beds of marine shingle and sand which are banked up against this earthwork
near Skegness.
Although it is true that this Roman Bank, owing to changes in the position
of the coast line, has now fallen completely into disuse, yet it is remarkable that
it is still of the correct level for a sea-wall, if such were made to-day. It is
obvious that this could not be the case if any appreciable change in level had
taken place since Roman times. Not only is this ancient bank of the correct
level for a sea-wall to-day, but we must also remember that, if the land had been
higher in Roman days than it is to-day, the wall would not have been needed ;
whereas, if the land had been lower, it could not have been built.
The speaker had not actually worked out the level of the ancient sea-walls in
Essex itself, but was not aware that they suggested any appreciable change in
level. He thought that evidence of this kind was more reliable than that obtained
from old foundations now seen upon the tidal mud flats.
There is, however, in Lincolnshire, some suggestion that a considerable
encroachment of the sea, possibly occasioned by a depression of the land, did take
place somewhere about the middle of the Roman occupation of this country.
Along the coast near Skegness, there is evidence that the land outside the protec-
tion of the Roman Bank was occupied both before and also during the early