THE CHANGING COASTLINE OF ESSEX 85
Only in Hamford Water has the sea failed to encroach
upon the land surface. Here, although clay is exposed at
the surface in Horsey Island, it is mainly covered by
alluvium, and nowhere does it form cliffs. The inlet of
Hamford Water itself is interesting in that no large river
enters the sea at this point. Steers thought of it as
originating through the drowning of a low, rolling and
possibly ill-drained area of London Clay. (Steers, 1946.)
Alternatively, it may represent the remnant of an old outlet
of the Thames-Blackwater river system before it began its
successive migrations to the southward during the Pleisto-
cene Ice Age. If this interpretation is correct, then the
present Brightlingsea Creek would also represent part of the
old course.
(ii) The Coast from Clacton to Shoeburyness
To the west and south of Eastness the whole character of
the coast changes, the cliffs giving way to enclosed marsh-
land, fringed by saltings with occasional sand spits on their
seaward edge. This is an area where natural processes,
aided by "inning" carried out by man, have extended the
land surface at the expense of the sea.
Fig. 4. Coastal evolution between Lion Point and Colne Point.
Along the stretch of coast from Clacton to Colne Point
the dominant direction of longshore drifting of material is
from east to west. The sand and shingle transported by the
waves has been built up into a number of westward-trending
spits. As the latter grow in length, they tend to coalesce
until finally a single continuous barrier, rising a little above
the high water level, is formed (Pig 4). On the landward
side this ridge may enclose a lagoon which is gradually