“In this manner, such an accumulation of water may, at a former period of time, have taken place at the then poles of the globe, as to have altered the position of these points, and given rise to the Flood, or temporary general overflowing of the waters over the earth’s surface, producing a change in the beds of the seas or oceans of former times. In this way may have been produced many of the phenomena observable in the crust of the earth, which are otherwise with much difficulty accounted for.
“Of what has now been advanced, regarding the waste of the land by the operations of the sea, it will be proper to notice that much consists with my own personal observation. The consequences of this process must be the deposition of débris, and a tendency to raise the bottom of the ocean and produce a proportional elevation of the water. With regard, however, to the distribution of the surplus waters that is produced, what I have now said is offered with much deference, in the hope that some one better qualified than myself will turn his attention to this curious subject.”
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In connection with this discussion I give the following interesting account of observations on the estuary of the Mersey:—
“Wasting Effects of the Sea on the Shore of Cheshire between the Rivers Mersey and Dee. (Read before the Wernerian Society, 8th March 1828.)
“On a former occasion I had the honour to make a few observations which appeared in the second volume of the Society’s Memoirs regarding the encroachment of the sea upon the land generally. The present notice refers only to that portion of the coast which lies between the rivers Mersey and Dee, extending to about seven miles.
“To this quarter my attention, with that of Mr. Nimmo, Civil Engineer, had been professionally directed in the course of last month. In our preambulatory survey we were accompanied by Sir John Tobin and William Laird, Esq., of Liverpool, along the Cheshire shore and its connecting sandbanks between Wallasey Pool in the Mersey, and Dalpool in the river Dee.
“Within these estuaries the shores may be described as abrupt, consisting of red clay and marl, containing many land or boulder stones of the cubic contents of several tons, and very many of much smaller size, diminishing to coarse gravel. But the foreland or northern shore between these rivers, which I am now to notice, is chiefly low ground, and to a great extent is under the level of the highest tides. The beach or ebb extends from 300 to 400 yards seaward, and toward low water mark exposes a section of red clay; but toward high water it consists of bluish coloured marl, with peat or moss overlaid by sand. This beach, at about tide level, presents a curious and highly interesting spectacle of the remains of a submarine forest. The numerous roots of trees, which have not been washed away by the sea, or carried off by the neighbouring inhabitants for firewood, are in a very decayed state. The trees seem to have been cut off about two feet from the ground, after the usual practice in felling timber, and the roots are seen ramifying from their respective stumps in all directions, and dipping towards the clay subsoil. They seem to have varied in size from eighteen inches to perhaps thirty inches in diameter, and when cut with a knife appear to be oak. Several of the boles or trunks have also been left upon the ground, and being partly immersed in the sand and clay, are now in such a decomposed state that, when dug into with a common spade, great numbers of the shell fish called Pholas candida, measuring about three fourths of an inch in length and two inches in breadth, were found apparently in a healthy state. These proofs of the former state of this ebb or shore—now upwards of twenty feet under full tide—having been once dry land to a considerable extent beyond the region of these large forest trees were rendered still more evident by the occurrence of large masses of greenstone, which, at a former period, had been embedded in the firm ground here, and especially on the shore within the river Dee. It may further deserve notice that the inhabitants of this district have a traditional rhyme expressive of the former wooded state of this coast, where not a tree is now to be seen, viz., “From Birkenhead to Helbre a squirrel may hop from tree to tree;” that is, from the Dee to the Mersey, now presenting a submarine forest.
“As these evidences of great changes upon the state and former appearances of the land were highly interesting to the party, and intimately connected with the professional inquiries of myself and colleague, it seemed desirable, if possible, to get them corroborated by oral testimony. Sir John Tobin accordingly very obligingly took measures for examining the oldest people in the neighbourhood as to their recollection of the former state of these shores. In particular, Thomas Barclay, aged ninety-three, “all but two months,” by profession a mason and measurer of country work; Henry Youd, labourer, aged eighty-six; and John Crooksan, labourer, aged eighty, were examined. Barclay stated that he had been employed at the erection of the Leasowe landward lighthouse in the year 1764; that there were then two lighthouses near the shore, for a leading direction to shipping through the proper channel to Liverpool; and that the seaward light became uninhabitable from its being surrounded by the sea. A new light was then built upon Bidstone Hill, and the present Leasowe Lighthouse, formerly the landward light which he had assisted in building, became the sea light. He could not condescend upon the distance between the two original lights, but was certain that it must have been several hundred yards; that he knows that in the course of thirty years the shore of the Leasowe lost by measurement eleven Cheshire roods or eighty-eight yards; and verily believes that, since he knew this shore, it has lost upwards of half a mile of firm ground. To the correctness of these statements the other two aged men gave ample testimony, Henry Youd having also worked at the lighthouse.
“As to the present state of things, the party alluded to were eye-witnesses of the tides on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of February 1828, having exhibited a very alarming example of the encroachment of the sea upon the Leasowe shore. At high water it came over the bank, and ran in a stream of about half a mile in breadth surrounding the lighthouse, and continued its course through the low grounds toward Wallasey Pool on the Mersey, thereby forming a new channel, and threatening to lay several thousands of acres of rich arable and pasture lands into the state of a permanent salt lake. The present Leasowe Lighthouse, which, in 1764, was considered far above the reach of the sea, upon the 17th of February last was thus surrounded by salt water, and must soon be abandoned unless some very extensive works be undertaken for the defence of the beach, the whole of the interior lands of the Leasowe being considerably under the level of high water of spring tides.