[2559] See Proc. Geologists’ Association, xv, 1898, pp. 212-3, 222. As far as I can discover, the only absolutely trustworthy boring which has been made (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., xliii, 1887, p. 204) shows that at Holmestone, near Lydd, which is outside the limits of Romney Marsh Proper, the recent strata, overlying Hastings beds, were as follows:—Shingle, 15 feet; Boulders, 4 feet; Brown Sand, 13 feet; Clay, 4 feet; Black and Grey Sand, 20 feet; Pebbles, 1 foot.
‘Mr. Elliott,’ says Drew (Mem. Geol. Survey,—The Geology of the Country between Folkestone and Rye, 1864, p. 16), ‘tells me that he bored 70 feet in the Marsh, of which the last 50 were in sand.’ ‘I contend, however,’ replies Dowker (Proc. Geologists’ Association, xv, 212), ‘that this does not prove anything, since the sand probably belonged to the Hastings Beds.’
[2560] Mem. Geol. Survey,—The Geology of the Weald, p. 304. Topley goes on to point out that F. H. Appach, in C. J. Caesar’s Brit. Expeditions, &c., p. 16, adopted a theory which had been originally put forward by James Elliott, but had been discovered by Elliott himself to be erroneous, attributing ‘the silting up of the area’ to ‘the presence of some supposed islands of Hastings Sand near Romney’.
[2561] Mem. Geol. Survey,—The Geology of the Country between Folkestone and Rye, pp. 19-20.
[2562] See p. 543, n. 1, infra.
[2563] See p. 62, supra.
[2564] See p. 543, infra.
[2565] See Proc. Inst. Civil Engineers, xl, 1875, pp. 69-70.
[2566] Ib., pp. 109, 111. Lord Avebury, who refers to this paper in The Scenery of England, 3rd ed., 1904, p. 152, reports Sir Joseph Prestwich’s views as to the movement of shingle incorrectly. Prestwich considered it ‘well established’ that the general movement of the shingle along our south coast was eastward, although in the west bay of Portland it travels in the opposite direction.
[2567] C. Roach Smith, Report on Excavations ... at Lymne, 1852, p. 41.