The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-12-09
Swallowed by the Sea.

Iuiel, dilu our experience 1uiIy cOrrOD-
CRATES him. Our English coasts have
been thoroughly ravaged by the relent-
less force OF this powerful element and
many are the towns and villages that
have fallen victims to its Unsuitable
nav. No doubt the sea has ALWAYS
been washing away our crumbling cliffs
and many traditions still linger of an
.cient cities and vast tracts of land, for
ever buried beneath the waves. Let us
recount a few. ''+ = '--''' 1.-+'sf
On the coast of Yorkshire, from Flam-
borough Head to Spurn Point, the dam
age done by the sea for ages has been
very extensive: Professor Phillips esti-
mates the loss of land at the rate of
about two and a quarter yards per year
on an average. Many villages have
been washed from it's shores. which are
now forgotten. On some of our old
maps we may read such items as s Hart
burn, washed away by the sea-
Hyde, lost in the sea;'' 'aHere stood
Auburn, which was washed away by the
sea- The Rev. r. Wilton, M. A., has
composed a graceful little poem on the
latter place. 1t is said that the ruins
OF Auburn are still to be seen opposite
I Auburn House. Bridlington Quay has
been subjected to many ravages; in
1887, after stormy weather, the whole
was a scene of ruin, houses being de-
I, stroyed and the north pier severed
from the land. Houses have frequently
E4been taken down to save them from
being swept into the sea-. Seventeen or
eighteen hundred years ago we are told
that a Roman villa of great proportions
stood on Filey Bay (their Felix Portus;)
how much remains of it now? Within
the last twenty years Professor Philips
tells us of the discovery of the traces of
a building on the very edge of the cliff,
yrudely paved, with corner stones NOR
ticed in the middle for upright posts {;
a central stonei the floor covered from
a foot to a foet and a half deep with the
bones of animals used for food; a great
amount of pottery, nearly all Roman;
/ coins and many other things. showing it
to have been a large residence luxuri-
ously kept, possibly part OF pretorium
Outhorne is another departed village.
In 1928 its churchyard remained with
only one tombstone, which the sea soon
claimed for it's own.r-..-r ~ e ..,,5s.....s
On the coast of Lincolnshire, the raw
ages of the sea, though not extensive,
have still been very considerable.
From ,Grimsby to Skegness there are
still many visible vestiges of subn1a-
rine forest. Dugdale, however, attrib-
[, uteS its submerSion to an earthquake.
Itterby Owle, and Clee Ness were so
despoiled and flooded that they origin
ated the local term, g Gone to Hum
ber."
At Thrunscoe, a church village and
seven hundred acres of land are said to
have disappeared. The old town of
Saltfeet is also said to have been de-
stroyed by the sea, and,r. near the low
water. mark stones have been found
which seemed to have belonged to
church. About sixty years ago fish
erman drew up a large bell-cIapper in
the meshes of his net. At Stain in
Mablethorpe, St. Peters Church and
4 the greater part of its parish were car
rieo away by the sea several centuries
ago; and its rectory valued in X. B., at
seven pounds ten shillings and two
pence, was consolidated with Theddle-
thorpe St, Helen's in 1745. The orig
inal church of the village of Trusthorpe
is SAID to have been washed away by
the sea three and have centuries ago.
Near Sutton in the Marsh and Huttoit,,
! there are again distinct traces of SUBJ
marine forest; at the former place a
great part of St. Clements is said to
have been washed away centuries ago
with its original church. At the low
est ebbs of the tide a great number of
islets and decayed trees may be seen.
When the late Sir Joseph Banks ex-
amined these islets-or clay huts as
they are sometimes called-the people
told him that their ancestors could dis
Germ the ruins of the old church at very
low water.
At Addlethorpe and Mablethorpe
traces of submarine forest are espec-
tally visible. Birch, fir and oak are the
trees which are the most distinguish
able; the soil in which they are fixed
and in which they grew is, soft,
greasy clay, above which is
stratum of decayed leaves and other
vegetable matter several inches thick.
DR.. de Sara agrees with Dugdale in at
tributing the overwhelming of this
forest to an earthquake, considering it
impossible for the trees and shrubs
found upon it to vegetate so near the
sea, and below the common level of the
water. Another writer, however, sug-
gests that it was probably embarked in
from the sea by the Romans, and that
after some centuries it was again over
flowed owing to the decay of the banks
for want of repairs, and the accumula-
ton of silt, which enriches and protects
. the marshes on the shores of the Wash.
Leland says of Skegness. it was once a
great 6 haven towne," with a castle and
surrounding wall, but it was "clene
consumed and eten up with the se.''
In digging well at Sutton it was
found that the upper stratum of clay,
accumulated by the deposit of the tides,
was sixteen feet thick, resting on
moory soil, similar to that in which the
trees of the submerged forest are found
Canoes have been found near the bed of
the Witham, and in the sandy valleys
between 1Gainesborough and Barton.
Another account says that Boston and
the neighborhood must at one time have
been sixteen or eighteen feet lower than
at present, and so sound and dry that