The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-04-07
Titles give the distance az half n mile :
THAN it is at present.
WALES is LOSING GROUND RAJ
INV

WALES is LOSING GROUND RAP
Proceeding northward into Wales,
we find almost a parallel to this eno=.
NOUS loss of territory in the calami;g
lat he spot now known as Sarn Bad
Irig in the sixth century. This sandy
elevation Is y miles from the coast.
and was formerly an embankment
raised TO protect the Loyland Hun
Idred from the e-ncroachments OF the
sea Owing to the drunken careless
ness Of the custodian Of this huge
Idike, the waters rushed i'm and deyas-
Itated the whole country, which then
contained no fewer than II fortified
Towns.
On the east coast the losses in land,
particularly i'll modern times, have
been most severe You will look in
vain on the largest scale modern map
flor the lost city OF Rayensburgh. II
was at this fiourishing seaport that
Henry ". landed I'm 1890. The town
sent two members to parliament, II
Twas bigger and more important thar
iHull. With RavensDurgh disappeared
Ialso many villages and a large tract
Iof territory.
Destruction of land once fertile and
ipopulous is characteristic of the whole
lcOast from Surn Head to BridlingtCn.
THE sea never ceases to gain on the
Hand. The ancient church of kilnsca
disappeared, half of it, in 1896 and tie
rest i'll 1881. The town preceded it.
Marlborough church has been destroy
led by the sea and the castle of Grill-
|ston has vanished. Mapleton church.
NOW topping on the cliff, was formerly
two miles away. In the vicinity Of
lHOldernesS the annual loss is 80 acres.
\ mile or two out at sea is the site
lOf Old WithernSea church and village.
lSeatOn. in Durham, formerly Il popu-
llOuS town, has Shrunk inland almost
ito vanishing point. in the sands a.
low tide may be see traces of the
old town, but not ever Il vestige re
mains of the ancient chapel of st.
Thomas a-Becket, the pride of the dis
Itrict. At Seaton Shook, two miles TO
the south, there are yet visible, OF
were a few years ago, the remains OF
Notifications built in 1861 at the
mouth of the river.
Every student of English history
uo IiCd1u VI SuuISh hu'N
witch was once the capital of East
Anglia. 1t was strongly fortified and
boosted of 60 churches and a mint.
Only one of these churches today re
lmains. All Saints and the adjoining
monastery, now in ruins, Once far to
the westward of b town, are now On
the edge of the cliff. Some idea of til
|rapidity of devastation by the sea at
this point may be given by quoting
the chronicles of Edward Ills reign,
(which shows that at Dunwich 400
houses were swept away in a single
year. Between 1885 and 1900 four
churches disappeared. In 1917 the sea
forced it's way into Dunwich market
|place. In 1892 st. Peters church be-
came undermined, and vas followed
lin 1920 by the c~hurchyard. In another
not a remnant of this once
thriving town of Dunwich remained.
The present church at Walton-ou-
the Maze, in Essex, replaces a former
ione swept away by the waves. The
|sea is gaining at d rapid rate on this
of the coast, it's ravageS being
assisted by alluvial springs, which
contribute to the loosening of the soil.
Ill LIlc Oiu COUlltS lCCOluS II 10 oIoSSu
that one of the prebendS of st. PaulS
was endowed with lands at Waltoi,
but the sea has consumed or devOurcl
them long ago.
Reculver church, near Herne Bay,
was, in the reign of Henry Will, over
a mile from the sea. In 1880 the reLl-
|nants of it's masonry were falling
upon the beach. Only a sea wall has
saved the spires, which are maintain
ed by Trinity House to serve as Il
to sailors. At BognOr n
can, or could till quite recently, see
rocks two miles from land known to
have been a part of the mainland not
SO many years ago. Beachy Head was
once two miles from the coast. CON-
'petent authorities declare that the loss
by coast erosion in England is not
less than 10000 acres a year, the aver
age at certain periods being, OF course.
much greater than this.
Biologists who have been studying
this question, which threatens Tao
very existence of the English-speah-
ing nation in it's original home, have
reported alarming statements to the
government. To sum up these gen-
I'll dI StdleIIltllS lHIO jim SolISlSC SIc
tome of the general situation, it seems
that science, peering into the future
and calculating with minute car the
resistance of the English coast against
the terrific power of the waves, has
estimated that within another thOi-
sand years little will remain of the is
land of Great Britain except the tow
ering peaks of the mountainous ranges
lying north of the River SOlway. This
means that the kingdom of England
would, in the year Of u Lord 1900.
be expected. through the workings OF
d relentless and inevitable natural law,
to have gone the way of many other
lost kingdoms of the sea. But it mu,t
not be supposed that the English pco-
pie and English government proposed
to supinely-submit to have the historic
home of the English-speaking people,
who now form a large majority Of the
so-called civilized nations of the earth.
beneath the waters.
AI,oaIr fha nororpnopt iS nranar-