OBSERVATIONS UPON THE CLIFFS CONTINUED.—LAND-SPRINGS, THEIR INJURIOUS
EFFECTS, WITH PLAN TO COUNTERACT THEM.—REDUCTION OF THE CLIFFS CONSIDERED
ADVISABLE, ESPECIALLY WHERE GREAT IRREGULARITIES IN SAND DUNES EXIST,
WITH A PLAN TO INCREASE THEIR HEIGHT WHERE NECESSARY.
HAVING considered the cliffs with respect to the contour they present,
the different strata composing their structure, the injury they
experience from the atmospheric air, from drought, from heavy rains, from
severe and successive frosts, and from the formidable visitations of the
German Ocean against their base; yet, they possess an internal enemy
peculiar to themselves, which in certain localities is more formidable
than the ocean itself—these are the Land-springs previously alluded to.
To check their baneful influence is a task that requires consideration,
for although we know their existence, we cannot tell whether they arise
from a broad or a narrow surface, at a great depth, or at a considerable
distance from whence they are seen to issue; and although so serious in
their consequences, yet the extent arising from such contingencies, on
this part of the coast, is generally limited.
Wherever they abound, the cliffs ought, where practicable, to be reduced
from a perpendicular to an inclined plane; then let stakes, or rather
strong piles, be driven in a parallel direction to the extent required,
and sufficiently deep into the solid strata beneath, at short distances
one from another, with splines fastened horizontally, or what would be
preferable, strong wooden faggots interposed between the piles and the
cliffs, especially where the materials consist of a loose texture; these
would be found efficient, until a more natural, solid, and lasting
support could be obtained.
Great benefit might be derived by sinking wells on the inner or land side
of the cliffs, subjected to their influence; for at Trimingham, the loss
of four acres and a half of land, mentioned in a previous chapter, is
primarily attributed to a foolish individual, who a few months before
filled up three wells in the immediate neighbourhood.
The question now comes—would it not be advisable to remove generally,
where practicable, the taller, cliffs?—Possibly it would.
1st. The air in heavy gales of wind would not be so much condensed
against their base, and add so much weight to the waves when nearing the
shore as is now evidently the case, and the latter would be less liable
to disarrange the legitimate beach during its formation.
2ndly. Wherever land-springs abound, an egress for the fresh water would
ensue, without causing shoots of land to take place, where the former
exist beyond or rather above the reach of the stakes recommended, which
might retard the formation of the legitimate beach.
3rdly.—It will be decidedly applicable, where dunes or hills of blown
sand from their irregularity, produced from the north-east winds, are
reduced to an extent liable to admit an irruption of the sea, observable
at Eccles, Palling, &c.
And lastly. The application of a plough in a locality where such
fissures exist, upon the plan recommended in the ensuing chapter; and due
attention to the transplanting the marram {67} from time to time as
required, will accomplish the rest without directly interfering with the
land belonging to private individuals on the inner side of those banks.