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GEOLOGY Of late years the cliffs at Covehithe and Easton Bavent have suffered much, 5 or 6 yards a year having been removed at the former place, and as much as 10 yards a year (1889-95) ^t the latter place.' Southwold, Pakefield aad Kirkley have likewise lost, while at Dunwich there has been less waste during recent years. It is considered likely that Easton Bavent was the most easterly part of England at the time of the Roman occupation. Felixstow has suffered a good deal of loss, partly owing to the digging in former years of cement stones from the London Clay, a pro- cess as detrimental as that of the indiscriminate removal of shingle from Landguard Point. Excepting in important residential or industrial districts there seems little hope of preserving the coast, for, as remarked by Mr. W. H. Wheeler, when the land is used for agricultural purposes and is of ordinarily fertile character, the cost of the preservation of the cliffs may be greater than the value of the land.'^ The beach deposits are for the most part shingly, as there are considerable masses of pebbly gravel in the cliffs, and the waste is con- tinually supplying material, the general trend of which is to the south. Sands however occur from Gorleston to Lowestoft, and to a variable extent onwards to Southwold, while shingle occurs mainly to the south. Flint pebbles are most abundant in the beaches, but many carnelians are met with, derived no doubt from the Glacial Drifts. Land has been gained and lost at Lowestoft. The Ness, now the most easterly point of England, extends in front of an old sea cliff, and comprises hillocks of blown sand and patches of shingle, forming a tract known as the Denes. During recent years this tract has suffered loss. The great shingle beach of Orford Ness extends southwards from Alde- burgh, and has diverted the Ore or Aide some ten miles from its original outlet, Orford Haven, which was nearly opposite the castle in the time of Henry VIIL^" Blown sand is not very prominently developed on the Suffolk coast. We find low hillocks between Landguard and Felixstow, also north of Aldeburgh, and others 8 to 10 feet high, bordering the marsh of Minsmere Level. Much sand is blown inland from the loose sands in the cliffs between Gunton and Gorleston, and this greatly influences the soil along the sea borders. Suffolk possesses no remarkable mineral waters. Chalybeate springs have been observed here and there, but none have attained any fame ; indeed, the only noteworthy wells are those dedicated to saints. There is perhaps no part of Suffolk from which small supplies of water could not locally be obtained, whether from spring, brook or shallow well. Consequently in early times settlements became scattered all over the 1 Whitaker, 'Geology of Southwold' (1887), pp. 45, 47 ; Capt. H. Alexander, Proc. Geo/. Soc. iii. 445 ; J. Spiller, Geo/. Mag. (1896), p. 23. ' 'The Sea Coast' (1902), p. 2. ' J. B. Redman, Proc. Inst. Cir. Eng. xxiii. 1 86 ; see also Proc. Suffolk Inst. Arc/i. x. 215. 29