The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

THE BASIN OF THE THAMES. 151
bouuded by a line dra-n-n from the North Forehmd through the Gunfleet beacon
to Harwich Naze.
The littoral region which bounds the estuary of the Thames to the north and
south has undergone frequent changes during the historical epoch. The sea
gains almost incessantly upon the coasts of SuflFolk and Norfolk, advancing at a
speed of 6 to 15 feet annually. Towns have been compelled to retreat inland,
and the old church of Eccles-by-the-Sea is now buried beneath sand piled up
by the waves.* Elsewhere changes of an opposite kind have taken place.
Estuaries have become silted up, and ancient seaport towns reduced into agri-
cidtural villages. Beccles, which had a much-frequented port in the fourteenth
centiuy, now lies 8 miles inland, and the trade which formerly was its own is
Fig. 83.
—
The Isle of Thanet.
Scale 1 : 206.000.
Depth under
5 Fathoms.