SHOREHAM, a seaport in the Lewes parliamentary division of Sussex, England, near the mouth of the river Adur, 6 m. W. of Brighton on the London, Brighton & South Coast railway. Pop. of urban district of New Shoreham (1901), 3837. The town is sometimes known as New Shoreham, in distinction from the village of Old Shoreham, a mile up the river, which was the former port. The church of St Mary the Virgin lacks almost the entire nave, but the remainder shows fine work ranging from Norman to Early English. Of no less interest is the church of St Nicholas, Old Shoreham, a cruciform Norman structure retaining some remarkable early woodwork. There are public gardens containing a museum and theatre. The trade of the small port is chiefly in coal, corn and timber. Shipbuilding is also carried on. The important public boys’ school of St Nicholas, Lancing, near Shoreham, is part of a wide scheme which within Sussex includes the middle-class school at Hurstpierpoint, that for sons of tradesmen, &c., at St Saviour’s, Ardingly, and the girls school of St Michael’s, Bognor. The scheme was originated by the Rev. N. Woodward in 1849.
It seems probable that soon after the Conquest the increasing prosperity of New Shoreham (Soresham, Sorham, Schorham) resulted in the decay of Old Shoreham, and that the borough grew up within the former. Shoreham owed its early importance to the natural harbour formed by the river Adur. In the time of the Confessor it was held by Azor of the king, but in 1066 was among the lands granted to William de Braose. From here Charles II. escaped to Fécamp after the battle of Worcester, 1651. It became a port of great consequence in the 13th and 14th centuries, but in the 15th and following centuries was much reduced, doubtless owing to the encroachment of the sea. The port revived during the reign of George III., when acts were passed for securing and improving the harbour. Shoreham was called a borough in 1236. In 1308 there was a mayor, and the “mayor and bailiffs of Shoreham” are mentioned in a Close Roll of 1346, but no charter of incorporation is known. The town adopted the Local Government Act of 1858 in 1866. It returned two members to parliament from 1295 until it was disfranchised in 1885. In the reign of Edward I., William de Braose held at Shoreham by prescriptive right weekly markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a two-days’ fair at the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. In 1792 the market-day was Saturday and a fair was held on the 25th of July, but these are not now held. Shipbuilding has always been the chief industry, and was largely carried on in the 13th and 14th centuries.
SHORING (from “shore,” a prop), an operation connected
with building. It is often necessary before actual building is
begun to support adjoining premises while the work of excavating
for underground apartments is being carried out. The art of
shoring comprises the temporary support of buildings, and may
become necessary because of the failure or settlement of some
portion of the structure or for the purpose of upholding the upper
portion while alterations are being made in the lower. There are
several different forms of shoring, each adapted to suit peculiar
circumstances. Much of the shoring for ordinary cases is done
with heavy, roughly sawn timbers strongly braced together,
but for especially heavy work steel members may be introduced
and prove of great value. There is the trouble in Connexion with
their use, however, that Connexions between steel members are
not made with the same facility as between pieces of timber.
Fig. 1.
The form of shore in most general use is that known as the raking shore. It consists of one or more timbers sloping from the face of the structure to be supported and bedded upon the ground, As the ground is usually of a more or less yielding nature, a stout timber plate termed a sole-piece, of sufficient area to withstand being driven into the soil, is placed to receive the base of the raking timber or timbers. A wall-plate, with the object of increasing the area of support, is fixed to the face of the wall by means of hooks driven into the wall. Where space is available an angle of 60° is the best to adopt for the main shore, the auxiliary members ranging in their slope from 45° to 75°. In many cases, especially in towns, the angle of slope is governed by outside influences such as the width of the footway. Raking shores are erected in “systems” of two or more members placed in the same vertical plane at right angles to the face of the wall. The different members rise fanwise from the sole-plate to support the wall at different points. The distance horizontally between the systems depends on the condition of the building being propped up, and also upon the spacing of its window and other openings. The usual spacing is 10 ft. or 15 ft. apart, but this distance has often to be varied according to the positions of the openings in the wall. The application of the shores should be carefully made and support given only where there is a corresponding thrust inside, such as from a floor or roof, as without this the shore is liable to act more as a destructive agent than a supporting one, and cause the wall to cave in at that point, or placed against a parapet wall it might have the effect of pushing it over. The members, therefore, should be so placed as to meet the wall at a point somewhat below the floor or roof, so that if their length were continued they would meet and support the end of the floor or roof inside. Perhaps the best idea of the positions and functions of the various component parts of a system of raking shores can be obtained from a description of the various members, coupled with some little study of the illustrations (fig. 1). The names of the different timbers are therefore set out here, and against each part is given a short description of its use and position.
Fig. 2.
Raking Shore, or Raker.—This is a piece of timber sloping up from the sole-plate to the wall-piece. For a detail drawing of the connexion between the raker and wall-plate see fig. 2. The top and longest shore is often formed in two pieces, in which form it can be more conveniently handled. The upper piece is termed the riding shore or rider, and the lower member which supports it is known as the back shore. At the junction of the rider and back shore a pair of folding wedges is introduced and driven in to give the head of the rider a firm bearing against the needle and wallplate above. The sole-piece has already been mentioned as the timber base upon which the shores take their bed or bearing. It usually consists of a piece of 11 by 3 plank, but when the ground is soft or the load supported very great it should be bedded on a platform of timber to spread the weight over a large area. The sole should be placed sloping down towards the building at something less than a right angle (say 80°) with the inside of the shore to enable the latter to be gradually levered to a firm bearing with the aid of a crowbar. Wedging should not be resorted to or the already shaky building may sustain further injury through the vibration. When in position the foot of the shore is fixed by dog-irons to the sole piece, and for additional security a cleat is spiked on the sole tight up to the shore to prevent any slipping.
Braces.—When more than one shore takes a bearing upon the sole-piece the feet of the several members are stiffened and braced either by having rough boarding nailed right across them or by being bound together with a number of rounds of hoop-iron. For further strength also braces of 1-in. boards, 6 to 9 in. wide, are taken across from the wall-plate to the topmost shore and spiked to each intervening member, binding the whole together. These braces should be fixed a little below the junctions of the heads of the shores with the wall-plate. The wall-plate has already been referred to. It is usually a deal 9 in. wide by 3 in. thick, secured tightly against the face of the wall with wrought-iron wall hooks, forming a good abutment for the shores and serving to spread the support
