of years, from 1877 onward, I watched the advance of the sea, and as the church tower was more and more often reached by the tides, its foundations were laid bare and attacked by the waves, till at last the tower fell.
Not only were the foundations of Eccles church exposed on the foreshore, but an old road across the marshes also appeared on the seaward side of the dunes, giving a still more exact idea of the former great influence of the chain of dunes in damping the oscillations of the tidal wave. The tide outside now rises and falls some 12 or 15 feet; on the marsh within its influence is only felt under exceptional circumstances. A road across the marsh at a level four or five feet below high-water, as this one stood, would still be passable, except during unusual floods.
Eccles Church is an excellent example of the way in which an ancient land-surface may now be found below the level of high-water, and yet no subsidence of the land has taken place. But this coast can give even more curious examples. It does not need a sand-dune to deaden the rise and fall of the tides; even a submerged bank will have much the same effect. Extensive submerged sand-banks extend parallel with the coast, protecting the anchorage known as Yarmouth Roads. These banks rise so nearly to the surface of the sea that not only do they protect the town and anchorage against the waves, they deaden
