Flaxman Charles John Spurrell

“ They are the result of the slow and creeping work of centuries. When the country was occupied by the Romans the low lands of the Thames were dry, that is not invaded with salt water. The river was fresh and very shallow, with meandering streams from the uplands adjacent. Large trees hundreds of years old, of such kinds as we have now growing, covered the bottoms and spread over the area of the present marshland, and everywhere are found Roman remains, pottery, and flint and chalk used in building. This level, which is a little below the Ordnance datum, may be called the Roman level. ”

“ A much more cautious method was the commoner, which consisted of running out a small bank from the shore a few yards and returning to the shore again, then from some point on that line other essays were made until a large area was enclosed. Not unfrequently the earlier banks were cleared away for material to be used up again. In some old deeds this was expressly prohibited. A row of old manor ways which have long been superseded when ending in a line may be seen to indicate the termination of the fresh marsh. Some of these ways are still called walls, though now levelled. ”

“ Of such are the 'Farthing,' 'Ham,' and 'Meads' walls at Cliffe. Not much enclosure is practised now, but the end of the last century saw some extensive efforts at re-embanking at Slayhill and Milford Hope. But with the wash of the sea consequent on the destruction of some islands which acted as breakwaters, little good can now come of such labours so far down. ”