The British Islands: their physical geography and natural history

Front matter

T1I1S WEaiXD OF SUSSEX. THE BRITISH ISLANDS: W$m HJjgsital (iSeograpJjjr anU Hafmal Pislcrrg. BY THE REV. THOMAS MIL NEE, m.a. AUTHOR OF "A UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY," **THE HISTORY OF ENOLAND," ETC. LONDON: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY: 56, PATEENOSTEB E0W, 65, ST. PAUL'S CHUBCHYAED, AND 164, PICCADILLY. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. PA OK THE BRITISH ARCHIPELAGO — GEEAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 1 CHAPTEE II. THE SUBORDINATE INHABITED ISLANDS . . .20 CHAPTEE III. THE SEAS AND SHORES 50 CHAPTEE IV. THE GREAT GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS . . . .81 CHAPTEE V. HIGHLAND AND LOWLAND REGIONS . . . .119 CHAPTEE VI. THE INLAND WATERS VI CONTENTS. CHAPTEE VII. PAOE THE CLIMATE 1SG CHAPTEE VIII. GENERAL BOTANICAL FEATURES 212 CHAPTEE IX. CENERAL ZOOLOGICAL FEATURES 250 CHAPTEE X. MODERN GEOLOGICAL CHANCES 2S7 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE The Weald of Sussex .... {Frontispiece) Land's End 65 The Giant's Causeway 80 The. Pass of Glencoe 118 Grasmere 156 London Bridge during the Winter of 1S13-14 . 1S7 Beeches at Burnham, Buckinghamshire 213 Britain in the Post-Phocene Age . . .251 THE BRITISH ISLANDS.

Chapter I

THl. UllITISH ARCHIPELAGO GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. Introductory Remarks — Progress of Investigation — Ordnance Survey — Position of the Archipelago — Range of Latitude — Inferior Range of tnt Main Area and Population — Length of the Longest Day — Bright Mid summer Nights — A Naturalist in Sutherlandshire — Exaggerations of the Ancients'— Difference of Longitude — Great Britain — Extent and Area — Form and Circuit — Ireland — Favourable Natural Circumstances — Centre of the Laud Hemisphere— Influential Position. Great Britain, Ireland, and numerous subordinate isles adjacent, isolated or arranged in groups, compose the British Archipelago, and with the Channel islands, off the coast of France, constitute the home terri tory of the United Kingdom. This portion of the globe is of special interest as our native land ; and is equally entitled to attention on general grounds.

Though a comparatively small portion of the earth's surface — a speck upon the world's chart — it is the seat of one of the most powerful of existing nations, and the original home of the predominating state on the Trans- J*- B Atlantic continent, the United States of America ; a scene of unsurpassed commercial activity, and grand mechanical inventions ; the centre of authority to an empire upon which the sun never sets ; and a source of influence to almost every inhabited region ; while, as its highest distinction, some of the noblest productions of literature, discoveries in science, and efforts to extend the rule of Christianity in the earth have had their birth-place within its bounds. The character, temperament, and habits of mankind are in no slight degree influenced by the physical cir cumstances in which they live, comprising geographical position, the quality of the soil, the arrangement of the surface, and the conditions of climate.

External nature may .tend to invigorate health, excite the imagin ation, and quicken salutary feelings by an ever fresh ened atmosphere and a strikingly diversified scenery ; or retard bodily and mental development by unhealthi ness, and an aspect of dreary monotonousness. It may contribute to train up a manly race, endowed with industry, ingenuity, and energy, by stringently con necting subsistence with labour, while attaching a rich reward to strenuous efforts, in regions favoured with temperate sunbeams and refreshing breezes ; or it may foster physical, intellectual, and moral enervation by a relaxing climate, with those ever-blooming land scapes where exuberant fertility renders cultivation superfluous, or divests it of all toil. Hence the philo sophic historian duly estimates whatever is distinguish ing in the localities of nations, while discussing their character and tracing their career.

It is unquestionably the case that the position of our territory, surrounded on every hand by the great high way of nations, the ocean, and at no point far distant from its tide, along which products are readily received and exchanged with all parts of the world — a climate neither sultry nor severe — and vast stores of mineral wealth, not to be gained without the exercise of great industry, but, when won, forming the implements or materials of most important manufactures — are some of the main sources of British eminence. It is fur ther true, that without a monopoly of natural advan tages, there is no other district of corresponding extent, at present known, which possesses in such variety, abundance, and juxtaposition, the material elements of prosperity. Hence as nations have not been scat tered at random, but have been planted by a controlling Providence, the British Christian will thankfully ac knowledge the hand of God in casting his lot where nature offers so few impediments to personal comfort, and affords so many facilities for the various employments which provide subsistence to multitudes within narrow bounds, and seldom fail to realize a competent return to honest industry and integrity.

The history of our Island Home, in all its aspects, belongs almost entirely to the modern age. We have knowledge of various countries obtained from written documents and well-preserved monuments, which illus trate to some extent their condition at a very remote antiquity. This is the case with reference to the sunny regions on the shores of the Mediterranean and in the basin of the Euphrates — Ital)-, Greece, Phœnicia, Palestine, Egypt, Persia, Babylonia, and Assyria. But at the period to which such notices refer, Britain — at present perhaps the most popularly known country on the fa_e of the globe — had no observer within the pale of civilization, and was either completely abandoned to the bear, the wolf, and the beaver, overspread with forests of pine and oak, intermingled with impassable morasses, or was occupied by a few barbarian hordes, who had no concern about any object beyond the bound of their sensible horizon, except the game and fish that might be encountered and taken.

Though its inhabitants received some slight notice before the Christian era, yet for many centuries afterwards, the chronicles of life within its borders are meagre of in formation, and long intervals elapsed without a chronicle at all. Its full and accurate civil history begins at a much later date, and the careful elucidation of its natural history is in some departments httle more than half a century old. It can scarcely fail to excite surprise to read the account given by Sir Joseph Bauks of his visit to Fiugal's cave in Staffa, — a locality now well-known by name and description to almost every school-boy in the kingdom, and regularly visited in summer by a steamer for the accommodation of tourists. He was in its neighbourhood in the year 1772, a date to which some existing lives go back, but had never heard of the great natural curiosity.

Two resident landowners in the adjoining island of Mull seemed to know nothing of the place, or at least they did not deem it sufficiently wonderful to be mentioned to the inquisitive stranger. At last he encountered an Englishman, travelling hke himself, who gave information of an island where he believed no one even in the Highlands had ever been, in which were pillars like those of the Giant's Cause way. This was enough for the enterprising naturalist, vvho immediately sought the indicated spot, explored its grand basaltic temple, took measurements, and drew up a report respecting its striking characteristics which had been for ages unadmired and undescribed. Staffa is indeed mentioned by Buchanan, but only in a very cursory manner. Sir Joseph Banks was the disccverev, little more than eighty years ago, of this great attraction to the British public.

In fact, at that period a very considerable portion of Scotland, the northern half, with its coasts and islands, was only indefinitely known to the southerns as a region of wild mountains, bleak moors, dense mists, endless lakes, and bare-legged savages. Political and social circumstances had con tributed to this non-acquaintanceship — such as the lav less state of the Highlands, and the want of roads — down to the pacification of the country after the rebel lions in favour of the Stuarts, which was not fully effected till George ______ . was king. Since the period referred to, and especially during the last half century, while knowledge has made pro digious advances with reference to the natural features of foreign countries, those of our own land have been carefully noted. Nor is there now any region respect ing which such a comprehensive collection of facts of undoubted accuracy has been made in relation to its physical phenomena as in the instance of the United Kingdom.

This result has been obtained by means cf government surveys, the efforts of scientific bodies, and the enterprise of private individuals. By the Ordnance or trigonometrical survey of the Kingdom, conducted by officers belonging to that department of the government, originally begun for military but carried on for purely civil purposes, we have the de tails of tlie surface as to area, contour, and the position of places, exhibited with singular minuteness and accuracy. The results of the Irish survey, which commenced iu the year 1825 and was finished in 1842, occupy the very large number of 1,907 sheets of maps, the whole of which were engraved and published by the year 1846, at an outlay upon the whole work considerably exceeding three-quarters of a million sterling. These maps are on the scale of six inches to a mile, and each measures three feet by two.

Their gross area amounts to 11,000 square feet ; and if the several sheets were properly united and hung up, they would form a single monster map 180 feet wide and 140 feet high. The topography, industry, antiquities, and social arrangements of the sister island are graphically exhibited. The names and the boundary lines of counties, baronies, parishes, and tovmlands ; the names and features of cities, market-towns, and villages ; the localities of parish-churches, ruins, round-towers, forts, parks, man sions, and farms; of rivers, brooks, bogs, marshes, canals, bridges, and wells ; of mines, quarries, collieries, lime-kilns, forges, and large factories are all delineated. This extraordinary representation of the surface could only be obtained originally at the cost of about 1,000/. ; and even at the present reduced price, which amounts to about 200/., it is quite out of the reach of the pub lic, except in detached sheets which may be had for comparatively small sums.

The results of the governmental survey in relation to England, Wales, and Scotland have since appeared, but are given upon a far inferior scale, that of one inch to a mile, yet more convenient for general and especially for travelling use. But the delineation of tbe entire surface of the United Kingdom, on the larger as well as the smaller plan, is in process, and rapidly advancing to completion. Special maps illustrate the course of principal rivers, with that of their tribu taries, and indicate the places within the area of their respective basins. This is a recent and highly valuable addition made to a great national undertaking. A geological survey of the country, under a different department of the government, that of Science and Art, was commenced in the year 1832, and has been under the superintendence of Sir Henry de la Beche and Sir Roderick Murchison.

By colouring on the Ordnance maps and by sections, the composition of the surface is shown, the order and position of strata, with the special view of promoting mining industry, agricultural and manufacturing chemistry. While the inorganic features of the surface have thus been examined, or are in course of examination, the phenomena of the atmosphere and the details of organic life within our borders have been studied with equal precision. By an annually increasing number of meteorological stations, established in connexion with the seats of the nobility and gentry-, as well as by public authority, at suitable points, a mass of data has been collected in relation to temperature, the rain-fall, the force and direction of the wind, with other atmospheric conditions. Such details are not merely of interest to the scientific, but of importance to the practical purposes of hfe ; for meteorology has an intimate bearing upon agriculture, navigation, and the multiform ar rangements of society.

These and similar observations in other countries, continued for a series of years, will form a foundation for important conclusions respecting the atmosphere, showing it to be obedient in all its changes to the rule of law, and not the emblem of caprice or uncertainty. The indigenous forms of animal and vegetable life have also been carefully described by pro fessed and amateur naturalists, who have furnished a series of systematic works, admirably illustrated, devoted to the quadrupeds, reptiles, insects, birds, fishe5. Crustacea, mollusca, zoophytes, and other occupants of the land and water. From this ample stock of materials some of the more important and interesting particulars are gleaned in the following pages, which are designed to give a popular yet definite and comprehensive view of era- Natural History in its various departments.

The British Archipelago is situated to the north-west of the European continent, opposite to the shores of France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Southern Norway, from which it is separated by the English Channel and the North Sea. The nearest approach to the mainland is made at the south-east angle of Eng land, where the distance is only about twenty miles from Folkestone in Kent to Cape Grisnez in France. In clear weather the cliffs of Dover and Calais, with a long line of the two coasts, are respectively visible across the interveningwaters ; and in bright sunshine the chalk rocks on both sides of the strait are conspicuous objects. This visible proximity has been of no mean historical importance, for in all probability it stimulated the expedition of Cæsar to our shores, from which the introduction of civilization to Britain subsequently arose, with the first publication of Christianity to its inhabitants.

With all his boldness, it is extremely unlikely, that the Roman general would have embarked his legions upon the deep had there been no apparent boundary to its billows, and if he had merely the reports of barbarian natives to rely upon, that there was land in the distance. But the prize being in view con tributed to remove doubt from the adventure, and to lessen the fear of danger. The relation in latitude, of the insular to the continental territories may be shown by naming a few places under nearly the same parallels, as Ramsgate and Ostend, Harwich and Rotterdam, Lowestoft and Amsterdam, Boston and the Texel, the mouths of the Humber and the Elbe, Berwick upon-Tweed and Copenhagen, Aberdeen and Riga, Kirkwall in the Orkneys and Stockholm, Lerwick in the Shetlands and St. Petersburg. In the opposite direction, or westward, the Atlantic Ocean rolls upwards of sixteen hundred miles of open water between the shores of Ireland and Scotland and the coast of Labra dor on the continent of North America.

The British Isles, including the Channel group, range from Jersey, the most southerly, in latitude 49° 13', to Unst, the most northerly of the Shetlands, in 60° 49', thus extending through 1 1 degrees. But the great proportion of the country, and the vast majority of the population have a much less latitudinal range. A line running along the 55th parallel, divides the islands into two portions of 5^ degrees each, extending north and south of it. North of the line is the main mass of Scotland, with its dependent isles, and small sections of the north of England and Ireland. South of the line is the main mass of England and Wales, with nearly the whole of Ireland, and their bordering islets. The territory in the northern portion comprises about 21,500,001) acres, and in the southern 5G,900,000 acres, while the amount of population is in the ratio of about one on the north side to eight on the south.

Owing to difference of latitude, the sun, at the summer solstice, is three hours longer above the horizon at the northern extremity than at the southern. The midsummer day extends to about IG hours in our southern localities, and to 19 hours in the most northern, leaving an interval varying from eight to sive hours for the length of our midsummer night. But this interval is, astronomically speaking, one of twilight only, for as the sun then dips to a comparatively small extent below tbe horizon, his rays continue to reach the upper re gions of the atmosphere, and light is transmitted to us from thence by reflection through the whole period from sunset to sunrise. The interval is also very sen sibly one of bright twilight, in favourable states of the weather, in the northern parts of the kingdom, owing to the depression of the sun below the horizon being less than in the southern.

In the latitudes of Inverness, A\ rick, Kirkwall, and Lerwick, when the sky is tolerably clear of clouds, reading, writing, needlework, and other delicate occupations may be performed by the aid of the natural light, at hours which appear extraordi narily late to visitors from the south of England, even when the time-piece is marking the close of one day and the commencement of another. "At midnight," says a correspondent at Balta Sound in the Shetlands, "on the 21st of June, I have often read such print as ' Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.' " Little distinction is made by many of the feathered tribes between day and night. Mr. St. John, a naturalist, in the record of a tour in Sutherlandshire, remarks: — "The nights at this season are most enjoyable ; in fact, there is no darkness. I went out of the inn at midnight, and was much amused at hearing the different cries of the birds.

Close to the door is a small inclosed clump of larch, where the grass aud weeds are very high and rank. In this little patch it seems that a sedge warbler had made her nest. All day long had the male bird been singing to his mate, and now at midnight he was still uttering unceasingly his merry note. Towards the loch a con stant tumult was kept up among the waders and waterfowl. High in the air was heard the common snipe, earning his Gaelic name of ' air goat ' by his incessant bleating cry ; while redshanks, curlews, golden plovers, and peewits, all seemed to be as lively as if it had been noon instead of midnight. Occasionally, too, both wid geon and teal were heard to whistle each after its own peculiar fashion, and the quack of the common mallard was also constant. Now and then a note expressive of alarm was uttered by some bird, and immediately a dead silence was kept by the whole community for a few moments, but this was soon succeeded by greater noise than ever."

The fact of our summer nights being brief and bright was reported to the south Europeans in early times but with much exaggeration. It was one of the first circumstances in relation to northern countries of which the ancients had any knowledge. Pytheas, a Greek navigator of Marseilles, who flourished prior to the age of Alexander the Great, reached Britain, called Albion, or Al-fionn, that is, the " White Land," by the inhabitants. Following the southern and eastern shores, he arrived at Thule, of which he is said to have affirmed, that at the summer solstice the sun did not set for four and twenty hours. This place has been identified with Jutland in Denmark, where there is a district anciently called Thiu-land ; also with the southern coast of Norway, a portion of which once bore the name of Thule-mark ; and with our own Shetlands.

But the statement is not true of these positions, or of any place without the arctic circle. Probably the Greek navigator heard of the phenomenon in relation to localities lying further north than t'hose he visited, and ventured to apply it to the lands he saw, struck with the short and bright summer nights he actually witnessed. Tacitus repeated the error. In his Life of Agricola, the historian remarks, that "in the farthest parts of Britain the nights are so clear that you can hardly tell when daylight begins or ends, and when the sky is not overcast with clouds, you may see all night long the light of the sun, which does not rise or go down, but moves quite round." Pliny more correctly observes, " The longest day in Italy is of fifteen hours, in Britain of seventeen, where during summer the nights are clear."

The British Isles lie between the meridian of 1° 4 si' east and 10° 30' west longitude. The former is that of Lowestoft Ness, on the coast of Suffolk ; the latter that of the Blasquet islands off the coast of Kerry. There is thus a difference between the eastern and western points of 12° lsi' of longitude. This is equal to a difference of 49 minutes of time, for the sun appears to move from east to west over the length of one degree ot longitude in exactly four minutes, owing to the rotation of the earth upon its axis from west to east. Thus the fishermen on the coast of Suffolk have sunrise and sun set 49 minutes earlier than the inhabitants of the western shores of Ireland. The lengths of the degrees of longitude vary with the latitude, diminishing as we recede from the equator towards the poles, where they converge to a point.

Eng. Miles. In lat. 0°, or at the Equator, a decree of longitude is about f?J In lat. 50°. the extreme south of England, it is 4U In lat. 54°. nearly that of York 40| In lat. f>6Q, about that of Edinburgh 38T% In lat. 58". the north of Scotland S6£ It will therefore be seen, that at the equator the sm. appears to pass over sixty-nine and a half miles in four minutes, or rather more than seventeen miles in one minute, at which rate the earth rotates in equatorial regions ; in the south of England, the rate of rotation is forty-four miles in four minutes, or eleven in one ; about the middle of Great Britain, latitude 54°, it is ten miles a minute, and in the north of Scotland nine. Great Britain, the largest island of Europe, and the most important on the face of the globe, consists of two chief divisions, England and Wales on the south, and Scotland on the north.

They formerly constituted poli tically distinct kingdoms, and are to some extent natu rally distinct districts. The southern portion is the most extensive, level, and fruitful • the northern is smaller, more mountainous, aud comparatively less fer tile. They differ also vastly in their geological structure. Crystalline non-fossiliferous rocks prevail in the north, while the country to the south is characterized by the predominance of secondary and tertiary fossili ferous formations. The entire island extends from Dunnet Head in Caith ness, the north extremity of Scotland, lat. 58° 40', to the Lizard Point in Cornwall, the most southerly part of England 49° 57', and from Lowestoft Ness in Suffolk, long. 1° 46' east to Ardnamurchan Point in Argyleshire, si° 8' west. Owing to the general direction of the land being north by west, no line can be drawn, due north and south, intersecting the whole surface.

The meridian of 2° w., which passes over the centre of England, from Poole on the Dorset coast to Berwick-upon-Tweed, scarcely touches Scotland at all. The greatest distance that can be travelled in a straight line without crossing any portion of the sea, is from south-east to north-west, or from Rye in Sussex to Cape Wrath in Sutherland shire, an extent of 580 miles. The next greatest direct linear extent is from south-west to north-east, or from the Land's End to Winterton Ness, in Norfolk, amounting to 367 miles. Due east and west, the greatest breadth occurs near the parallel of 52°, or between the Naze in Essex and St. David's Head in Pembrokeshire, which measures about 280 miles. The greatest breadth of Scotland is 146 miles, from Rowanmoan Point in Ross-shire to Buchan Ness in Aberdeenshire.

But deep indentations of the opposite coasts remarkably contract the breadth of the whole island at various points. Thus between the head of Morecambe Bay in Lancashire and the mouth of the Tees, between Durham and Yorkshire, the distance is 70 miles ; between the head of the Solway Firth and the coast of Northumberland, it is 62 miles ; between tbe Firths of the Clyde and Forth it is 33 miles ; and the north extremity of Scotland is almost insulated by the Dornock Firth on the east coast approaching within 24 miles of Loch Broom on the west. The total area amounts to 89,005 square miles, of which 50,922 belong to England, 30,685 to Scotland, and 7,398 to Wales. An idea of this extent as a whole, and the relative size of the respective parts may be best conveyed by having recourse to simple geometrical figures.

Thus adopting the figure of a perfect square, the area of England is equal to one of 226 miles to the side; Scotland to one of 177 miles; Wales to one of 86 miles ; and the whole of Great Britain to a square of 299 miles to the side. Or adopting the figure of a circle, the area of England is equal to one with a radius of 127 miles ; Scotland to one of 1 00 miles ; Wales to one of 49 miles ; and the whole of Great Britain to a circle with a radius of 1C9 miles. Cæsar compared the form of the island to a triangle ; and gave its circuit at 2000 miles. This amounts to little more than 1800 Enghsh miles, reducing the Roman measure to our own standard. The resemblance is rude, but not very inapt. It has been commonly adopted, especially in relation to England and Wales, to which it is more appropriate.

The estimate of the circuit is erroneous. Measuring the direct distance between the three points of the triiingle — the apex at Dunnet Head and the extremities of the base line, or the Land's End and the South Foreland in Kent — the following is the result : Miles. From Dunnet Head to the Land's End 600 From the Land's End to the South Foreland 320 From the South Foreland to DunnetHead 540 1,460 But the entire extent of the coast-line following the sinuosities, is vastly in excess of this measurement, and enormous in proportion to the area, though it cannot be stated with precision, owing to the want of actual sur veys. In the annexed measurements, the inlets and estuaries have only been followed up to the termination of the broader parts of their openings. Miles. North Const. — From Cape Wrath to Duncansby Head 108 East Coast. — From Duncansby Head to the South Foreland 1,010 South Coast. — From the South Foreland to the Land's End... 448 West Coast.— From the Land's End to Cape Wrath 1,546 3,112 The circuit of the island, as determined by the penetra tion of the sea, or the true salt-water coast-line has a far greater extent ; and the line of tidal influence has a still wider range.

As an example in the above estimate, the estuary of the Thames is measured up to the Nore Light ; but the salt water comes up to Gravesend, and the tide ascends to Teddington, nearly nineteen miles above London bridge. Ireland, to the west of Great Britain, is separated from it by the Irish Sea, St. George's, and the North Channels. The opposite coasts approach within thirteen miles between Fair Head in the county of Antrim and the Mull of Cautire in Scotland. The nearest point to England is the coast of Down, about seventy miles from St. Bees Head in Cumberland ; aud the nearest to Wales is Greenore Point in Wexford, fifty-two miles from St. David's Head in Pembrokeshire. The north extremity of the island corresponds in latitude to that of the Coquet river at its mouth in Northumberland ; and the south to that of Bristol.

It has the general form of an oblique parallelogram, with the longest diagonal extending from Fair Head on the north-east to Mizen Head on the south-west, measuring somewhat more than 300 miles. But due north and south, the longest line, which coincides with the meridian of 8° w. extends about 230 miles, from Horn Head in Donegal to near Poole Head in Cork. In the direction east aud west, the greatest distance is 180 miles, from Achris Point in Galway to the coast between Dublin and Drogheda ; but indentations of the sea contract this breadth one half between Sligo and Dundalk. In fact, owing to the numerous bays and iulets on the coast, there is no part of the country more than fifty-five miles from the sea-mark. The area includes 32,513 square miles, of which upwards of 900 are covered with fresh-water lakes and rivers ; and the length of the coast-line, embracing the estuaries as far as the tide penetrates, is more than 2,000 miles.

Whether we consider the position on the earth's sur face, of the country we inhabit, or its relation to the great land masses of the globe, it is eminently true, that the Most High who divides " to the nations their inheritance," and determines the " bounds of their habitation," has placed us in circumstances highly favourable to comfort, security, prosperity, and extended usefulness. We are removed from the scorching heat of tropical regions, and the stiffening cold of the arctic zone ; and have the encircling ocean to moderate the warmth of summer, and render the winter comparatively mild by its uniform temperature. It is otherwise in continental districts, at no great distance from the sea, though under the same parallels of latitude, as the in terior of Germany and Russia, where the extremes of heat and cold, according to the seasons, are excessive.