Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

Five natural regions may be distinguished in the Eastern Division of
England, by no means so sharply marked off as those of the west, but
nevertheless quite clearly characterized. The first is the Jurassic
Belt, sweeping along the border of the Triassic plain from the south
coast at the mouth of the Exe to the east coast at the mouth of the
Tees. This is closely followed on the south-east by the Chalk country,
occupying the whole of the rest of England except where the Tertiary
Basins of London and Hampshire cover it, where the depression of the
Fenland carries it out of sight, and where the lower rocks of the
Weald break through it. Thus the Chalk appears to run in four
diverging fingers from the centre or palm on Salisbury Plain, other
formations lying wedge-like between them. Various lines of reasoning
unite in proving that the Mesozoic rocks of the south rest upon a mass
of Palaeozoic rocks, which lies at no very great depth beneath the
surface of the anticlinal axis running from the Bristol Channel to the
Strait of Dover. The theoretical conclusion has been confirmed by the
discovery of Coal Measures, with workable coal seams, at Dover at a
depth of 2000 ft. below the surface.

The Eastern Division is built up of parallel strata, the edges of the
harder rocks forming escarpments, the sheets of clay forming plains;
and on this account similar features are repeated in each of the
successive geological formations. The rivers exhibit a remarkably
close relation to the geological structure, and thus contrast with the
rivers of the Western Division. There are two main classes of
river-course--those flowing down the dip-slopes at right angles to the
strike, and cutting through opposed escarpments by deep valleys, and
those following the line of strike along a bed of easily eroded rock.
A third class of streams, tributary to the second, flows down the
steep face of the escarpments. By the study of the adjustment of these
rivers to their valleys, and of the relation of the valleys to the
general structure, Professor W. M. Davis has elaborated a theory of
river classification, and a scheme of the origin of surface-features
which is attractive in its simplicity. The Thames is the one great
river of the division, rising on the Jurassic Belt, crossing the Chalk
country, and finishing its course in the Tertiary London Basin,
towards which, in its prevailing west-to-east direction, it draws its
tributaries from north and south. The other rivers are shorter, and
flow either to the North Sea on the east, or to the English Channel on
the south. With the exception of the Humber, they all rise and pursue
their whole course within the limits of the Eastern Division itself.

The Eastern Division is the richest part of England agriculturally, it
is the part most accessible to trade with the Continent, and that
least adapted for providing refuges for small bodies of men in
conflict with powerful invaders. Hence the latest of the conquerors,
the Saxon and other Germanic tribes, obtained an easy mastery, and
spread over the whole country, holding their own against marauding
Northmen, except on the northern part of the east coast; and even
after the political conquest by the Normans, continuing to form the
great mass of the population, though influenced not a little by the
fresh blood and new ideas they had assimilated. The present population
is so distributed as to show remarkable dependence on the physical
features. The chalk and limestone plateaus are usually almost without
inhabitants, and the villages of these districts occur grouped
together in long strings, either in drift-floored valleys in the
calcareous plateaus, or along the exposure of some favoured stratum at
their base. In almost every case the plain along the foot of an
escarpment bears a line of villages and small towns, and on a good map
of density of population the lines of the geological map may be
readily discerned.

_The Jurassic Belt._--The Jurassic belt is occupied by the counties of
Gloucester, Oxford, Buckingham, Bedford, Northampton, Huntingdon,
Rutland, Lincoln and the North Riding of Yorkshire. The rocks of the
belt may be divided into two main groups: the Lias beds, which come
next to the Triassic plain, and the Oolitic beds. Each group is made
up of an alternation of soft marls or clays and hard limestones or
sandstones. The low escarpments of the harder beds of the Lias are the
real, though often scarcely perceptible, boundary between the Triassic
plain and the Jurassic belt. They run along the right bank of the
Trent in its northward course to the Humber, and similarly direct the
course of the Avon southward to the Severn. The great feature of the
region is the long line of the Oolitic escarpment, formed in different
places by the edges of different beds of rock. The escarpment runs
north from Portland Island on the English Channel, curves
north-eastward as the Cotteswold Hills, rising abruptly from the
Severn plain to heights of over 1000 ft.; it sinks to insignificance
in the Midland counties, is again clearly marked in Lincolnshire, and
rises in the North Yorkshire moors to its maximum height of over 1500
ft. Steep towards the west, where it overlooks the low Lias plain as
the Oolitic escarpment, the land falls very gently in slopes of Oxford
Clay towards the Cretaceous escarpments on the south and east.
Throughout its whole extent it yields valuable building-stone, and in
the Yorkshire moors the great abundance of iron ore has created the
prosperity of Middlesbrough, on the plain below. The Lias plain is
rich grazing country, the Oxford Clay forms valuable agricultural
land, yielding heavy crops of wheat. The towns of the belt are
comparatively small, not one attains a population of 75,000, and the
favourite site is on the Lias plain below the great escarpment. They
are for the most part typical rural market-towns, the manufactures,
where such exist, being usually of agricultural machinery, or woollen
and leather goods. Bath, Gloucester, Oxford, Northampton, Bedford,
Rugby, Lincoln and Scarborough are amongst the chief. North of the gap
in the low escarpment in which the town of Lincoln centres, a close
fringe of villages borders the escarpment on the west; and throughout
the belt the alternations of clay and hard rock are reflected in the
grouping of population.

_The Chalk Country._--The dominating surface-feature formed by the
Cretaceous rocks is the Chalk escarpment, the northern edge of the
great sheet of chalk that once spread continuously over the whole
south-east. It appears as a series of rounded hills of no great
elevation, running in a curve from the mouth of the Axe to Flamborough
Head, roughly parallel with the Oolitic escarpment. Successive
portions of this line of heights are known as the Western Downs, the
White Horse Hills, the Chiltern Hills, the East Anglian Ridge, the
Lincolnshire Wolds and the Yorkshire Wolds. The rivers from the gentle
southern slopes of the Oolitic heights pass by deep valleys through
the Chalk escarpments, and flow on to the Tertiary plains within. The
typical scenery of the Chalk country is unrelieved by small streams of
running water; the hills rise into rounded downs, often capped with
fine clumps of beech, and usually covered with thin turf, affording
pasture for sheep. The chalk, when exposed on the surface, is an
excellent foundation for roads, and the lines of many of the Roman
"streets" were probably determined by this fact. The Chalk country
extends over part of Dorset, most of Wiltshire, a considerable portion
of Hampshire and Oxfordshire, most of Hertfordshire and
Cambridgeshire, the west of Norfolk and Suffolk, the east of
Lincolnshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. From the upland of
Salisbury Plain, which corresponds to the axis of the anticline
marking the centre of the double fold into which the strata of the
south of England have been thrown, the great Chalk escarpment runs
north-eastward; fingers of Chalk run eastward one each side of the
Weald, forming the North and South Downs, while the southern edge of
the Chalk sheet appears from beneath the Tertiary strata at several
places on the south coast, and especially in the Isle of Wight.
Flamborough Head, the South Foreland, Beachy Head and the Needles are
examples of the fine scenery into which chalk weathers where it fronts
the sea, and these white cliffs gave to the island its early name of
Albion. The Chalk is everywhere very thinly peopled, except where it
is thickly covered with boulder clay, and so becomes fertile, or where
it is scored by drift-filled valleys, in which the small towns and
villages are dotted along the high roads. The thickest covering of
drift is found in the Holderness district of Yorkshire, where, from
the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head to the sandspit of Spurn Point,
the whole coast is formed of boulder-clay resting on chalk. Of the few
towns in the Chalk country, the interest of which is largely
historical or scholastic, Salisbury, Winchester, Marlborough and
Cambridge are the most distinguished. Reading flourishes from its
position on the edge of the London Tertiary Basin, Croydon is a suburb
of London, and Hull, though on the Chalk, derives its importance from
the Humber estuary, which cuts through the Chalk and the Jurassic
belts, to drain the Triassic plain and the Pennine region. The narrow
strip of Greensands appearing from beneath the Chalk escarpment on its
northern side is crowded with small towns and villages on account of
the plentiful water-supply. The distinction between the low grounds of
the Jurassic belt and the Chalk country is not always very apparent on
the surface, and from the historic point of view it is important to
recognize the individuality of the Eastern plain which extends from
the Vale of York across the Humber and the Wash into Essex. The
Eastern plain thus includes a portion of the Triassic plain in the
north, a portion of the Jurassic and Chalk belts in the middle, and a
portion of the Tertiary plain of the London Basin in the south.

_The Fenland._--The continuity of the belts of Chalk and of the Middle
and Upper Oolites in the Eastern Plain is broken by the shallow
depression of the Wash and the Fenland. The Fenland comprises a strip
of Norfolk, a considerable part of Cambridgeshire, and the Holland
district of Lincoln. Formerly a great inlet with vague borders of
lagoons and marshes, the Fenland has been reclaimed partly by natural
processes, partly by engineering works patiently continued for
centuries. The whole district is flat and low, for the most part
within 15 ft. of sea-level; the seaward edge in many places is below
the level of high tide, and is protected by dykes as in Holland, while
straight canals and ditches carry the sluggish drainage from the land.
The soil is composed for the most part of silt and peat. A few small
elevations of gravel, or of underlying formations, rise above the
level of 25 ft.; these were in former times islands, and now they form
the sites of the infrequent villages. Boston and King's Lynn are
memorials of the maritime importance of the Wash in the days of small
ships. The numerous ancient churches and the cathedrals of Ely and
Peterborough bear witness to the share taken by religious communities
in the reclamation and cultivation of the land.

_The Weald._--The dissection of the great east and west anticline in
the south-east of England has resulted in a remarkable piece of
country, occupying the east of Hampshire and practically the whole of
Sussex, Surrey and Kent, in which each geological stratum produces its
own type of scenery, and exercises its own specific influence on every
natural distribution. The sheet of Chalk shows its cut edges in the
escarpments facing the centre of the Weald, and surrounding it in an
oval ring, the eastern end of which is broken by the Strait of Dover,
so that its completion must be sought in France. From the crest of the
escarpment, all round on south, west and north, the dip-slope of the
Chalk forms a gentle descent outwards, the escarpment a very steep
slope inwards. The cut edges of the escarpment forming the Hog's Back
and North Downs on the north, and the South Downs on the south, meet
the sea in the fine promontories of the South Foreland and Beachy
Head. The Downs are almost without population, waterless and
grass-covered, with patches of beech wood. Their only important towns
are on the coast, e.g. Brighton, Eastbourne, Dover, Chatham, or in the
gaps where rivers from the centre pierce the Chalk ring, as at
Guildford, Rochester, Canterbury, Lewes and Arundel. Within the Chalk
ring, and at the base of the steep escarpment, there is a low terrace
of the Upper Greensand, seldom so much as a mile in width, but in most
places crowded with villages scarcely more than a mile apart, and
ranged like beads on a necklace. Within the Upper Greensand an equally
narrow ring of Gault is exposed, its stiff clay forming level plains
of grazing pasture, without villages, and with few farmhouses even;
and from beneath it the successive beds of the Lower Greensand rise
towards the centre, forming a wider belt, and reaching a considerable
height before breaking off in a fine escarpment, the crest of which is
in several points higher than the outer ring of Chalk. Leith Hill and
Hindhead are parts of this edge in the west, where the exposure is
widest. Several towns have originated in the gaps of the Lower
Greensand escarpment which are continuous with those through the
Chalk: such are Dorking, Reigate, Maidstone and Ashford. Folkestone
and Pevensey stand where the two ends of the broken ring meet the sea.
It is largely a region of oak and pine trees, in contrast to the beech
of the Chalk Downs. The Lower Greensand escarpment looks inwards in
its turn over the wide plain of Weald Clay, along which the Medway
flows in the north, and which forms a fertile soil, well cultivated,
and particularly rich in hops and wheat. The primitive forests have
been largely cleared, the primitive marshes have all been drained, and
now the Weald Clay district is fairly well peopled and sprinkled with
villages. From the middle of this plain the core of Lower Cretaceous
sandstones known as the Hastings Beds emerges steeply, and reaches in
the centre an elevation of 796 ft. at Crowborough Beacon. It is on the
whole a region with few streams, and a considerable portion of the
ancient woodland still remains in Ashdown Forest. The greater part of
the Forest Ridges is almost without inhabitants. Towns are found only
round the edge bordering the Weald Clay, such as Tonbridge, Tunbridge
Wells and Horsham; and along the line where it is cut off by the sea,
e.g. Hastings and St Leonards. The broad low tongue of Romney Marsh
running out to Dungeness is a product of shore-building by the Channel
tides, attached to the Wealden area, but not essentially part of it.

_The London Basin._--The London Basin occupies a triangular depression
in the Chalk which is filled up with clays and gravels of Tertiary and
later age. It extends from the eastern extremity of Wiltshire in a
widening triangle to the sea, which it meets along an irregular line
from Deal to Cromer. It thus occupies parts of Wiltshire, Hampshire,
Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, Hertfordshire, the whole of Middlesex, the
county of London and Essex, and the eastern edge of Suffolk and
Norfolk. The scenery is quiet in its character, but the gravel hills
are often prominent features, as at Harrow and in the northern suburbs
of London; the country is now mainly under grass or occupied with
market and nursery gardens, and many parts, of which Epping Forest is
a fine example, are still densely wooded, the oak being the prevailing
tree. The coast is everywhere low and deeply indented by ragged and
shallow estuaries, that of the Thames being the largest. Shallow
lagoons formed along the lower courses of the rivers of Norfolk have
given to that part of the country the name of the Broads, a district
of low and nearly level land. Apart from the huge area of urban and
suburban London, the London Basin has few large towns. Norwich and
Ipswich, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Harwich and Colchester may be mentioned
in the north-eastern part, all depending for their prosperity on
agriculture or on the sea; and a fringe of summer resorts on the low
coast has arisen on account of the bracing climate. Reading and
Windsor lie in the western portion, beyond the suburban sphere of
London. The Bagshot Beds in the west form infertile tracts of sandy
soil, covered with heath and pine, where space is available for the
great camps and military training-grounds round Aldershot, and for the
extensive cemeteries at Woking. The London Clay in the east is more
fertile and crowded with villages, while the East Anglian portion of
the basin consists of the more recent Pliocene sands and gravels,
which mix with the boulder clay to form the best wheat-growing soil in
the country.

_The Hampshire Basin._--The Hampshire Basin forms a triangle with
Dorchester, Salisbury and Worthing near the angles, and the rim of
Chalk to the south appears in broken fragments in the Isle of Purbeck,
the Isle of Wight, and to the east of Bognor. On the infertile Bagshot
Beds the large area of the New Forest remains untilled under its
ancient oaks. The London Clay of the east is more fertile, but the
greatness of this district lies in its coast-line, which is deeply
indented, like that of the London Basin. Southampton and Portsmouth
have gained importance through their fine natural harbours, improved
by engineering works and fortifications; Bournemouth and Bognor, from
their favourable position in the sunniest belt of the country, as
health resorts.

_Communications._--The configuration of England, while sufficiently
pronounced to allow of the division of the country into natural
regions, is not strongly enough marked to exercise any very great
influence upon lines of communication. The navigable rivers are all
connected by barge-canals, even across the Pennine Chain. Although the
waterways are much neglected, compared with those of France or of
Germany, they might still be very useful if they were enlarged and
improved and if free competition with railways could be secured. The
main roads laid out as arteries of intercommunication by the Romans,
suffered to fall into neglect, and revived in the coaching days of the
beginning of the 19th century, fell into a second period of
comparative neglect when the railway system was completed; but they
have recovered a very large share of their old importance in
consequence of the development of motor-traffic. Following the Roman
roads, the high roads of the Eastern Division very frequently run
along the crests of ridges or escarpments; but in the Western Division
they are, as a rule, forced by the more commanding relief of the
country to keep to the river valleys and cross the rougher districts
through the dales and passes. The railways themselves, radiating from
the great centres of population, and especially from London, are only
in a few instances much affected by configuration. The Pennine Chain
has always separated the traffic from south to north into an east
coast route through the Vale of York, and a west coast route by the
Lancashire plain. The Midland railway, running through the high and
rugged country between the two, was the last to be constructed. The
most notable bridges over navigable water affording continuous routes
are those across Menai Strait, the Tyne at Newcastle, the Severn at
Severn Bridge and the Manchester Ship Canal. It is more usual to
tunnel under such channels, and the numerous Thames tunnels, the
Mersey tunnel between Liverpool and Birkenhead, and the Severn tunnel,
the longest in the British Islands (4-1/2 m.), on the routes from
London to South Wales, and from Bristol to the north of England, are
all important. The Humber estuary is neither bridged nor tunnelled
below Goole.

_Density of Population._--The present distribution of population over
England and Wales shows a dense concentration at all large seaports,
in the neighbourhood of London, and on the coal-fields where
manufactures are carried on. Agricultural areas are very thinly
peopled; purely pastoral districts can hardly be said to have any
settled population at all. There are very few dwellings situated at a
higher level than 1000 ft., and on the lower ground the Chalk and the
Oolitic limestones, where they crop out on the surface, are extremely
thinly peopled, and so as a rule are areas of alluvial deposits and
the Tertiary sands. But, on the other hand, the broad clay plains of
all formations, the Cretaceous sandstones, and the Triassic plain, are
peopled more densely than any other district without mineral wealth or
sea trade.

_Political Divisions._--In the partition of England and Wales into
counties, physical features play but a small part. The forty ancient
counties, remnants of various historical groupings and partings, are
occasionally bounded by rivers. Thus the Thames divides counties along
nearly its whole length, forming the southern boundary of four and the
northern boundary of three. Essex and Suffolk, Suffolk and Norfolk,
Cornwall and Devon, Durham and Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cheshire, are
all separated by rivers, while rivers form some part of the boundaries
of almost every county. Still, it is noteworthy that the Severn and
Trent nowhere form continuous county boundaries. Watersheds are rarely
used as boundaries for any distance; but, although slightly
overlapping the watershed on all sides, Yorkshire is very nearly
coincident with the basin of the Ouse. The boundaries of the parishes,
the fundamental units of English political geography, are very often
either rivers or watersheds, and they frequently show a close relation
to the strike of the geological strata. The hundreds, or groups of
parishes, necessarily share their boundaries, and groups of hundreds
are often aggregated to form larger subdivisions of counties. A wider
grouping according to natural characteristics may now be recognized
only in the cases of Wales, East Anglia, Wessex and such less definite
groups as the Home Counties around London or the Midlands around
Birmingham. Configuration is only one out of many conditions modifying
distributions, and its effects on England as a whole appear to be
suggestive rather than determinative. (H. R. M.)

III. GEOLOGY

For an area so small, England is peculiarly rich in geological interest. This is due in some degree to the energy of the early British geologists, whose work profoundly influenced all subsequent thought in the science, as may be seen by the general acceptation of so many of the English stratigraphical terms; but the natural conditions were such as to call forth and to stimulate this energy in an unusual way. Almost every one of the principal geological formations may be studied in England with comparative ease.

If we lay aside for the moment all the minor irregularities, we find,
upon examination of a geological map of England, two structural
features of outstanding importance. (1) The first is the great
anticline of the Pennine Hills which dominates the northern half of
England from the Scottish border to Derby. Its central core of Lower
Carboniferous rock is broadly displayed towards the north, while
southward it contracts; on either side lie the younger rocks, the
coal-fields, the Permian strata and the Triassic formations, the
last-named, while sweeping round the southern extremity of the
Carboniferous axis of the uplift from its eastern and western flanks,
spread out in a large sheet over the midland counties. (2) The second
striking feature is the regular succession of Jurassic and Cretaceous
rocks which crop out in almost unbroken lines from the coast of
Dorsetshire, whither they appear to converge, to the Cleveland Hills
and the Yorkshire coast. Lying upon the Cretaceous rocks in the S.E.
of England are the two Tertiary basins of London and Hampshire,
separated by the dissected anticline of the Weald.

Legend:

_Recent & Pleistocene_ _Old Red Sandstone & Devonian_
_Tertiary_ _Silurian_
_Cretaceous_ _Ordovician_
_Jurassic_ _Cambrian_
_Trias_ _Metamorphic Group_
_Permian_ _Volcanic Rocks_
_Coal Measures, Carboniferous_ _Basic Intrusive Rocks_
_Millstone Grit Series & Culm_ _Granite & Acid Intrusive Rocks_
_Lower Carboniferous_]

The older rocks in England occupy relatively small areas. Pre-Cambrian
rocks are represented by the gneisses of Primrose Hill and schists of
Rushton in Shropshire; by the gneisses forming the core of the Malvern
Hills, and by the ancient volcanic and other rocks of the Wrekin,
Charnwood Forest and Nuneaton. The slates of the Long Mynd, on the
Shropshire border, belong to this system. Cambrian strata appear in
Shropshire in the form of sandstones and quartzites; in the Malvern
Hills they are black shales, while in the Lake District they are
represented by the Skiddaw slates. Next in point of age comes the
Ordovician system, which is well developed upon the Shropshire border
and in the Lake District. In the same two areas we find the Silurian
rocks, shales and limestones with grits and flags. In N. and S. Devon
are the Devonian limestones, grits and shales; the corresponding Old
Red Sandstone type of the system (marls and sandstones) being exposed
over a large part of Herefordshire, stretching also into Shropshire
and Monmouth. Next in order of succession comes the Carboniferous
system, with shales and limestones in the lower members, grits,
sandstones and shales--the Millstone Grit series--in the middle of the
system, followed by the Coal Measures--a great series of shales with
coal, sandstones and ironstone at the top. This important system
occupies a large area in England. The limestones and shales are well
exposed in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, the Mendip Hills and
at Clifton. The Millstone Grit series is prominent in Lancashire,
Derbyshire, N. Staffordshire, Yorkshire and in the Forest of Dean. The
Coal Measures rest upon the Millstone Grits in most places, generally
in synclinal basins. On the eastern side of the Pennine range are the
conterminous coal-fields of Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire,
and the coal-field of Durham and Northumberland; on the western side
are the Whitehaven, Burnley, S. Lancashire and N. Staffordshire
coal-fields. Farther south are the S. Staffordshire, Warwickshire,
Coalbrook Dale, Forest of Wyre, Forest of Dean and Bristol and
Somerset coal-fields; while much concealed coal lies under younger
formations in the south-east of England, as has been proved at Dover.
A large part of N. Devon is occupied by the Culm shales, limestones
and grits of Carboniferous age. The principal development of Permian
rocks is the narrow strip which extends from Nottingham to Tynemouth;
here the Magnesian limestone is the characteristic feature. On the
other side of the Pennine Hills we find the Penrith sandstone of the
Vale of Eden and the Brockram beds of the Lake District. Red
sandstones and conglomerates of this age constitute some of the red
rocks which form the picturesque scenery about Dawlish and Teignmouth.

The Triassic rocks, red sandstones, marls and conglomerates cover a
broad area in the Midlands in Worcestershire, Warwickshire and
Leicestershire, whence they may be followed south-westward through
Somerset to the coast at Sidmouth, and northward, round either flank
of the Pennine Hills, through Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire to
Middlesbrough on the one hand, and upon the other through
Staffordshire, Cheshire and Lancashire to Carlisle.

The outcrop of the Lias, mainly clay with thin limestones and
ironstones, runs in an almost continuous band across the country from
Lyme Regis, through Bath, Cheltenham, near Leicester, and Lincoln to
Redcar in Yorkshire. Closely following the same line are the
alternating clays and limestones of the Oolitic series. Next in order
come the Greensands and Gault, which lie at the base of the Chalk
escarpment, between that formation and the Oolites. The Chalk occupies
all the remaining portion of the south-east of England, save the
Wealden area, and extends northward as far as Flamborough in
Yorkshire, forming the Yorkshire Wolds, the Lincolnshire Wolds, the
Chiltern Hills, the N. and S. Downs, the Dorsetshire heights and
Salisbury Plain. But in the eastern and southern counties the Chalk is
covered by younger deposits of Tertiary age; the Pliocene Crags of
Norfolk and Suffolk, the Lower London Tertiaries (London Clay,
Woolwich and Reading Beds, &c.) of the London Basin comprising parts
of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Bucks and Berks, and northern
Kent. Again, in the Hampshire Basin and Isle of Wight, Eocene and
Oligocene formations rest upon the Chalk.

When we attempt to decipher the physical history of the country from
the complicated record afforded by the stratigraphical palimpsest, we
are checked at the outset by the dearth of information from being able
to picture the geographical condition in the older Palaeozoic periods.
All we can say is, that in those remote times what is now England had
no existence; its site was occupied by seas which were tenanted by
marine invertebrates, long since extinct. As for the boundaries of
these ancient seas, we can say nothing with certainty, but it is of
interest to note the evidence we possess of still older land
conditions, such as we have in the old rocks of Shropshire, &c. In the
Devonian period it is clear that an elevatory movement had set in
towards the north, which gave rise to the formation of inland lakes
and narrow estuaries in which the Old Red Sandstone rocks were formed,
while in the south of England lay the sea with a vigorous coral fauna.
This condition led up to the Carboniferous period, which began with
fairly open sea over the south and north of England, but in the centre
there rose an elevated land mass from which much of the Millstone Grit
was derived; other land lay towards the north. Slowly this sea
shallowed, giving rise to the alternating estuarine marine and
freshwater deposits of the Coal Measures. Continual elevation of the
land brought about the close of the coal-forming period and great
changes ensued. Desert conditions, with confined inland seas, marked
the Permian and Triassic periods. It was about this time that the
Pennine Hills, the Lake District mountain mass, and the Mendip Hills
were being most vigorously uplifted, while the granite masses of
Cornwall and Devon were perhaps being injected into the Carboniferous
and Devonian rocks. From this period, more or less of the Pennine
ridge has always remained above the sea, along with much of Cornwall
and parts of Devonshire.

In early Jurassic times the sea probably again occupied most of
England with the exception of the above-mentioned areas, the Lake
District and eastern part of the London Basin; Wales, too, and much of
Scotland were land. Elevation gradually caused more land to appear in
later Jurassic and early Cretaceous times when a river system, now
entirely obliterated, drained into the Purbeck estuary and Wealden
lake; but a subsequent depression led to the wide extension of the
Chalk sea. By the beginning of the Eocene period we find the sea
limited to the S.E. of England, where the London Clay, &c., were being
laid down. It was not until quite late in Tertiary time that these
islands began to assume anything like their present form. In the
earlier part of the Pleistocene period, England and Ireland were still
incompletely severed, and the combined activity of certain extinct
rivers and the sea had not yet cut through the land connexion with the
continent. The last well-marked lowering of the land took place in the
Pleistocene period, when it was accompanied by glacial conditions,
through which the greater part of northern England and the Midlands
was covered by ice; a state of things which led directly and
indirectly to the deposition of those extensive boulder clays, sands
and gravels which obscure so much of the older surface of the country
in all but the southern counties.

Throughout the whole period of its geological history, volcanic
activity has found expression with varying degrees of intensity along
what is now the western side of the island, with the exception that in
the Mesozoic era this activity was in abeyance. We may note the
pre-Cambrian lavas and tuffs of the Wrekin district in Shropshire and
the somewhat later volcanic rocks of Charnwood; the porphyrites,
andesites, tuffs and rhyolites of the Borrowdale volcanic centre,
erupted in the Ordovician period, and the Silurian granites of the
same region. The volcanic outbursts which followed became feebler in
the Devonian and Carboniferous periods and ceased with the Permian.
When again the volcanic forces became active, it was in the early
Tertiary era; the evidences for this lie outside the English border.

The principal directions of crust movement in England are: (1) north
and south, by which the Pennine folds and faults, and the Malvern
Hills have been produced; (2) east and west, by which the folds of the
Weald and the Mendip Hills, and those of Devonshire have been formed.
Another less important direction is N.W. and S.E., as in the Charnwood
folding.

Further details of the geology are given under the heads of the
counties. (J. A. H.)

IV. CLIMATE

Climate.

_Temperature._--The mean annual temperature of the whole of England
and Wales (reduced to sea-level) is about 50 deg. F., varying from
something over 52 deg. in the Scilly Isles to something under 48 deg.
at the mouth of the Tweed. The mean annual temperature diminishes very
regularly from south-west to north-east, the west coast being warmer
than the east, so that the mean temperature at the mouth of the Mersey
is as high as that at the mouth of the Thames. During the coldest
month of the year (January) the mean temperature of all England is
about 40 deg.. The influence of the western ocean is very strongly
marked, the temperature falling steadily from west to east. Thus while
the temperature in the west of Cornwall is 44 deg., the temperature on
the east coast from north of the Humber to the Thames is under 38
deg., the coldest winters being experienced in the Fenland. In the
hottest month (July) the mean temperature of England and Wales is
about 61.5 deg., and the westerly wind then exercises a cooling
effect, the greatest heat being found in the Thames basin immediately
around London, where the mean temperature of the month exceeds 64
deg.; the mean temperature along the south coast is 62 deg., and that
at the mouth of the Tweed a little under 59 deg.. In the centre of the
country along a line drawn from London to Carlisle the mean
temperature in July is found to diminish gradually at an average rate
of 1 deg. per 60 m. The coasts are cooler than the centre of the
country, but the west coast is much cooler than the east, modified
continental conditions prevailing over the North Sea. The natural
effect of the heating of the air in summer and the cooling of the air
in winter by contact with the land is largely masked in England on
account of the strength of the prevailing south-westerly wind carrying
oceanic influence into the heart of the country. This effect is well
seen in the way in which the wind blowing directly up the Severn
estuary is directed along the edges of the Oolitic escarpment
north-eastward, thus displacing the centre of cold in winter to the
east coast, and the centre of heat in summer to the lower Thames, from
the position which both centres would occupy, if calms prevailed, in a
belt running from Birmingham to Buckingham. As to how far the narrow
portion of the North Sea modifies the influence of the European
continent, there seems reason to believe that the prevailing winds
blowing up the English Channel carry oceanic conditions some distance
inland, along those parts of the continent nearest to England. The
Mersey estuary, being partly sheltered by Ireland and North Wales,
does not serve as an inlet for modifying influences to the same extent
as the Bristol Channel; and as the wind entering by it blows squarely
against the slope of the Pennine Chain, it does not much affect the
climate of the midland plain.

_Winds._--The average barometric pressure over England is about
29.94 in., and normally diminishes from south-west to north-east at
all seasons, the mean pressure on the south coast being 29.97 and that
on the northern border 29.88. The pressure at any given latitude is
normally highest in the centre of the country and on the east coast,
and lowest on the west coast. The direction of the mean annual isobars
shows that the normal wind in all parts of England and Wales must be
from the south-west on the west coast, curving gradually until in the
centre of the country, and on the east coast it is westerly, without a
southerly component. The normal seasonal march of pressure-change
produces a maximum gradient in December and January, and a minimum
gradient in April; but for every month in the year the mean gradient
is for winds from southerly and westerly quarters. In April the
gradient is so slight that any temporary fall of pressure to the south
of England or any temporary rise of pressure to the north, which would
suffice in other months merely to reduce the velocity of the
south-westerly wind, is sufficient in that month to reverse the
gradient and produce an east wind over the whole country. The
liability to east wind in spring is one of the most marked features of
the English climate, the effect being naturally most felt on the east
coast. The southerly component in the wind is as a rule most marked in
the winter months, the westerly component predominating in summer. The
west end of a town receives the wind as it blows in fresh from the
country at all seasons, and consequently the west end of an English
town is with few exceptions the residential quarter, while
smoke-producing industries are usually relegated to the east end.

_Storms._--On account of the great frequency of cyclonic disturbances
passing in from the Atlantic, the average conditions of wind over the
British Islands give no idea of the frequency of change in direction
and force. The chief paths of depressions are from south-west to
north-east across England; one track runs across the south-east and
eastern counties, and is that followed by a large proportion of the
summer and autumn storms, thereby perhaps helping to explain the
peculiar liability of the east of England to damage from hail
accompanying thunderstorms. A second track crosses central England,
entering by the Severn estuary and leaving by the Humber or the Wash;
while a third crosses the north of England from the neighbourhood of
Morecambe Bay to the Tyne. While these are tracks frequently followed
by the centres of barometric depressions, individual cyclones may and
do cross the country in all directions, though very rarely indeed from
east to west or from north to south.

_Rainfall._--The rainfall of England, being largely due to passing
cyclones, can hardly be expected to show a very close relation to the
physical features of the country, yet looked at in a general way the
relation between prevailing winds and orographic structure is not
obscure. The western or mountainous division is the wettest at all
seasons, each orographic group forming a centre of heavy
precipitation. There are few places in the Western Division where the
rainfall is less than 35 in., while in Wales, the Cornwall-Devon
peninsula, the Lake District and the southern part of the Pennine
Region the precipitation exceeds 40 in., and in Wales and the Lake
District considerable areas have a rainfall of over 60 in. In the
Eastern Division, on the other hand, an annual rainfall exceeding 30
in. is rare, and in the low ground about the mouth of the Thames
estuary and around the Wash the mean annual rainfall is less than 25
in. In the Western Division and along the south coast the driest month
is usually April or May, while in the Eastern Division it is February
or March. The wettest month for most parts of England is October, the
most noticeable exception being in East Anglia, where, on account of
the frequency of summer thunderstorms, July is the month in which most
rain falls, although October is not far behind. In the Western
Division there is a tendency for the annual maximum of rainfall to
occur later than October. It may be stated generally that the Western
Division is mild and wet in winter, and cool and less wet in summer;
while the Eastern Division is cold and dry in winter and spring, and
hot and less dry in summer and autumn. The south coast occupies an
intermediate position between the two as regards climate. Attention
has been called to the fact that the bare rocks and steep gradients
which are common in the Western Division allow of the heavy rainfall
running off the surface rapidly, while the flat and often clayey lands
of the Eastern Division retain the scantier rainfall in the soil for a
longer time, so that for agricultural purposes the effect of the
rainfall is not very dissimilar throughout the country.

_Sunshine._--The distribution of sunshine is not yet fully
investigated, but it appears that the sunniest part is the extreme
south coast, where alone the total number of hours of bright sunshine
reaches an average of more than 1600 per annum. The north-east,
including the Pennine Region and the whole of Yorkshire, has less than
1300 hours of sunshine, and a portion of North Wales is equally
cloudy. Although little more than a guess, 1375 hours may be put down
as approximately the average duration of bright sunshine for England
as a whole, which may be compared with 2600 hours for Italy, and
probably about 1200 hours for Norway.

For the purpose of forecasting the weather, the meteorological office
divides England into six districts, which are known as England N.E.,
Midland Counties, England East, London and Channel, England N.W. and
North Wales, and England S.W. and South Wales. (H. R. M.)

V. ENGLISH PLACE-NAMES

English place-names are of diverse origin and often extremely corrupt in their modern form, so that the real etymology of the names can often be discovered only by a careful comparison of the modern form with such ancient forms as are to be found in charters, ancient histories, and other early documents. By the aid of these a certain amount of work has been done in the subject, but it is still largely an unworked field. The most satisfactory method of characterizing English place-nomenclature is to deal with it historically and chronologically, showing the influence of the successive nations who have borne sway in this island. The Celtic influence is to be found scattered evenly up and down the country so far as names of rivers and mountains are concerned; in names of towns it is chiefly confined to the west. Roman influence is slight but evenly distributed. English influence is all-pervading, though in the northern and north-midland counties this influence has been encroached upon by Scandinavian influence. Norman influence is not confined to any particular district.

_Celtic._--Though scattered notices of towns, cities and rivers in
Britain are to be found in various early Roman writers, it is not till
the time of Ptolemy (2nd century), who constructed a map of the
island, and of the itinerary of Antonine (beginning of the 3rd
century) that we have much information as to the cities and towns of
Britain. We there learn that the following place-names are ultimately
of Celtic origin:--Brougham, Catterick, York, Lincoln (_Lindum_),
Manchester (_Mancunium_), Doncaster (_Danum_), Wroxeter
(_Viroconium_), Lichfield (_Letocetum_), Gloucester (_Glevum_),
Cirencester (_Corinium_), Colchester (_Camulodunum_), London,
Reculver, Richborough (_Rutupiae_), Dover, Lymne, Isle of Wight,
Dorchester (_Durnovaria_), Sarum, Exeter (_Isca_), Brancaster
(_Branodunum_), Thanet. We also have the names of the following
rivers:--Eden, Dee, Trent, Yare, Colne, Thames, Kennet, Churne, Exe,
Severn, Tamar. Gildas, writing in the 6th century, speaks of the
twenty-eight cities of the Britons. Nennius' _Historia Britonum_ gives
what purports to be a list of these cities. Of these, excluding Welsh
ones, we may with some certainty identify Canterbury (_Caint_),
Caerleon-on-Usk, Leicester (_Lerion_), Penzelwood, Carlisle,
Colchester, Grantchester (_Granth_), London, Worcester
(_Guveirangon_), Doncaster (_Daun_), Wroxeter (_Guoricon_), Chester
(_Legion_--this is Roman), Lichfield (_Licitcsith_) and Gloucester
(_Gloui_). Others less certain are Preston-on-Humber and Manchester
(_Manchguid_).

In modern place-names the suffix _don_ often goes back to the Celtic
_dun_, a hill, e.g. Bredon, Everdon, but the suffix was still a living
one in Saxon times. Of river-names the vast majority are Celtic
(possible exceptions will be named later), and the same is true of
mountains and hills. The forests of Wyre, Elmet and Sel (wood), and
the districts of the Wrekin and the Peak are probably Celtic.

_Roman._--We do not owe entire place-names to Roman influence, with
the exception of a few such as Chester, Chester-le-Street (L. _strata_
[_via_], a road) and Caistor, but Roman influence is to be found in
many names compounded of Celtic and Roman elements. The chief of these
is the element _chester_--(L. _castrum_, a fort), e.g. Ebchester,
Silchester, Grantchester. Porchester is entirely Latin, but may not
have been formed till Saxon times. The form _caster_ is found in the
north and east, under Scandinavian influence, e.g. Tadcaster,
Lancaster; and in the south-west and in the midlands we have a group
of towns with the form _cester_:--Bicester, Gloucester, Cirencester,
Worcester, Alcester, Leicester, Towcester. Exeter, Wroxeter and
perhaps Uttoxeter show the suffix in slightly different form. In names
like Chesterton, Chesterford, Chesterholm, Woodchester, the second
element shows that the names are of later English or Scandinavian
formation. In Lincoln we have a compound of the Celtic _Lindum_ and
the Latin _colonia_.

_Saxon._--The chief suffixes of Saxon origin to be found in English
place-names are as follows (some of them being also used
independently): _-burgh_, _-borough_, _-bury_ (O.E. _burh_, fortified
town), e.g. Burgh, Bamborough, Aylesbury, Bury; _-bourne_, _-borne_,
_-burn_ (O.E. _burne_, _-a_, a stream), e.g. Ashbourne, Sherborne,
Sockburn; _-bridge_, e.g. Weybridge, Bridge; _-church_, e.g.
Pucklechurch; _-den_, _-dean_ (O.E. _denu_, a valley), e.g. Gaddesden,
Rottingdean; _-down_, _-don_, _-ton_ (O.E. _dun_ [Celtic], a hill),
e.g. Huntingdon, Seckington, Edington; _-ey_, _-ea_, _-y_ (O.E. _ig_,
an island), e.g. Thorney, Mersea, Ely; _-fleet_ (O.E. _fleot_, an
estuary) e.g. Benfleet; _-field_, e.g. Lichfield; _-ford_, e.g.
Bradford; _-ham_ (O.E. _ham_, a home, and _hamm_, an enclosure); these
are not distinguished in modern English, e.g. Bosham, Ham; _-hall_
(O.E. _healh_, a corner), e.g. Riccall, Tettenhall; _-head_, e.g.
Gateshead; _-hill_, e.g. Tickhill; _-hurst_ (O.E. _hyrst_, copse,
wood), e.g. Deerhurst; _-ing_ (patronymic suffix, plural form in
O.E.), e.g. Basing, Reading; _-leigh_, _-ley_, _-lea_ (O.E. _leah_,
meadow), e.g. Leigh, Stoneleigh, Whalley; _-lade_ (O.E. _lad_, path,
course), e.g. Cricklade; _-land_, e.g. Crowland; _-lock_ (O.E. _loca_,
enclosure), e.g. Porlock; _-minster_ (O.E. _mynster_, L.
_monasterium_), e.g. Axminster, Minster; _-mouth_, e.g. Exmouth;
_-port_ (O.E. _port_, market-town, a word of Latin origin), e.g.
Bridport; _-sted_, _-stead_ (O. E. _stede_, a place), e.g. Stansted,
Wanstead; _-stone_, _-ston_, e.g. Beverstone, Sherston; _-staple_
(O.E. _stapol_, foundation), e.g. Barnstaple; _-stow_ (O.E. _stow_,
place), e.g. Stow, Chepstow, Bristol (earlier Bristow); _-tree_,
_-try_, e.g. Coventry, Elstree, Seasalter; _-ton_ (O.E. _tun_,
enclosure), e.g. Milton; _-wark_ (O.E. _geweorc_, fortification), e.g.
Southwark; _-well_, e.g. Bakewell; _-wich_, _-wick_ (O.E. _wic_, a
dwelling), e.g. Norwich, Swanage (O.E. Swanawic), Warwick; _-worth_,
_-worthy_ (O.E. _weorth_, _weorthig_, an enclosure), e.g. Polesworth,
Holsworthy.

Of river names the Blackwater, Witham, Ashburne, Swift, Washburn,
Loxly, Wythburn, Eamont are perhaps English and so also may be the
Waveney in Suffolk.

_Scandinavian._--The following suffixes are Scandinavian in origin,
some of them being also used independently: _-beck_ (O.N. _bekkr_,
stream), e.g. Starbeck, Troutbeck; _-by_ (O.N. _byr_, town), e.g.
Whitby; _-dale_ (O.N. _dalr_), e.g. Swaledale; _-car(r)_, _-ker_ (O.N.
_kiorr_, marshy ground), e.g. Redcar, The Carrs, Muker; _-fell_ (O.N.
_fjall_, mountain), e.g. Scafell; _-force_, _-foss_ (O.N. _fors_,
waterfall). High Force, Wilberfoss; _-garth_ (O.N. _garar_,
enclosure), e.g. Hoggarths; _-gill_ (O.N. _gil_, a deep narrow glen),
e.g. Skelgill, Dungeon Ghyll; _-holm(e)_ (O.N. _holmr_, island), e.g.
Axholme, Durham (earlier Dunholm); _keld_ (O.N. _kelda_, well,
spring), e.g. Threlkeld, Keld; _-lund_ (O.N. _lundr_, grove), e.g.
Snelland, Timberland, Lound; _-how_ (O.N. _haugr_, hill), e.g.
Greenhow; _-scale_ (O.N. _skale_, hut, shed), e.g. Seascale; _-skew_
(O.N. _skogr_, forest), e.g. Litherskew; _-thorpe_ (O.N. _porp_,
village), e.g. Thorpe, Osgathorp; _-thwaite_ (O.N. _pveit_, a piece of
land), e.g. Rosthwaite; _-toft_ (O.N. _topt_, a green knoll), e.g.
Toft, Langtoft; _-with_ (O.N. _viar_, a wood), e.g. Blawith, Stowiths.

Tarn (a mountain pool), grain and sike (mountain streams) are also
Scandinavian terms.

_Norman._--Norman influence has not been very great in English
place-nomenclature. The number of places with pure French names is
extremely limited; a few such are Beaulieu, Belvoir, Beauchief,
Beaudesert, Beaufort, Beaumont, also Theydon _Bois_, War-_boys_.
Norman influence is marked more strongly in certain compound
place-names, where one of the elements often represents the name of
the original Norman tenant or holder, e.g. Thorpe _Mandeville_,
_Helion_ Bumstead, Higham _Ferrers_, Swaffham _Bulbeck_, Stoke
_Gifford_, Shepton _Mallet_; similarly names like Lyme _Regis_,
_King's_ Sutton, _Monks'_ Kirby, Zeal _Monachorum_, Milton _Abbas_,
_Bishop's_ Waltham, _Prior's_ Dean, Huish _Episcopi_ date from feudal
times. Gallicized forms are also to be found in a few forms like
Kirkby-le-Soken, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Alsop-en-le-Dale,
Barnoldby-le-Beck. Ecclesiastical influence is to be found in such
names as Aldwinkle St Peter, Barford St Martin, Belchamp St Paul, the
name of the saint being the name either of the saint to whom the
church at that place was dedicated or the patron-saint of the
monastery or abbey to whom lands in that district belonged.
(A. MW.)

VI. Population

Until the beginning of the 19th century there existed no other knowledge of the actual area and population of the country but what was given in the vaguest estimates. But there can be little doubt that the population of England and Wales increased very slowly for centuries, owing largely to want of intercommunication, which led to famines, more or less severe--it being a common occurrence that, while one county, with a good harvest, was enjoying abundance, the people of the adjoining one were starving. The interpretation of certain figures given in the Domesday Survey (which do not cover certain parts of modern England nor take account of the ecclesiastical population) is a matter of widely divergent opinion; but a total population of one million and a half has been accepted by many for the close of the 11th century. In 1377 the levying of a poll-tax provides partial figures from which a total of two to two-and-a-half millions has been deduced, but again divergent views have been expressed as to how far the number was still affected by the Black Death of 1348-1349. It is calculated, on the basis of registers of births and deaths, that the population of England and Wales numbered 5,475,000 in 1700, and 6,467,000 in 1750. From the later part of the 18th century a stronger tendency to increase set in, and at the taking of the first census, in 1801, it was ascertained that the population numbered 8,892,536, being--if the former estimates were approximately correct--an increase of very nearly 2-1/2 millions in little over fifty years. This rate of increase was not only continued, but came to be greatly exceeded.

Since the first census of 1801, regular enumerations of the people of England and Wales have been taken every ten years. The results of these enumerations are published in separate volumes for each county, in a volume of summary tables, and in a general report. In the summaries England and Wales are treated as one, and this treatment is followed here. The following table gives the total numbers of the population of England and Wales at each census, together with the absolute increase, and growth per cent, during each decennial period:--

+------------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| Dates of | | Increase at |Decennial Rate|
| Enumeration. | Population. | each Census. | of Increase |
| | | | per Cent. |
+------------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+
| 1801, March 10th | 8,892,536 | . . | . . |
| 1811, May 27th | 10,164,256 | 1,271,720 | 14.00 |
| 1821, May 28th | 12,000,236 | 1,835,980 | 18.06 |
| 1831, May 30th | 13,896,797 | 1,896,561 | 15.80 |
| 1841, June 7th | 15,914,148 | 2,017,351 | 14.27 |
| 1851, March 31st | 17,927,609 | 2,013,461 | 12.65 |
| 1861, April 8th | 20,066,224 | 2,138,615 | 11.90 |
| 1871, April 3rd | 22,712,266 | 2,646,042 | 13.21 |
| 1881, April 4th | 25,974,439 | 3,262,173 | 14.36 |
| 1891, April 6th | 29,002,525 | 3,028,086 | 11.65 |
| 1901, April 1st | 32,527,843 | 3,525,318 | 12.17 |
+------------------+-------------+--------------+--------------+

Allowing for a rate of increase equivalent to that which obtained between 1891 and 1901, the estimated population was 34,152,977 in 1905, and 36,169,150 in 1910.