Present Vertical Movements of the British Isles

The london floods of 6-7 January 1928, the Horsey floods of 12 February 1938, and now the great flood disaster of 31 January 1953, in which 307 people lost their lives and enormous damage was done in eastern England, make it important to consider if these floods were possibly connected with a slow submergence of the country. It must, of course, be realized that the abnormal heaping up of waters by the storm on 31 January far outbalanced any downward movement of the land in relation to mean sea level?yet any such change of level is continuous and must be allowed for in terms of long period. There were two geodetic levellings of England and Wales; the first from 1840 to 1860 and the second from 1912 to 1921. Unfortunately, no firm con? clusions can be based on the differences found between them. The Ordnance