VII.—Burning Cliffs

Extract

Towards the end of January last the inhabitants of Lyme Regis were somewhat alarmed by the announcement that a portion of the cliffs on the eastern side of the town, towards Black Ven, was “on fire”; a “Full Report of the Volcanic Eruption” was soon afterwards published in the Bridport News for January 24. It was then stated that on Sunday, January 19, “dense vapour appeared at intervals to rise from a mound on the edge of the cliffs, about half-way between Lyme and Charmouth,” and that the burning portion “consisted of a large fallen mass of the cliff which had some time since slipped away from the body of the cliff.” Mr. A. C. G. Cameron, who was at the time resident at Lyme Regis, explained that the case was one of spontaneous combustion, due to the decomposition of iron pyrites and the consequent generation of heat sufficient to ignite the bituminous shales of the Lower Lias.