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over a piece of arable land at the entrance, where it
actually peeled the whole surface, carrying away the soil
and the trees, and leaving the rocky substratum completely
bare. The soil was many feet deep, and the trees fullgrown.
Then it laid down what it brought, covering ten acres with
the rubbish. By the channel left, it appears that the flood
must have been five or six yards deep, and a hundred yards
wide. Among other pranks, it rooted up a solid stone
causeway, which was supported by an embankment apparently as
strong as the neighbouring hills. The flood not only swept
away the whole work, but scooped out the entire line for its
own channel. The village of Brackenthwaite, which stood
directly in its course, was saved by being built on a stone
platform,- a circumstance unknown to the inhabitants till
they now saw themselves left safe on a promontory, while the
soft soil was swept away from beside their very doors,
leaving a chasm where the flood had been turned aside by the
resistance of their rock. The end of the matter was, that
the flood poured into the Cocker, which rose so as to lay
the whole south-western plain under water for a considerable
time.
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