GOODWIN-SANDS, (Kent) near the Isle of Thanet, were lands that bel. formerly to Godwin Earl of Kent, father of K. Harold,
and being low ground, were defended from the sea by a great wall, which wanted constant care to uphold. This tract was
afterwards given to St. Austin's mon. near Canterbury, whose abbot neglecting the wall, while he was eager in building
Tenterden steeple, the sea broke in and drowned the said lands, leaving the sands upon it, which have proved so dangerous
to sailors. They lie bet. the N. and S. Forelands, and run parallel with the shore for 3 leagues together, at about a
league or a league and a half distance from it, and are dry at low-water. They break all the force of the sea on the E. S.
and S. W. and thereby make the Downs a tolerable road; yet when the wind blows very hard at S. E. E. by N. or E. N. E.
ships are driven from their anchors, and are often forced on these sands, or else into Sandwich-Bay or Ramsgate-Pier.