210 The Rev. A. Weld on a remarkable Flood 



hoping that it may be found worthy to be laid before your 

 readers. 



The little village of Chipping lies near the bottom of the val- 

 ley contained by the parallel ridges of Bowland Hills and Long- 

 ridge Fell, which bound it on the north-west and south-cast, 

 leaving it open to the sea in the south-west, while in the east 

 and north-east the horizon is terminated by Pendle Hill and the 

 Newton and Waddington Fells. It is watered by a brook to 

 which it gives its name, whose waters flow in general through a 

 deep rocky channel lined with wood, but in some parts of their 

 course emerge among meadows and pasture lands. In ordinary 

 circumstances it is a shallow stream, barely covering the stones 

 which form its bed ; but occasionally swollen into a torrent, for 

 which, however, its natural channel is amply sufficient. This 

 brook is formed by the junction of two little streams, the extreme 

 distance between whose sources can scarcely be more than two 

 miles. It is along the course of these brooks that traces are 

 exhibited which show the character of the flood, and in my 

 opinion render the details of all further ravages easily credible. 



I was assui'cd that the smaller of these brooks, called Dob- 

 son's brook, does not di-ain at most above 150 acres of land; 

 and yet even near its source it bears signs of having been washed 

 by a furious torrent, such as no ordinary thunder-storm can 

 account for. Its waters enter the main brook a little more than 

 a quarter of a mile above Chipping. A little above this place a 

 weir had been constructed of strong masonry to turn a portion 

 of the waters to the village mill. This was entirely demolished ; 

 and one of the stones, which I found to measure 5 feet in length 

 and 1| in breadth, carried to the distance of about forty yards 

 and imbedded in the mud of the brook. In places where the 

 channel widened, the bed was strewn with large stones piled 

 up in great heaps, every stone bearing evident traces in its chip- 

 ped and bruised surface of having been rolled and dashed along 

 by the current. Some blocks of limestone of considerable size 

 had been freshly broken in two by the force with which they 

 had been thrown. In order to satisfy myself that these efi^ects 

 were produced by the rolling of the stones themselves, and not 

 merely by the passage of smaller stones over them, I caused 

 some of tne larger of them to be turned over, and found exactly 

 the same bruised and chipped appearance on every side. A 

 large stone, which was estimated to weigh about 7 cwt., and 

 which had been used for a stepping-stone where a path crosses 

 the brook, was carried about a quarter of a mile down the stream. 

 Another, which could not have weighed less than 12 cwt., showed 

 signs of having been borne along by the torrent. 



Smaller stones appear to have literally floated, as they may be 



