AXU PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



An opening in the trees revealing an extensive and beautiful 

 prospect of Buckinghamshire, Mr. Evans turned from Archaeology 

 to Geology. We are now, he said, at the edge of a false escarp- 

 ment, the valley just below us being cut out in the Lower Chalk 

 by a stream wliich now sometimes flows nearly to Aldbury, and 

 sometimes disappears higher up the valley, sinking into swallow- 

 holes in the Chalk ; beyond is the true escarpment of the Lower 

 Chalk, with the Totternhoe stone forming a projecting ridge, and 

 passing insensibly into the Upper Greensand ; in the middle 

 distance we see, he continued, the Gault valley of Aylesbury, rising 

 into hills here and there ; and the higher hills in the extreme 

 distance mark the outcrop of the Lower Greensand. 



A peculiar gnarled and twisted beech tree, which should not be 

 allowed to perish before it has formed a subject for pen and pencil, 

 next attracted attention. It is, however, on the Buckinghamshire 

 side of the avenue which extends from the Monument to Ashridge 

 House, and we cannot therefore claim it as one of " the remarkable 

 trees of Hertfordshire." Nor can we claim Ashridge House, for 

 ' ' there is but a small part of the House of Ashridge in this 

 County; the rest, and most of the Park, is in Bucks. . . ."* 



Leaving the house, and the County of Buckingham, to the 

 left, Berkhampstead Common was soon reached, and just outside the 

 confines of the park a brick-field was entered. 



The clay here is apparently an " outlier" — a portion of the old 

 London Basin cut off from the main body — the intermediate 

 Tertiaiy beds, which once extended over a very large area, having 

 been removed by denudation, leaving patches here and there as 

 witnesses of its former extent. In places "pipes," formed by the 

 percolation of water through the clay, show that it is not 

 impervious, there being a considerable amount of sand in it. Here 

 and there, also, on its upper surface, di-ift is seen, appu'eutly due to 

 more recent submergence in glacial times. 



A delightful walk across the common — a refreshing change from 

 the more sylvan beauty of the park — brought the party to Berk- 

 hampstead Castle, which was thus described by Salmon in 1728, in 

 his account of " Berkamsted St. Peters : " — 



" The Castle contains within its first Mont four or five Acres. There is again a 

 Division by another Moat. The South Part, consisting of about two Acres, is upon 

 a Level, with most of the "Walls and Chimneys remaining ; the Windows opened all 

 to the Inside. Toward the North, across a Moat, is a high Hill or Keep, capable 

 of defending itself against the former, if possessed by the Enemy. Here are the 

 'J'races of the Bridge of Communication, and the Moat dividing "these two Places 

 of Strength is continued to the grand one, that takes in the whole Scite of the 

 Fortification. The Bridge for Entrance fi-om the Town was on the South Side, the 

 Kemains of it visible ; answering exactly to the other on the North of the first 

 Area, which led to the llill."t 



After strolling about the Castle grounds, and resting for a while, 

 the members returned by an evening train to their respective desti- 

 nations. 



Although the eight miles' walk proved ratlier fatiguing to a few 



• Salmon, l.c.\). 134. t ii>. p. 123. 



