WATFOED KATITEAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Ixi 



from the nature of their cry — shot at Edge Grove, Aldenham, 

 30 years ago ; a black woodpecker ; a black tern shot at Elstree 

 Keservoir ; a waxwing, shot in Mrs. Bailey Smith's garden, "Wat- 

 ford Fields ; the large snowy owl ; an otter killed at Munden; and 

 a badger killed at the Grove, lent by their owners to Dr. Brett for 

 exhibition. 



Field Meetij^g, 16th June, 1877. 



HiTCHIN. 



Having received a kind and pressing invitation from Mr. "William 

 Eansom, of Hitchin, to visit that locality, about 30 of the members 

 of the Society and their friends assembled at the Hitchin railway 

 station on the arrival of the 11 "46 a.m. train from Hatfield. 

 They were met on their arrival by Mr. "William and Mr. Alfred 

 Ransom, and at once proceeded to the chalk-pits, near the station, 

 from which the chalk is derived to supply the lime works be- 

 longing to the latter gentleman. 



These extensive excavations are in the upper part of the Lower 

 Chalk, of which they have yielded numerous characteristic fossils. 

 At the top of the section the junction of the Chalk at different 

 places with the beds above afforded material for considerable dis- 

 cussion ; and the nature and origin of a large " pipe " of sand and 

 gravel — which measures about six feet in diameter, and which 

 penetrates the Chalk perpendicularly in the form of a well, being 

 readily observable for a distance of about 60 feet from the top 

 of the pit — was lucidly explained by Dr. John Evans, F.E..S 

 The beds of clay and gravel which were seen to overlie the 

 Chalk were next alluded to by Dr. Evans, who considered them 

 to have been foi-med during the Glacial period, and to be most 

 probably due to marine conditions, a large block of chalk in a bed 

 of boulder-clay at the highest part of the pit having, for instance, 

 with little doubt, been brought there and deposited on the spot by 

 an iceberg. 



The party then wended its way, single file, up some rather steep 

 steps cut out in the Chalk, to the summit of the pit, and thence 

 adjourned to Fairfield, the residence of Mr. "William Ransom. 



Here a number of flint implements, recently discovered in a bed 

 of clay or "brick-earth" a few miles from Hitchin, at once 

 attracted the attention of Dr. Evans, who determined them to 

 be celts of the Paleolithic Age occurring under conditions 

 which seemed to afford conclusive proof of an almost incon- 

 ceivable antiquity. They were, he said, the earliest traces of the 

 handiwork of intelligent beings which this country had so far 

 afforded. From the top of the bed in which these were found a 

 flint implement of the jS'eolithic Period was shown, together with 

 some Roman urns, coins, and culinary utensils, which were 

 carefully examined by the party. A few minutes were pleasantly 

 spent in this manner, and the company was then summoned to the 



