38 ON SOME ANCIENT LAKE REMAINS AT FELSTEAD, WITH 



refilled its natural outlet would be by that road. The road has also 

 cut through 4 feet of the rainwash mentioned as occurring on the 

 northern slope of the valley, burying relics, etc., and has therefore 

 precluded the further formation of rainwash since this erosion com- 

 menced. 



Another reason for supposing the final drainage of the lake to 

 have taken place long ago, is the accumulation of rainwash or brick- 

 earth inside the lake basin. This accumulation has completely 

 covered the lake mud, and obscures, except for the artificial section, 

 all the other deposits. 



This is all the evidence known at present for the antiquity of the 

 lake. We have therefore, primarily, an accumulation of 8 feet of 

 rainwash at one place ; an accumulation of compact lake mud (the 

 product of still water) exceeding 8 feet ; and the accumulation 

 amounting to many feet and to hundreds of superficial yards resulting 

 from the normal overflow of the lake. Secondarily, there is the after 

 accumulation of rainwash in the lake basin and the amount of road 

 which has been lost by denudation. 



Before passing on to notice the other lake remains of the neigh- 

 bourhood, it might be mentioned that the " Millands " seems to have 

 had the largest feeder and so has produced the greatest accumula- 

 tions in the rear of the dam ; and, thanks to the Railway Company, 

 the section here now shown is the finest. So compact is the lake 

 mud within the basin that the railway embankment has been allowed 

 to rest on it as a sufficient foundation. 



We will now pass on to notice the other remains of a similar kind 

 in the neighbourhood. Half a mile west of Felstead village a strong 

 spring issues from the side of the hill. Like the " Millands " brook 

 it has cut a depression in the course of geological time. Across this 

 depression two dams have been thrown ; the first is near the point 

 of issue of the stream, and the second is somewhat lower down the 

 hill. These dams, although long breached, once held back two 

 considerable ponds (lakes, as we shall continue to call them in the 

 technical sense). The overflow channel which can still be traced, 

 was carried off at a right angle towards another depression about 70 

 yards to the right of the pond, and has left there unmistakable allu- 

 vial traces. The bed of the lower pond has an accumulation of 

 shell-marl of over 5 feet, in part, at least, due to the lake. But as 

 other kindred accumulations occur in the locality, it is not safe to 

 attribute the whole of this to the lake's agency. It is, however, 



