200 THE GEOLOGY AND SCENERY OF THE CLUB's VOYAGE 



and thinks a fault unnecessary. For my own part I am inclined to 

 favour Mr. Dalton's explanation as the more probable one ; for the 

 Tertiary rocks of Essex afford no evidence of being contorted any- 

 where, and, on the contrary, appear to be singularly free both from 

 contortions and from faults of any magnitude, such as abound in 

 mountain districts. It is, indeed, almost impossible- to imagine the 

 existence of a contortion of this kind in strata so soft and of so late 

 a date as those of Essex. But a reversed fault may exist anywhere, 

 and a small one at Loam Pit Hill, Lewisham, in Woolwich Beds, 

 which I noted there three years ago, is figured in Whitaker's " Geology 

 of London," vol. ii., p. 333. As regards the fault at Wickham Bishop, 

 my reason for giving a diagram to illustrate its effects, instead of 

 referring the reader to Mr. Dalton's section, is that the latter, being 

 without shading, is not so intelligible to the non-geological eye as a 

 shaded drawing ; and the increased slope here given to the fault 

 also tends to make the result more obvious. 



But the question of most interest for us at this moment is whether 

 the fault in question, or any others known to exist, have had any 

 noticeable influence on the scenery of this district. That faults may 

 have a very powerful influence on the scenery of a locality is evident 

 to all who have studied the geology of a place like Settle, in N.W. 

 Yorkshire, where massive limestones of great thickness have been 

 thrown against beds of a totally different kind. But in Essex, though 

 many faults doubtless exist of which we have no evidence, nothing is 

 known of faults of any great importance, nor is there anything in Essex 

 geology which can be accounted for only by their aid. Besides, the 

 Tertiary rocks, with the (llacial and other drifts, which form the 

 surface of the country are all alike soft, and give no indication of the 

 range of a faulted line such as we get when hard and massive rocks 

 are brought side by side with softer beds. It is obvious, indeed, here 

 in central Essex, that w^here the London Clay, uncovered by other 

 strata, forms the surface, we have gently undulating country, while a 

 gravel-covered area, whether at a high or low level, has a flattened 

 contour — flatter even than that of the districts covered by Boulder 

 Clay. But if we enquire what explanation can be given of the 

 unusual height of the plateau of Danbury on our left, and of the 

 rid^e of Tiptree Heath on our right, what answer can be given ? The 

 \\'ickham Bishop fault does not appear to me to throw any light on 

 the matter. We have no evidence as to the direction in which it 

 ranges, nor does it appear to be of any great size. Nor do we know 



