2 14 ON THE OCCURRENCE OF WESTLETON BEDS 



signalman for this information, as, unfortunately, I was too late to see 

 the specimen, which had been destroyed. 



There can be no doubt on examination of the place, as to its 

 entombment being contemporary with the laying down of the shingle. 

 This piece of ancient flotsam seems to be our only representative of 

 the Cromer Forest Bed series. In further support of the antiquity 

 of this exposure, I may mention another section shown in a gravel- 

 pit about one-eighth of a mile south of this cutting, and at a less 

 elevation down the valley slope. That gravel-pit is capped in part 

 by Boulder Clay, and the underlying gravel (Glacial) is partly made 

 up of blocks, as it were, of the Westleton shingle derived from the 

 older bed. Cubes, in fact, of this material may be cut out completely 

 and compared with the bed where it occurs in situ, and from which, 

 probably, it was originally torn. There is a chalybeate spring rising 

 near this place, and I have thought whether its impurities can in any 

 way be traced to carbonaceous matter lying in the Westleton bed, 

 from which it undoubtedly originates. 



Our next section is less than a quarter of a mile west of Dunmow 

 station, and is a small exposure at the foot of the hill on which the 

 windmill stands. This is of Westleton shingle. It would not 

 appear to have any great thickness here, because the London Clay 

 rises nearly to the surface opposite Dunmow station. 



Passing to the railway cutting a mile further west near the 

 " High Wood " we have the most instructive section to be found in 

 the area. It occurs at the commencement of the cutting. The 

 gravel there abuts rudely on a boss of bright yellow Westleton 

 sand, which, under the sun's rays, glitters abundantly with scales of 

 mica. The false-bedding of the gravels is abruptly broken off at its 

 junction with the sand, and forms a conspicuous feature. Unfor- 

 tunately, the Westleton sand passes almost immediately under the 

 talus, which exists continuously throughout the cutting. The 

 gravel, with its overlying boulder clay, is very finely developed. 

 There is some doubt as to the true character of this gravel. Inas- 

 much as it is sharply divided from the Boulder Clay, a character 

 common to the " Westleton " over a wide area (.see Prestwich and 

 Woodward), it resembles \\'estleton gravel, but in its uneven lie and 

 total unconformability to the underlying sand it resembles Glacial 

 gravel. Unfortunately, I could find no loose heaps about to assist 

 me in further determination. 



As we shall meet with the underlying micaceous sand again, and 



