124 



A SUPPOSED NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT. 



gravel of Glacial age, though there was not evidence enough to 

 have warranted their separation from the latter on the Geo- 

 logical Map. Crossing the Mill stream and the alluvial flat of 

 the Brain southward of it, we then inspected the " Gravel Pit " 

 on the southern slope of the valley, nearly due south of Brain- 

 tree Railway Station. From this pit we passed to the others 

 south-west of it, where " Sand Pit " and " Gravel Pit " appear 

 on the map, east of the road from Hoppit Bridge to Black 

 Notley. The material in all these pits appeared to be of Glacial 

 age ; but in the " Brick Works," in the angle between the Black 

 Notley road and that ranging eastward from Buckwood Farm, 

 there was a patch of loam overlying the Glacial deposits, the 

 junction being shown as in the section here given ; height, about 

 8 feet. Fig. ig. 





Fig. 19. 



Section in Pit in Brickworks near Braintree. A, Glacial Gravel 

 B, Boulder Clay ; C, Post-Glacial Loam. 



Patches of Post-Glacial loam are shown here and there, in 

 the neighbourhood of Braintree, on the Geological Map, but 

 none appears to have been known at the above spot when the 

 map was published ; it is probably to be found at many places 

 where it is not yet mapped, for there is usually no surface indi- 

 cation to suggest its presence, and its existence becomes known 

 through its accidental discovery in a gravel or brick pit. The 

 above section was clear only to the extent shown. The thin 

 strip of Boulder Clay (B) was decalcified, but there can be no 

 doubt as to its real nature. Some large stones were seen on the 

 line of junction between the Boulder Clay and the loam. I have 

 already mentioned the discovery of Mammalian remains in post- 

 Glacial loam at Great Yeldham. 



From Buckwood Farm we proceeded along the road rang- 

 ing thence in an easterly direction, and entered the field south of 



