16 C. KEID — TOE PALAEOLITHIC 



in spending money in attempting to penetrate them to the Boulder 

 Clay. Even if the Boulder Clay were reached, it would be fairly 

 open to any critic to say that nothing had been settled, as there 

 is no evidence which of some three or four gravels may be the one 

 represented at that particular spot. 



The first thing to be done evidently was to ascertain whether the 

 chalky Boulder Clay, an undoubted Glacial deposit, passes under or 

 over the Palaeolithic brickearth. With this object, borings were 

 made in the pits out of which implements have been dug. The 

 details of the borings are given in the Appendix ; the results may 

 be shoi'tly summarized thus : — In Ransom's (New) Brickyard, after 

 penetrating the Paleeolithic brickearth and underlying fluviatile 

 loam to a depth of 60 feet, some blue, chalky clay was penetrated 

 in bore-hole 2, and in bore-hole 1 derivative fossils from the Boulder 

 Clay were obtained at about the same level in the lower part of the 

 old alluvium. In each case boring was stopped by gravelly sand 

 full of water. Other borings in Jeeves' Yard and in some old 

 brick -pits on Maydencroft Farm yielded no trace of boulder clay. 

 One only (bore-hole 12) passed through undoubted boulder clay. 

 The section was — 



Feet. 



{duo* 9 



Ancient / Yellow and white marl and silt 2 



alluvium. \ Yellow loam and small chalk pebbles |- 



r Chalky boulder clay 9 



Glacial. 4 Loamy chalky gravel (base of the Boulder Clay)... 2 



[^ Gravelly sand (boring stopped by large stones) ... 8 



36 



The site of this boring is close to the western margin of the 

 old channel, chalk appearing at the surface within a short distance. 

 The occurrence of the chalky Boulder Clay at this spot at a high 

 level, and its absence, or representation by derivative material, at 

 lower levels in borings made nearer to the centre of the channel, 

 suggest that the channel was, to a large extent, excavated, or 

 re-excavated, after the deposition of the Boulder Clay, as was the 

 case at Hoxne. 



The course of the ancient silted-up channel cannot yet be defined. 

 Loam with Palaeolithic implements occupies a belt extending for 

 about a mile south of Hitchin. It has been extensively worked 

 at various times between Windmill Hill and Maydencroft Lane. 

 According to Mr. Hill, implements have also been found on Thistly 

 Farm, half a mile fu.rther south. The only pits now worked are 

 those known as " Ransom's " and "Jeeves'." 



The underlying river alluvium is entirely overlapped and hidden 

 by the Paleeolithic brickearth, and is only to be seen where the 

 brickearth has been dug away. It is found in Ransom's and 

 Jeeves' brickyards, and we have now discovered it, half a mile to 

 the S.S.W., in two borings on Maydencroft Farm. It apparently 

 occupies a narrow belt in the middle of the old valley. The 



