o 



DEPOSITS AT HITCniN. 17 



gi'catost depth of this valley could not be proved, owinp; to the 

 runiiing sand and gravel, which made horint;; so difftcult. The 

 bottom lies at least as low as thi> level of the existing valleys of 

 the Hiz and Purwell, for iive dilfercnt borings were abandoned 

 at about that level, without having reached the Chalk. The trend 

 of the buried channel seems to be from south to north, in this 

 following the general slope of the ground and running parallel 

 to the course of the existing streams. 



Work was commenced in November, 1890, in Ransom's brickyard, 

 one boring being put down at the east corner and another at the 

 south end. The section at the east corner showed 30 feet of 

 Palaeolithic loam, resting on '25 feet of carbonaceous loam with 

 fresh-water shells, below whicli came 12 feet of loamy sand and 

 gravel of doubtful age — perhaps Glacial, perhaps later. At the 

 south end bore-hole 2 showed — 



Feel. 

 f Briclvearth with small scattered stones and occasional Pala3o- 



I litliic implements, bedding obscure and irregular 30 



Dug. J Bedded brickearth with seams of sand (should be searched 



for Arctic plants ; compare Bed C at Iloxne) 8 



"White marly sand with fresh-water shells and fish teeth 1 to 3| 



. Gravelly brickearth ^ to 22- 



' Sandy loamy gravel 9 



Brickearth ... 2 



Loamy gravelly sand, full of water 6 



Bored. -, Blue clav and chalk "i t> i? ii -d u m f 3 



-r,, • , J Base of the Boulder Clay, or re- , 



g™~ch'Z'l„:„°f J constructed boulder 4 | [ 



, Sandy gravel and water 3 



Other borings in Jeeves' Yard and near Maydencroft Farm yielded 

 similar results, but only the one already mentioned (bore-hole 12) 

 reached undoubted Boulder Clay below the alluvial strata. 



The relation of the Boulder Clay to the alluvial deposits having 

 been settled, attention was devoted to an attempt to penetrate to 

 the bottom of the valley in its deepest part. A tiial-pit was sunk 

 in Ransom's old brickyard, within a few yards of the spot where 

 a pit had been sunk by Messrs. Prestwich and Evans in 1877, and 

 samples were taken from various depths for washing and minute 

 examination in London. In this brickyard a large number of 

 implements had been obtained from the irregular gravelly base 

 of the brickearth, where it rests on the older alluvial deposits. 

 The newer brickearth, here about 24 feet thick, had been already 

 entirely removed at the spot where the trial-pit was sunk, and 

 it was hoped that the pit could be sunk to the full <lepth of 

 the old channel. After sinking 14 feet through brown bedded 

 carbonaceous loam, full of badly prcseiwed shells and plant-remains, 

 the weather became so unsettled that there was a fear of the pit 

 caving in, or becoming flooded, before the work was completed. 

 Boring tools were therefore used, and a further depth of 17.V feet 

 of alluvial loam was penetrated before the gravelly sand below 

 was reached. At the base of the alluvium was found a foot or 



VOL. X. — P.\RT I. 2 



