INTRODUCTION Ixxxiil 



entirely composed of Windsor Park ; and the last, a detached area, 

 which includes part of Virginia Water, is di-ained by a brook that 

 enters Surrey and falls into the Thames near Chertsey. 



The elevation of the Loddon district is much lower than that of any 

 district hitherto described ; a considerable part of it is less than 

 150 feet, while its highest point, Bowsey Hill, which is composed of 

 London Clay capped with pebble drift, is less than 450 feet above the 

 sea. The highest point attained by the Bagshot Sands is on East- 

 hampstead Plain, which is about 430 feet high. 



The Blackwater, where it enters Berkshire, is less than 200 feet 

 above the sea, while the height of the Loddon at the Hampshire 

 border is not more than 150 feet. The Thames at Reading is about 

 120 feet, and at its exit from the county near Old Windsor not more 

 than 60 feet above sea level. 



The part of Berkshire drained by the Loddon stream before it 

 receives the Blackwater is so small that it has been considered better 

 to treat of the drainage of the two streams under one head (as is done 

 in Townsend's Floy-a of Ham2^shire). The course of the two streams has 

 been already described ; they drain a most interesting tract of country. 



Near Blackwater the scenery is of a different character from that 

 found in the northern districts of the county. Extensive tracts of 

 heathy ground, planted with pines, which seed freely, stretch in 

 various directions for a considerable distance, and include in fact the 

 hilly coimtry leading up to Easthampstead Plain, Wickham Bushes, 

 Broadmoor, and Crowthorn, the country south of the long Roman 

 road known as the Devil's Highway, and that which lies about Long 

 Moor, Wellington College, and the beautiful Finchampstead Ridges. 



From the summit of one of the rounded hills in this district, the 

 view is over a stretch of dark pine plantations covering the lower 

 eminences, or else over an expanse of heather and gorse which in 

 autumn is bright in 'purple and gold' and shows here and there 

 green patches where the sphagnum growth suggests boggy ground ; 

 but to obtain a prospect of a more varied and extensive character 

 the view from Finchampstead Ridges is strongly to be recommended. 

 A fa^ ourable impression is given if the approach be made from 

 Wellington College up the long and formal avenue of Wellingtonias, 

 which have been appropriately planted there, for then the view breaks 

 with startling suddenness upon the observer. The approach from the 

 western side by the village of Finchampstead is not without its 

 charm, as on this route masses of Rhododendrons and magnificent 

 clumps of brambles are passed before the summit is reached. On and 

 immediately around the summit is a profuse growth of heather, 

 bramble, birch, and bracken clothing the slopes down towards the river, 

 beyond which a large expanse of the flat country of North Hampshire 



f 2 



