15 
Dr. A. Carpenter has obtained a crustacean similar to one 
found in the London clay above ; traces of these beds are found at 
Sundridge Park, Woolwich, Bexley, and Erith; but at Upnor 
more marine conditions obtained, while to the westward, at 
Reading, they yield shells and plants, and further west are repre- 
sented by unfossiliferous mottled clays, which clays are also found 
in the Hampshire basin, a distribution clearly worked out by Mr. 
Prestwich, in his communication to the Geological Society.* This 
old land, on the southern side, had also a river-course as shown by 
the fresh-water bed, with similar shells at Newhaven, Sussex. In 
the Paris area, similar conditions obtained, for around Epernay, and 
in the valley of the Mame, synchronous deposits were forming, 
containing nearly the same fauna, the shelly beds of which, and the 
associated lignite beds contribute to the fertility of the soil on which 
the vines grow from which the champagne is made. 
It was from the presence of similar lignite, or carbonaceous 
beds in this formation at Lewisham and Blackheath which, many 
years since, induced the belief that good coal might be found there. 
In the Belgian area these estuarine strata are represented by 
marine beds, and, with slight exceptions, similar conditions obtained 
in the area north of the Thames. 
The Woolwich beds indicate sub-tropical and estuarine condi- 
tions, containing Cyrena, Melania, Melanopsis, Ostrea, Neritina, 
and other mollusca. 
During some recent excavations at Park Hill Rise, in the 
calcareous conglomerate, were found Cyrena cuneiformis, Ostrea 
pulchra, Melania inquinata, Pectunculus Plumsteadiensis, Calyptrea 
trochiformis, Cardium, Serpula, ce. 
Other physical changes succeeded, by which the Woolwich series 
became covered with a newer deposit of + sand and pebbles, referred 
by Mr. Whitaker to the Oldhaven beds, from their occurrence in 
Kent, and forming with the overlying mass, the basement series of 
the London clay. These pebbles are well known to you, for they 
are largely exposed near Croydon in the railway-cutting, Park Hill, 
Duppas Hill, and Croham Hurst; also in the picturesque districts 
of Shirley Common and the Addington Hills ; and further east, at 
Blackheath, Bexley Heath, and other points. These beds vary in 
thickness from a few feet to about seventy, and consist of perfectly 
rounded flints, more or less altered in colour by exposure, but 
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. x., p. 75. 
* Along the southern boundary of the London Basin the most westerly place where 
the Oldhaven Beds are seen is Croydon, beyond which they seem to thin out. 
The boundary line through the town is hidden of course, and not only by reason of 
the buildings, but also by the gravel ; but it seems to run across the London and Brighton 
Railway to Park Hill. 
The line of outcrop is also hidden, but an inward spur seems to run northwards 
under the gravel to Selhurst, where the beds rise up slightly, and being free from gravel 
are to be seen in sections. This outcrop—so far within the general line of the boundary 
of the London Clay, and not at a very low level—is owing to some local uprise of the 
beds.—Whitaker, ibid., p. 241. 
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