39 



extent, for a Roman funeral um, containing the ashes of the dead, has 

 been found buried on the river banks, near the Ha-wbridge, between 

 Tewkesbury and Gloucester. The urn was open at the top, and the ashes 

 must have been washed out had the um been drifted; besides, I am 

 assured by Mr. Steickland, of Apperiey Court, who possesses this reUc, 

 that the urn was found perfectly upright, and had evidently been buried 

 where it stood. Deerhurst church, a little higher up, is known also to 

 have been of Anglo-Saxon date, and stood in Saxon times much in the 

 same position with respect to the Severn as at present. I therefore 

 believe that the river Severn flows in much the same channel, between 

 "Worcester and Gloucester, as in the days of the Eomans. 



The point to which I would direct attention is this : that all these 

 rivers may alter their course, and destroy and reform their alluvia over 

 and over again, for age after age, without in the slightest degree changing 

 their courses, save as regards the level alluvial land. The results arrived 

 at by Mr. Eichaedson, from mathematical and arithmetical calculations, 

 are, that the "Wye has flowed within its boundary of the old red rocks of 

 the Eoss district for more than eleven millions of years. I do not pretend 

 to enter into the elaborate calculations from which Mr. RiCHABDsoif has 

 come to this determination, but I must say that I have been lately much 

 impressed with the evidence of antiquity furnished by the alluvial deposits 

 of our rivers of "Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Monmouthshire, and I 

 do not see how we can deal with them in any way without allowing 

 enormous periods of time.* 



• See Edinburgh Phil. Journal. October, 1861. 



