211 



that at a short distance below the pasture field in which the shelly bed 

 was discovered, there is a valley formed by a large slip from the ragstone 

 and upper freestone beds, running parallel with the hill to the distance of 

 60 or 80 yards, and about 40 yards across, which only requires one of 

 the springs above to be turned into it, to produce all the conditions 

 requisite for the formation of a second and similar shelly deposit. If, 

 therefore, a valley can be thus formed in the lower part of the hill by 

 masses of rock, it is not unreasonable to suppose tliat a similar valley 

 could be formed on the slopes above by the slipping of the Fullers- 

 earth clay. 



If it be conceded that a pond or small lake once existed upon the site 

 of tlie shelly bed, it follows, of course, from the contents of the deposits, 

 that it was a jjlace to which the inhabitants of the district resorted for 

 various purposes, the carbon {animal charcoal) which is found throughout 

 the bed, even to its lowest part, proving that during the whole period of 

 its foi'mation, the surrounding country was inhabited. 



The changes which have taken place in the aspect of the slopes and 

 the covering up of the deposit with vegetable mould from two to four 

 feet thick, must have been the work of a very long period, and there 

 can be little doubt that the people by whom the flint instruments were 

 formed, and who left behind them the other traces of their existence, 

 were some of the very earliest inhabitants of this country. In further 

 proof of this opinion, is the fact that Helix lamellata (one of the shells 

 mentioned in the list) is not now an inhabitant of this part of the 

 countiy, not being found south of Scarborough. 



Conclusions. — That a lake or pond of greater or less extent once 

 existed upon the slope of Stroud Hill, in which the shelly bed was 

 deposited. That it was formed by means of an extensive land-slip from 

 the higher gi-ound. That human dwellings were in its A'icinity, and 

 that fire was largely used near its margin. That all ti-aces of it have 

 disappeared, except the shelly bed, the whole being now covered up by 

 the accumulation of mould, with additions from small land-slips. 



