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that the peat attains a maximum thickness of nearly fourteen 

 feet, which, as it rises to the sm-face, thins out to a few inches. 

 It is composed mainly of oak, alder, beech, and hazle, and near 

 the sm-face nuts of the latter were found quite perfect. The 

 trees generally were observed to lie nearly north and south, and 

 at the point where the peat was deepest, they occurred about 

 six feet from the bottom. The wood forming the underlying 

 portion was much decomposed with some fine sand in it. Some 

 oaks were of considerable size, indeed one of them must have 

 been quite a giant of the forest, being 80 feet long, and as at 

 the upper extremity it was still 2 feet 9 inches in diameter, the 

 trunk when entire must have been considerably longer. The 

 base, which was a good deal decayed, gave a diameter of 5 feet. 

 A portion of the stem of this grand tree, cut about 24 feet fi-om 

 the base, is preserved in the Gloucester Museum. 



There were no marine or fresh- water shells discovered, and the 

 few remains included a fine head of Cervus Elaphus, antlers and 

 jaw-bones of rather small deer, head of horse, horns of Bos 

 longifrons, and skull of a dog. The bottom of the peat was 

 about the height of the present low-water mark on the Severn. 

 The highest spring tides rise 44 feet. About eight feet of fine 

 silt, with some clay in it, covered up the peat, which reposed 

 upon a clay, varying from a few inches to four feet in thickness, 

 and so fine in quality as to be fit for potter's work. In it 

 were some "Northern Drift" pebbles, some small boulders, and 

 a little flint. The clay rested on an eroded surface of the 

 " Old Eed " Marl, from which formation it had evidently been 

 derived. A few Northern Drift pebbles occur in the peat and 

 also in the silt above. On either side of the Royal Drough, at 

 a depth of about 16 feet, is a continuation of the same Peat- 

 Bed, about six feet thick, and it is met with again a few miles 

 higher up the Severn, at Epney and Framilode, and on the 

 opposite side, at Lydney and Awre ; it has likewise been traced 

 at various places up to Gloucester. 



In comparing the peat-beds at Cromer, Hull, Grimsby, Porlock 

 and Holly Hazle, it is seen, as might be expected, that the 

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