5 
Judging from the style of the Church, and especially from 
the east windows, with their detached shafts, it would seem to 
have been built about the time of the Marsuatts, 1220—1245. 
The family of Dz Awre, who held lands here from the 
time of the Conquest, and were tenants of the Manor and 
Advowson in 1200 and 1225, were probably the founders and 
patrons. The tower screen and font and most of the side 
windows may be assigned to the latter part of the period, when 
the monks were patrons of the Church. 
From the Church the party proceeded to the bank of the 
Severn, where Mr Lucy read some notes on the Geology of the 
district. The Severn is at this point bounded by a low cliff of 
Lower Lias, on which rests a bed of drift of varying thickness, 
composed of pebbles and rolled stones, cemented together by 
ferric oxide into a hard mass; the line of junction between the 
Lias and the overlying drift shows extraordinary erosion and 
furrowing of the underlying beds, due probably to the ploughing 
force of shore ice. The pebbles are derived from various remote 
sources, and consist of chalk flints, quartzites, greenstones, &c., 
all rounded in a manner that indicates the long continued action 
of running water. Mr Lucy referred to the sunken forests 
which are found wherever deep excavations are made in the 
bed of the river, which renders it probable that a narrow Severn 
at one time flowed through a wooded district, through which 
herds of the woolly elephant (Hlephas primigenius) wandered 
and crossed at will from one side to the other. Associated 
with this ancient forest were extensive peat-mosses, from 
whence have been taken the horns of the great ox (Bos Prum- 
genius) and those of the stag (Cervus elaphus), these latter of 
great size and in very perfect preservation. Mr Lucy drew 
attention to the existence on the opposite side of the Severn at 
Purton, of a bed of drift in all respects similar to that at Awre, 
which is likewise extensively developed at Sharpness. Mr Lucy 
led his hearers for some distance along the pleasant margin of 
the river, discoursing at various points on the Geology of the 
district, until it was necessary that all should direct their steps 
to the “ Red Hart,” at Awre, where dinner awaited them. 
