51 



This paper was received with marked approval by a crowded 

 and appreciative audience, and there can be no doubt that its 

 publication will add much to our knowledge of the "Quaternary" 

 Geology of the British Islands. 



The first Field Meeting of the Club for the season was ap- 

 pointed for 



MINCHmHAMPTON COMMON". 

 Your President being detained by militia duties, was not able 

 to join till late in the afternoon. He is therefore indebted to 

 the notes of others for the detail of the events of the day. A 

 chief object of investigation was the age of the extensive 

 earthworks on the Common, attributed by old county historians 

 to the Danes, but to which others have assigned a much earlier 

 date, referring them to prse-Eoman times. The Members 

 assembled at the Brimscombe railway station, and under the 

 guidance of Messrs. Witchell and Platne proceeded along 

 the old lane to the Hyde, examining en route the Supra-Liassic 

 Sands, which are well exposed, and show a thickness of about 

 60 feet. At Hyde House occurs a deposit of sub-angular gravel, 

 derived apparently from the Great Oolite and Forest Marble 

 above. It occurs at an altitude of 460 feet above the sea level, 

 and according to Mr. Lucy owes its origin to the action of 

 snow and ice during the Glacial or Sub-Glacial Epoch, while 

 Mr. WiTCHELL contends for rain and atmospheric agencies 

 at a period anterior to the excavation of valleys to their present 

 depth. On arriving at the higher ground above Hyde, the 

 members fomid an excellent luncheon awaiting them, provided 

 by the kind forethought of Mr. Playne. On the flat table- 

 land is a Roman barrow, much broken up, from which was 

 disinterred in 1845 a fine fibula, the spring of which was 

 quite perfect. This, which is now in the possession of Mrs. 

 Faerae, was kindly entrusted to Mr. Playne for exhibition to 

 the Club. A Great Oolite quarry was next visited, in which the 

 conglomerate was well shown, and the variation in the litho- 

 logical character of the different beds was very remarkable. 

 Arrived at that part of the common near Amberley, the members 

 proceeded to examine the excavations made in the mounds 



