120 



tliere was once a woodland tract uniting Somersetshire and 

 Wales, througli tlie middle of which, the ancient Severn 

 flowed;" and in estimating the age of the Peat deposits, he 

 says at page 546, " If, therefore, all the littoral sunk forests of 

 the South and West of England are referable to about the 

 same geological period, the occasional presence in them of 

 Mammoth will entitle them to be regarded as very ancient, or 

 of a date intervening between the era of the lake-dwellings and 

 that of the oldest epoch to which man has yet been traced." 



Although the Forest Beds, at Holy Hazle Pill, are probably 

 nearer the surface than those described lower down the Channel 

 at Porlock, by Mr. Godwin-Austin, (and even they are to be 

 seen at low- water,) there is, I think, every reason to believe 

 they are a continuation of them, and are therefore of the same 

 age, and the difference in level is attributable to their being 

 more inland. 



Altitudes* — To describe all the heights given would require 

 a paper on the subject, and for the present, I shall merely 

 observe, that by reference to the map, it will be seen the valleys 

 of the Severn and Avon are almost level, with outliers rising 

 out of them, and that a depression of 50 feet would cause 

 the tide to flow far inland, and cover a large area with water. 

 The height at the Bell Inn, Prampton-on-Severn, a little to 

 the S.W. of the map, is 35 feet above the sea-level; at the 

 Mariner's Chapel, at Gloucester, 39 feet ; at Coomb Hill, at the 

 Lock, at the entrance of the Severn, 30 feet; at Tewkesbury 

 Church, 48 feet, but at the bridge over the river there, 38 feet ; 

 Upton-on-Severn Church, 51 feet ; whilst on top of battlement 

 of the Small bridge, 3*57 feet above the centre of the road it 

 is 43 feet ; and at the top of centre pier of Barbotirne bridge, 

 Worcester, 046 feet above the centre of the road, the height 

 is 54 feet. 



The bench-mark at Bristol Cathedral shows an elevation of 

 63 feet; at Gloucester Cathedral, 57 feet, and at Worcester 

 Cathedral, 87 feet. 



* See Appendix. I am much indebted to Captain JameSj of the Trigono- 

 ical Survey, for many of the heights given therein. 



