ON THE 



LIASSIC ZONES 



AND 



STRUCTURE OF CHURCHDOWN HILL 

 GLOUCESTER. 



BY 



FREDERICK SMITHR, F.G.S., &c. 



In the language of every-day life this upland and its 

 slopes are generally called Chosen, which is the old name. 

 It is becoming of late years superseded by the words 

 Churchdown Hill, although it is, strictly speaking, more 

 than a hill, as it really consists of several hills, forming a 

 group, and several mounds undetached, bearing separate 

 names well known to the older inhabitants; for example, 

 some arc called Far Hill, others Green Hill, and again 

 Rabbits Hill, and Tinker's Hill. These eminences in any 

 case, whether large or small, whether connected or almost 

 isolated, were formed by the gradual erosion of a mass of 

 high ground, which in this case was the range of the 

 Cotteswold Hills. All such denudation was due not only 

 to the action of running water, but also to the effect of 

 rain, and especially to tropical rains. The shape and 

 outline of Churchdown Hill can be w^ell observed from 

 Battle Down, overlooking the town of Cheltenham ; from 

 that point, the observer can clearly discern the peninsular 

 character of our hill, and further that it resembles all the 

 other outliers of the Yale of Gloucester as to formation. 



Q2 



