4 
The First Field Meeting of the Club for 1877 took place at 
CHELTENHAM, 
on Tuesday, 15th May. A large party gathered at the trysting- 
place, for the day was beautiful, and our eloquent Vice-President, 
Dr. Wricut, had promised from the Windlass on Leckhampton 
Hill to point out and explain the physiography of the Severn 
Valley as seen from that spot, and to give a geological lecture 
on the beds composing the Cotteswold hills, at the same time 
indicating their co-relations with those of other districts. 
Punctually at the hour the party assembled. The Doctor 
then directed their attention to the physical features of the 
Valley. First, there were the Malvern hills, which may be 
regarded as the miniature type of a great mountain chain, with 
their short slope to the east, and their long slope to the west, 
and the angular outline indicating the presence of the intrusive 
rock, the Syenite, which formed the axis of the hills, having 
the New Red Sandstone abutting against the eastern side, and 
the Silurian Limestones upheaved at various angles on the west, 
raised up by the eruptive rock which had elevated the chain. 
Coming southward the Woolhope dome could be seen, and in 
the western distance the highlands of Herefordshire, formed of 
Old Red Sandstone. Carrying the eye still southward, we 
come to the Silurian boss of May Hill, and the Forest of Dean, 
with its beds of “Old Red” and Carboniferous Limestone, and 
its Coal-basin. Near the middle of the Valley occur the junction 
beds between the New Red and the Lias, the latter formation 
entering largely into the structure of the Cotteswolds, and 
extending up to the spot whereon the party were then assembled. 
A few yards above this point could at one time be seen the line 
of junction between the Upper Lias and the Inferior Oolite ; 
for only the uppermost parts of the Cotteswolds, on which they 
were then looking, are covered with Oolitic Limestone, and 
form the eastern side of this grand picture. Looking again up 
the Valley, we see Bredon Hill in the north, Churchdown 
projecting forward in the middle, and beyond, southward, 
Robin’s Wood Hill, all three forming so many outliers of the 
