THE VALLEY OF THE LOWER WYE, 



BY 



S. S. BUCKMAN, F.G.S. 

 (Read at the Windcliff, Chepstow Meeting, June 6th, 1898) 



The valley of the Lower Wye is as interesting as it is 

 picturesque. And although all the principles of river 

 development which it illustrates cannot be fully considered 

 in a short paper, yet some of its chief features deserve 

 notice. 



North of Tintern the river passes through an Old Red 

 Sandstone district, and maintains therein a fairly straight 

 course. From Tintern to Chepstow it has scooped out a 

 deep gorge-like valley through hard rocks of Carboniferous 

 Limestone, and its course is remarkably sinuous. The 

 question is, why it should have developed these features 

 — why it shows the combination of remarkable meanders 

 and a steep-sided, deep valley. For the Wye is a some- 

 what swift river, and the tendency of such a river is to cut 

 a straight course. A meandering course is only developed 

 by a river which is flowing sluggishly over a somewhat 

 flat district. It is obvious, then, that the meandering 

 course of the Wye is something which does not accord 

 with the })resent river, and consequently it must be an 



