83 



But putting this notion aside at once, what will account for the 

 unusual position of these flints 1 In the first plaoe, however, 

 let me give a description of the quarry. 



It consists of some 21ft. Sin. of broken-up beds of the Great 

 Oolite, and is worked for the purpose of rough walls and road 

 metal ; the blocks not being of sufficient size and their nature 

 being otherwise unsuitable for ashlar. The height of the Down 

 above the level of the Avon is 629 feet and that of the quarry 

 about 100 feet lower. 



Beginning from the top downwards avo have : — 



Ft. In. 

 Humus, &c. ... ... ... 11 



Oolitic debris ... ... ... 1 11 



3. Solid bed of Oolite ... ... ... 10 



— 4. Flint pebbles ..." ... ... 1 6 



beds " 



6. Broken-up beds of Oolite fissured and 



dipping: into lull ... ... 13 4 



resting on yellow Clay, probably the Fuller's earth, down to which 

 the beds are worked. 



The face of the quarry runs nearly North and South. The 

 mass of flints attains at the South end its greatest thickness 

 some five feet more or less, and gradually thins out to a few 

 inches at the North end, filling up the joints and fissures of the^ 

 Oolite bed on which it rests. The size of the flints varies from 

 pebbles 4|in. long and Sin. broad (the largest measured) to little 

 rounded pellets of about the size of No. 6 shot. A mass of 

 reddish loam holds them together at the thickest part ; this, 

 when looked at closely through a lens, is seen to consist of minute 

 grains of quartz with little black and white chips of flint. The flints 

 ■s-ary in colour from M'hite to black, yellow, bluish-white and red 



