NOTES ON THE RIVER TRENT AT BURTON. 109g 
gravel, and, although 15 ft. was touched only in one place, 
depths of from to ft.. to 14 ft. are to be found over a con- 
siderable area at the bend. 
Perhaps the most curious result found was the deep 
channel cut out of the Staffordshire half of the river bed, 
from a point about half way between Drakelow Hall and 
the Midland Railway Viaduct, and terminating within a few 
yards of the Viaduct. 
The Derbyshire half of the river bed maintains a fairly 
even depth of about 6 ft. along here, but the Staffordshire 
half has a channel cut along of some 15 to 20 yards wide 
of depths varying from 8 to 12 feet. Depths of 10 ft. being 
found in many places within two yards of the bank. It is 
difficult to give a satisfactory explanation of the existence 
of this channel. As far as soundings shew, the nature of 
the bed is uniform everywhere about here, and there is 
nothing to shew that at any time there was a stronger 
current along the Staffordshire bank which would cause 
such a wash out. Still, it is more difficult to believe that 
human agency accounts for this curious state of things. 
The river bed above the Viaduct is fairly clean except in 
a few places where weeds are growing in increasing 
quantities every year; but between the Viaduct and the 
Drakelow Weir the river is silting up fast, and a consider- 
able depth of mud covers the whole bed of this part of the 
river. 
Below Drakelow Weir the river widens considerably, and 
is very shallow until Stapenhill Church is reached. 
Between the Ferry Bridge and the Burton Bridge the 
greatest depth found in the East Arm is at the Band 
Corner, 10 ft.; and in the West Arm, opposite S. Modwen’s 
Church, this is the well-known “‘ Mud Hole.” At the 12 ft. 
junction of the Baths’ branch with the main stream, 
opppsite Ox Hay, a large quantity of silt is to be found. 
The depth of the river at this point must be considerably 
less than it was 20 or 30 years ago. 
