VOL. XVII. (2) EXCURSION— NORTHLEACH DISTRICT i6i 



Walking along at the foot of the steep side of the common, the Members 

 saw a gravel-pit, in which the top-gravel is made up principally of angular 

 fragments of oolite, which have become detached from the cliff-head, and 

 have fallen down; but the main portion is "granular." Mr Richardson 

 said that if in imagination they restored the angular debris to the cliff-head, 

 and removed the " granular " gravel from its foot, he thought they would 

 have a cliff very much steeper than any that could have been produced by 

 the ordinary processes of denudation such as are at present at work in the 

 district. He suggested that the over-steepening of the scarp of Inferior- 

 Oolite rocks took place in the Glacial Period, and that the processes which 

 over-steepened the Inferior-Oolite scarp were analogous to those which 

 steepened the head walls of some of the Welsh cwms. He thought that 

 the resemblances as regards certain features here and in Wales permitted 

 such a comparison being suggested. This comparison he had made in a 

 paper about to appear in their " Proceedings, "i 



Fine views were obtained from May Hill northwards, prominent points 

 being Hay Bluff, the Woolhope Hills, the high ground above Wenlock Edge, 

 the Clee Hills, and, in the far distance, resembling a tumulus, the Wrekin. 



Mr Charles Bailey noted the following plants : — Horse-shoe \'etch 

 [Hippocrepis comosa), Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris), Thyme-leaved sand- 

 wort [Arenaria serpyllifolia), and Hairy rock-cress (Arabis hirsuta), all on 

 the Common. 



The Members then walked down Sandy Lane, boarded brakes at the 

 entrance to Southfield Farm, and drove to ilr Carles's residence in the Park. 

 Passing over the Banbury Line, the extensive deposit of sand attracted 

 attention. Mr Richardson had, earlier in the afternoon, informed the 

 Members that the sand could not have been derived from the hills because 

 there was no deposit in those hills sufficiently extensive, and what deposit 

 there was on Cleeve Hill was made up of finer grains than the depo=;it in the 

 vale. The sand of the vale deposit was composed of relatively coarse grains, 

 and its probable source was much farther north. It had probably been 

 introduced into this district in the late Glacial Period. 



After tea, Mr W. Crooke, F.A.I., the President, thanked Mr and Mrs 

 Carles, on behalf of the Club, for their very kind hospitality, and assured 

 them that it was very much appreciated. 



EXCURSION TO THE NORTHLEACH DISTRICT 



Tuesday, June yth, 1910 



Directors : L. Richardson and John Sawyer 

 {Report by the Directors) 



The Members left the G.W.R. Station, Cheltenham, in brakes at 10.30 

 a.m., and drove direct to Northleach. Here, before lunch, a visit was paid 

 to the Church. To the few Members who had not previously seen it, the 

 Church was a pleasing surprise. It is entirely built in the Perpendicular 

 style, is of noble proportions, and has a south porch of unusual beauty. 

 Whether there was an earlier Cnurch in the town is doubtful. Domesday 

 Book records a priest as among the inhabitants, but says nothing of a Church. 

 There is evidence of the existence of a Church of earlier date in the adjoining 

 parish of Eastington, and it may be that this was the Church for Northleach 

 as well. It may be, too, that the font in the Church is of earlier date than 



I Proc. Cotteswold Nat. F. C, vol. xvii., pt. i (1910), pp. 40-43. 



