258 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 191 1 



In recent years new light has been thrown on local prob- 

 lems by work accomplished in connection with the Glacial 

 Deposits in adjoining areas/ but it must be admitted that we 

 are still unable to form a definite idea as to the conditions 

 that prevailed in this district during the Glacial Epoch. 



In some parts of the country, where remnants of Tertiary 

 and Glacial beds occur, it is possible to obtain some know- 

 ledge of the sequence of events ; but there are no Tertiary Beds 

 in Gloucestershire, and the superficial deposits furnish no un- 

 doubted evidence of ice-action. No great changes in the land 

 level appear to have occurred since the close of the Ice Age, 

 and it may be inferred from the position of the " Cheltenham 

 Sands " on the flanks of the Hills that there has not been any 

 considerable recession of the escarpment. 



It is held by some geologists that in early Tertiary times 

 rivers flowed from north-west to south-east across what is 

 now the Lower Severn Valley ; but I think that the initiation 

 of north to south streams could not have been long delayed — 

 the flow in that direction probably being influenced not only 

 by the structure of the rocks, but by a continued elevation of 

 the Malvern Range. 



It is unnecessary here to enter into the subject of river- 

 development / except to observe that apparently some time 

 late in the Tertiary Period, the area under consideration was 

 drained by a stream flowing from a northerly direction. 



The Converging Ice-Sheets.— There is evidence that ice 

 moved towards this district — 



(i) From the Arenig group of mountains as far as 

 Birmingham and the neighbourhood of Broms- 

 grove ;^ 



1 H. J. Osborne White, Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xv., pp. 157-74 ; H. B. Woodward, Geol. Mag. 

 (1897), pp. 485-97 ; O. A. Shrubsole, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. liv., pp. 585 600 ; B. Thompson, 

 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. Iv., pp. 65-88 ; F. W. Harmer, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. l.xiii., 

 pp. 470-514 ; Geol. Mag. (1906), p. 470 ; Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1906 (1907), pp. 572-3 ; Mem. Geol.Surv. 

 W. J. Harrison, " Sketch of the Geology of the Birmingham District," pp. 87-96 : T. 1. Pocock, 

 "Geol. Country around Oxford" (190SJ, pp. 81-105. 



2 On this subject, see : — T. S. Ellis, Proc. Gloucester Sch. of Sci. Phil. Soc. (1882) ; Geol. Mag. 

 1908), pp. 109-12 and 446-54 ; " The Winding Course of the River Wye," Gloucester (loio) ; Prof. 



W. M. Davis, Geogr. Journ. (1894-5), pp. 127-146 ; S. S. Buckman, Geol. Mag. (1902), pp. 366-75 ; 

 Nat. Sci. {1899), pp. 273-89 ; Proc Cottesw. Nat. F.C., vol. xiii., pp. 25-32 and 175-90 : L. Richardson, 

 ■' Handbook Geol. Cheltenham " (1904), pp. 177-90 ; " Geologj- — Vict. Co. Hist." — Herefordshire 

 (1908), pp. 28-9 ; Trans. Woolhope Club (1908), pp. 57-60. 



3 W. J. Harrison, "Geol. Birmingham District," p. 89; Car\'ell Lewis, "Glacial Geology of 

 Great Britain," pp. Ixiv.-lxxiv ; Crosskey, Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1873-93 (Reports of Erratic Blocks 

 Committee) ; W. T. Heming, Proc. Dudley Geol. Soc (1876), pp. iy-20 ; J. Humphreys, Presidential 

 Address, The Institute, Bromsgrove, Oct., 1902. 



