VOL. XVII. (3) SEVERN PLAIN IN GLACIAL EPOCH 373 



in more sheltered and quieter waters nearer to the Cotteswolds. 

 In this case the absence of the Sands from the Malvern side 

 of the Plain would indicate the interference of some barrier 

 since removed by denudation — perhaps the central ridge 

 before mentioned — that prevented free access of the sand- 

 bearing currents to that side of the Severn. 



The deposition of the Sands seems to have been of com- 

 paratively recent date, since they approach to within a short 

 distance of the steep Liassic slope, as at Southfield Farm, 

 Charlton Kings, and for more than a mile up the valley of the 

 Chelt between the hills, as at Dowdeswell. It is thus evident 

 that no great recession of the escarpment has occurred since 

 the Sands were deposited. 



The Kingsholm Gravels and Sands. — There are no 

 sections showing the relation of the Cheltenham Sands to 

 other superficial deposits of the district, but masses of a 

 similar sand that occur in beds lately exposed at Denmark 

 Road, Gloucester, 45 feet O.D., indicate an existence before 

 the upper beds of the Kingsholm gravels were deposited. 

 Several pits, at a distance of about 70 yards to the north-east 

 of the County Council School, were excavated at intervals 

 enabling me for some months thoroughly to examine them and 

 to trace the relation of the various beds, which were exposed 

 down to the lower coarse gravel. 



The following are the particulars of one of the sections' 

 which may be taken as representative of the others. 



No. ft. in. 



I. I o Surface soil with a few Drift pebbles that were probably 



brought to the surface in well-sinking. 

 II. 26 Black earth with Roman pottery and coins and a few Drift 

 pebbles. 

 III. 5 8 Fine quartzose sand and grey clayey mud in thin seams, 

 enclosing, sometimes in thin envelopes, irregular masses of 

 quartzose sand and Jurassic gravel. Underneath the 

 enclosed masses the seams of sand and clay are bent or 

 waved. There are no Drift pebbles in the sand or mud or 

 in the enclosed masses, which are hard and compact. The 

 surface of this bed appears to have been eroded. 

 IV. I 6 Coarse clean quartzose sand of the Severn Valley type. 

 v. I 2 Small quartzose gravel with pebbles of Malvernian and Silur- 

 ian rocks, and a few Liassic fossils. This gravel is similar 

 to that found in the valley west of the Malverns. 

 VI. I o Coarse quartzose gravel. The largest pebbles are about 2^ 



Depth inches in diameter, 

 not recorded. 

 I C/. L. Richardson, Proc. Cott. N.F.C., vol. xvi., pp. 123-4- 



