VOL. XVII. (3) SEVERN PLAIN IN GLACIAL EPOCH 375 



into the area by the flooded Severn and tributaries, but the 

 size of some of the masses in question suggests the existence 

 of ice-floes much larger than are now found on our rivers. 



I have found Bunter pebbles together with water-worn 

 fragments of Malvernian and Llandovery rocks on the summit 

 of Dripshill, 200 feet O.D., between the Rhydd and Clevelode, 

 and about half a mile from the Severn on the western side. 



There is a capping of Drift gravel at Sarn Hill, 200 O.D., 

 Gadbury Camp, 175 O.D., Maisemore, 100 O.D., and other 

 high ground between Upton-on-Severn and Gloucester. Mal- 

 vernian pebbles occur at the two first-mentioned places, and 

 a few flints at Sarn Hill.' 



The gravels on Limbury Hill, 237 O.D., and the Pinetum, 

 Highnam, 184 O.D., are composed of Bunter pebbles, flints, 

 and numerous sub-angular fragments from the Malvern Range 

 and the valleys on the west. A few Jurassic fossils occur in 

 the Limbury gravel.^ 



* West of the Severn. — Drift gravels with seams of 

 coarse and fine siUceous sand occur at several places on the 

 western side of the river, and are well represented at St. 

 John's, Worcester, Rushwick, Upton-on-Severn, and Gloucester. 



The gravels and sands near the mouth of the Teme appear 

 to, have been derived mainly from the Archaean and other rocks 

 of the district north of the Malverns and from the Permian 

 and Triassic rocks of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. 



A typical section of the Severn Valley gravels and sands 

 is exposed at Southend, about one mile west of Upton Railway 

 Station, as follows : — 



68 FEET ABOVE O.D., 30 FEET ABOVE THE RIVER 



No. ft. in. . 



I. 20 Surface soil with a few pebbles. 

 II. 5 o Coarse brown quartzose sand with a few Drift pebbles. 



III. 6 o A similar sand with many seams and pockets of Bunter and 



other Drift pebbles and numerous small water-worn frag- 

 ments of Malvernian and Silurian rocks. 



IV. 3 o A similar gravel with larger fragments of the last-named rocks 

 Base not and large angular blocks of local Keuper sandstones. One 

 reached block measured 20 x 18 x 3 inches. Fragments of recent 



shells are said to have been found at the base of this bed. 



1 C/. Symonds, Proc. Cott. N.F.C., vol. iu., p. 31. Guise, Ibid., p. 116. 



2 Limbury and the Pinetum are situated near the River Leadon, and the constituents of the 

 gravels resemble those of the valleys west of the Malverns rather than those of the Severn Valley. 



