AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 211 



by the present river. When the new gas pit 

 was being excavated, in River-street, on its south 

 side, a good deal of gravel (No. 1) was met 

 with before the upper red sandstone rock was 

 reached, but on its north side, just below Messrs. 

 Birley and Co.'s Mackintosh works, a bed of silty 

 clay occupied the place of the gravel, and the 

 sandstone was not seen at so high a level. On 

 the north side of the excavation, a fine oak tree 

 was met with, having its under side embedded in 

 blue clay, and its upper part covered with silt. 

 It was about eleven yards in length, and mea- 

 sured two feet seven inches in diameter at its 

 middle. The roots lay towards the south-west, 

 and its top to the north-east, at a depth of 

 twelve feet from the surface. The lower part 

 of the trunk was decayed, and filled with silt, 

 but its top was quite sound. Oak branches, 

 and portions of pine and hazel were found 

 lying beside the trunk. From all the appear- 

 ances presented, it was evident that the place 

 where the tree was found had once been the 

 bed of the Medlock, and that the tree had 

 either been brought into the position in which 

 it was found by a flood, or, having been first 

 undermined by the current of the river, it was 



