WEST OF ENGLAND JOURNAL 



OF 



No. V. JANUARY, 1836. Vol. I. 



PART I.— SCIENCE. 



A GEOLOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PARISH OF 

 PORTISHEAD. 



The district, with the descriptive Geology of which we propose to oc- 

 cupy a part of the present number, includes four square miles of country, 

 extending from Portishead point to Blacknore on the north, and from a 

 little to the north of Weston and Clapton in Gordano on the south j a tract, 

 the greater part of which is contained within the parish of Portishead, and 

 the whole of it within the hundred of Portbury. 



The north-western half of this district consists of a central down, 

 whence a series of tabular hills, more or less connected, pass off gradually 

 to terminate on the sea in a low cliff; while on the land side they sink 

 down more abruptly into a slightly elevated platform, which is in its turn 

 lost in an alluvial marsh. 



On the north, the point of Portishead consists of a steep ridge to- 

 wards the sea j and a rounded hill towards the land, or south side. These 

 hills form a sort of peninsula, being separated from the land on the west by 

 Woodhill Bay, and on the east by the pill or creek of Portishead. 



The water courses of this district present nothing very worthy of re- 

 mark. The principal brook, a nameless one, after draining the moor and 

 the southern declivities of the hills, falls into the pill of Portishead. The 

 drainage of the northern side is not carried on by any single channel, but 

 a number of small streams find their way into the sea at various distances 

 along the coast. 



The character of the shore, west of the pill, is rocky, with occasional 

 shingle beds, and a few patches of sand, almost surrounded by the muddy 

 deposits of the Severn. The cliff varies in height, from twenty to forty or 

 fifty feet, and is for the most part rugged and picturesque. For some 

 yards west of the point the cliff is wanting, and its place is supplied by a 

 thick bed of shingle. 



Tfic water off siiore increases in depth very rapidly. 



No. 0.— Vol. I. 2 M 



