Mr. Rose’s Sketch of the Geology of West Norfolk. 38 
We have here shown, that within the valley of the Nar 
there occurs an extensive deposit of mud, containing marine 
shells, the living congeners of which inhabit the adjoining sea. 
The accompanying map (vol. vii. Plate I.) of the ground oc- 
cupied by this deposit is a portion copied from the Ordnance 
map, and exhibits the high grounds bounding the valleys. I 
have affixed the various localities where the shells have been 
found, to render my account more intelligible, and to show the 
extent and course of the deposit. The shells have at present 
been found on the north side of the valley only, except at 
Tottenhill and Watlington; they have not been met with on 
the south side (the present course of the Nar) beyond Wor- 
megay, but occupy the low ground to the north and east of the 
elevated patch of carstone on which Bilney Lodge stands, and 
are-again found in the valley of the Nar at Narford. 
The general level of that portion of the brick-earth in which 
the oyster-shells are most congregated is not much above 
low-water mark at Lynn; at the Bilney brick-yard they are 
about seventeen feet above it. ‘Their elevation to the extreme 
height (about 100 feet) at which they are found at East Walton 
was probably effected by spring tides in conjunction with storms 
casting them upon the shore of the creek (presuming this 
valley to have been once a creek of a sea): the fractured 
state of the shells and the high angle of their elevation at 
this locality will, I conceive, justify such an inference; indeed, 
the equinoctial gales, which here blow with great violence from 
the west, and consequently cowards Walton, would impel waves 
with corresponding force up this very acclivity. 
We are therefore led to infer that this valley was, at a re- 
mote period, occupied by the waters of the ocean: upon ex- 
amining the accompanying map, and observing the relative si- 
tuations of it and the estuary called the Wash, it will be seen 
that the embouchure of the former is in the direction of the 
latter; and when we bear in mind that there is a process of 
filling up constantly in progress in all estuaries, and that our 
estuary, therefore, must once have extended much higher into 
Marshland, we cannot doubt that the valley of the Nar ata 
former period opened directly into the estuary, and that the 
ocean’s waves flowed freely into the valley, forming an ex- 
tensive creek, bounded by the high grounds of North Runc- 
ton, Middleton, and East Winch on the north; those of Wal- 
ton, Westacre, and Narford on the east; and of Marham, 
Shouldham, and Tottenhill on the south. 
I think it not at all improbable that similar deposits of 
mud and shells to those of the Nar and Middleton Tower 
may hereafter be discovered in the valleys of South Wooton 
Third Series. Vol. 8. No. 43. Jan. 1836. F 
