86 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



covered with a bed of tertiary sand; and at 

 Andovcr-road station the railway cutting exposes 

 a good section of the Upper-chalk, which now 

 continues, in greater or less thickness, surmounted 

 in some places by patches of tertiary clays, and 

 in others by gravel and loam, till we approach 

 Southampton, where it is wholly concealed by the 

 alluvial and eocene deposits. At the Winchester 

 station, which is on the chalk of the Hampshire. 

 downs, we have a fine view of the river valley, in 

 which stands the venerable city of the immortal 

 Alfred, hallowed by so many glorious associations 

 of the olden time ; and we catch a glimpse of that 

 precious monument of antiquity, the Hospital of 

 Saint Cross, with occasional views of the crystal 

 streams of the river Itchin, as they pursue their 

 tortuous course through the verdant chalk-valley 

 to Southampton-water. 



Southampton station. — The accumulations 

 of alluvial gravel and loam around Southampton 

 are in many places of considerable thickness. The 

 organic remains hitherto discovered in these beds 

 are but few; comprising only some detached bones, 

 and a tooth of a mammoth, and bones of a species 



worthy the notice of the traveller. An elegant hexagonal turret tower at 



tlu- south-west, and part of the east ami south walls, are visible from the 

 railway. 



