2 GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE 



Surrey, and Kent, as subtended on the north and 

 south by the chalk of the North and South Downs, 

 and on the west by the range of the Hampshire hills 

 of Selbourne, &c. He will then understand that the 

 following is simply the description of one slice across 

 the successive ledges of strata which rise to the surface 

 as you advance from the South Downs to the centre 

 of the great valley. 



In taking a bird's-eye view from the lofty ground 

 near the ruined tower in Up Park, the spectator com- 

 mands within his vision a large portion of the parish 

 of Harting, and sees, in looking northwards, in the 

 distance of little more than five miles only, all the 

 formations, from the Upper Chalk on which he stands, 

 to the Wealden deposit which forms the base of the 

 whole Cretaceous series. These different formations 

 and their subdivisions are exhibited in the accom- 

 panying general diagram, and the observer who pro- 

 ceeds from the high road by Up Park, through Harting 

 and Rogate, and thence over the sandstone hills to the 

 valley of Harting Combe, will pass over successively 

 the following strata : Chalk with Flints ; white Chalk 

 passing down into grey Chalk and Chalk marl ; 

 Upper Greensand or Malm Rock ; Gault clay ; Lower 

 Greensand, the upper part iron shot and yellow ; the 

 inferior greenish grey ; and, lastly, the Weald Clay in 

 Harting Combe. This succession, from the highest to 

 the lowest strata in the district, is given in the accom- 

 panying geological section. 



As every one of these formations, and even their 

 subdivisions, has a separate stony structure, so the 

 decomposition of each gives to the soil above it a dis- 

 tinctive agricultural character. In consequence, the 

 parish of Harting, for the most part the property of 

 Lady Fetherstonhaugh, embraces a variety of soils 

 very rarely to be found within the same compass. 



In the following description the reader is conducted 

 from the highest to the lowest formation in the parish 



