66 THE RIDGWAY FAULT. 



It is difficult to leave this spot, so fertile with problems of 

 geological science, without noticing other features which surround 

 us on all sides. In Messrs. Buckland and de la Beche's surface 

 map two patches of Tertiary strata are noted as survivals of a 

 continuous bed which formerly covered the district. They arc 

 described as plastic clay, and are given, one at Ridgeway Hill and the 

 other between Bincombe and Came Down. On Saturday morning I 

 was shewn in the library of the Geological Society an object which 

 would be of much interest to us present at this spot to-day. It 

 was Buckland's pocket map of this district of South Dorset, in 

 which the strata were coloured in with his own hands in days when 

 published geological maps were unknown. When the shafts for 

 the tunnel were sunk Weston states that 60 feet of Tertiary strata 

 were passed through ; hence the Tertiary survivals are much more 

 important here than they were formerly supposed to be. 



The Three little Circus-shaped valleys of Moignes Down, 

 Pox-well, and Sutton Pointz offer examples of what were formerly 

 termed valleys of elevation. They are of elongated oval shape, 

 resembling a Roman amphitheatre, in which the outcropping edges 

 of the strata would form the seats. 



The terraced lines in the chalk valleys on the north side of 

 Ridgway escarpment are noticeable features, more clearly developed 

 here than in many other localities. In the chalk country traversed 

 by the railway between. Boulogne and Amiens these terraces are 

 very remarkable, the relics of a former era of cultivation. 



Again, to the west, along a cart road, about half-a mile from the 

 Weymouth Road, Mr. Cunnington, of Dorchester, found a very 

 interesting interment in a half-demolished barrow a few years ago. 

 But nothing now remains that is of interest. 



I have said nothing as to the origin of the word Ridgway : 

 That point must be left to one of the antiquarian members of our 

 party. I must now bring the subject to a conclusion, and you 

 probably will fully think the time has arrived for it. But there 

 are reasons why one should linger here and find it difficult to part. 

 The subject grows in breadth and importance as we become more 



