about 7 or 8 years ago, 96 miles from 

 London, which is in the midst of that 

 set of strata, which constitute the Yellow 

 Limestone l . When walking in the garden 

 there, I unexpectedly found it to be upon 

 clay 2 , and enquiring of the master of the 

 house about it, I found that he had been 

 obliged to sink a ditch, between three 

 and four feet deep, at one side of his 

 garden, as well as to make two or three 

 drains of about the same depth to carry 

 the water into it, in order to prevent it 

 from being so swampy as to be unfit for 

 that purpose ; and the water at that time 

 stood some inches deep in some parts of 

 the ditch, though it was in the most 

 droughty part of that time when every- 

 thing about London was so much burnt 

 up, which was also the case in a good 



1 [Apparently a name for the limestones of the 

 Lower Oolite group.] 



2 [There can be little doubt that this was a 

 portion of the " chalky boulder-clay " of the district, 

 lying unconformably upon the various Jurassic rocks, 

 and enclosing flints, bits of coal and many other 

 materials from northern sources.] 



