PLATEAU GRAVELS. 213 



above the sea to 200 feet in 2^ miles, or at the rate of 1 in 104. 

 A mile and a half to the north it has fallen to 170 feet, or at the 

 rate of 1 in 264. These measurements give a general fall of 1 

 in 136 in a distance of 3| miles. North of Palmer's Farm the 

 outlier of Plateau Gravel trends to the east and falls rapidly in 

 the same direction, being apparently connected v/ith the valley 

 now occupied by Wootton Creek and not vrith the valley of the 

 Medina. 



The gravel of St. George's Down is composed almost entirely 

 of flints with a few fragn)ents of chert and ironstone. A notice- 

 able feature in it is the occurrence of rolled flints, a few com- 

 pletely rounded, and probably derived from Tertiary pebble 

 beds, but many only partly water-worn. In this respect the 

 Plateau Gravel differs from the Angular Gravel of the Chalk 

 Downs, in which the flints are quite unworn. 



The cementing of the gravel into blocks by a ferruginous 

 cement has already been noticed. These blocks occur in abun- 

 dance all along the southern boundary of the outlier, and are found 

 also in several distant spots, having probably been carried off for 

 rockeries, or building. The raiu which is absorbed by the gravel 

 naturally travels down the northerly slope, and is given oft" in the 

 springs previously alluded to, but there is one spring on the south 

 side, close to the house which is so conspicuous on the brow of 

 the hill, known as the Dropping Well. The water oozes from a 

 layer of cemented gravel, and is never known to fail. 



A great number of pits has been opened in the outlier, the 

 gravel being brought down from the southern and western parts 

 by inclined planes, and from the northern parts by road to Shide. 

 Some of the pits show upwards of 30 feet of rough stratified 

 gravel, but the greatest thickness in the outlier is probably con- 

 siderably more than this. No bones or implements have ever 

 been found in this or any other outlier of the Plateau Gravels. 



As the gravels are traced northward from St. George's Down 

 the only noticeable change in them is that they become somewhat 

 more water- worn, but their composition remains the same. Com- 

 mencing with the outliers nearest the Downs, we find shallow pits 

 near Staplers, which show 5 or 10 feet of gravel resting on an 

 irregular surface of Oligocene clay. Nearer Newport two small 

 outliers seem to fill hollows in the clay. 



A mile to the north an outlier stands on Mount Misery at a 

 height of only 170 feet above the sea. Here the clays are iu 

 constant downward movement, and continue to slip so steadily 

 towards the ISIedina that the low position of the gravel may have 

 no connection with its original heio;ht. 



At Downend a brickyard exhibits the following section : — 



Feet 

 Reddish brick-earth with scattered chips of flint - 1 5 



Rough sand. 



Other parts of the pit show this brick-earth resting vn the 

 flint-gravel ; it apparently belongs to the same period, but like 



