93 



SOME LINCOLNSHIRE BOULDERS. 



F, M. BrRTON, F.G.S., F.L.S. 



My attention has recently been called by the Rev. C. E. Laing, 

 the Vicar of Bardney, to some boulders on the side of a drain, 

 about three miles from that village. On going there to see 

 them, I found two of considerable size — No. i, 5 ft. 2 in. by 4ft. 

 4in., and about 2ft. 6 in. deep ; and No. 2, 5 ft. ^in. by 3 ft. 2 in., 

 and about 2 ft. 6 in. deep. Both boulders were fast embedded 

 in the ground, and the depth measurements were taken by 

 probing with an iron rod at their sides. 



The soil in the locality consists of Kimeridge Clay, with a 

 thick covering of chalky Boulder Clay on the top. 



The drain, on the north side of which the boulders lie, is in 

 the parish of Bucknall, not far from Bucknall Bridge. It was 

 excavated about sixty-three years ago, as old inhabitants who 

 helped in its construction affirm, to connect an old dra,in — coming 

 from Minting and Gautby — on the west with the Stixwould 

 drain on the east, and thence into the Witham river. Before 

 this time, this old drain joined the river at Southrey, and traces 

 of its former course are still visible. 



No I boulder, which is not unlike a block of Lias limestone 

 in appearance, is highly fossiliferous ; the fossils lying in heaps, 

 broken up and cemented together, with few entire ones, chiefly 

 Cerithiums, amongst them. 



No. 2 is a hard sandstone, and has scarcely a trace of a 

 fossil in it. 



On a second visit to the spot, I met with several more 

 boulders, (Nos. 3, 4 and 5), embedded, like the first two, on the 

 north side of the drain. No. 3 measures 2 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft., but 

 the ground, for want of rain, was so hard, that the depth of 

 the boulder could not, with any certainty, be ascertained. 

 No. 4 measured 3 ft. by i ft. 11 in., and about 2 ft. deep ; and 

 No. 5, 3 ft. by 2 ft., and about 2 ft. in depth. All three were 

 of similar substance to the sandstone boulder No. 2. From the 

 uniform depth of all these boulders, it may be inferred that the 

 matrix they have come from will turn out to be a narrow band 

 of rock about 3 ft. in thickness. 



On referring to Mr. Wheeler's ' History of the Fens of South 

 Fincolnshire,' 1 lind that the area north of the Witham in this 

 district, including Bardney, Southrey, Tupholme, Bucknall and 

 Stixwould, was drained imder the x\ct of 1843, which confirms 



igog Marcli i . 



