TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 131 



In the nearly flat portion of the valley adjoining the river which lies between 

 Hammersmith, Shepherd's Bush, and Acton, the surface of which averages 5 to 10 

 feet above high-water mark, several cuttings were being made in the brick-earth, 

 which here lies to a thickness of 10 to 12 feet upon the gi-avel. 



The workmen had the appearance of flint flakes and implements explained to 

 them, by showing them specimens from other localities, and rewards were ofi'ered 

 to induce them to preserve any similar implements they might And during the 

 excavations, but no trace of the fabrication of flint implements was found in the area 

 above specified. This would tend to give some contirmation to the conjecture that 

 this portion of the bottom of the valley may have been excavated by the river more 

 recently than the Palseolithic period. 



At Acton the Uxbridge road passes over the natural slope which bounds the 

 plain on the north, and which rises fi-om 10 to 40 and 80 feet above high-water 

 mark. 



The upper portion of this slope near Acton is capped with gravel, which overlies 

 the London Clay, and varies from 6 to 12 feet in thickness. In Acton village it is 

 18 feet thick, and it was shown, by a cutting made for a sewer in the direction of the 

 Great Western Railway Station, that it thins out northward. It is very variously 

 stratified, in alternate layers of subangular gi-avel and yellow and white sand, with 

 red and yellow stains. In some places the sand and gravel lie in horizontal bands, 

 of greater or less thickness, above each other ; in others the strata are very much 

 contorted and undulating, thinning out in various directions, and sometimes turn- 

 ing up almost perpendicularly, indicating probably the existence of floods or currents, 

 or winding watercourses at the time when the river ran at this higher level. The 

 gravel consists chiefly of subangular flints, mixed with rounded quartz and quartzite 

 pebbles. No trace of freshwater shells or of animal remains have yet been found 

 in this drift-gravel. 



This is the flrst patch of gi-avel as we go westward from London which lies so 

 high above the river, all the high ground to the north in the direction of WiUesden, 

 and to the north-east in the direction of Hampstead and Highgate being composed of 

 the London Clay, whilst to the south and south-east, as already mentioned, the 

 gi'avel and brick-earth is at a much lower level. The position on the sides of the 

 valley corresponds so exactly to that in which implements have been found in the 

 valleys of the Somme, the Ouse, and elsewhere, that the author determined to make 

 a close examination of the cuttings that were being made for the erection of new 

 buildings, and for that purpose paid almost daily visits to the place for some months. 

 The result has been to bring to light several implements of the antique form, usually 

 found in drift-gravel, and others of more modern type. 



To the east of the East Acton Station, on the Willesden and Kew line, the gravel 

 had been disturbed at some former period. Some cuttings were being made for the 

 foundations of buildings at about 40 feet above high-water mark. All the worked 

 flints found here were of surface type, consisting of numerous small flakes, one or 

 two small scrapers, a chipped knife or spear-head, and, lastly, a chipped celt, with- 

 out any trace of grinding, corresponding in form to those, a large hoard of which 

 were lately discovered by the author at Cissbury in Sussex, and have been described 

 in the ' Archseologia.' This class of implement may probably be regarded as form- 

 ing an intermediate link between the Palifiolithic and Neolithic types. 



To the west of the Station the gravel was undisturbed, and stratifled in the 

 manner already described ; the surface rises to 60 and 80 feet above high-water 

 mai'k. It was in this gravel that the implements of Palaeolithic type were dis- 

 covered. They consist of numerous flakes, of larger size than those found at the 

 lower level to the east of the Station, one or two cores from which flakes had been de- 

 tached ; but these were not in suflicient number to denote that the fabrication of flints 

 to any great extent had been conducted here — two large and roughly made scrapers 

 and five implements. One implement of oval type was found under 7 feet of strati- 

 fied sand and gravel, resting on the clay beneath, another of pointed type was found 

 in the middle of the gravel, about 10 feet Irom the surface, and beneath a layer of 

 sand 8 feet in thickness. Three other implements of similar forms were found on 

 the roads in the neighbourhood, in gi-avel that had been excavated from the same 

 locality, and from Mill Hill, half a mile to the westward; and one well-formed 



9* 



