ON THE ERRATIC BLOCKS OF ENGLAND, WALES, AND IRELAND. 245 



efforts of Mr. Tackwell, measures have been taken for the pre- 

 servation of this remarkable boulder. It has been moved from the 

 roadside, where it was in great danger of being injured, placed upon a 

 bed of concrete, and will be protected by railings. 



A second boulder, also composed of Mount Sorrel granite, has been 

 dug up from 5 feet below the surface in Nelson & Co.'s lime- works, 

 half a mile to the N. of the boulder just described. 



Its dimensions are 1 ft. 8 in. x 1 ft. 8 in. x 1 in. 



In the same lime-works, and at about the same depth, a boulder 

 of quartzite has also been Ibund. 



Its dimensions are 2 ft. 6 in. X 2 ft. 5 in. x 1 ft. 3 in. 



Fragments similar to this last boulder have been found in considerable 

 quantities ; and from what the workmen say it appears that in past years 

 many similar boulders have been discovered, and have been broken up 

 in order that they might be got out of the quarrymen's way. 



Leicestershire. — Mr. W. Jerome Harrison has sent the Committee the 

 following note on a Leicestershire boulder which has travelled north- 

 wards : — 



In the construction of the sewerage for the Clarendon Park Estate, 

 near the Victoria Park, on the east side of the town of Leicester, some 

 interesting sections of the drift were laid bare, which I examined in 

 June 1880. Much of the drift exposed was of a loamy nature, containing 

 erratics of moderately large size, and overlying, though with no well- 

 marked line of demarcation between, the well-known great chalky 

 boulder clay which spreads so widely in this district. 



Among the travelled rocks contained in this deposit I particularly 

 noticed one angular block identical in appearance with the syenitic rock 

 which forms Enderby Knoll (4 miles south-west of Leicester), and Croft 

 Hill (about 2 miles farther in the same direction). These South Leicester- 

 shire syenites are well-characterised, and being somewhat abnoi'mal their 

 identification is easy. 



The surface of the Clarendon Park Estate is about 300 feet above 

 sea-level ; wLile Enderby Knoll is about 350 feet, and Croft Hill 450 feet 

 (these heights are approximations only). The block which I saw on the 

 Clarendon Park Estate measured about 3^ x 2 x Ih ft., and would 

 weigh about three-quarters of a ton ; it was irregular in shape and very 

 angular. As it did not interfere with the direct line of the sewer it was 

 not removed, but was covered in.' 



Mr. J. Plant adds the following to his previous reports on the erratic 

 blocks of this county : — 



Boulder in the parish of Aylestone (Ord. Map, 63 S.E.), in a field 

 opposite the third milestone S. of Aylestone. Its dimensions are 7 ft. 

 X 6 ft. X 4 ft. About one-third of the boulder is buried in the ground. 

 It is angular, and not known to have been moved by man. Longest axis, 

 N.N.E. No striations are visible. It is granite from Mount Sorrel, 



' The facts seem to the writer to show (1) that a submergence followed the retreat 

 northwards of the great chalky boulder clay ; (2), that when this submergence 

 amounted to about 350 or 400 feet, the bosses of syenite wi|^ occur in South 

 Leicestershire stood as little islands above the sea ; (3), that ' coast ice ' formed on 

 the margins of these islands, on which blocks of rock, detached by the frost, fell ; 

 and (4), that a current running northwards carried at least one of these blocks 

 down the Soar Valley and dropped it where it now lies, on the eastern brow of the 

 Valley at Leicester. 



