E. A. Walforcl— Terraced Sill Slopes of Oxfordshire. 299 



III. — More Notes on the Terraced Hill Slopes of North 



Oxfordshire. 



By Edwin A. "Walford, F.G.S. 



THE green slopes of many of the minor vales of North Oxford- 

 shire are scored with parallel terraces or terraced banks 

 frequently of such regularity in depth, of step and slope as to 

 present to the mind any other origin for their formation than 

 that of the every-day work of natural forces. A student who has 

 mastered the elements of this natural work and has gained a clue 

 to the mode of the making of the terraces reads with some amuse- 

 ment the varied accounts of their human origin. The best summary 

 of these accounts is given in Mr. G. L. Gomme's book " The Village 

 Community." ^ And though these accounts refer to wider tracts 

 of country than can be discussed here, our local antiquarians assign 

 similar human causes, and we read of the terraced slopes as camps, 

 entrenchments, vineyards, bear-gardens, and the like. 

 It continues to be so in the face of the fact that — 



(1) The so-called vineyards present every face to the sun, and as 

 frequently face N.E. as S.W. 



(2) That the entrenchments would protect nothing, and occur in 

 places impracticable for defensive work. 



(3) And that as camps, the question of water supply is generally 

 a fatal one to such use. 



Now Mr. Gomme's catalogue runs thus : — 

 Elf furrows (human origin ? ). 



Places for militia to arrange themselves on — for the chieftain's 

 review. 



Eoman works — itinerary encampments. 



Terraces of cultivation. 



Places for people to witness Druidical ceremonies. 



The geological theories of Mr. Poulett Scrope, Dr. Mackintosh, 

 and Dr. Darwin, I quoted in my paper printed in 1890. 



I first briefly drew attention to the terraced fields in my account 

 of " Edge Hill," published in 1886. Four years later, in the Journal 

 of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society, I dealt with the 

 subject at some length. Since then other localities and new con- 

 ditions have come under my notice, and with them I propose to deal. 



To cite again the causes of terrace formation : First and foremost 

 is the downward creep of the surface and subsurface soil. But we 

 are met by the objection that the soil creeps downwards from every 

 hilltop, and that all high land is in a state of movement towards vale 

 and sea : yet terraces do not occur upon every hillside. 



Our home valleys give the clue. Almost all the terraces occur 

 upon one precise geologic line. That line is a series of marls and 

 clays, with variable proportions of sand, which come in below 

 the red rock bed (the higher part of the zone of Ammonites 



' G. L. Gomme, " The Village Community," pp. 82-8. ("Walter Scott, London, 

 1890.) 



