I. V. Holmes—Geology of Blackheath and Greenwich. 2138 
who also consulted several distinguished geologists, archeologists, 
and engineers. Professor Prestwich and Mr. W. Whitaker both 
inclined to think the cause of the subsidences not purely geological, 
and Mr. F. C. J. Spurrell thought them the result of the existence 
of deneholes at the spots where they occurred. The Committee, 
as a body, felt unable to accept any view as conclusive. Being 
myself a member of the Committee, and having a decided view on 
the matter, my colleagues were good enough to append my remarks 
to the report. They were to the effect that no purely natural action 
ae i 
FNL 
“s 
BLACKHEATH STATION. 
S. 
of water under Blackheath on the Chalk was at all probable, owing to 
the presence of the more or less clayey beds of the Woolwich Series, 
which prevented water percolating through the pebble beds at the 
surface from ever reaching the Chalk. But that, granting the 
existence of deep shafts from the surface ending in chambers in the 
Chalk (like that described by Mr. Flinders Petrie as existing at 
Eltham), the Blackheath subsidences were easily explained. For 
a disused and neglected shaft would naturally become more and more 
