Professor J. W. Gregory — TJiC English " Eskers". 35 



suggested in Norfolk ^ for a curved series of mounds at Congham 

 Common, W. of Great Massingham, 8 miles E.N.E. of King's Lynn. 

 Approaching the Congham mounds from the W., they at first appear 

 esker-like. The main gravel pit shows the following section : Soil, 

 crowded with angular flints with many frost-flakes, some of which 

 have been '" eolithically " chipped by a soil-cap movement ; sand 

 with subangular flints, flakes of flint, occasional round sandstone 

 boulders, the largest 16 inches in diameter, and pebbles of carstone 

 (probably derived from the N.W.). 



I saw no striated stone. The most striking feature of this 

 material is its angularity. The deposit lies in a typical dry Chalk 

 valley, and is the remains of a sheet that once covered the floor 

 and was formed by wash from the Chalk downs on both sides. 

 Subsequently the valley has been deepened by cutting into this 

 gravel, and the sinuous front due to this denudation has produced 

 the esker-like aspect. 



In the next valley to the south, about 1| miles S.S.W. of Great 

 Massingham, are two wooded banks of sand and gravel, a little 

 above the floor of the valley. They are doubtless the remnant of 

 a bed of gravel most of which has been removed in the deepening 

 of the valley. 



Mr. Whitaker ^ has described the Bartholomew Hills, 2 J miles 

 N. of SwalTham, as esker-like and also other patches of gravels, 

 including those W. of Massingham and on Grimston Heath further 

 north. They have been described by Whitaker from notes by 

 C. E. Hawkins and H. B. Woodward.^ I have visited some of the 

 occurrences, which from the maji and descriptions seemed most 

 esker-like ; they appear to be remains of a widespread sheet of 

 gravel, and to owe their occasional linear arrangement to the 

 accidents of denudation. 



2. Hunstanton. — Mr. Harmer has referred ■* to the striking absence 

 of esker formations from East Anglia. The one exception that he 

 admits is the " Hunstanton Esker ", which is locally known as the 

 Ringstead sand-hills. It is situated in a tributary to a dry Chalk 

 valley, known as Ringstead Downs, about half a mile W. of Ringstead 

 St. Peter, and about ]| miles E.S.E. of Hunstanton Railway Station. 

 It has been described by Whitaker ^ and by Holmes ^ as an esker ; 

 but it has been interpreted by Carvill Lewis '' as a beach deposit. 

 The sands in it contain numerous fragments of marine shells including 

 Mytilus. The base of this esker is at the level of about 50 feet O.D. ; 

 the best section is in a pit at its southern end. The uppermost 



1 Cf. Proc. Norwich Gp.oI. Soc, i, 1884, p. 272 ; Mem. Geol. Surv., 65, 1893, 

 p. 79. 



^ Mem Geol. Surv., 65, p. 75. 



3 Mem. Geol. Surv., 65, 1893, pp. 75-9. 



■» Geol. in Field, p. 173. 



5 Proc. Geol. Assoc, 1883, viii, p. 1.35; Mem. Geol. Surv., 69, 1899, p. 88. 



6 Geol. Mag., 1883, p. 441. 



'' Glac. Geol. Gt. Brit., pp. 340-1. 



