62 WEALD, OR OAK TREE CLAY. 



We shall now proceed to particularize a few localities of this deposit, 

 and afterwards give a detailed account of the limestone strata, the geolo- 

 gical history of which is particularly interesting, from their supposed 

 analogy to the Purbeck. 



At Swingate, near Plashett Park, in the parish of Ringmer, a well was 

 sunk in the Weald Clay, to the depth of seventy feet ; and at Mr. Hill's, 

 on the Broyle, a well, ninety feet deep, was carried by borings forty feet 

 lower ; in both instances the water was brackish, and unfit for cuHnary 

 pui-poses : no organic remains were discovered. The deepest borings in 

 Mr. HiU's weU brought up ironstone and sand. 



On a farm belonging to Mr. John Eickman, at another part of the 

 Broyle, trials were also made for water, but the result was equally un- 

 favourable. To the intelligent proprietor of that estate, I am indebted 

 for the following section : 



Section of strata in the Broyle, near Ringmer, (communicated by Mr. 

 John Rickman, of Wellingham.) 



Feet. 



" 1, Ochraceous clay, becoming hard, and un tractable when dry 5 

 " 2. Clay, with a thin vein of sand - - - - 5 



" 3. Blue oak-tree clay ; tenacious when wet ; crumbles very fine 

 when exposed to the sun ; a good manure for light sandy soils - 5 

 " 4. Yellowish brown clay - - - - - 10 



" 5. Clay of a light blue colour - - - - 10 



" 6. Clay of a deeper blue, impregnated with iron . - . 5 

 " At this depth a spring suddenly burst forth, and rapidly rose to the 

 surface : it has continued to flow in a gentle stream, but the water is too 

 strongly impregnated with iron to be fit for domestic use." In an ad- 

 joining field, Mr. R. bored to the depth of sixty feet, when the auger 

 became immoveably fixed in a hard substance ; probably a bed of Sussex 

 marble*. 



* The well-diggers regard the occurrence of this limestone as a sure prognostic of good 

 water, and assert that where it is absent, the water of the clay is brackish and unpalatable. 



