TF. C. Lucy — Glaclation in West Somerset. 255 



IV. — Glaciation in West Somerset. 

 By W. C. Lucy, F.G.S. 



IN a recent visit to Porlock Weir, to see the submerged forest so 

 ably described by Mr. Godwin-Austen in the Quarterly Journal 

 of the Geological Society for February, 1866, I availed myself of 

 the opportunity, afforded by the limited time at my disposal, to 

 examine the general contour of the country, and more particularly 

 that part of it relating to the superficial deposits. 



On the way from Williton Station, en route to Dunster, I ob- 

 served the hills were more precipitous on their north sides, and the 

 flat land at their base was apparently formed of alluvial soil ; and on 

 making inquiries of a fellow-passenger, resident in the neighbour- 

 hood, he informed me that near Minehead, in a like position to the 

 flat we had just passed at Dunster, when making a well, the shaft 

 went through 70 feet of nothing but gravel and clay, some of the 

 latter very tough, the stones comprising the gravel becoming 

 larger as the sinking became deeper, which, however, did not reach 

 the bottom. 



I stayed at Minehead, and walked along the shore to the New 

 Manure Works, ascending thence to the road which skirts the hill 

 towards Greenaley Point. At the top of a little valley was a small 

 coombe, which gradually narrowed, still preserving a half-rounded 

 form, and in which there was sufficient clay left, mixed with some 

 angular detritus, to form soil on which grew a flourishing orchard. 

 The detritus and clay run out to the sea, widening down to the beach, 

 and assuming a spreading wedge-like shape slightly curved inwards, 

 the whole bearing a marked resemblance to what I have seen in 

 glaciated districts. On further ascending the hill are many fields 

 growing corn and root crops, and in some of the fields on a farm at 

 the top of North Hill the soil was much deeper than in the vale. On 

 reaching the summit of the hill I observed several rounded knolls 

 above the general surface of the groxind, which were quite bare of 

 soil, forming protruberances very like some parts of the Great Orrae 

 at Llandudno. The detrital deposit at the coast at Minehead is a 

 rich loamy soil, formed of the washing down of the New Eed series, 

 mixed with angular and small boulders from the Devonian rocks. 



The road to Porlock, after leaving Minehead, rises for some dis- 

 tance, and from the highest point of elevation the mode in which the 

 valley was formed by the action of ice becomes evident. 



In the middle of the valley is a small hill, which appears to have 

 deflected the ice on its progress to the sea, the greater half going to 

 Minehead, and the other to Dunster. At the end of the North Hill 

 and in other parts the remains of Boulder-clay, clinging to the sides 

 in the hollows, are well indicated by the vegetation which prevails. 



All around Porlock Weir the hills sloping seaward suggest that ice 

 has had much to do with the formation of the valleys, and the soil 

 increasing in depth the higher you ascend ; and towards the top, 

 looking on to Exmoor, the bare rounded heads of rocks jDrojecting 

 above the surface again occur, as on the hills in the neighbourhood 

 of Minehead. 



