256 W. C. Lucy — Glaciation in West Somerset. 



After leaving Ashley Lodge, Lord Lovelace's residence, about 200 

 yards along the lower new road and 8 feet above it, resting on the 

 slope, I saw a large mass of sandstone about 5 feet in depth, 4 feet 

 across, and fully 5 feet thick. It presented a smooth appearance 

 and, some rain having just fallen, I at once detected glaciation, and 

 on examination found it well striated.^ It was only partly detached 

 from the parent rock. 



I am not aware of glaciation having been observed before in the 

 district; but on reference to your Magazine,^ there is a letter from 

 the late Mr. J. Beete Jukes, in Vol. II. page 473 (October, 1865), 

 " Glaciation in Devon and its Borders," relating more particularly to 

 some groovings on the banks of the Exe, near to Barlynch Abbey. 

 He thought they were as striking evidence of glaciation as any in 

 the Killarney or Glengariff counties in the S.W. of Ireland. A year 

 later there was a communication to your pages on the subject of Mr. 

 Jukes's letter, from Mr. Pengelly, who, in company with Mr. Yicary 

 of Exetei", visited the spot referred to by Mr. Jukes, and at the con- 

 clusion of his letter (Vol. III. page 574) he sa3's : '' We found that 

 so far as it goes Mr. Jukes's description is very correct and indeed 

 graphic, but we found also that he could not have seen anj'thing like 

 all the facts. In short, we were fully satisfied the mouldings were 

 not produced by any kind of ice action," Mr. Jukes replies (Vol. 

 IV. page 41) : "I hope, however, that some practised glacial observer 

 may visit the locality some day, and give us the benefit of his opinion 

 upon it. In the mean time, as Mr. Pengelly, in his letter in your 

 last Number, agrees in the correctness of my description of the facts, 

 perhaps he will favour us with his ideas as to their origin, for I 

 certainly have never seen anything like them except on a so-called 

 glaciated surface." This I am not aware that Mr. Pengelly has done. 



As an amateur I have seen much of ice-action in Wales and Scot- 

 land, and submit that a careful examination in West Somerset would 

 probably lead to the discovery of more glaciated blocks and a greater 

 development of Boulder-clay than are now generally supposed to 

 exist. 



It may be presumptuous in me to offer an opinion adverse to that 

 of such able geologists as Mr. Pengelly and Mr. Vicary, more especi- 

 ally as I have never seen the place referred to ; but I think it not 

 improbable that Mr. Jukes is right to this extent, that the grooving 

 was caused by ice, but the strias have been worn away by meteoric 

 abrasion, eating into the rocks, without however destroying the 

 original form of the grooving. 



It is well known that even in Wales, except on very hard rocks, 

 like the Cambrian, the strias are often worn away, although the 

 rounded moutonned appearance of the rocks leaves no doubt of 

 their once having been glaciated. 



1 Some of the specimens which I brought away are deposited in the Taunton 

 Museum. 



2 See also Geol. Mag. Vol. IX. pp. 177, 574. 



