IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF ALNWICK. 351 
same connection is manifested: where the polished and striated 
surfaces are, there is also the boulder formation. It is necessary, 
therefore, to determine the nature and conditions of that forma- 
tion, before venturing to speculate on the agencies which produced 
the phenomena. 
In North Northumberland, the boulder formation has modified 
the physical features of the country, particularly on the Hast side 
of the range of sandstone hills, which extend from Kyloe onward 
by Belford, Chatton, Eglingham, and Alnwick Moor, and thence 
crossing the county in a South West direction. The peculiarities 
of the formation are best seen at Holy Island, Budle, and Hoppen. 
It forms, here and there, long hills with steep ascents—some of 
them standing alone, and rising like huge artificial tumuli, to the 
height of more than 30 feet: those at Chathill and Newham seem 
the same in form, character, and origin as the Osars in Denmark. 
A brief notice of one or two sections will show the peculiar 
character of the formation in Northumberland :— 
At Holy Island, we find clay with large and small boulders, 
partly overlying a carbonaceous shale, and irregularly abutting 
against beds of sandstone and coal ; this deposit is separated into 
parts by singularly interposed stratified fine sand, in which layers 
of carbonaceous matter mark the lines of stratification ; above the 
clay is a loose mass of gravel, and of smaller boulders embedded in 
sand ; and above this again is a bed of clay without boulders. 
This section, besides affording evidence of successive deposit, also 
indicates that some force has acted on it laterally subsequently 
to its deposition, and caused the strange commingling and inter- 
calation of the different strata with each other. 
At Budle, the formation is similar but less irregular. Here the 
clay, with large boulders, with here and there q streak of carbona-. 
ceous matter marking stratification, and having a height varying 
from 10 to 20 feet, rests on the Posodonia Schist which overlies a 
carboniferous limestone. Above this clay is a bed of gravel, 
varying from 6 to 12 inches in height ; and above this again are 
beds of fine sharp sand, distinctly stratified, and having a height 
of from 5 to 20 feet. 
VOL. I. Yy 
