59 
THE YORKSHIRE BOULDER COMMITTEE 
AND ITS TENTH YEAR’S WORK. 
THOMAS TATE, F.G.S., 
Leeds, Hon. Secretary to the Committee. 
DurincG the year our knowledge of the ice-borne erratics of York- 
shire has been extended chiefly along the borders of the county. 
An extremely interesting report from Mr. Thornton Comber directs 
attention to certain observations made near to Pickering. Con- 
cerning these deposits Mr. Fox Strangways writes, ‘On either side 
of the great valley (vale of Pickering) there are seen rising on the 
flanks of the hills certain sands and gravels which, although wholly 
unlike each other in their included fragments, were probably formed 
by the same agent and at the same time. Both the sands on the 
south and the gravels on the north side of the valley are formed 
almost entirely of fragments derived from the rocks against which 
they abut, proving the entire local nature of the agent by which they 
were deposited. Immediately associated with these sands and gravels 
are the lacustrine clays and alluvium which occupy the remainder of 
the valley. The whole of the central, low-lying plain is covered 
with these sands and clays, which are of considerable thickness. 
The gravels of Pickering are derived from the Oolites generally, 
those of Malton mostly from the Oolitic limestone, those at Norton 
from the chalk.’ Seeing that this is all quite local material, is it not 
possible that Mr. Loy may have mistaken a coarse grit for a granite, 
as is often done by untrained observers? and a careful look-out for 
further evidence should be maintained by all members residing in the 
locality. The true boulder clay, ‘a vast accumulation of clay and 
stones, hugs the coast in a most striking manner, and does not on an 
average extend more than two miles inland.’ All these facts point 
rather to an extra-morainic freshwater lake in some way related to 
the gorge at Ayton, and to the yet more remarkable gorge cut by 
the river Seven at Sinnington. 
From the opposite side of the county Mr. Robert Law, 
F.G.S., records an important series of observations made in 
the Walsden valley. The boulders coincide in character with 
those found in the Calder valley, and indicate that the latter 
valley has been fed by way of Littleborough. It does not follow 
that all the boulders found in the Calder valley have come 
down the Walsden valley. The distribution of the boulders rather 
suggests that, after passing Littleborough, part have been deflected 
to the north-east by the high moors around Alderman Stones (1350) 
February 1897. : 
