1871.] 



PEESTWTCH KATSED BEACH, POETSDOWN Hill. 



39 



flint-gravel at the base of the hill. In the shingle are a few Ter- 

 tiary flint-pebbles, and not a few large unworn flints, with a number 

 of sharp angular flint fragments. The only foreign material I found 

 was a fragment of reddish quartzite. I saw no organic, remains of 

 any description. But the pit requires further search, especially as the 

 workmen were not present on the occasion of my visit. 



I found, however, in bed a a rude flint implement ; but whether 

 derived from the surface or peculiar to bed a, I could not positively 

 say. It was at a depth of 1| foot from the surface. Its type is not 

 sufficiently distinctive to indicate its age. 



I have not yet succeeded in tracing this old shingle-beach further 

 westward, where it is desirable to determine its exact position in 

 relation to the several gravels of the South-Hampshire area. 



There can be no mistake made about the character of the shingle. 

 It is not so rounded as the Tertiary flint-pebbles, which can be 

 readily distinguished amongst it, while it is far more worn than 

 the subangular gravel ac the base of the hill. In places there are 

 signs of disturbance as though from the effects of ice-action — a 

 feature which would be in accordance with the presence of the 

 great transported foreign boulders found in the marine gravel of 

 Selsea, and with the chalk boulders in the Chichester sea-beach. 



While on this subject I may mention another point of interest 

 connected with this area, which I noticed on the same occasion. 



Flint implements have been found at various places, and at various 

 elevations, in the Hampshire basin* — amongst others, in the valley 

 of the Avon, near Fordingbridge, at an elevation of about 40 feet 

 above the river f. Five mUes north of Fordingbridge is the village 

 of Downton. On the hiU immediately east of the village is Packham 

 Common (now enclosed) ; and on the right hand of the road leading 

 from Redlinch to Standlinch Down, and passing by the north-east 

 corner of the former common, is a small chalk-pit (see fig. 1) capped 



Fig. 1 . — Section on East side of the Valley of the Avon. 

 (Distance 1| mile.) 



Eiver Avon, Downton, 



117 feet. 144 feet to 183 feet. 266 feet to 298 feet. Pit, 320 feet ? 



level. 



by ochreous gravel. This consists as usual of subangular flints, and a 

 few pebbles of quartz, with some worn fragments of iron-sandstone 

 and flint pebbles from the adjacent Tertiary strata. It reposes upon 

 a worn and furrowed surface of the chalk, and is from 2 to 7 feet 

 thick. A portion of this bed had slipped down ; and on examining 

 the talus for the constituent parts of the gravel I found a small flint 



* Evans, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1864, vol. xx. p. 188. 

 t Codrington, ibid. vol. xxti. p. 537. 



