﻿1861.] 



DKEW HASTINGS SAND. 



279 



rejected on that account, is that there are few signs of such a thick- 

 ness of sand as that of all the Tunhridge Wells beds on the north of 

 the Tunbridge Tunnel ; I have, however, seen sand resting on the 

 clay close there, and not far off are one or two sections showing no 

 inconsiderable thickness of it. The greater part of the space between 

 that and the Weald Clay is flattish ground, covered either by a loamy 

 alluvium or by gravel ; and, of course, sections through this are 

 scarce ; but I have seen some sand as far away as a quarter of a mile 

 to the N.W. of Tunbridge Town. The Tunbridge Wells Sand, then, 

 must have its first outcrop along here, though there is no great feature 

 of ground such as one would expect ; for along this part, where there 

 is a special line of elevation, the ground has been denuded to quite 

 a low level. 



III. Eastward of the Meridian of Tunbridge Wells. 



1. Weald Clay. — The foregoing, then, are the beds that are found 

 in the neighbourhood of Tunbridge Wells — using the word " neigh- 

 bourhood " in a somewhat wide sense : we will now look at them in 

 the more easterly part of their outcrop (for I have traced them for 

 fifteen or twenty miles in that direction), taking them in the same 

 order as before. The outcrop of the lower part of the Weald Clay 

 is in flat ground, where there are few sections of any depth ; and, 

 besides, it is hidden in many parts by some thickness of gravel ; I 

 therefore cannot speak as to its exact character, but I find a pretty 

 well-marked line between the clay and the Tunbridge Wells Sand. 

 East of Tunbridge Town I quite lose sight of that loamy and sandy 

 bed which I said there was, on the other side, some forty feet up in 

 the clay. 



2. Tunbridge Wells Sand. — The top of the Tunbridge Wells Sand 

 loses its rocky character a little before we get as far east as Brench- 

 ley, and becomes sandstone and loam not different from the rest of 

 the division, which itself is so much the same as I have before de- 

 scribed that I need hardly speak of it more. It may be mentioned, 

 however, that at a level that seems to be somewhat below the mid- 

 dle there is seen in some places a thin bed of clay and loamy clay, 

 partly red in colour, and underneath it a bed of rock-sand or else 

 thick-bedded sandstone. I cannot say for certain, but I think that 

 the clay-bed is not always present, but lies in patches, while the 

 rocky character of what is underneath it is more persistent. The two 

 beds can be traced as far east as the town of Tenterden. See fig. 1, 

 p. 276. Hardly any evidence could be obtained about the thickness 

 of the division ; but it seems, from the space it occupies, to be much 

 the same as at Tunbridge Wells. 



3. The WadJiurst Clay. — The Wadhurst Clay is also like what it 

 is at Tunbridge Wells. I have but one thing new to remark on it : 

 the very top of it (the few feet below the junction with the sand) is, 

 in some places, especially near Cranbrook, of a rather red clay. The 

 thickness seems to be as much as 160 or 170 feet at Goudhurst, and 

 rather less in other places. 



