10 PEOCJiEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [NoV. 9^ 



down into their present places by successive transport from higher to 

 lower levels during a long-continued fluviatile denudation — ^because 

 such a successive and long- continued transport could not have failed 

 to grind the smaller pebbles into sand, and to reduce the angular flints 

 into aU. stages of wear, connecting them with the pebbles themselves. 



In the map accompanying this paper, some of the more elevated 

 gravels within the escarpments of the part of the Weald under con- 

 sideration which are characterized by the presence of an admixture of 

 chalk flints and Tertiary pebble, are shown in a way which dis- 

 tinguishes them from the rest of the gravels there. Of these, such 

 as fall Avithin the area drained by the Medway or its affluents, 

 have been described by Messrs. Poster and Topley*. The rest, 

 lying within the drainage-area of the Stour, I will briefly notice. 



About Kennington, near Ashford, these occupy a high position, 

 far above the Stour, and distant about a mile from it. The bulk of 

 the Kennington gravel is composed of subcretaceous material ; but 

 there is a considerable proportion of angular flint in it, and some 

 Tertiary pebble. 



On the opposite side of the Stour, at "Willesboro', is a remarkable 

 patch exposed in the road-cutting west of the village. So far as I could 

 detect, upon a brief examination, this gravel, 5 feet thick, was almost 

 entirely made up of Lower-Tertiary pebbles and fragments of flint. 

 At Smeeth, three miles further west, and midway between Merstham 

 Hatch and Ridgeway, there is a gravel of subcretaceous material, 

 intermingled with flint and Tertiary pebbles and a few pieces of 

 chalk ; and over the gaiilt belt near to the chalk escarpment, angular 

 white-coated flints often occur lying on the surface, but apparently 

 no Tertiary pebbles. 



The position of these gravels near Ashford, and of those above 

 Maidstone, relatively to the chalk escarpments near each place, and 

 to the rivers Stour and Medway, is indicated by the Sections A and 

 B that accompany the map ; and the Sections have their places indi- 

 cated by lines upon the map. In both cases these gravels lie near 

 what I regard as river-mouths bringing in drainage from the north ; 

 while similar gravels, described by Messrs. Poster and Topley, lie 

 within the Medway area on the Weald clay beneath the Lower 

 Greensand escarpment, and occupy a position near what I Regard as 

 one of these river-mouths after it had advanced from the Chalk es- 

 carpment at Maidstone to the Lower-Greensand one near Talding. 



In the case of some of the gravels near Maidstone, Messrs. Topley 

 and Foster offer, as the explanation of the occurrence of flints, nodules 

 of chalk, and pebbles in them, the action of a rivulet tributary to 

 the Medway, which runs up towards the foot of the Chalk escarp- 

 ment at Boxley. But though angular flints and chalk might by 

 such a means find their way into the Medway, it is not apparent how 

 Lower-Tertiary pebbles could do so, even at the greatly higher level 

 at which both the tributary and the Medway itself must have flowed 

 to reach the high situation of these gravels at Barming, and above 

 AUington (near Maidstone). 



The position of the gravel at Willesboro' is still more antagonistic — 

 * Loc. cit. 



