488 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 2, 



on Lechampton Hill, at a height of about 700 feet above the level 

 of the sea. It is represented in section fig. 8, p. 487. The la- 

 mination is nearly horizontal except in close proximity to the cliff. 

 The appearance of the gravel is decidedly more that of a stratified 

 deposit than of a mass of tumbled debris. If it were of the latter 

 description, the fragments, instead of assuming an approximately 

 horizontal arrangement, would have been strewn obliquely, according 

 to the angle of friction. In other localities, false bedding is preva- 

 lent, and the apparent dip is occasionally towards the hill. Vestiges 

 of this beach occur in the neighbourhood of Painswick, Witcomb 

 Wood, Lyreford near Whittington, at the north end of Cleve Cloud, 

 at Corndean, south of Winchcomb, Painswick Valley, and at the 

 north side of Hill House Park, near Nailsworth, where the stratifica- 

 tion is very decided from the occurrence of a thin parting of clay 

 imbedded in the gravel, and in which the lines of stratification are 

 apparent. Wherever exposed, this ancient shingle may generally be 

 distinguished from tumbled debris by the fineness of grain, and its 

 evident stratification. 



This gravel is, probably, the remains of the first of a series of 

 Beaches produced along the flanks of the hills at the period of the 

 first * rising of the land from beneath the ancient sea ; and has been 

 almost destroyed during a subsequent submergence ; for I do not 

 believe that one elevation is sufficient to have produced all the 

 phsenomena connected with the diluvium and denudation of this 

 country. 



Fluviatile, Estuarine, and Marine Deposits. — The remaining 

 pleistocene deposits of the Vale of Gloucester have been arranged by 

 the authors I have mentioned under the three following heads : — 



1. The Fluviatile 1 



2. The Estuarine > Deposits. 



3. The Marine J 



1st. The Fluviatile comprehends the deposits which border the 

 Severn and Avon, occupying the horizontal areas which often extend 

 for considerable distances on either side. These are the latest in 

 respect of datef. 



2nd. To the Estuarine deposits are referred certain fine-grained 

 sihceous sands, which occur in isolated patches over the Gloucester 

 plain, and upon which the lower portions of Cheltenham are built. 

 These sands become associated with, and finally give place to, oolitic 

 detritus as they approach the base of the Cotteswold Hills. The 

 Estuarine is, I believe, the mammaliferous depository of the district ; 

 and I shall presently describe certain beds in the Vale of Moreton, 

 which I consider to be contemporaneous. 



I am informed by my friend Dr. Wright of Cheltenham, that " in 

 cutting the Cheltenham sewer bones and horns of the fossil Ox 



* Further on it is shown that the valleys were formed prior to the deposition 

 of the northern drift, which has been deposited during a second submergence, 

 t See ' Silurian System.' 



