BETWEEN THE TYNE AND THE WANSBECK 83 



respect, namely, that they- have been produced near the end 

 of the Glacial Period. 



The kaims are well developed about Kirkley and Eachwick, 

 and form long sinuous ridges and hummocks of gravel and 

 pebbles, resting apparently upon a level platform of boulder 

 clay, and rising in places to a height of about 40 feet. Those 

 near Kirkley form especially well-marked features, stretching 

 from Bonas Hill southwards through Kirkley, the Obelisk 

 Hill, East Thorn and West Thorn, and thence westwards 

 through the Beacon to Higham Dykes; two parallel ridges 

 run some distance north from East Thorn and West Thorn 

 respectively. Between Eachwick Hall and the Med Burn near 

 South Dissington is another fine series of kaims, trending in 

 the main south-east, and resembling the Kirkley kaims in all 

 respects. In one place they enclose a peat-bog — a character- 

 istic of kaims in those parts where they are best developed. 

 Dewley Hill, an isolated mound of gravel and pebbles, about 

 20 feet high, with a circular base, may be classed as a kaim, 

 though there may be some slight doubt on the matter as will 

 be seen shortly, 



The composition of these kaims is similar in many respects, 

 though slight differences do exist; they are made up of sand, 

 gravel, and well-rounded pebbles of all sizes up to a foot 

 across, and they show in places a certain amount of cementing. 

 The pebbles in the Kirkley kaims are chiefly of sandstone : 

 limestone, and in less measure whinstone, are fairly abundant, 

 and there is a good proportion of foreign rocks, including 

 coarse pink and grey granite, porphyrites, felsitic rocks, 

 amygdaloidal lava and greenstones. The Eachwick kaims 

 are distinguished by the relatively large amount of limestone 

 and whinstone in the pebbles, and by the clayey, less sandy, 

 nature of the finer material ; foreign rocks, except greenstones, 

 seem less plentiful than in the Kirkley deposits. Dewley 

 Hill resembles in composition the Kirkley kaims, with the 

 difference that limestone and whinstone are comparatively 

 scarce ; granite and porphyritic rocks are fairly plentiful. The 



