90 THE GLACIAL PHENOMENA OF THE COUNTRY 



The evidence in the case of the Pont is incomplete as t6 its 

 upper reaches. From Stamfordham to Dissington its course 

 has been cut since glacial times almost entirely through solid 

 rock. Below that, however, a well-marked pre-glacial valley 

 can be traced, which passes through Ponteland, Prestwick 

 Carr, and Horton Grange. Thus considerable diversion of 

 drainage has taken place in these parts owing to the accumu- 

 lation of drift material during the Ice Age, for the pre-glacial 

 "Pont" flowed along the east side of Berwick Hill, by the 

 site of what is now actually a water-parting between the Pont 

 and the Blyth, 



The pre-glacial streams, the " Pont " and the " Blyth," 

 meeting near Blagdon, seem to have taken a northerly 

 direction, parallel to the Dinnington Ridge, by what is 

 now Stannington, and to have found an outlet by way of 

 Hepscott into the " Sleekburn."* Detailed mapping of the 

 rock-surface in this part of 'the country renders this reading of 

 the events extremely probable, since the possible outlet for 

 the waters of the " Blyth " is narrowed down to the tract of 

 land stretching one mile north-west of Stannington Bridge, 

 and it is here that thick deposits of drift are exposed in the 

 gorge cut by the Catraw Burn. Stannington Vale, through 

 which the modern Blyth finds its way to the sea, is entirely of 

 post-glacial origin. 



The case of the Ouseburn is similar to that of the Blyth. 

 For the first five miles of its course it flows in a drift-filled 

 valley somewhat south of the pre-glacial stream; near West 

 Gosforth the two courses cross, the pre-glacial one trending 

 in the direction of the North Road and Jesmond, while the 

 present stream flows somewhat east of this through Jesmond 

 Dene (a valley of post-glacial age) and discharges into the 

 Tyne near the mouth of the pre-glacial valley.f The pre- 

 glacial stream seems to have received near Gosforth an im- 



* The course of this pre-glacial river has been described by Woolacott. Op. cit., 

 p. 83. 



t The lower portion, of the "Ouseburn" has already been traced by Woolacott. 

 See "The Geological History of the Tyne, Wear, and Associated Streams," Univ. 

 Dur. Phil. See, vol. ii., p. 121. 



