456 HISTORY OF THE BROWNEY VALLEY 



ice towards the south, and when joined a Uttle later by the 

 Scotch ice that had outflanked the Cheviots and traversed 

 Northumberland, did so more efifectually. 



An early result was the formation of a line of glacial lakes 

 along the edge from Blanchland to Castleside and the upper 

 Browney. Later still, when the Scandinavian ice had actually 

 arrived off our coast, it completely dammed the Upper 

 Derwent, and in the far off days of its retreat northwards led 

 to the formation of Consett lake, diverting the stream of the 

 Upper Derwent down the valley of the Browney into the 

 Wear at Durham City, to which fact we owe the Red Hills 

 moraine, or at least its magnitude. This glacier from the 

 North Tyne reached its maximum later than the western ice- 

 flow; when crossing the watershed between Derwent and 

 Browney it scattered its boulders on the northern side of that 

 valley at Iveston, Lanchester, and Witton Gilbert. 



The thrust of the great Scandinavian ice-stream was thus 

 powerfully felt, first indirectly and later directly, though the 

 ice itself does not appear to have touched any part of our 

 coast : though it did that of our neighbour Yorkshire, which 

 it freely invaded, driving the Durham and western ice south- 

 wards through the heart of Yorkshire, so that when the Glacial 

 age was at its best, Durham and western ice travelled beyond 

 the city of York, and probably reached the sea. at the Wash by 

 an ancient mouth of the Trent. How long it continued to do 

 so we know not, but the remains and its work show it was a 

 long time. 



Ultimately amelioration came and the ice began to retreat ; 

 and in the same order too, for the effects of the milder climate 

 would be first felt at home, then in Cumberland and Galloway, 

 next in Cheviot and South-East Scotland, and last in Norway. 

 It is important to remember this, or the lakes and moraines 

 which marked the line of retreat, and whose work is yet with 

 us, will not be properly understood nor duly appreciated. 

 Three of these lakes and two moraines play an important 

 part in the history of the Browney Valley, to which we now 

 definitely return. 



