A SECTION OF THE CLIFFS NEAR NEWBIGGIN 65 



quantities of water-worn flints are found, mingled with the 

 other pebbles evidently brought there by the tides. 



From its nature the Newbiggin gravel-bed is not likely to 

 yield many organic remains. A broken fragment of a shell 

 (Ostrea ?) is, so far, the only fossil I have seen. 



Above the gravel-bed is the boulder clay, the included 

 erratics being principally limestone characteristically striated. 

 South of the deposit the sandstone slopes from the gravel-bed 

 at an angle of 5 , and is covered with boulder clay. Some- 

 times a foot or more of crushed rock lies beneath the clay. 

 About 200 feet from the gravel-bed the rock is glaciated, the 

 striations pointing S.S.W. 



From the point where the sandstone dips beneath the 

 present beach nothing occurs but boulder clay covered with 

 blown sand. Near the mouth of the river, and for a distance 

 of some 200 feet, the clay is divided into two unequal portions 

 by an almost uniformly straight line of erratics. 



The gravel-bed at Newbiggin appears to be the sole 

 surviving fragment of a pre-boulder-clay littoral deposit, but 

 how far this may extend it is yet impossible to say. That 

 similar deposits have not been found in the locality seems to 

 point to a limited development inland. 



Much of the original beach may have been removed by 

 denudation during the subsequent Ice Age, the gravel in the 

 cliff owing its preservation to the cliff over which, as indicated 

 by the rock striations and the included erratics, the ice sheet 

 flowed. 



Looking towards Newbiggin from a point near the gravel 

 deposit, one is struck by the series of promontories running 

 parallel with each other, sheltering small bays and coves, and 

 gradually becoming more prominent towards the north. In 

 the foreground is the ancient cliff; behind and running 

 further seaward is " Hawk's Cliff " ; beyond is Spital Point, 

 while in the distance, but most prominent of all, is Newbiggin 

 Point. 



