PULWELL HILLS, NEAR SUNDERLAND. 169 



the low ground around Cleadon and Fulwell Hills lay beneath 

 the sea, these were both probably islands. 



When standing on the top of the last-named hills and looking 

 down towards the sea and Sunderland, it is evident, unless we 

 assume that a very local rising of the land took place, that all 

 the low-lying ground along the north-east coast of Durham 

 would probably be submerged at the same time ; and we have 

 evidence of this in and near Sunderland. Near Tunstall Eoad 

 in that town beds of sand and gravel occur resting on boulder- 

 clay ; whilst to the south of it similar beds occur all along the 

 coast (^) as before stated, and it is more than probable that the 

 deposit on Fulwell Hills is the raised-beach of one of the arms 

 of the sea in which these beds were deposited, and the upper 

 parts of the boulder-clay re-arranged by marine currents. From 

 the large number of pebbles characteristic of that clay found in 

 the raised beaches on Cleadon and Fulwell Hills, it is apparent 

 that this clay must have undergone a great amount of denudation. 



From the regularly bedded nature of the deposit on Fulwell 

 Hills, and the manner in which it lies, it seems to have been 

 but little disturbed since its formation ; the rising of the land 

 through one hundred and forty feet since then therefore appears 

 to have been very uniform and gradual. 



Mr. Blythe and I have found a few fragments of shells in this 

 deposit. They occur principally in a very fine layer of gravel 

 near the bottom of it, one or two specimens were, however, 

 collected in the coarser gravel, but as a I'ule they are very 

 much broken up. The following have been identified : Cyprina 

 islandica and Littorina (?). 



It may also be worthy of notice that the beach at present 

 forming in front of the boulder clay at Hendon is very similar 

 to the raised one on Fulwell Hills. 



In the Paper by Mr. J. W. Kirkby, before referred to, a series 

 of sand-pipes, or tubular cavities filled with sand, are noticed 

 as occurring on the slopes of Fulwell Hills, and, although I 

 have not seen any of these pipes, he undoubtedly deals with 

 the same deposit as that now described. He does not treat of it 



