﻿328 ME. H. BURT OlS THE EIYEE WEY. [^aV I908, 



to the Wealden drainage take the form of isolated obsequent 

 streams, seldom more than 2 or 3 miles in length ; but here, in 

 the Alton district, we find an extremely-complicated system of 

 Chalk valleys, which spread over something like 50 square miles 

 of country, all uniting together at, or close to, Alton, and discharging 

 their waters into the Wealden area about 2 miles north-east of 

 that town. 



The most important line of drainage in this Chalk area is a 

 valley which comes in from the south, past the villages of East 

 Tisted, Faringdon, and Chawton, and which may conveniently be 

 referred to as the TistedYalley. From Privett Station, which 

 is nearly its southernmost point, to Alton, it is about 7 miles 

 long ; and it is everywhere wide and open, and receives numerous 

 lateral tributaries. Of these, the longest (4| miles) has rather 

 an unusual direction, rising in ]Medstead Hill, and running about 

 south-eastwards to join the main valley near East Tisted. A little 

 farther north are two valleys coming in from the south-east, which 

 deserve notice, not so much on account of their length (2 to 2| miles), 

 as because they reach the Chalk escarpment, and (one of them 

 dividing into two) form three deep notches in it. The upper 

 portions of these valleys, near the escarpment, are exceedingly wide 

 and flat, with a very gentle gradient towards the Tisted Valley ; 

 and it is, I think, impossible to avoid the conclusion that they 

 were already well established before the escarpment reached its 

 present position. Opposite each of the notches, which are 150 feet 

 in depth, is an obsequent tributary of the River Kother. 



xinother important valley which also joins the main valley at 

 Alton comes from Lasham Hill, about 4| miles from that town, 

 and has in the main a south-easterly course, but turns sharply 

 eastwards at its lower end. It may be conveniently referred to as 

 the Lasham Valley, and its approximate parallelism to the 

 Medstead branch of the Tisted V^alley should be noted. Not far 

 from Lasham Station it is joined almost at right angles by a valley 

 which starts on the north side of Medstead Hill, and runs a course 

 about 3 miles long rather to the east of north. 



Besides these two important valleys there is a third, also joining 

 in at Alton, which is worthy of mention rather for its position than 

 for its size. It starts at the ' Golden Pot ' Inn, 2| miles north of 

 Alton, and runs due south, with all the characters of an ordinary 

 obsequent valley ; but it is interesting because it lies right in the 

 line of the Tisted Valley, and has at its head a distinct, though not 

 very deep notch, in the line of Chalk hills ; while on the north side 

 of this notch is a tributary of the Eiver Whitewater. It is further 

 to be noted that this valley lies exactly at the point at which there 

 is a change in direction of the ridge of Chalk hills which here 

 forms the watershed between the river-system under consideration 

 (Wey) and the more direct tributaries of the Thames — the White- 

 water, Lyde, and Loddon. On its east side this ridge runs north- 

 eastwards, parallel with the Farnham Valley ; while on the west it 

 runs north-westwards, in the direction of Kingsclere, and parallel 

 with the Lasham Valley. 



