Wealden District and the Bas Boulonnais. \ 1 



anticlinal ridge, I found distinct evidence of a northerly dip in descending into 

 the valley along the London road from Cuckfield. Similar evidence is found in 

 the quarries near Cuckfield. On the south side of this hill the general southerly 

 dip of the district commences. I obtained also the most decisive evidence of the 

 continuation of this line between two and three miles east of Cuckfield, at the cut- 

 ting for the Brighton railroad, which being there transverse to the anticlinal line, ex- 

 hibited it with great distinctness. The dip to the north at this point could not be 

 much less than 15°. The line appeared to run exactly east and west. It is pro- 

 bably co-extensive at least with the valley to the north of it, extending three miles 

 west of Cuckfield. How far it may extend to the east beyond the railroad, I had 

 not the means of determining. I detected no evidence of it in crossing the general 

 central ridge from Uckfield to East Grinsted. 



I may here remark, that in passing along the London and Lewes road, I observed 

 distinct evidence of anticlinal arrangement of the beds close to Uckfield on the 

 south of the town, the strike being east and west. If the Brightling line were 

 continued, it would pass very near this point. I am far from insisting on this 

 as any evidence of the continuation of that line westward of Heathfield Park. It 

 is perhaps more probable that the position of the beds near Uckfield is due to one 

 of those undulations which, although of comparatively small extent, still follow the 

 general law of those which, on a larger scale, are designated as anticlinal elevations. 

 A more detailed examination of the district would probably detect many such minor 

 anticlinals ; nor would such an investigation be without its interest and importance, 

 because the greater the number of minor phsenomena which can be comprised in 

 our generalizations, the stronger becomes the proof of the truth of the laws esta- 

 blished by observation, and of the theories which distinctly deduce such laws from 

 the operation of physical causes. Such detailed research however belongs pecu- 

 liarly to the province of the local geologist, by whom alone we can hope to see it 

 carried to the extent which the actual state of theory demands. 



Before we proceed with the description of other anticlinal lines, it may be well 

 to direct attention to the relations existing between the external configuration of 

 that portion of the district already considered, and its internal structure. The 

 Battle and Brightling ridges, two of the most characteristic, have manifestly 

 originated, as we have seen, in the formation of the anticlinal lines with which they 

 coincide ; and it is equally evident that the valley between the Brightling and the 

 "Wadhurst line has owed its origin to the formation of the intermediate synclinal 

 line. This arrangement of the beds would necessarily guide more or less the action 

 of the denuding causes to which the complete formation of the valley must be 

 referred. This valley, as I have shown, is bounded on the west by the high land 

 in the neighbourhood of Rotherfield, where there appears to be no considerable 



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