162 Dr. FiTTON on the Strata below the Chalk, 



west of Ashford, and near Bethersden, about 22 miles south of Stanford Bridge. A continuous 

 range of slightly elevated ground, extending from Lovelace near Bethersden towards Shadoxhurst 

 (in a direction parallel to that of the other ridges of this country, and to the range of the chalk 

 escarpment), may also indicate the existence of some stratum of greater firmness than the clay. 



Mr. Smith mentions two subordinate courses of sand, with sand-rock, sandy clay and loam, as 

 occurring in the lower tract, or valley of the Weald, between Aldington Corner and the cliffs of 

 sand and grit on the north of Rye. (1.) The first of these runs from near Biisington, through 

 Orleston ; with which line a range in the interior seems, from the map, to be continuous, for about 

 four miles more towards the north-west, — through Woodchurch Beacon and Redbrook Street. 

 It seems to be parallel to the ridge above mentioned between Bethersden and Shadoxhurst; 

 and sections of the strata are disclosed at Biisington Priory; on the roads from Biisington Cross to 

 High-house; from Ruckinge to Ham Street, and from Ham Street to Orleston; and perhaps near 

 Warehorn Leaton. (2.) The second course, which consists of red clay with sand and sand-rock, 

 begins at Brookarm, on the verge of the marshes, and passes through Bench-hill. On the south 

 of this last-mentioned range, sand and sandy clay appear to abound: concretional beds of hard 



vations of so much interest, that, but for the immediate object of these pages, I should willingly 

 have inserted them in full. 



" The word," Mr. Hunter states, " does not occur in Lye's Saxon Dictionary; but I observe 

 " that the modern Lexicographers speak of a Saxon word, hyjij"^> as synonymous with sylva ; and 

 '^ hursta, it seems, occurs in low Latin, for 'wood'. Wachter explains Horst, Germ., 'locus 

 " ' nemorosus et pascuus' ; and refers it to dpos, mons. Kilian has Horscht, Teut. ' virgultum ; 

 " ' sylva humiles tantiim frutices proferens.' 



" In England, Hurst appears to signify a small wood; but, in Scotland, a barren height or 

 " eminence, and sometimes a shallow in a river. I do not find the word," Mr. Hunter continues, 

 " in any of the provincial glossaries ; and yet I think it is not quite out of use, in its uncompounded 

 " state, to denote a Wood, generally; but I much doubt whether any specific difference can be dis- 

 " covered between the sense of this word and that of many other words, in a language which is 

 " particularly rich in terms which designate woods, or woody places : grove, thicket, copse, 

 " brake, &c. 



" If Drayton's authority {Polijolbion, viii. 2.) were not thought sufficient to prove that in 

 " England the word was formerly used to signify a Wood, the combinations in which it occurs in the 

 " names of innumerable places, dispersed all over the soutliern part of the island (i. e. south of the 

 " Tweed), would be sufficient to prove it. There is Oak-hurst, Ake-hurst (a varied form of Oke- 

 " hurst); Elm-hurst, everywhere ; Ew-hurst, Hasel-hurst, Ash-hurst, Ashen-hurst, Maple-hurst, 

 " Nut-hurst, Beam-hurst (Staffordshire), Brere-hurst, Box-hurst ; besides many Hursts without 

 " any prefix, — of which Hurst- Monceaux is one ; Monceaux being an addition made after the Con- 

 " quest, from the name of some Norman Lord. 



" So many instances in which the names of trees are united with this word, would, I think, of 

 " tliemselves be sufficient to prove that it was really in use in England, in the sense of 'wood' ; and 

 " it may be added, that it lies deep in the language, — the woods so designated being older than 

 " the towns which have risen near them, and those towns of Saxon foundation. 



" Again, there are other instances in which the adjunct is congruous with this idea of Hurst ; such 

 " as Hawk-hurst, Crow-hurst, Broad-hurst, Buck-hurst, Brocklehurst (Brock-hole-hurst), — the wood 

 " where the badger (brock) made his holes. So also Brock-hurst, Park-hurst, Coney-hurst, &c. &c. 



" It must, however, be admitted, that there are many names of places, into the composition of 

 " which the word Hurst enters, of which it is extremely difficult to trace the origin ; and when 

 " those for which we can account are taken out of the list, it is hard to form even a conjecture con- 

 " cerning those which remain. In this respect, however, the compounds of Hurst are but in the 

 " same predicament with the prefixes to -t07i, -ham, -field, -by, and many of the local terminals; 

 " and probably they are, in many instances, the names of early Saxon proprietors, detorted 

 " from tlieir original forms. Some, however, more skilful etymologist, or one better acquainted 

 " with the language of our ancestors of the 6th and 7th centuries, when probably these names first 

 " becavne fixed, might explain: — Shadocks-hurst, Cog-hurst, Bub-hurst, Tile-hurst, Sissing-hurst, 

 " Capen-hurst, Dicken-hurst, &c. &c." 



