VALLEY-GEAYELS ABOUT READING. 585 



about 8 feet of rather small snbangular gravel, mostly of flint, sandy 

 in the lower portion, and resting on Chalk. The river flows very 

 near this spot. Implements resembling those from Toots Farm 

 occur here. Another opening in the ground made during the con- 

 struction of farm-buildings showed a greater depth of gravel, 15 or 

 16 feet ; and from gravel thrown up from near the bottom I obtained 

 two implements approximating to the Toots-farm type. 



About a mile from this point, near Shiplake Station, and at about 

 the same level, gravel has recently been dug for the construction of 

 a road. It is a small, bedded gravel, containing many small pebbles, 

 and, in addition to the flint and quartzites, a few pieces of chert, 

 which may have been derived from the plateau- gravel. I observed 

 flint flakes in this ]3it, from which I infer that implements would 

 be found also. 



§ 3. Geavels South oe the Thames. 



1. Tilehurst Road, Reading. 



On the southern or Berkshire side of the Thames two tri- 

 butaries join the main stream in this district, namely the Kennet, 

 which flows through the town of Beading, and the Loddon, which 

 enters the Thames at Wargrave, about four miles lower down. 

 There is, of course, a considerable accumulation of gravel about 

 these rivers. The town of Beading is built on the gravel sheets of 

 the Thames and Kennet, which unite and spread over the watershed 

 of the two rivers. There is a good section (see fig.) about a mile 



Section of Gi^avel-jpit, Tilehurst Road, Reading. 

 (Length of section, 63 yards. Maximum thickness of gravel, 22 feet.\ 



A. Lower part of the ochreous gravel. A'. Chalky portions of the same 



gravel. 



B. Ochreous gravel, with a loamy seam, occasionally showine: contorted 



bedding ("Trail"). 



C. Whitish clayey gravel, at the top. 



D. Woolwich-and-Eeading Sand. 



E. Sand -pipe. 



from the centre of the town, westward, on the Tilehurst Bead, at an 

 elevation of 197 feet above sea-level, and about 75 feet above the 

 surface of the Thames at the nearest point, about a mile and a 

 quarter distant. 



The maximum thickness of the sheet here is 14 to 19 feet, and 

 it thins out in the direction of the Thames and Kennet respectively 

 by denudation. 



The section to which I have referred occurs in a large pit on the 



