SUCCESSION IN THE TRENT BASIN. 463 



and gravel, frequently cemented into hard masses of rock, passes 

 horizontally into gravelly rubble. Here, and wherever the gravel 

 rests upon Chalky Clay, it contains a great assortment of rocks from 

 that deposit. 



Mr. Skertchly has noticed the same gravel near Saxby, Frisby, 

 and Garthorpe. These exposures are now partly grass-grown, the 

 only one to be seen being to the west of Garthorpe church. He 

 says, " at Saxby there are large pits dug in gravel which appears to 

 be intercalated in the Boulder-clay. The pits are about twenty feet 

 deep, and the material, which consists of irregular beds of gravel and 

 sand, is very much contorted. It is mainly composed of pebbles of 

 the Lincolnshire Limestone ; of other rocks. Coal-measure sandstone 

 and small rounded pebbles of Northampton ironstone are abundant, 

 as are also nodules of ironstone from the Lias clays ; flints occur 

 sparingly, as also do pebbles of quartzite. The stones vary in size 

 from boulders a foot in diameter down to small grains. The sand 

 is for the most part siliceous." Although this gravel is regarded 

 as being intercalated in the Boulder-clay, the evidence appears to 

 me more to favour the view that it is contorted into the upper 

 surface of that deposit. 



At Tilton, one of the highest points in east Leicestershire, near 

 the windmill, a pit exposes a section of the Chalky Gravel. The 

 sandy and gravelly beds are well stratified, and have been forced into 

 a vertical position or even thrown quite over. 



Similar deposits may be seen at Billesden, on the road leading to 

 the Coplow, and also near the mill. 



At Skeffington there are two sections — one near the village, and 

 another at Brooms Wood. East of Tilton, at Halstead, is a good 

 section. Two pits near the road leading from Knossington to 

 Somerby have also been excavated in the Chalky Gravel. Sections 

 may also be seen at Cold Overton, Burrow on the Hill, Thorpe 

 Satchville, and Stoughton. Many of these show beds of loam 

 interstratified with sand and gravel. 



Near the church, at Barrow-on-Soar, a rather peculiar section is 

 shown. B.esting upon Lias shale is a bed of mottled red, gravelly, 

 sandy clay, varying from four to five feet in thickDCSs. Upon this 

 comes eighteen inches of loamy clay containing lenticular beds of 

 reddish stratified sand. Upon this rests gravel with seams of sand. 

 Horizontally bedded red loamy sand covers the whole. Flints and 

 quartz or quartzite pebbles are numerous throughout the whole 

 depth of the section. 



South of Leicester a great number of sections may be seen. At 

 Blaby Wharf about twenty-one feet of false-bedded Chalky Gravel 

 rests upon Chalky Clay ; it contains great quantities of hard chalk, 

 flint, and other easterly rock-debris, derived from the Chalky Clay. 

 Small grains of chalk form no inconsiderable portion of the sand. 

 Many of the beds are blackened by carbonaceous matter, and small 

 lumps of decomposed coal are numerous. The false -bedding indicates 

 currents from the east and west. Rolled boulders of pebble- covered 

 Chalky Clay are of frequent occurrence. 



