314 PEOF. J. PRESTWICH ON THE EAISED 



with-flints, whence this gravel would be derived. Flint implements 

 of the pointed type are said to have been found in the Turner's 

 Court pits, but I did not succeed in obtaining any. A tooth of a 

 Mammoth was found in the same gravel near Britwell House, and 

 the horn of Cervus elapTius in a pit near Blenheim Parm. 



There is, however, on the slopes of the Chalk hills between this 

 gravel terrace and Crowmarsh, some undoubted chalk-rubble, from 

 which I saw three Mammoth teeth, very white and much decom- 

 posed, in the collection of Mr. Davis of Wallingford. 



(11) The Cottesiuolds. — A peculiar form of the Itubble-drift occurs 

 at different levels on the Cotteswold Hills along the scarped edges 

 and slopes of the Inferior Oolite. It consists of a fine Oolitic 

 debris, slightly worn and roughly bedded, derived from the Oolite 

 slopes above, and occurs at intervals along the whole line of the 

 Cotteswold Hills. It is to be distinguished from ordinary fallen - 

 down debris by its fineness of grain and evident stratification.^ 

 These deposits have been taken to represent the vestiges of a true 

 sea-shore beach. That they are not taluses is clear from their pro- 

 jection far beyond the angle of repose, their compactness, and the 

 alternation of seams of finer grit and sand ; but their position at 

 all levels, and never, that I am aware of, at two alike, and also 

 their structure render the opinion of their being old beaches equally 

 improbable, and I believe that this view is now generally held. 



Prof. Hull states that this rubble-bed may be seen at the Cleeve 

 Cloud quarries, above Corndean, on the northern side of Crickly 

 Hill, at Coopers' Hill, on the eastern side of Painswick Hill, and 

 above Hill House near Brimscombe. I have seen a section where 

 it is quarried for gravel on the side of the hill north-west of Syre- 

 ford at a height of about 650 feet, and could find neither shells nor 

 bones. The slope there was gentle and prolonged. Mr. W. C. Lucy 

 mentions several other places, and says that the elevation of the 

 rubble-bed varies from 500 to 700 feet, but at Longford near 

 Nailsworth it is only 300 feet ; whilst it occurs in holes or hollows 

 on Cleeve Hill, at an elevation of at least 900 feet. He remarks 

 on the absence " of any fossils or even recent shells," and is opposed 

 to the idea of the rubble-banks being old beaches.^ Mr. Lucy 

 further mentions the occurrence of a distinct drift, composed of 

 Oolite debris, overlying the Lias on the slopes of the Cotteswolds, 

 and to this he applies the term of ' Oolite Gravel.' 



A separate notice of this drift has also been given by Mr. E. 

 WitcheU, who describes it as lying on the slopes of the hills and 

 descending in places into the valleys where it overlies the River 

 Gravels. I cannot, however, agree with him that it is intercalated 

 with those gravels. He notes the absence of organic remains, and 

 attributes its origin to subaerial waste during a period of extreme 

 eold. 



1 Mem. Geol. Survey, ' The Geology of Cheltenham ' (1857), p. 87 ; and 

 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xi. (1855) p. 477. 



^ 'The Gravels of the Severn, Avon, &c.' p. 113, Proc. Cottesw. Nat. Field 

 Club, vol. V. (1869). 



