■UPMINSTER AND EOMFORD. 367 



mill, on the right of the road connecting Horn church station with 

 the village, soon becomes lost in a vague slope both eastward and 

 westward. 



I have mentioned that in the cutting east of the Ingrebourne and 

 west of Upminster station there is much London Clay, with a thm 

 and variable covering of gravel and loam. Turning to the Eomford 

 end of the new line for a moment, we find that but little excavation 

 has been made between the junction with the Great Eastern Railway 

 and the stream which unites with the E-om to form the Beam a little 

 farther to the south. East of the Beam — if it may be so called at this 

 part of its course — and west of Butts Green, London Clay appears 

 Wow sand and gravel. On the eastward side of the road at Butts 

 Green the easterly continuation of what may be termed the Butts 

 Green cutting is not yet sufficiently advanced to show anything but 

 sand and gravel. Between the eastern end of this cutting and the 

 western end of the next there is a space of about 250 yards destitute 

 of sections. Then, still travelling eastward, we enter a cutting of 

 peculiar geological interest, the description of which is the main 

 object of this paper. 



As this cutting between that of Butts Green and the Inj^rebourne 

 is by far the most geologically important part of the Grays and 

 Eomford Eailway, it may be well to point out the best way of getting 

 to it, without reference to the rest of the line. About 250 yards 

 east of the church at Hornchurch the road to Upminster is crossed 

 hy others ranging northward and southward. About 400 yards 

 from this point of junction the northerly road passes over the new 

 railway towards the eastern end of this most interesting section. 

 At the bridge the cutting is only from 9 to 10 feet deep, and gradually 

 dwindles away to nothing eastward, towards the Ingrebourne ; but 

 west of the bridge the cutting gradually deepens. About 130 yards 

 from the bridge the 100-feet contour-line crosses the railway, and 

 about 325 yards to the north-west of this point we again meet with 

 the 100-feet contour-line, which crosses the railway where a bridge 

 is to be thrown over it to facilitate access to farm lands. The ground 

 between these contour -lines does not appear to rise (close to the 

 railway) to a height of more than 106 or 107 feet ; but, as the level 

 of the line appears to be about 80 feet, this gives the cutting a 

 maximum depth of 25 or 26 feet. 



Towards the two ends of the cutting only London Clay covered 

 by sand and gravel can be seen ; but at a point about 100 yards 

 west of the road by which the cutting was approached Chalky Boulder 

 Clay appears above the London Clay, the latter sloping down 

 graduallj^ towards the north-west from a height of 7 or 8 feet 

 above the line to a depth slightly below it. The Boulder Clay, on 

 the other hand, gradually thickens till we find the cutting to consist, 

 where it is deepest, of from 10 to 15 feet of Boulder Clay covered by 

 10 to 12 feet of sand and gravel. The line of junction between these 

 deposits is in places nearly horizontal, in others wavy, and, though 

 usually clean and distinct, is occasionally somewhat doubtful, owing 

 to the presence, towards the base of the gravel, of clay consistiug 



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