Soils of the Weald bo 



as the Weald anticline, determines the geological structure 

 of the whole of south-eastern England. It brings up the 

 chalk on its northern and southern flanks to form the 

 Xorth Downs running through Surrey and Kent, and 

 the South Downs in Sussex, respectively, while exposed 

 by the removal of the Chalk, which once connected the 

 two ranges of downs, are the Lower Cretaceous beds of 

 the TTealden area surrounding the axis of the uplift. 

 These beds are largely different from and much thicker 

 than the strata occupying the corresponding strati- 

 graphical position along the main outcrop. The Gault 

 is similar, but the Lower Greensand is much more de- 

 veloped, at least on the north side of the Weald, than it 

 is on the main Cretaceous outcrop. At the western end it 

 consists of coarse massive sandstones, forming hills of 

 some height (in one place nearly reaching 300 m.), which 

 bear woodland of the oak-birch series and extensive 

 heaths, and are very poor agriculturally, while ftu'ther 

 east the sandstone contains more fine particles and also 

 thin beds of limestone, and is good agriculturally, as is 

 also the narrow belt of the same formation fringing the 

 southern edge of the TTeald. 



Below the Lower Greensand come the Wealden beds 

 proper, developed only in that area. First 

 ^^ a broad belt of Weald Clay forms a plain 



overlooked on the northern side by the bold 

 escarpment of the Lower Greensand. The Weald Clay 

 gives a heavy clay soil for the most part, though it contains 

 narrow bands of limestone and some loamy beds. It bears 

 the damp type of oakwood characteristic of clays and 

 loams. 



In the centre of the Weald come the so-called Hastings 

 beds, di^-isible into the Tunbridge "Wells Sand and the 

 Ashdown Sand, separated by the Wadhtirst Clay, and 

 often themselves interbedded with narrow bands of clay. 

 These beds form relatively high ground, particularly the 



