584 ilR. P. G. H. B0SWELL OK THE [Dec. I9T3, 



perhaps the earliest, is that of Sir J. B. Phear, 1 who, writing in 

 1854, quaintly says that the Gipping Valley originated as a fracture 

 of the Chalk, with elevation after the Drift Clay ( = Upper Boulder 

 Clay) was deposited, the idea being rather reminiscent of Von 

 Buch's volcanic ' elevation ' theory. He supposes that the sand 

 cliffs on the valley-sides were due to marine action when the 

 land was subsequently submerged. As a proof of this elevation and 

 fracture, he quotes the case of that little tributaiw valley of the 

 Gripping which contains Offton, Somersham, and Blakenham villages, 

 and runs roughly west and east. He notes that Chalk is quarried 

 at Offton, where the upper part of the small valley runs south- 

 eastwards. The pit, which is on the north side of the depression, 

 shows Chalk dipping north-eastwards or rising south-westwards. 

 At the Blakenham pits he notes a dip to the north or rise to the 

 south, but does not say on which side of the valley, north or south, 

 the sections are. (There are large pits now on both sides of the 

 stream.) This, he says, proves his contention as to the origin of 

 the valley by fracture and upheaval. Rolls in the Chalk are very 

 uncommon in Suffolk, but it is noteworthy that there is distinct 

 local folding in the large chalk-pit half-a-mile east-south-east of 

 Little Blakenham Church. Possibly Sir J. B. Phear was misled by 

 such a fold. However, he noted that the Chalk area on the north- 

 west formed the chief watershed of the county, and had a south- 

 west to north-east strike, so that the Gipping, flowing in a south- 

 easterly direction, was a dip-stream. He was right in his last 

 observation, but not in the age which he assigned to the formation 

 of the valley. 



Wood and Harmer, in their numerous papers descriptive of the 

 East Anglian Glacial deposits, frequently illustrated their remarks 

 •with sections drawn across the valleys, mainly those of Norfolk. 

 It was clear that they had noted the frequent occurrence of the 

 Chalky Boulder Clay as a deposit which extended down into and 

 partly filled certain valleys. 2 Mr. F. W. Harmer has kindly 

 forwarded to me two MS. sections, one across the Gipping Valley 

 near Stowmarket (Section 8), the other near Ipswich (Section 9), 

 shown before the British Association Meeting at Norwich in 

 1868, by S. V. Wood, Jun., and himself. These sections, together 

 with that marked ' P ' in the third volume of ' The Crag Mollusca ' 

 (Palseont. Soc. Monogr. 1872-74), show Chalky Boulder Clay lying 

 in the valleys. The following is an extract from the (unpublished) 

 manuscript of the paper read to the Meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation at Norwich : — 



' Section 7 shows such a case at the East Suffolk * unction near Ipswich in 

 the Gipping Valley, in which this description of denudation is so sharp that 

 the Red Crag and Overlying sands are cut off entirely within the width of an 

 ordinary railway-cutting. Section 8 shows a similar case higher up the same 

 valley at Stowmarket.' 3 



1 Sir J. B. Phear, 1856 (1). Numerals in parentheses refer to the 

 Bibliography, § VIII, p. 617. 



3 Harmer, 1867 (2) pp. 87-90; Wood & Harmer, 1869 (4) p. 259. 

 3 See p. 592. 



