678 REV. A. H. W. INGRAM ON SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS AT EVESHAM. 
50. On some Suprrricran Deposits in the NeteHpourHooD of 
EvesHam. By the Rev. A. H. Wiynineton Ineram, M.A., 
F.G.S. (Read June 25, 1879.) 
Sussraventzy to the late Mr. T. G. B. Lloyd’s paper on the super- 
ficial deposits of the Vale of Evesham being written, the gravels of 
the lower series on Green Hill near Evesham have been extensively 
opened, and disclosed flints of about the weight of 10 lbs. These 
are so very perfect and unworn by water, presenting generally the 
same appearance as if they had just been taken from the matrix of 
the chalk, that floating ice seems to be the most probable agency 
which brought them to their present elevation, about 120 feet above 
the level of the Avon. An abundant deposit of fiints of the same 
size and character occurs near Moreton-in-Marsh ; and a large block 
of chalk was discovered in the railway-cutting at Aston Magna. So 
it is reasonable to conclude that the flints of Green Hill, some of 
which present glacial marks, were conveyed by shore-ice down the 
vale of Moreton, through the depression in the Cotswolds forming 
at that time what might be called the Straits of Mickleton, to the 
position which they now occupy. A thin layer of fawn-coloured 
clay resting on a slight stratum of subangular pebbles, at the base 
of excavations for brick-earth at Bengeworth, well merits the at- 
tention of geologists; it and the sand immediately above have 
yielded entire heads and horns ef Bos primigenius and Bison priscus, 
antlers of Cervus tarandus, and many unwaterworn shank and 
other bones of large mammals. From the same clay a fine tusk of 
a Hippopotamus has come to light. Above this mammaliferous 
seam of clay rest 20 feet of sand and loam, containing numerous 
uninjured and unopened specimens of Unio ovalis. This formation 
is, at its surface, about 60 feet above the level, and half a mile from 
the present channel of the Avon, and appears to have been laid down 
in a tranquil backwater or reach in the stream which then flowed 
with a greater volume of water during the season when the deep 
snow was melting, or in some early pluvial period. On the opposite 
bank of the river, at Evesham, about a quarter of a mile from its 
modern course, occurs a formation of similar character and depth ; 
and the clay there has contributed, in a well sunk through the sand 
interspersed with river-shells, an antler of a Reindeer. The dis- 
covery of a tusk of the Hippopotamus points to the fluviatile origin 
of the clay; and most likely the River-horse was a denizen of the 
great stream at the period when the carcasses of Reindeer floated 
down it on ice, which, stranded and melting, left their bones in the 
sediment to excite the speculation of geologists of our day. 
