On the Gravels and Associated Deposits at Newbury. 127 



heathy Commons north and south of Newbury (as of Snelsmore and 

 Greenham). About 6 feet of gravel is exposed at the average level 

 of 440 feet above Orduance datum. It has been referred to the 

 ' Southern Drift ' by the late Sir Joseph Prestwich. At the edges 

 of the Commons some of this gravel slips down and mixes with 

 glacial deposits of later age. 



2. North of the town are the Glacial Gravel and Loam of 

 Donnington and the Bath Road (17 feet), ranging from 254 to 300 

 feet above O.D. At the confluence of the Lamborne and Xennet 

 Valleys these beds have been much denuded. The thickness, 

 character, and composition of these deposits, as well as those of 

 other gravels, etc., described hereafter, have been carefully noted by 

 the author. 



3. The River-gravels of the Kennet Valley are of great interest, 

 and have been carefully studied by the author at their several 

 exposures, in Bull's Lane, the Enbourne Road. etc. Here the 

 Upper River-gravel forms fine broad terraces at about 260 feet O.D. 

 Palaeolithic flint-implements are not uncommon in this gravel. 

 Bones and teeth of mammoth, common and extinct ox, sheep, pig, 

 horse, and reindeer have also been found in it. Immediately north 

 of Newbury this terrace is cut off locally from the town by an east- 

 and-west fault at Northcroft, but is distinct a little farther to 

 the west. 



4. The Lower River-gravel lies in the middle of the valley under 

 the peat-beds of Newbury, and rests on the Chalk. It appears to 

 have been derived from all the other gravels, but with a large per- 

 centage of flints direct from the Chalk. It is about 10 feet thick 

 locally, and at some places has a white clay at its base. 



The author finds that this gravel forms ridges across the valley, 

 which seem to have been the limits of shallow-water areas, in which 

 peat-bogs, and clear pools with river-shells were locally produced (5), 

 giving rise to patches and alternations of peat and marl. These 

 varied in extent and in thickness, according to the damming-up of 

 the lakes and their being drained by the currents causing gaps in 

 the gravel-barriers, which are more or less easily traced. The peat 

 varies from mere seams to beds 5 or 6 feet in thickness, and the 

 marl from a few inches to 8 feet. The shells and bones found in 

 the peat and shell-marl are enumerated, much as in earlier lists, so 

 also the plant-remains. 



Above the peat-beds in the town of Newbury about 4 feet of 

 coarse triturated gravels represent layers of road-material laid down 

 in Roman and Mediaeval times ; these are blackened with ancient 

 sewage, and contain various metal and other relics. Cannon-balls 

 fired from Donnington in 1044 a.d. occurred only 18 inches below 

 the road- surface ; ' macadam ' has been accumulated on the top to a 

 thickness of 2| feet. A pile-structure of fir-wood was discovered in 

 the peat in St. Bartholomew Street. 



2. ' The Mollusca of the Chalk Rock : Part II.' By Henry 

 Woods, Esq., M.A., P.G.S. 



