ME. GEORGE CLINCH ON DRIFT-GRAVELS [Feb. 1 9OO, 



2. Note on Drift-gravels at "West Wickham (Kent). Ey George 

 Clinch, Esq., F.G.S. (Read December 6th, 1899.) 



There are two deposits of Drift-gravel at "West Wickham upon which 



1 propose to offer a few remarks. The first occupies the bottom of 

 a valley which winds round the southern and western sides of Hayes 

 Common and thence to Bromley. This is shown on the Geological 

 Survey map, but there it appears that the Drift-gravel terminates 

 somewhat abruptly near Keston. The valley itself, however, runs 

 much farther south, extending to the North Downs near Tatsfield 

 and roughly coinciding with the direction of the boundary-line 

 between Kent and Surrey, but following a course varying from 



2 miles to | mile east of that boundary. 



A fairly good section of the gravel in the bottom of this valley 

 may be found in a pit at Gates Green, a point near the junction of the 

 three parishes of West Wickham, Hayes, and Keston. The beds 

 exposed consist of rolled flints, fragments of Chalk, and bands of 

 sand containing minute fragments of flint and portions of Chalk- 

 fossils, including a large proportion of foraminifera. The beds also 

 contain a few rolled fragments of ferruginous sandstone, probably 

 derived from the Lower Green sand. The character of these beds is 

 precisely what might be expected from the destruction of Chalk- 

 beds. The fragments from the Lower Greensand also go to show 

 that these gravels have a definite, although perhaps not direct, 

 relation to the forces which excavated and denuded the Wealden 

 area. The bands of sand indicate, I would submit, periods of com- 

 parative tranquillity during which the finer materials subsided. 



The second deposit of Drift-gravel occupies portions of the sides 

 and bottom of a short valley which branches off at right angles from 

 the Gates Green Valley, 



The Palaeolithic implements and flakes exhibited on the occasion 

 of reading this paper were found by me at West Wickham in the year 

 1880 and during four or five subsequent years. They are of con- 

 siderable geological interest, inasmuch as they establish the fact, not, 

 I believe, previously recorded, of the existence of Drift-gravels in 

 certain valleys about a mile to the south of Hayes Common, but not 

 so marked on the Geological Survey map. The implements them- 

 selves present one or two noteworthy features : — 



(i) Many examples have lost their pointed ends, and bear other 

 indications of having been much worn by use. 



(ii) The result of Drift-wear is well shown upon a large pro- 

 portion of specimens in the modified angles, and a general appear- 

 ance of smoothness and roundness. 



(iii) A few are entirely unworn by Drift-action, and retain all 

 the ridges and angles which they received when they were chipped 

 into shape. 



(iv) Some of the implements, particularly the larger examples, 



