and their Relation to the Glacial Epoch. 



41 



Hill and Mr. W. Ransom. I have also to thank the different land- 

 owners and tenants, especially Mr. Theodore Ransom and Mr. Jeeves, 

 for the liberality with which they have permitted excavations and 

 borings to be made on their land. 



A preliminary examination of the neighborhood of Hitchin con- 

 vinced me that the Palaeolithic and ancient alluvial deposits there found 

 occupied a small irregular valley, which had become silted up and 

 almost obliterated. It was desirable to construct an accurate geological 

 section across this valley, such as we were able to draw at Hoxne ; 

 but it seemed likely that conditions would prove much less favour- 

 able than at Hoxne, and that the coarse, loose, and watery character 

 of the strata would render work difficult. Such proved to be the 

 case, and, instead of being able to make a connected chain of borings, 

 it was necessary to select sites where the difficulties could best be 

 avoided. The result of this method of work has been, that while the 

 general structure and relation of the deposit has become perfectly 

 clear, it is impossible to draw an accurate section across the old valley. 

 Bore after bore was stopped by the closing in of the sides or by the 

 gravelly nature of the beds, and though no doubt with time and 

 money the deposits could have been pierced, previous experience did 

 not encourage me to persevere, or to hope for any very definite results 

 even if the bottom of the old channel were reached. Attention was 

 therefore mainly devoted to the search for boulder clay beneath the 

 Palaeolithic loams, and to the sinking of a trial pit and bore at the 

 point where the buried valley appeared to be deepest. 



This exploration tended to show that the story told by the old 

 valley at Hoxne was repeated at Hitchin. Indeed the succession of 

 events at the two localities was so similar as to leave scarcely a 

 doubt that we were dealing with an equivalent set of strata, though 

 unfortunately the series was less perfect, and the gaps discovered at 

 Hoxne are still unbridged by any records yet found at Hitchin. 

 Hitchin yields strong corroborative evidence in favour of the conclu- 

 sions arrived at in the Hoxne Report, and adds somewhat to our 

 knowledge of the temperate flora of the ancient alluvial strata lying 

 between the chalky boulder clay and the Palaeolithic brickearth. I 

 must confess, however, that in other respects the results are some- 

 what disappointing. 



Hitchin lies in the valley cut by the Hiz, a small stream which 

 rises within a mile of the town. Chalk is seen in the valleys, and 

 rises irregularly through the thick sheet of drift that masks most of 

 the area. The greater part of this drift consists of coarse flint gravel, 

 partly of Glacial, partly of Palaeolithic age, and one of the greatest 

 difficulties met with is the impossibility of deciding whether any par- 

 ticular pit is in Grlacial or in Post-glacial gravel, and whether the 

 gravel passes under or over the chalky boulder clay. The material 



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