32 
low monotonous type of country crossed either by short rivers like the Black- 
bridge Brook and trie Caul Bourne which rise in the chalk ridge, or by the lower 
courses of the longer rivers, previously mentioned, which rise south of the ridge 
and flow in valleys which are too large for the present streams, thus providing 
their former greater volume when they rose in a higher area to the south which 
has now disappeared under the sea. At the east and west ends of this lowland the 
clays and sands have been worn into bays with low cliffs of which the exposures 
of coloured sands at Alum and Whiteclilf Bays, north of the Needles and Culver 
Cliff respectively, are of great geological interest. The whole of the north coast 
has low. often wooded cliffs and wide beaches, but at the mouths of the rivers 
there are long branching creeks extending some distance inland and fringed with 
saltings, tidal marshes and mud fiats. The soil is generally infertile and tne vege- 
tation poor grass and heathland with patches of mixed woodland. 
The population is scattered, the larger settlements being on the coast. 
Yarmouth, with its sixteenth century castle, Fishbourne on Wootton Creek and 
Ryde are ferry ports for the mainland, while on the Medina estuary are the 
yachting centre of West Cowes and the ship-building yards of East Cowes. 
Perhaps the most interesting settlement is the tiny village of Newtown. It is 
situated on a branching creek at the mouth of the Caul Bourne. It has an ancient 
charter arid until the increase in the size of ships and the silting of the channels, 
it was a nourishing port with productive oyster beds and salterns. 
(3) iHE SOUTH. The great Alpine earth movements of late Tertiary times 
affected this part of England to some extent. The rocks were tilted as can be 
seen in the almost vertical strata in Alum Bay, and in the south east of the island 
the chalk formed an upfold to the main ridge. The top of this fold has been 
eroded to expose the older rocks underneath so that there is a strip of country 
composed of Lower Greensand from Sandown Bay to Compton Bay, with the still 
older Atherfleld clay along the south coast and behind Sandown. These older 
rocks give a low-lying, often water-logged, tract nowhere over 200 feet high, 
contrasting strongly with the dry grassy uplands of St. Boniface and St. Catherines 
Downs which exceed 700 feet above sea level. The Lower Greensand cliffs are 
low and deeply entrenched by chines at Shanklin and Blackgang, while farther 
west the many chines in the Atherfleld clay are less spectacular but are of great 
interest to the geologist because of the many fossils of both land and marine 
origin found there. In the south-east from St. Catherine's Point to Luccombe 
Chine, where the chalk, Upper Greensand and Gauit Clay overlie the Lower 
Greensand, an interesting scenic formation is found. Here the Gault Clay, dipping 
seawards, has caused the Upper Greensand to fall away in great masses, creating 
a tumbled strip covered witn tangled vegetation between the sea and the vertical 
face of the Upper Greensand behind. This is best seen in the famous undercliff 
west of Ventnor. 
Along the south coast there are no harbours and it is indeed a treacherous 
coast where many wrecks have occurred and as the land behind is often too wet 
for cultivation this coastal strip has not attracted Man; the settlements are inland 
where spring water is available at the foot of the chalk hills along which there 
was an ancient trackway. The hill-foot line of villages includes Brook, Mottistone, 
Brightstone, Kingstone and Arreton, which all show the classic grouping of the 
village round the church, manor house and farm. The parishes are typically long 
and narrow extending up to the hills behind and down on to the plain so that 
each community had a variety of farmland within its borders. 
Thus in this comparatively small area it was possible for members in three 
days to study many different types of scenery and the ways in which Man has 
utilised the different geographical environments. 
F.M.E. 
In the first three months of the year, a series of six lectures on geology were 
given £t fortnightly intervals under the joint arrangement of the Extra Mural 
Department of Southampton University and our Society. We were fortunate in 
being able to secure as our lecturer Mr. Ian A. West, f.g.s., a.i.s.t., who is now a 
member of the staff of the Geology Department at the University, and was 
formerh resident in Southbourne and at that time an active member of our 
