8 



ON THE RED CHALK OP ENGLAND. 



One might fancy, as the town is placed to the right of the dark line 

 on the map, which marks the position of the Red Chalk, that Louth 

 could have nothing to do with the latter. But a friend who made some 

 inquiries for me on the spot has forwarded two specimens, and says 

 he saw them taken out of a chalk-pit at that town. They ran in 

 veins, he writes, the lighter coloured over the darker, and were dug 

 at no great distance below the surface. The bright red piece was 

 just above where the springs arise — facts which correspond with 

 evidence in other places. 



As the inclination of the plane of the strata is small, and rising 

 towards the south-west (the direction of the strata being north-west), 

 it is easily comprehended that the Red Chalk may exist under Louth, 

 and yet not appear at the surface of the ground until at some distance 

 to the west of the town. 



At Brickhill, near Harrington, the seam also has been met with ; 

 a specimen of it can be seen in the Museum of the Geological Society 

 of London. This last and those from Louth differ little in appearance 

 or character from what may be obtained at the Speeton b^ds. 



I have no more to say about Lincolnshire, except that, according to 

 the authority of geological maps, the Red Chalk of that county sinks 

 and disappears below the marsh-lands, a few miles before reaching 

 the sea. 



And now it is time to cross the Wash, that great sea-bay, and land 

 at Hunstanton, a little village on the north-western coast of Norfolk. 

 As I am addressing a company of working geologists, I ought perhaps 

 to say how in practice the locality can be arrived at, for it is not 

 quite so easy to reach a place in reality as it is to see it on a map. 



To go to Hunstanton, in the most ready way, a person must first 

 reach Lynn ; whence an omnibus, starting in the afternoon, at three 

 or four o'clock, from the Lynn station, will convey passengers to the 

 village. 



At Hunstanton there are two hotels, and several lodging-houses. 

 I should recommend the Le Strange Arms, as being an old-fashioned 

 comfortable inn, and nearer than the other to the section we are in 

 quest of. Perhaps it may be thought, "Why dwell so much upon 

 Hunstanton — its hotel — and its omnibus ? I do so because at that 

 village there is a most excellent natural section of the Red Chalk, 



