1 



532 NORTHERN DRIFT IN THE VALE OF WORCESTER. 



of foxy-coloured sandy loam, in parts gravelly, overlying reddish loam and finely lami- 

 nated sandy marl with small pebbles of the adjacent rocks of trap, sandstone, and 

 quartz. Again, on the banks of the Severn, west of Shrewsbury, where Mr. Trimmer 

 observed fragments of shells, Mr. C. Darwin has recently traced them extending for 

 more than a mile in the drifted matter at Shelton Rough. The same gentleman lias 

 also very lately observed them in the coarse gravel south of Shrewsbury 1 , and at Little 

 Madeley in Staffordshire. I have myself collected them in various parts of Shropshire 2 , 

 Cheshire and Staffordshire, likewise between Dudley and the Severn ; while Mr. J. 

 Allies has found them at Powick and Bromwich, on the right bank of the Severn ; and 

 at Kempsey on the left bank, three miles south of Worcester; and has thus supplied the 

 proof required, of the former existence of an arm of the sea in that latitude. They 

 are most abundant and best preserved at the last place, where they lie at a height of 

 about 30 feet above the Severn, in a bed of wet sand, covered by about 12 feet of coarse 

 gravel and supported by tenacious red marl, the fundamental stratum of the district. 



On visiting this locality 3 I perceived that the overlying gravel consisted of much de- 

 tritus of the surrounding country, including fragments of various Silurian rocks, syenite 

 of the Malverns, small pieces of coal and grits of the carboniferous series ; together 

 with rounded pebbles of several varieties of granite, similar to those traced from the 

 north through Shropshire and Staffordshire. The granite pebbles, however, are much 

 the least abundant and never equal the size of the fragments of rocks derived from the 

 neighbourhood, some of which have the dimensions of a man's head, though the mass 

 of the accumulation is simply what would be termed coarse gravel. Here, therefore, 

 the smaller and finer portions of the northern detritus are commingled with various rocks 

 of the country through which the prevailing current has passed. From the proofs of 

 land on each side, and from the position of the sea shells some miles south of Worcester, 

 at heights of about 100 feet above the tidal level, there can be "no doubt, that when this 

 tract was submarine, the lower part of the country, extending south of Gloucester, was 

 also under the sea. As, however, few or no vestiges of the northern drift can there be 

 traced, we must suppose, either that the strength of currents setting in from the north 

 was expended before that latitude was reached, or if ever deposited, that the materials 

 have since been denuded, or covered by the more recent alluvia of the estuary of the 

 Severn. 



1 I have several times looked into the deep gravel pits south of Shrewsbury, i. e. between that town and the 

 village of Meole-brace, without observing- certain fragments of shells which have been since detected there by 

 Mr. C. Darwin. The gravel in question is very coarse, and the shells are consequently much broken and worn. 

 The materials are varieties of the Silurian and Cambrian rocks of the adjacent districts, coal grits, &c, with 

 minute pieces of coal, and a few fragments of granite of about the size of a man's head. The coarse detritus 

 in which the shells occur is 20 to 25 feet thick, and soft regenerated red sand (purely local) appears beneath it. 



2 Mr. T. Eyton, whose works have already secured him a high place among zoologists, furnished. me with 

 shells from the fine gravel and sand at Orleton Hall near Wellington and from Marrington Green. (See Map,) 



3 In company with Mr. Strickland and Mr. Allies. 



