554 MESSES. JTJKES-BEOWKE AKD W. HILL 0~N THE LOWEE PART 



The Totternhoe Stone is called " the blocks " by the quarry men, 

 and they stated that these extend for another 6 feet below the level 

 then exposed, another course being then reached, which they call 

 " the greys," and water comes in at 8 feet down. It would appear 

 therefore that the stone is hereabout 12 feet thick, excluding " the 

 hards," which are perhaps more fitly classed with the overlying 

 chalk into which they merge. The blocky stone is burnt for lime, 

 but is also used for walling and for small buildings when required. 



The other quarry is about a quarter of a mile east of the church, 

 and exposes a rather deeper section, but without showing the base 

 of the stone. At this pit we were informed by one of the workmen 

 that he had found a number of large stones in a hole at a depth of 

 22 feet from the surface ; according to his account it was a cavity in 

 undisturbed chalk, and the stones were mixed with material like 

 rotten wood or decayed bones. We came to the conclusion that it 

 may have been a stone-laden mass of drift-wood which had sunk to 

 the sea-bottom at this spot and been imbedded in the Totternhoe 

 Stone. 



The railwaj'-eutting by Isleham Station doubtless traversed the 

 Totternhoe Stone, but it is now so grassed over that nothing is 

 visible, and the outcrop on the other side of Lreckenham Beck is 

 entirely concealed by a wide spread of gravel. 



The well at the Isleham waterworks, about half a mile west of 

 Isleham Station, gave a nearly complete section of the Chalk-marl, 

 the details being as follows, according to Mr. Hook of Soham, who 

 made the boring : — 



feet. 



Well sunk in Chalk 27 



Bored in Chalk-marl with the Coprolite-bed at 



bottom 27 



Bored in Gault for 23 



77 



Crossing the river Lark by West-Row ferry, we come to the large 

 quarry which has been elsewhere described *, and which is 

 remarkable for exposing a band of pink or light red chalk similar 

 to one of those which occur in Lincolnshire. We need not repeat 

 the details of this section, but may say that the beds are clearly in 

 the grey chalk and must be some distance above the Totternhoe 

 Stone. 



The " clunch-pit," marked on the Ordnance map near the words 

 " Western Ditch," is now disused and turned into a garden ; but a 

 small exposure beneath the hedge shows brownish-grey gritty stone, 

 having the appearance of Totternhoe Stone, an identification which 

 was afterwards confirmed by microscopical examination. We 

 followed the slight feature made by the outcrop of this stone as far 

 as Beck Bow, the direction of the strike being about N.N.E. ; but 

 beyond that place the feature is completely obscured by the blown 

 sand which overspreads so large a part of this district. 



* Geo!. Mag. dec. iv. vol i. p. 74 ; and Brit. Assoc. Eep. 1886, Sect. C, p. 664. 



