VOL. XIX. (2) l£XCURS 10 N— FL.\XLEY AND WESTBUKY 
09 
the ordinance of Blessing. Placed on the grass near-by lie three stone coffin- 
lids of the 13th or 14th centuries from the Chapter House, and other remains 
of the stonework which have been found from time to time. 
Before leaving the gardens the Pi'esident took the opportunity of thanking 
Sir Francis Crawley-Boevey for the invitation he had extended to the Club, 
and again referred to the conservative and careful way in which he was serving 
the cause of Ax'chaeology in the maintaining of the Abbey. He also offered 
their sympathy to him and his family in the loss they had sustained by the 
death of his brother. Captain Crawley-Boeve3^ who had died from wounds 
received in action. Members then returned to the Abbot’s Room, where 
the lunch which each had brought was supplemented b^'^ refreshments kindly 
provided bj’^ Sir Francis. 
-\t two o’clock the brakes left for Westbur^^-on -Severn Church, where 
the Members were joined by Mr Colchester Wemyss, and Mr C. H. Backhouse, 
of Westbury Court, and, under their guidance, walked through the fields to 
Garden Cliff. The tide was a particularly high one, and there was no possi- 
bility of walking under the cliff by the foreshore until a much later hour, and 
so they proceeded to the northern end, where the\'^ were able to get down 
close to the water’s edge. Here Mr Embx'ey described the Rhsetic beds 
which are so well exposed, and stated that in 1843 Col. Portlock discovered 
the fossil Avicitla contorta and named the beds after the fossil. Later ihej'- 
were called the Penarth Beds, but if there had been only one Westburj^ they 
would have been called the Westbury Beds. It was pointed out that quite 
at the top of the cliff there is the Lower Lias or Planorbis Bed, and a con- 
siderable period must have elapsed between the deposition of this bed and the 
Rhaetic, which is divided into two portions — the Upper and Lower Rhsetic. 
The Rhsetics rest upon the upper beds of the Keuper Marl. 
Mr Embrey referred to the exhaustive and valuable paper b^- Mr Richard- 
son on the subject, which has been published in the Proceedings^ of the 
Club, and then gave an interesting account® of the finding of the fossil 
Ophiolepis Damesii at the cliff. References have been made to this in the 
Proceedings A but the detailed particulars have not been given before. Mr 
Embrey spoke also of the bone-beds and of the work of the Rev. P. B. Brodie, 
who was resident for some time at Westbuiy-on-Severn. 
Dr. Ellis then made some observations on the physical aspect of the 
district. He said : — 
That he could not accept the explanation given by' authorities as to 
the manner in which the Lower-Severn valley was formed — that it 
originated in a stream which worked its way from that which is known 
now as the Bristol Channel, backwards, that is to say, headwards, up 
the line of the present valley until it “ captured ” the Severn, as we now 
know it, which then crossed this line. He pointed out that the %alley 
always was aline of disturbance, likely to be thelinc of a valley, and is con- 
tinuous until it reaches the Irish Sea. Garden Cliff and the high ground 
behind marked a division between two main channels, into which the 
river, flowing on a higher plane, was formerly divided. One of these is 
represented by the pre.sent river, coming down from Gloucester to Frami- 
lode and along a channel, now silted up, into the broad estuaiy opposite 
Frampton, the pre.sent Hock Ditch being a relic of it. This line through 
the parish of Saul, as we know it, still the place of willows (M. E. Salhe : 
willow), was allowed to close, while the much longer route by Newnham 
was kept open. The latter is necessary to take the Avater from Westbury 
brook and that from Bullo pill. The part of the river flowing by the cliff 
was an arm connecting the eastern channel with the one on tlu' western 
1 Vol. .\iv., pp. i54-r65. 
2 Printed pp. 125-128 follow ing. 
3 Vols. vi., 271 , X., 12 ; xiv., 1O2. 
