LOWER OOLITIC ROCKS OF ENGLAND: 
but thin hedgerows for the most pirt replace the stone-walls of 
the Cotteswolds. The escarpment lurna northwards and north- 
eastwards at Heyford by Aynho, towards Brackley. 
The general character of the Oolitic district east and north-east 
of Banbury, by Buckingham, Towcester, Northampton, and 
Olne}', is a gently undulating tract of country, well-timbered and 
largely under the plough, contrasting in some respects with the 
more open country of the Cotteewolds. Over much of the area 
there are coverings of Boulder Clay, and to this formation the 
growth of trees is mainly owing, although the Estuarine clays and 
the Great Oolite clays contribute to the fertility. Thus we have 
remnants of the old forests of Whittlebury or Whittlewood, Salcey 
Forest, Yardley Chase, Rockingham Forest, and further on the 
Bedford Purlieu?. The Oolitic tracts are much broken up by 
deep valleys, and the main mass of the strata is fringed with 
numerous outliers, mostly of Northampton Sand. 
A fine escarpment, of Northampton Beds, extends from Des- 
borough, by Rockingham to Gretton, and further on the broad 
valley of the Welland is spanned by the Midland Railway in a 
series of 82 arches. Northwards about Seatou, near Uppingharn 
and Manton, the gently sloping and flat-topped hills of Northamp- 
ton Beds, rise to fair elevations. They are mostly grassy with 
rather poor hedgerows, and occasional trees, but the summits are 
well-wooded in places. 
The escarpment of the Northampton Sand and Lincolnshire 
Limestone, borders the eastern side of the Vale of Catmos, and 
extends by Waltham-on the- Wolds to Grantharn and Sleaford. 
In the vale east of Little Ponton, the features are bold, and 
recall the Cotteswold scenery. Occasional stone-walls are seen 
on the uplands, but the fields are mostly divided by rather meagre 
hedgerows. Here and there well -wooded tracts occur. 
The same general features occur at South Rauceby near 
. Sleaford, to the north of which the escarpment of the Lincoln- 
shire Limestone forma the well known " Cliff','' stretching with 
but- slight deviations past Lincoln and Kirton Lindsey to 
Winteringham on the Humber Shore. 
FIG. 135. 
Quarry on Brcdon Hill, Gloucestershire. 
Superficial Accumulations and Drift. 
Fringing the northern portions of the Cotteswold Hills, there 
are extensive accumulations of oolitic rubble, opened up in places 
to a depth of 20 or 30 feet, and dug as " gravel " for mending 
