a 7 i(l Freshwater Deposits of Eastern Norfolk, 349 
till between laminated beds of clay and loam are not unfrequent. 
In 1839, 1 saw at a spot between the two lighthouses, till rest- 
ing on stratified clay and covered by stratified gravel and 
white chalk rubble, which latter formed the top of the cliff. 
Owing to the continual dilapidation of the cliffs the details 
of the sections seen by me in 1829 and 1839 were very dif- 
ferent. During my last visit the beach at Hasborough was 
too high to allow me to see the fundamental bed of lignite 
which exists there, which in June 1829 was exposed at low 
water, the descending section being then as follows: 1st, sand 
and loam, 13 feet; 2ndly, unstratified mud or till varying 
from 8 to 16 feet; 3rdly, laminated sand and clay, one foot 
and a half, part of the clay being bituminous and inclosing 
compressed branches and leaves of trees. The clays, which 
were blackish, greenish or brown, contained occasional layers 
of small pebbles, rounded and angular, mostly of chalk flint. 
The entire height of the cliff was about 35 feet. 
This locality has been mentioned by various authors as the 
principal site of the submarine forest of East Norfolk, which 
has been described as occurring about the level of low water ; 
and Mr. R. C. Taylor observes of this deposit generally, — 
“ That it consists of forest peat, containing fir cones and fragments of 
hones; in others of woody clay; and elsewhere of large stools of trees 
standing thickly together, the stems appearing to have been broken off 
about 18 inches from their base. They are evidently rooted in the clay or 
sandy bed in which they originally grew, and their stems, branches, and 
leaves lie around them, flattened by the pressure of from 30 to 300 feet of 
diluvial deposits. It is not possible to say how far inland this subterranean 
forest extends ; but that it is not a mere external belt is obvious from the 
constant exposure and removal of new portions, at the base of the cliffs 
A letter of the Rev. James Layton is thus cited by Mr. 
Fairholme : — ■ 
“ One remarkable feature in this compact blue clay is a stratum of 
wood, exhibiting the appearance of a wood overthrown or crushed in situ. 
At Paling the stumps of trees seem now to be really standing, the roots are 
strong, spread abroad, and intermingling with each other; were a torrent 
to sweep away the mould from the surface of a thick wood, leaving the 
roots bare in the ground, the appearances would be exactly the same. 
This phsenomenon occurs again at Hasborough ; the line of crushed wood, 
leaves, grass, &c., frequently forming a bed of peat, extends just above 
low-water mark. About this stratum are found numerous remains of 
mammalia, the horns and bones of at least four kinds of deer, the ox, the 
horse, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and elephant. These fossil remains are 
found at Hasborough and its neighbourhood on the denuded clay shore : at 
Mundesley they are found in the cliff. The great mine, however, is in the 
sea, some miles from land, where there is an oyster bed on a stratum of 
gravel about six fathoms deep. How' far this bed of fossils extends, I can- 
not pretend to say, but in 1826 some fishermen while dredging for soles 
Geology of E. Norfolk, p. 21. 
