234 THE AVON AND ITS GRAVELS 
1. Claude Avenue Pit, 103 ft. above river and 152 above sea level. 
2. Victoria Gravel ,, 100 ,, ,, ,, 149 ,, ,, 
3. Bellot’s Road ,, 39 „ ,, ,, 88 ,, ,, 
The gravel is largely composed of oolitic fragments 
from the neighbouring hills. These fragments are little 
worn, and characteristic fossils from the hard band capping 
the hills to the east of Bath are abundant. Next in im- 
portance as a contributor to this accumulation is the Chalk 
formation. Rounded fragments of flint abound. These 
are, generally speaking, much more worn than the oolitic 
fragments. Other pebbles which I have collected are 
composed of Millstone Grit, Mountain Limestone, and 
Old Red Sandstone. These have come down from the 
Mendips by the Frome tributary, which joins the Avon 
near Freshford. Many of these are much worn, but some 
of considerable size are subangular only. One is surprised 
that, having come so far, they bear such slight traces of 
their journey. In addition to these pebbles which make 
up the gravels proper, there often occur at the base of the 
gravels, and resting on the old land surface, large boulders 
weighing from three to five cwt. each. (The workmen 
estimate them as weighing half a ton.) The presence of 
these large blocks has been noticed and discussed by other 
writers on the gravels, and various theories advanced to 
account for their position. Thus, the Rev. H. H. Winwood, 
who for many years has watched these excavations and 
collected assiduously, writes in the Proceedings of the 
Bath Field Club (vol. vi., pp. 327-8), “ I would venture to 
suggest that these blocks may have been rafted down from 
their sites by ice-floes, which, as they gradually melted, 
dropped their burden on the floor on which they grounded.” 
I think Mr. Winwood must have felt that he was calling in 
the aid of an agent for which no direct evidence could be 
found, for he adds, “ The rooks around us are too soft to 
preserve any traces of a glacial period, yet we may infer 
