Feb., 1889. 
MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
43 
which could be constructed would be insignificant. In the 
neighbourhood of Oxford the valley spread out to one to one- 
and-a-lialf miles for a distance of four or five miles, giving an 
area of some 3,000 acres. Both lower down and higher up 
the vallev a succession of similar basins existed, in all of 
which the alluvial clay was underlaid by a bed of gravel, 
varying from five feet to twenty feet in thickness, and the 
water in this was held up by impervious beds below. Some 
drainage works at Oxford, in which the main drains were laid 
at a depth of about sixteen feet for a distance of two miles, 
permitted a study of the conditions here. It was noticed that 
at the bottom of the gravel there was always sufficient water 
to supply the wells to a village of 700 inhabitants, standing in 
the middle of the valley, and to supply the adjoining reservoir 
for the water-works of Oxford ; also, that as rain continued, 
the water gradually rose in this gravel up to and above the 
alluvial clay, and then floods ensued. It was thought 
probable that these natural reservoirs might be utilised for 
the storage of winter rain by damming back at the narrowest 
parts the water held in the gravels of the larger basins, and 
so arranging that the water could be discharged at lower 
levels down the river in periods of drought. 
3. —It would render possible the drainage of districts in 
which it is now practically impossible, because (except by the 
expensive expedient of carrying the drains to lower parts of 
the river) there is nowhere to drain into, the meadows being 
really below the level of the water in the river when the 
latter is moderately full. If drainage is necessary for 
uplands, how much more so is it for lowlands ? And if it 
brings all the advantages attributed to it, the benefits to be 
derived from this scheme must be very great. 
4. —The lowlands would still have the advantages of flood 
water in the shape of manure and fine silt from the uplands, 
which now renders ordinary manuring unnecessary. Also the 
meadows would be well irrigated without the serious disadvan¬ 
tages arising from stagnant water. There are some places 
along the Nen Valley where a comparison between the moving 
and stagnant water of floods may be made. On the south 
side of the valley, near to Great Houghton, for instance, the 
river gravel is not overlaid by alluvium, and the land is about 
a foot higher than on the north side of the valley; the 
consequence is the water runs away into the gravel very 
rapidly, and every flood seems to enrich these meadows, 
whereas on the opposite side of the river, in the parish of 
Abington, exactly the contrary effect is produced.* 
* “Drainage of the Nene Valley,” by Rev. Chas. Hartshorne. 
Report of John Beasley, Esq. 
