EXCAVATIONS AT WALSALL. 
823 
River Tame runs, the high land on the east side being due 
to the upheaval of the limestone hill on which the parish 
church stands, while the opposite or western high land is com¬ 
posed of ironstone and coal-measures. The valley between 
these high lands seems to have been formed by alluvial 
deposits, consisting of alternate layers of soil—fine river 
sand—clayey soil, &c. At a depth of about six to eight feet, 
very many trees, lying flat or horizontally, were come upon. 
They had to be chopped through. One piece was about a foot 
in diameter. 
What was very singular, too, in cutting this sewer, a little 
pocket of small coal cinders was found, none larger than a 
small bean, at a depth of about three feet; and I was also 
told by the contractor that a rough-made shoe, of leather, 
with pointed toe, holes to lace up in front, and made 
apparently out of a single piece of hide, was found. It was 
placed near a fire to dry, but through the ignorance or 
stupidity of the watchman was burnt. 
In the deep cutting for the subway near the old bed of 
the river the following was the approximate order of the 
deposits gone through :—Soil 1ft., clayey soil 3ft., sandy 2ft., 
two seams of bluish clay, one coarser than the other, Bin. or 
9in.; gravelly soil about 3ft. or 4ft, another clayey deposit, 
and then quicksand to possibly 30ft. 
Above the last clayey deposit, and about ten feet from the 
surface, a number of bones were found. I regret that the 
“ navvies,” not understanding the difference in value between " 
recent and “fossilised” bones, mixed with the older remains 
some bones found at an earlier stage of their excavations, and 
therefore of very little value. 
There was also found in making this subway, but whether 
by itself or among the lowest “find” of bones I could not 
learn, a human skull. Before I was informed of this last 
discovery, one of the men, from superstitious motives, buried 
it again in the quicksand, and though I offered a good reward 
for its recovery, it could not be found, owing most probably 
to an accident happening to the timber supports of the 
excavation, and the filling of the cutting with water, and a 
great influx of running sand. I was exceedingly annoyed at 
my non-success in recovering the relic, but it was thought 
to have got so deep among the buried timber that was 
abandoned to help in making firm ground for the foundations, 
that there was no hope of obtaining it, though every reason¬ 
able effort was made by the obliging overlooker. 
A. D. Aulton, LL.D., Walsall. 
