LOWER CHALK —BEDFORD AND HERTS. 
189 
The large quarry at Totternhoe showed a good section of this 
zone in 1886. In the eastern pit where the Totternhoe Stone is 
quarried the overlying chalk is very light coloured, but this is 
probably due to its being near the surface, and consequently drier, 
for in the higher western quarry the lowest chalk is decidedly grey, 
though the outcrop of the Totternhoe Stone cannot be far below 
the floor of this pit. Of this grey chalk there seems to be about 
30 feet, and it is succeeded abruptly by much whiter chalk, of 
which there is at least 20 feet. For these particulars I am 
indebted to Mr. W. Hill, who visited the place after I had seen it, 
and measured the thickness of the grey and white chalk. He 
saw it again in 1898, and found the quarry much enlarged. 
He noticed a layer of yellowish nodules in the face of the pit at 
or near the junction of the grey and white chalk. There is a 
decided dip to the south-east, but it was difficult to estimate the 
angle. 
The chalk of this zone is also fairly well exposed in the deep rail¬ 
way cutting near Sewell, and in the cutting for the main road 
north-west of Dunstable. 
The quarry near Leagrave, by the railway, two miles north-west 
of Luton, shows about 20 feet of whitish blocky chalk below the 
Belemnite marls ; this being damp looks less white than that at 
Totternhoe, but it dries to the same tint. 
Another pit about a mile from the above on the road from Lea- 
grave to Sundon exposes one of the curious nodule beds which 
occur in this zone, the section being : — 
ft. 
Weathered chalk, greyish and gritty ------ 2 
Hard yellowish flaggy chalk, with some yellow nodules - - 
Hard grey sandy “ rag ” with green grains and many nodules, 
some brown and green-coated, others large and pale yellow 
inside and out --------- 1 
Tough grey marly chalk ------ seen for 1 
It will be noticed that this succession is very like that at Ivinghoe, 
near Tring (see p. 181), but the Sundon pit seems rather nearer 
the top of the Lower Chalk. It is just possible, however, that it is 
the same bed, and that there is a less thickness of white chalk above, 
due to local erosion, as at Butler’s Cross, in Bucks (see p. 180). 
At Hitchin the upper part of the zone is exposed in the large 
quarry by Grove Mill. The Belemnite marls are seen at the top, 
and there is about 30 feet of blockv chalk below, 25 feet of this 
being white and the lowest 15 grey, the change taking place 
through a few inches of streaky grey and white chalk. The 
complete section is given on p. 200, and is one of the best in the 
county. 
The Totternhoe Stone, with from 30 to 35 feet of the overlying 
grey chalk, may be seen in a quarry nearly a mile west of Ash well, 
where the stone was formerly quarried. Some fossils have been 
obtained here by Mr. II. G. Ford ham. 
