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V 
II. 
ON SOME FOSSILIFEROUS POST-TERTIARY BEDS EXPOSED 
AT THE GAS WORKS, WATFORD. 
By T. E. Lones, M.A., LL.D., B.Sc. 
Read at Watford , 24th February, 1903. 
The opportunity of examining fossiliferous beds of Post-Tertiary 
age in the western part of the county so rarely occurs that the 
following account of beds of this kind existing in the Colne Yalley 
will probably be of interest. 
During the early part of the year 1902 a deep excavation, to 
receive a new gasometer, was made at the Watford Gas Works; 
and in consequence of a suggestion made by Mr. Daniel Hill, this 
excavation was visited by members of this Society during a field 
meeting last May, under the direction of Mr. John Hopkinson. 
The accompanying section represents the beds exposed in an 
excavation made near the northern side of the site for the new 
gasometer, and has been drawn to scale from measurements taken 
on the spot. The direction of the section was nearly W.N.W. and 
E.S.E. The beds exposed were as follows: — 1, made ground 
(not shown in the illustration), 5 ft. 11 ins. ; 2, original soil, 4 ins.; 
3, stiff clay, 1 ft. 9 ins.; 4, highly plastic clay, 1 ft. 8 ins.; 5, gravel 
and sand, (about) 4 ft. 6 ins. The underlying Chalk (6) was not 
exposed in the section, but its approximate depth was ascertained 
from Mr. A. H. Godwin, the Manager of the Watford Gas Company. 
The upper part of the section showed a mass of made ground, 
dating from about the year 1886, the original soil being visible as 
a dark band beneath it. Below this original soil is a bed of stiff 
clay, which is reddish-brown, except towards the lower part, where 
it becomes darker, and, finally, nearly black. In the lower parts 
of this clay, near the eastern branch of the river, were found 
many horns and portions of the skulls of oxen, fragments of skulls, 
a leg-bone, and several cervical vertebrae of horses, and part of the 
lower jaw of a pig. Some of these bones were found very close 
to the river. 
A bed of highly plastic clay of a French grey colour lies beneath 
the stiff clay, and contains many land and fresh-water shells, all of 
existing species. The colour and the highly plastic nature of the 
clay clearly indicate that it has been derived from denuded Beading 
Beds. It is very nearly horizontal, and shows only slight varia¬ 
tions in thickness. I was informed at the Gas Works that during 
levelling operations carried out there it had been found that the 
top of the clay was as nearly as possible horizontal in a northerly 
and southerly direction. In an easterly and westerly direction 
there are slight changes in dip, apart from apparent changes in dip 
due to variations in thickness of the clay. 
Below the light-coloured clay is a mass of gravel and sand 
resting upon the eroded upper surface of the Chalk. The gravel 
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