( .. .253 ) 
XXXII. 
SOME RECENTLY-EXPOSED BEDS IN THE VALLEY OF THE 
GADE, AT AND NEAR HTTNTON BRIDGE. 
By T. E. Lones, M.A., LL.D., B.Sc. 
Bead at Watford, 12 tk April, 1905. 
During the second half of the year 1904, and the early part 
of 1905, extensive sewerage excavations were made at Hunton 
Bridge, and in the district between that village, King’s Langley 
Station, and Abbot’s Langley. Erom a geological point of view 
the most interesting excavations were seen in Hunton Bridge, and 
in the fields extending along the western side of the railway from 
the old Hunton Bridge Gasworks towards King’s Langley Station, 
This paper describes, chiefly, the beds exposed in these excavations, 
a short account only of the beds exposed in other parts of the 
district being given. The excavations made in the above-mentioned 
fields will be called, for the sake of convenience, the Home Park 
Farm excavations. 
The Hunton Bridge and Home Park Farm excavations were 
made in very wet weather, and, in addition to the surface-waters 
caused by the heavy rainfall, there was a considerable flow of 
underground water in the deeper parts of the excavations. The 
Home Park Farm excavations were" equidistant pits, about 20 feet 
deep, connected by underground tunnels; in other parts of the 
district the excavations were long open channels. 
Fig. 27 represents the beds exposed in the northern part of the 
Home Park Farm excavations, the length of this part being about 
600 yards. The beds were as follows:—1, soil, 4ins. to 1ft.; 
2, subsoil, 6 ins. to 1 ft.; 3, loam, variable in character, but 
usually flinty, 1ft. 6 ins. to 15 ft.; 4, chalk rubble, maximum 
thickness, 10 ft. ; 5, light grey clay, 1ft.; 6, clean ballast, 
4 to 6 ft.; 7, Chalk. It will be seen that the upper surface of 
the Chalk is very undulating, and that at one part of the section it 
approaches within 3 feet from the ground-level, but that further 
south it sinks gradually and then rapidly to a depth of about 
23 feet. So sudden was the change at this part, that, while the 
Chalk could be seen at a depth of about 7 feet in one pit, it was 
not reached at a depth of 17 feet in the next pit, which was only 
a few yards away. The depth of the Chalk and the thicknesses 
of the bottom beds in this part of the excavations were kindly 
furnished by Mr. Webb, Clerk of the Works, and I am also 
indebted to him for numerous other measurements, and for many 
items of information respecting the beds in various parts of the 
district. 
Above the Chalk, in the southern part of the excavations, was 
a bed of clean ballast, composed mostly of flints and flint-pebbles. 
A strong current of water flowed continuously through this ballast; 
the actual direction of the incoming current could not be ascertained 
