lxiv 
PROCEEDINGS. 
seen, looks towards Castle Hill, and does not show cross-bedding, 
but behind these workings there is another quarry showing the 
sand and carstone apparently without the clay, and very much 
cross-bedded. In it, capping the Greensand, there is a thin bed of 
chalky boulder-clay, in which drifted specimens of Gryphcea 
incurva were found. The “doggers” and harder layers in the 
Greensand are here being quarried for the new water-works at 
Biggleswade. 
The two parties then joined forces at the George Inn, Silsoe, 
where a good tea was provided, after which the curious “ cage ” in 
which the malefactors of the neighbourhood were formerly confined 
was examined, and Wrest Park, one of the seats of Lord Cowper, 
was visited. The walkers then returned direct to Flitwick, and 
the cyclists visited Wardhedges Quarry, an extensive excavation in 
the carstone, showing well the doggers of harder rock which owe 
their hardness to the infiltration of iron, and also fine examples of 
cross-bedding. This quarry had been previously examined by the 
walking party. 
The cyclists then visited the site of the historical “gold-mine” 
in Gold Close, Pullox Hill. Some account of this mythical mine 
had been given by Mr. Hopkinson after tea, before the party 
separated. It is well known to the villagers—apparently by 
tradition—he had found on enquiry, that a furnace had been set up 
and gold was said to have been obtained, and notices of the 
occurrence of gold here occur in various works. Calvert, in his 
1 Gold llocks of Great Britain ’ (1853), mentions it on the authority 
of Watson’s ‘Compendium of British Mining’ (1843), where the 
following passage occurs:—“About 160 years since, two gold 
mines were stated to have been discovered; one at Pollux Hill, in 
Bedfordshire, and the other at Little Taunton, in Gloucestershire. 
The Society of Mines Royal seized them, and granted two leases of 
them to some refiners, who extracted some gold; hut they did not 
go on with the work, as the gold sometimes would not repay or 
requite the charge of separation, though sometimes it did.” Watson’s 
quotation is from Abbott’s ‘ Essay on the Mines of England.’ This 
was about the year 1640; in the eighteenth century there was 
a report that gold had again been found near Ampthill, and it 
seems to have caused some excitement. Pennant, however, states 
that it “ turned out nothing hut talc,” a mineral which Dr. John 
Woodward had previously recorded as occurring at “ Pullock’s Hill.” 
In the original Ordnance Survey Map the name of the meadow, 
“ Gold Close,” is not only given, hut the actual site of the mine is 
located by the words “ gold mine,” while in the new series both 
these indications of the site are omitted, a revision much to be 
deprecated. 
The cyclists rejoined the walkers at Flitwick in good time for 
the appointed train, just before “ lighting-up time.” The weather 
was perfect, and the country, which in the neighbourhood of 
Clophill is very pretty, had the freshness of the Spring with 
a foretaste of the leafiness of the Summer. 
