IN PART OF NORTH-WESTERN ESSEX.
213
or that an enormous mass of gravel had slipped over the relics. As,
however, the brick-earth is not of a kind agreeing with ordinary rain-
wash, but appears to have been formed in situ, the latter supposition
(unless we refer them to Pre-glacial interment) seems to be the only
one admissible.
This section is, I believe, at a greater elevation than any treated
of by Prof. Prestwich at Braintree. As a disturbance, therefore, has
probably occurred at that elevation in Post-glacial times, should it
not rather modify his statement as to the gravels at lower elevations,
"round which the glacial beds wrap" (l.c. p. 134)—the more so that
no true Boulder Clay is found in the valley there ?
The Westleton series extends to the summit of the hill, but at
places on the top it has a capping of about two feet of Boulder Clay.
The total thickness of Westleton Beds there cannot be less than
eighty feet, as stated by Prof. Prestwich.
The Boulder Clay, trending in a north-westerly direction, attains
a considerable thickness near Panfield Wood, but at a point about a
quarter of a mile north of that wood it has thinned out somewhat,
and under two or three feet of Chalky Clay the Westleton Shingle
appears again. It is here of the ordinary pebbly character and
unaccompanied with sand for the first six feet, the depth of the
section.
On Clap-bridge Farm, south-west of Braintree (marked erroneously
on the one-inch map as "Mill-farm"), at an elevation of about fifty feet
from the river, there is an exposure of about four feet of Westleton
pebbly gravel. No Boulder Clay exists here now, but a large lump
of Lower Tertiary Sandstone lying near the surface gives evidence of
its former existence.
In the cutting for the goods-siding at Rayne there is a small
section of Westleton Gravel. The gravel-pit marked on the one-inch
map south of Rayne station is not free from a suspicion of Glacial
admixture.
Passing on to Felstead Station, there is a low cutting there of
not more than six feet of fine shingle, undoubtedly of Westleton
age. Although not by any means a fine or typical exposure, it is
worthy of special notice, because from it have been obtained vege-
table remains. This was a piece of wood of about six feet in length,
and flattened into a thin lamina by pressure. At some parts it is
said to have had the consistence of coal, but other parts clearly
showed its woody fibre. I am indebted to the platelayers and