214 ON THE OCCURRENCE OF WESTLETON BEDS
signalman for this information, as, unfortunately, I was too late to see
the specimen, which had been destroyed.
There can be no doubt on examination of the place, as to its
entombment being contemporary with the laying down of the shingle.
This piece of ancient flotsam seems to be our only representative of
the Cromer Forest Bed series. In further support of the antiquity
of this exposure, I may mention another section shown in a gravel-
pit about one-eighth of a mile south of this cutting, and at a less
elevation down the valley slope. That gravel-pit is capped in part
by Boulder Clay, and the underlying gravel (Glacial) is partly made
up of blocks, as it were, of the Westleton shingle derived from the
older bed. Cubes, in fact, of this material may be cut out completely
and compared with the bed where it occurs in situ, and from which,
probably, it was originally torn. There is a chalybeate spring rising
near this place, and I have thought whether its impurities can in any
way be traced to carbonaceous matter lying in the Westleton bed,
from which it undoubtedly originates.
Our next section is less than a quarter of a mile west of Dunmow
station, and is a small exposure at the foot of the hill on which the
windmill stands. This is of Westleton shingle. It would not
appear to have any great thickness here, because the London Clay
rises nearly to the surface opposite Dunmow station.
Passing to the railway cutting a mile further west near the
"High Wood" we have the most instructive section to be found in
the area. It occurs at the commencement of the cutting. The
gravel there abuts rudely on a boss of bright yellow Westleton
sand, which, under the sun's rays, glitters abundantly with scales of
mica. The false-bedding of the gravels is abruptly broken off at its
junction with the sand, and forms a conspicuous feature. Unfor-
tunately, the Westleton sand passes almost immediately under the
talus, which exists continuously throughout the cutting. The
gravel, with its overlying boulder clay, is very finely developed.
There is some doubt as to the true character of this gravel. Inas-
much as it is sharply divided from the Boulder Clay, a character
common to the "Westleton" over a wide area (see Prestwich and
Woodward), it resembles Westleton gravel, but in its uneven lie and
total unconformability to the underlying sand it resembles Glacial
gravel. Unfortunately, I could find no loose heaps about to assist
me in further determination.
As we shall meet with the underlying micaceous sand again, and