70 GEOLOGICAL NATURE OF THE LAND THAT HAS
obtaining water from ditches on the edge of the alluvial flat, and
pits on the hillside would hold rain-water, though no water could be
obtained from wells in the London Clay.
People from the earliest times have always preferred gravel sites
where possible, as at Walbury, where gravel overlies the London
Clay, and the water, percolating through, is obtainable by means of
wells. Popular opinion has always strongly preferred well-water to
that from stagnant ponds or marsh ditches. From the book by
Miller and Skertchly on the Fenland, we learn (p. 417) that "in
the parish of Houghton almost the only family which escaped ague
at one time was that of a farmer who used well-water, while all the
other persons drank ditch-water." But in the Fenland water from
wells is rarely obtainable, while in the Stort valley it may be had
almost everywhere, the Harlow hill being quite exceptionally unfor-
tunate as regards a good water supply. However, the drift of my
remarks is primarily to point out that it is a natural hill which shows
no signs of ever having been entrenched. It seemed worth while,
in addition, to note other things showing it to be not the kind of
site on which we might expect entrenchments to exist.
GEOLOGICAL NATURE OF THE LAND THAT
HAS FALLEN OUT OF CULTIVATION IN
ESSEX.
ON the occasion of a visit of the Geologists' Association to
Chelmsford, on June 8th (1895), Mr. T. V. Holmes, the
director, read the following notes on the geological character of the
land which had fallen out of cultivation in the Ongar, Chelmsford,
Maldon, and Braintree Districts. They had been kindly sent by
Mr. H. W. Monckton, F.G.S., who found himself unable to be
present. Mr. Monckton remarked :—
" The report on the Ongar, Chelmsford, Maldon, and Braintree
districts of Essex, by Mr. Hunter Pringle, published as a Blue Book,
was largely referred to in the House of Commons during the debate
on agricultural depression on July 11th, 1894.
" The map attached to it is of special interest to dwellers in south-
east Essex. On it the fields which are alleged to have gone out of
cultivation since 1880 are marked as black patches.
" To one acquainted with the district, it is apparent at a glance