96
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Whitaker had taken specially for the Club, at the writer's solici-
tation, in 1918. It is one of the most successful portraits of him
ever taken, and depicts him in his 82nd year, whilst still in the
fullness of vigour. The Club also possesses a characteristic
photograph of Whitaker, the latest taken, which was enlarged
from a fortunate snapshot taken by his friend, Mrs. Owens, at
Liverpool in September, 1923, whilst he was attending the
British Association meeting, from which he had to return home
at the commencement of his final illness.—Percy Thompson.
Recent Geological Work in Essex.—The Official "Summary of
Progress of the Geological Survey" for 1923, published in September,
1924, shows that after a long period of neglect Essex is again receiving its
share of attention [from the Survey, and H. G. Dines and F. H. Edmunds,
the geologists who have been engaged (under Mr. Henry Dewey, as District
Geologist) in re-surveying the Romford district (Sheet 257), are able to
record some important discoveries which will necessitate a revised map of
the district. This map is expected to be issued at an early date.
The Claygate Beds, those sandy "passage-beds" from the London
Clay to the overlying Bagshot Beds, which have not heretofore been mapped
as a separate entity, are found to be present in many localities, capping
the London Clay hills, and their mapping reveals the structural features
of the area as a series of gentle folds. These beds are now found to
extend along the southern slopes of the Brentwood outlier of Bagshot
Beds from Great Warley Street eastwards to Little Burstead, and also
around the Bagshot outlier of the Laindon Hills, with a uniform thickness
of 25-30 feet. Near Vange Hall the Claygate Beds are 28ft. thick, and
consist of "bedded buff sands and lilac clays" ; they are also to be
mapped near Temple Wood, north-east of Stock, and they occur as an
outlier, partly covered by Boulder Clay, at Downham.
Other exposures of the Claygate Beds have been proved at Stondon
Massey, Kelvedon Hatch, Shenfield, Brentwood, Ingrave, Mountnessing,
Fryerning, Ingatestone, Billericay and elsewhere, usually underlying the
outliers of Bagshot Sand. At Stondon Massey they reach some 40 feet
in thickness.
The re-survey of the area in question has demonstrated that the
Bagshot Beds cover a larger area than has hitherto been supposed ; 'in
the Brentwood district they are said to have the structure of a gentle
anticline, with a northerly axis.
Re-examination by the Survey geologists of the Warley Pebble beds
has revealed that this gravel rests uncomfortably upon the Tertiary strata
beneath, and must be regarded as of Pleistocene date, possibly Glacial.
The Survey appears to be inclined to correlate with these "Warley Beds"
the gravel spreads (previously mapped as Bagshot Pebble-Beds) at Temple
Wood, Stock, Dudbrook, Navestock Side, Mill Green, Fryerning, and
Billericay.
Patches of Glacial Gravel have been mapped at Ramsden Heath,
Boards Farm (West Hanningfield), near Billericay, at Fryerning, Mount-
nessing, Stock, and at Thrift Wood, east of Brentwood, and Chalky
Boulder Clay has been proved at Childerditch, near East Horndon, N.E.
of Shenfield, at Ingatestone, at Billericay, at Ramsden Bellhouse, and at
Mountnessing.
It is gratifying to note that the sections opened up by the formation
of the new arterial roads through the County, and the trenches dug during
the late war, have alike been fully utilized in the re-survey of the district
in question, and have served to clear up many doubtful points.
Percy Thompson.