Excursion to Chelmsford

188 EXCUl,SION TO CHEL:YISFORD. When displaced the fall of the rock is naturally backwards. The line of outflow of water can be traced in the hummocky ground at the hill foot. It will be seen by looking again at the map how nearly the E. fork of the Horley vale has eaten its way backwards through the escarpment to Arlescot. The Warming ton ridge will, when worn through, break up as the Dassett Hills have done. The general straightness of the line of the N.W. and the N.E. fronts of Edge Hill can be accounted for only by the uniform hardness of the rock and marls of which they are made. Below, the water-flow is through the Vale of the Red Horse into the Avon and the Bristol Channel. The high land of the ridge is a water shed of the Cherwell, and hence a feeder of the Thames. EXCURSION TO CHELMSFORI). SATURDAV, 8TH JUNE, 1895. Director: T. V. HOLMES, F.G.S. (Report by THE DIRECTOR) ON leaving the railway station the party proceeded northward along the Broomfield Road, as far as the footpath on its western side, just beyond the engineering works of Mr. F. Christy. Taking this footpath, they paused at the pit in Chalky Boulder Clay in the second field entered. Mr. F. Christy, the owner of the land, had been good enough to employ a man to give a fresh surface to part of this section for the benefit of the party. Owing to the disuse of Boulder Clay as manure, there are extremely few good, that is clear, sections in it. Some peaty material at one corner of this pit attracted some attention. There seemed to be no reason, however, tor regarding it as of Glacial age, though the section where it appeared was obscure, and threw no light on the question. For, in the Boulder Clay area we traversed, we found that old excavations were very numerous, and might be seen in almost every field, though the pits had usually become converted into ponds teeming with aquatic plants. Doubtless a portion of the pit we visited had once been a pond, which had been filled up as the excavation had been extended in another direction. The Boulder Clay had evidently been worked most recently in the most westerly part of the pit, or, in other words, in that most remote, both from the peaty material and from the footpath. While in this pit the Director, spreading upon the ground the maps of the Geological Survey showing the surrounding districts of Essex, pointed out that from Chelmsford northward the surface consisted mainly of Boulder Clay, the underlying Glacial Gravel and the still older London Clay appearing chiefly in the valleys of the various streams. The thickness of the Glacial Drift Beds varied very much. In one spot a well might show S or 10 feet of Boulder Clay above ,)0 or 40 feet of Gravct : ill another Non;~lI1ER, r8,) 5 -I EXCURSION TO CHELMSFORD. the proportions might be reversed. Occasionally their combined thickness exceeded 100 feet. Leaving the pit, the party walked through the old pottery at the north-east corner of the same field, where, though there were no clear sections, the heaps of material that had been sifted out were of some interest to the geologist, though they had been useless to the potter. They then made their way, under the guidance of Mr. Miller Christy, to the road between Patching Hall and Scot's Green. There a well was being sunk, close to the road, for the better supply of some cottages, the inhabitants of which had been using the water from some ponds, which had once been marl pits, close by. The characteristics of the Chalky Boulder Clay were extremely well shown in the lumps which had been thrown out of this well. Mr. Miller Christy then led the way to his residence, known as Priors, where he had kindly invited the party to partake of tea, and the great heat of the day made the rest and refreshment un usually welcome. After tca the Director read some notes on the geological character of the land that had gone out of cultivation in the Ongar, Chelmsford, Malden, and Braintree districts of Essex. These notes had been kindly sent him by Mr. H. W. Monckton, who was unable to be present. Mr. Monckton remarked: "The report on the Ongar, Chelmsford, Malden, and Brain tree 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 r rth, 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 that the black patches are mainly at places where the London Clay forms the surface of the ground. " At the north-east corner of the map there is a tract covered with Chalky Boulder Clay quite free from black patches. "Between Chelmsford and Maldon there is a considerable extent of gravel and alluvium, and on it there are not many black patches excepting in places where the gravel is thin, and the London Clay which underlies it is near tle surface. "There is a small, black patch on Bagshot Sand and Boulder Clay at Frierning, and one on gravel on the hillside between that place and Ingatestone, And between Woodham Ferris and Bicknacre Priory there are several black patches on Boulder Clay and loamy gravel. "South of Woodham Ferris there is a large black patch on the alluvium of Woodham Marsh, and there is another on the alluvium of Hadleigh Marsh, All those south of the railway from Pit sea to Benfleet are on alluvium. " At the eastern end of the map there are some black patches EXCURSION TO CHEUISJ"ORD. on gravel and alluvium. Near Hadleigh there is one on Bagshots, and there is one near Mucking on various formations; but with these exceptions the black patches are on London Clay." Mr. Monckton noted, in addition, an extraordinary statement in paragraph ro, p. 36, of Mr. H. Pringle's Report, as follows: "The soil of Essex, with the exception of two small patches, is geologically classed as London Clay." Surely the author of this Report should have known of the existence of the Drift Maps of the Geological Survey. The latest published, that of Sheet 47, appeared in r885, the others earlier. And the Drift Maps show that north of a line drawn from east to west through Chelmsford the London Clay, where it exists, occupies but a very small proportion of the surface. While, as its outcrop, against the Glacial Drift,'is along a line from Bishop Stortford to Sudbury, it is not to be found, either at or below the surface, over a good many square miles of north-western Essex. The party then left Priors in the direction of Writtle Wick, accompanied by Mr. Miller Christy, who pointed out a sarsen stone of considerable size at the entrance to the grounds of Mr. Rosling's house, between 300 and 400 yards north of the pit in Glacial Gravel at Writtle Wick, from which it had been derived. Wt were informed by Miss Rosling that it had been found at a depth of about 2 feet beneath the surface. POSSJbly at one time it may have been a "standing-stone." Some discussion here took place about the origin of the name sarsen, One member objected to a derivation from Saracen, on the ground that the old stone circles, etc., of Britain were of much earlier date than that of Mahomet and his earliest followers. This is, of course, true; but we have no record or tradition of the name given to these stone monuments by their makers. On the other hand, a correspondent of Notes and Queries, vol. xi, p. 494 (June 23rd, r855), points out that the Saxons applied the term Saresyn to pagans or heathen in general, and consequently that the ancient stone circles and standing-stones naturally became known as Saresyn (or heathen) stones. Also that the term Saresyn was applied by the Saxons to the Danes, or Northmen, before they became Christians. As an example he gives the following: "Thus Robert Recart (quoted in Roberts' History (if Lyme) says, Duke Rollolefort was a Saresyn comeout 0/ Denmark into France." And the tendency of the folk-speech of a much later date to iden tify not merely heathenish belief, but even the Devil himself with Mahomet, is conclusively demonstrated in Burns' well-known song: "The Deil cam fiddling thro' the toun, And danc'd awa' wi' the Exciseman ; And ilk" wife cries, Auld Mahoun, I wish you luck of the prize, man! " The derivation of Sarsen from Saresyn can hardly, therefore, be considered improbable or "far-fetched." EXCURSION TO TILBURSTOW HILL. From Writtle Wick the party made its way to Chelmsford Railway Station, time not permitting a visit to the pits in Glacial Gravel, at Writtle, or to the Brickearth sections in which the jaw of the Mammoth was discovered last year. The Director has pleasure in acknowledging the services rendered by Mr. W. Cole, Hon. Sec. Essex Field Club, and by Mr. H. Mothcrsole, for information respecting the sections of the district, etc. REFERENCES. Geological Survey Map, Sheet I, N.E. (Drift Edition). ISS'). \YHITAKER, \V.-" The Geology or London," etc .

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