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Whitsuntide Excursion to the Crag District
lxv iii
WH IT S UNT ID E EXCURSION
TO
TH E
CRAG
DISTRICT
The following papers were t hen read : -' Not es on th e Artificial Unm aking of Ftints ,' by T. HAY WILSON. ' The Geology of U pton and Chilton in Berks,' by A. J. JUKESBROWNE, B.A., F. G.S. Specimens were exhibited by Mr. T. HAY WILSON in illustration of his paper. Professor BOULGER exhibited a copy of Buchoz's ' Les Dons Merveilleux et divers ement colories de In Nature dans le Regn e Mineral,' Paris, 1782, fo!'
WHITSUNTIDE FROM SATURDAY,
J UN~;
EXCURSION DIS TR IC T,
TO
THE
CR AG
8TH, TO THE FOLLOWING T UESDAY, 1889.
Dir ectors: W. WH ITAKER, F.R.S., F.G.S., of the Geological Sur vey, and D r. J . E. TAYLOR, F.L.s., F .G.S., Curator of t he Museum, Ipswi ch. ( Report b.1I Ma.
WHI TAKE R. )
A number of Members left Li verpool Street Station wit h Mr. Whitak er on t he morning of Saturday, June 8th, for Sout hwold; and in the afternoon the party, af t er tak ing up quarters at t he Swan, walked out along' t he coast nor thward. A pi t in t he cliff just outs ide t he town, which once gave an in t er esting section of GlacialDr ift, with a lit tl e she lly Crag at t he base, was foun d to be overg row n, and t he Director could t herefore only r efer to his pn bli sh ed descripti on t hereof. On crossi ng t he sh ingle-bar of t he Bu ss Creek it wa s point ed out t ha t, t houg h t his bar is a ll t hat sep arat es t he creek fr om the sea, yet the water of the latter flows away from th e sea t o the r iver Blyth. T he Bu ss Cree k is the r emn an t of a tributary of the Blyth t hat once flowed along a valley t hro ugh land eas tward of the presen t coast, lan d which has been lost by th e r apid encr oachm ent of the sea . On reaching E aston Bav ent Cliff-the villag e of t hat name h as vanished-the walk was cont inued along th e base, and good sections of the P ebbl y series, whi ch hereabouts comes betw een t he undoubted Glacial Drift and the Chillesford beds, were seen, and t he chan ges fr om gravel t o san d were noticed. It was soon seen, however, tllll,t from the sea not havi ng acted so
WHI'l'S UNTI DEEXCURSJON TO 'l'H E CRAG DIS T RICT.
lxix
strongly against this cliff as it did some years ago, a talus had accumulated all along the ba se, and consequ ently but lit tl e of t he Chillesford beds was seen, as compared with the fine long section of the past. An unusual occurren ce, however, was not ed-the presence of a large flint, at lea st a foot long, near the top of t hose beds, a little north of the site of t he former farm. Wh en t he Director mapped t his neighbourhood, for the Geological S ur vey, in 1878-1879, and for some years later, shelly Crag was well see n, ri sing up from beneath the Chilles ford beds Rout h of the f arm , and occur r ing along the base of the cli ff for a long way northward, wh en it again sinks . Owing, however, to the constant talus, nothing whatever was to be see n of this interesting formation, excep t for a little sand and a few fragments of shells at one part of the slope; wh ereas form erly t he secti on was t he finest exposure of fossilifer ous Cr ag in No rth Suffolk or Norfolk. A ver y great thickness of Crag has been found in the boring at Southwold (147 feet ) , far in excess of anything known else wh er e in Engl and. On r eaching t he long bar of shingle t hat separates E aston Broad from t he sea it wa s found t hat t his was breach ed , and that a strong stream was flowing t hrough . The party sat down on the beach near the gap, and the Director alluded to the peaty r emains of a so-called Submerged Forest, wh ich runs under the beach aud crops out on t.he fores hor e. This is m erely part of tb e all uvium of t he va ll ey-bottom, exposed by t he cutting back of t he land, and is much more modern t han t he F orest Bed, for which it had been mistaken , bu t wh ich does not occur alon g t his parti cular pi ece of coas t . The r eturn journey wa s m ade along t he to p of the cliff, and it was shown how gr eat had been the loss of la nd since t be old one-inch Ordnan ce Map was ma de. On Sunday afternoon t he party drove out to Cov eh it he, seeing by the way, at South Cove, a pit in rather sandy Boul der Clay, in which th e conver sion of t hat dep osit , by weatherin g and decalcifi cation into a stony loam , wa s well shown. At first sig h t no one would hav e thoug ht the tw o versions to belong to t h e same deposit. From Covehit he ch urch :Member s walked t o t he so ut her n
lxx
WHITSUNTIDE EXCUHSION TO THE CRAG DI~TRICT.
end of the cliff, which, being almost wholly free from talus (though less so than a few years ago), gives a capital section of the Pebbly series overlying the Chillesford beds. At the southern end the remarkable cohesion given to sand by vegetation was noticed, the soil at the top much overhanging and curving over the face of the low cliff. Many singular and complicated small contortions in the Chillesford beds were seen, and, on reaching the northern end of the cliff, the piling-up of the broad shingle-flat in front of Benacre Broad in successive" fulls" was noticed. On returning along part of the cliff-top, the great loss of land here was pointed out. On Monday, June 10th, a very early start was made for Ipswich, where a few more Members joined from London, and the Ipswich Scientific Society also increased the number. Train was taken to Felixstow, and then carriage to Bawdsey Ferry-about four miles-on arrival at which place the hitherto persistent rain ceased. After a rough crossing a short halt was made at the yet unfinished Bawdsey Manor, where Mr. Quilter, M.P., had kindly provided refreshments. Then the neighbouring cliff was visited, and our finest section of Red Crag was studied, and the junction of that formation with the underlying London Clay was seen. In many parts there is a sort of terrace along the cliff, in the Crag, so that a rich harvest of fossils could easily be got. Dr. Taylor drew attention to the fossils of the Crag, to the layer of phosphatic nodules at the base of the deposit (which had been worked near by), and to the general character of the formation. Mr. Whitaker pointed out how the shells had been irregularly dissolved out from the upper part, leaving only a shell-less sand; and he described the landslips, caused chiefly by water percolating through the Crag to the slippery surface of the London Clay beneath, the fallen matter being cleared away by the sea. The return was made along the top of the cliff, and the peculiar shape of the ground was noticed, the cliff being at the highest part and the slope inland being sharp, so that as the cliff is cut back it will be lower and lower. In the evening the large party dined at the Golden Lion, and then went to the Museum, where Dr. Taylor guided Members
WHl'1'SVN'1'IDE EXCURSION '1'0 THE CRAG DIS'1'RIC'P.
lxxi
through the collection for which he has done so much, drawing especial attention to the rich local stores, such as the phosphatized mammalian remains and the box-stones from the base of the Red Crag, the fine array of shells from both Coralline and Red Crags, the number of elephants' teeth from Ipswich gravel, Suffolk flint-implements, and various natural-history specimens and antiquities. T'Uesday.-A long and most enjoyable drive was taken from Ipswich t.hrough Woodbridge and Chillesford to Orford, in the conrse of which wide spreads of Common-land were seen, illustrating the natural state of Southern or Low Suffolk. These barren heathy lands occur on the sandy and gravelly plateau through which the valleys are cut. Soon after crossing the Deben, near Eyke, a halt was made, and a section was seen (from the carriages), which Dr. Taylorthought to be a junction of Glacial Sand with Red Crag. Opinions, however, somewhat differed as to how high the Red Crag reached up, some folk holding that all the sand belonged thereto, with the exception of the gravelly top part. A halt was made at the Oyster, Butley, whence the party walked to the fine Crag pit a little eastward. Inasmuch, however, as this section, and the others afterwards visited, were described by Dr. Taylor in the account of the Whitsuntide Excursion in 1877,* there is no need to say more of them now. The pits at Chillesford Church were next visited; then the Coralline Crag pit between Sudbourn Hall and the church, remarkable for the long tubular borings in the stone; then the shallow pit close to Sudbourn Hall, noted for the abundance of Coralline Crag shells; and, lastly, the pit less than a mile EoN.Eo of the church, where the junction of the Red and Coralline Crags was' seen. The upper part of the Coralline Crag is a peculiar soft limestone, largely made up of Polyzoa (from an old name of which the term coralline is taken). Some of the old pits in the village of Sudbourn are very picturesque, the vertical walls being beautifully weathered and overgrown with lichens. Other good pits may be seen near Orford (about 1 mile S.). Prom the ruins of the old castle here there is a view of the
* 'Proc. Geol. Assoo.,'
Vol. v, No.3, pp. 111-112.
lxxii
WHrrsUNTIDE EXCURSION TO THE CRAG DISTRICT.
wonderful accumulation of beach that separates the river AIde, or Ore, from the sea for many miles. After a good dinner in the Keep of Orford Castle the party drove back to Ipswich, partly by another route, and the Londoners bid farewell to their friends of the Ipswich Scientific Society, to one of whom, Mr. Henry Miller, they were so much indebted for the excellent arrangements that he had made. REFERENOES. The Maps and Memoirs of the Geological Survey relating to the district having been published, and of late years, there is no need to refer to other works, except to note that a general" Sketch of the Geology of Suffolk" has been given by Dr. J. E. TAYLOR, in' White's Gazetteer of the County,' 1884, and that the various divisions of the Crag- are described in great detail in the important papers by Prof. PRESTWICH (' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' Vol. xxvii, pp. 115, 325,452). The Geological Survey Works are as follows : -
For Southwold. :Map-Quarter-sheet 49, N. 'The Geology of Southwold and of the Suffolk Coast from Dunwich to Oovehitbe,' pp. vi, 87, with a coloured folding plate of the cliff-sec. tiona, By W. WHITAKER. 1887. Price 2s. 6d.
For Ipswich, g-c. Maps-Quarter-sheets 48, N.E. (Ipswich and Felixstow), 49, S. (AId borough), and 50, S.E. (Orford and Chillesford), 'The Geology of the County around Ipswich, Hadleigh and Felixstow,' pp. vii,156. By W. WHITAKER. 1885. Price 2s. , The Geology of the County around Aldborough . . . . Orford,' etc., pp. vi, 56. By W. H. DALTON. 1886. Price Is.
EXCURSION TO HIGHAM. SATURDAY, JUNE 22ND,
Director: F. C. (Report by
1889.
J. Sl'URRELL.
THE DIRECTOR.)
On leaving Higham Station, where the junction of Chalk and Thanet Sand, covered by Brickearth, was seen, the party proceeded to Higham Churchyard, where the Director described the geology of the marshland of the Thames. He also pointed out the sites of the extensive Homan potteries of the neighbourhood. Passing by the little inn still known as the Old Ferry House, the party traversed the marsh northward over the causeway or bridge, as
WH IT S UNT ID E EXCURSION
TO
TH E
CRAG
DISTRICT
The following papers were t hen read : -' Not es on th e Artificial Unm aking of Ftints ,' by T. HAY WILSON. ' The Geology of U pton and Chilton in Berks,' by A. J. JUKESBROWNE, B.A., F. G.S. Specimens were exhibited by Mr. T. HAY WILSON in illustration of his paper. Professor BOULGER exhibited a copy of Buchoz's ' Les Dons Merveilleux et divers ement colories de In Nature dans le Regn e Mineral,' Paris, 1782, fo!'
WHITSUNTIDE FROM SATURDAY,
J UN~;
EXCURSION DIS TR IC T,
TO
THE
CR AG
8TH, TO THE FOLLOWING T UESDAY, 1889.
Dir ectors: W. WH ITAKER, F.R.S., F.G.S., of the Geological Sur vey, and D r. J . E. TAYLOR, F.L.s., F .G.S., Curator of t he Museum, Ipswi ch. ( Report b.1I Ma.
WHI TAKE R. )
A number of Members left Li verpool Street Station wit h Mr. Whitak er on t he morning of Saturday, June 8th, for Sout hwold; and in the afternoon the party, af t er tak ing up quarters at t he Swan, walked out along' t he coast nor thward. A pi t in t he cliff just outs ide t he town, which once gave an in t er esting section of GlacialDr ift, with a lit tl e she lly Crag at t he base, was foun d to be overg row n, and t he Director could t herefore only r efer to his pn bli sh ed descripti on t hereof. On crossi ng t he sh ingle-bar of t he Bu ss Creek it wa s point ed out t ha t, t houg h t his bar is a ll t hat sep arat es t he creek fr om the sea, yet the water of the latter flows away from th e sea t o the r iver Blyth. T he Bu ss Cree k is the r emn an t of a tributary of the Blyth t hat once flowed along a valley t hro ugh land eas tward of the presen t coast, lan d which has been lost by th e r apid encr oachm ent of the sea . On reaching E aston Bav ent Cliff-the villag e of t hat name h as vanished-the walk was cont inued along th e base, and good sections of the P ebbl y series, whi ch hereabouts comes betw een t he undoubted Glacial Drift and the Chillesford beds, were seen, and t he chan ges fr om gravel t o san d were noticed. It was soon seen, however, tllll,t from the sea not havi ng acted so
WHI'l'S UNTI DEEXCURSJON TO 'l'H E CRAG DIS T RICT.
lxix
strongly against this cliff as it did some years ago, a talus had accumulated all along the ba se, and consequ ently but lit tl e of t he Chillesford beds was seen, as compared with the fine long section of the past. An unusual occurren ce, however, was not ed-the presence of a large flint, at lea st a foot long, near the top of t hose beds, a little north of the site of t he former farm. Wh en t he Director mapped t his neighbourhood, for the Geological S ur vey, in 1878-1879, and for some years later, shelly Crag was well see n, ri sing up from beneath the Chilles ford beds Rout h of the f arm , and occur r ing along the base of the cli ff for a long way northward, wh en it again sinks . Owing, however, to the constant talus, nothing whatever was to be see n of this interesting formation, excep t for a little sand and a few fragments of shells at one part of the slope; wh ereas form erly t he secti on was t he finest exposure of fossilifer ous Cr ag in No rth Suffolk or Norfolk. A ver y great thickness of Crag has been found in the boring at Southwold (147 feet ) , far in excess of anything known else wh er e in Engl and. On r eaching t he long bar of shingle t hat separates E aston Broad from t he sea it wa s found t hat t his was breach ed , and that a strong stream was flowing t hrough . The party sat down on the beach near the gap, and the Director alluded to the peaty r emains of a so-called Submerged Forest, wh ich runs under the beach aud crops out on t.he fores hor e. This is m erely part of tb e all uvium of t he va ll ey-bottom, exposed by t he cutting back of t he land, and is much more modern t han t he F orest Bed, for which it had been mistaken , bu t wh ich does not occur alon g t his parti cular pi ece of coas t . The r eturn journey wa s m ade along t he to p of the cliff, and it was shown how gr eat had been the loss of la nd since t be old one-inch Ordnan ce Map was ma de. On Sunday afternoon t he party drove out to Cov eh it he, seeing by the way, at South Cove, a pit in rather sandy Boul der Clay, in which th e conver sion of t hat dep osit , by weatherin g and decalcifi cation into a stony loam , wa s well shown. At first sig h t no one would hav e thoug ht the tw o versions to belong to t h e same deposit. From Covehit he ch urch :Member s walked t o t he so ut her n
lxx
WHITSUNTIDE EXCUHSION TO THE CRAG DI~TRICT.
end of the cliff, which, being almost wholly free from talus (though less so than a few years ago), gives a capital section of the Pebbly series overlying the Chillesford beds. At the southern end the remarkable cohesion given to sand by vegetation was noticed, the soil at the top much overhanging and curving over the face of the low cliff. Many singular and complicated small contortions in the Chillesford beds were seen, and, on reaching the northern end of the cliff, the piling-up of the broad shingle-flat in front of Benacre Broad in successive" fulls" was noticed. On returning along part of the cliff-top, the great loss of land here was pointed out. On Monday, June 10th, a very early start was made for Ipswich, where a few more Members joined from London, and the Ipswich Scientific Society also increased the number. Train was taken to Felixstow, and then carriage to Bawdsey Ferry-about four miles-on arrival at which place the hitherto persistent rain ceased. After a rough crossing a short halt was made at the yet unfinished Bawdsey Manor, where Mr. Quilter, M.P., had kindly provided refreshments. Then the neighbouring cliff was visited, and our finest section of Red Crag was studied, and the junction of that formation with the underlying London Clay was seen. In many parts there is a sort of terrace along the cliff, in the Crag, so that a rich harvest of fossils could easily be got. Dr. Taylor drew attention to the fossils of the Crag, to the layer of phosphatic nodules at the base of the deposit (which had been worked near by), and to the general character of the formation. Mr. Whitaker pointed out how the shells had been irregularly dissolved out from the upper part, leaving only a shell-less sand; and he described the landslips, caused chiefly by water percolating through the Crag to the slippery surface of the London Clay beneath, the fallen matter being cleared away by the sea. The return was made along the top of the cliff, and the peculiar shape of the ground was noticed, the cliff being at the highest part and the slope inland being sharp, so that as the cliff is cut back it will be lower and lower. In the evening the large party dined at the Golden Lion, and then went to the Museum, where Dr. Taylor guided Members
WHl'1'SVN'1'IDE EXCURSION '1'0 THE CRAG DIS'1'RIC'P.
lxxi
through the collection for which he has done so much, drawing especial attention to the rich local stores, such as the phosphatized mammalian remains and the box-stones from the base of the Red Crag, the fine array of shells from both Coralline and Red Crags, the number of elephants' teeth from Ipswich gravel, Suffolk flint-implements, and various natural-history specimens and antiquities. T'Uesday.-A long and most enjoyable drive was taken from Ipswich t.hrough Woodbridge and Chillesford to Orford, in the conrse of which wide spreads of Common-land were seen, illustrating the natural state of Southern or Low Suffolk. These barren heathy lands occur on the sandy and gravelly plateau through which the valleys are cut. Soon after crossing the Deben, near Eyke, a halt was made, and a section was seen (from the carriages), which Dr. Taylorthought to be a junction of Glacial Sand with Red Crag. Opinions, however, somewhat differed as to how high the Red Crag reached up, some folk holding that all the sand belonged thereto, with the exception of the gravelly top part. A halt was made at the Oyster, Butley, whence the party walked to the fine Crag pit a little eastward. Inasmuch, however, as this section, and the others afterwards visited, were described by Dr. Taylor in the account of the Whitsuntide Excursion in 1877,* there is no need to say more of them now. The pits at Chillesford Church were next visited; then the Coralline Crag pit between Sudbourn Hall and the church, remarkable for the long tubular borings in the stone; then the shallow pit close to Sudbourn Hall, noted for the abundance of Coralline Crag shells; and, lastly, the pit less than a mile EoN.Eo of the church, where the junction of the Red and Coralline Crags was' seen. The upper part of the Coralline Crag is a peculiar soft limestone, largely made up of Polyzoa (from an old name of which the term coralline is taken). Some of the old pits in the village of Sudbourn are very picturesque, the vertical walls being beautifully weathered and overgrown with lichens. Other good pits may be seen near Orford (about 1 mile S.). Prom the ruins of the old castle here there is a view of the
* 'Proc. Geol. Assoo.,'
Vol. v, No.3, pp. 111-112.
lxxii
WHrrsUNTIDE EXCURSION TO THE CRAG DISTRICT.
wonderful accumulation of beach that separates the river AIde, or Ore, from the sea for many miles. After a good dinner in the Keep of Orford Castle the party drove back to Ipswich, partly by another route, and the Londoners bid farewell to their friends of the Ipswich Scientific Society, to one of whom, Mr. Henry Miller, they were so much indebted for the excellent arrangements that he had made. REFERENOES. The Maps and Memoirs of the Geological Survey relating to the district having been published, and of late years, there is no need to refer to other works, except to note that a general" Sketch of the Geology of Suffolk" has been given by Dr. J. E. TAYLOR, in' White's Gazetteer of the County,' 1884, and that the various divisions of the Crag- are described in great detail in the important papers by Prof. PRESTWICH (' Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.,' Vol. xxvii, pp. 115, 325,452). The Geological Survey Works are as follows : -
For Southwold. :Map-Quarter-sheet 49, N. 'The Geology of Southwold and of the Suffolk Coast from Dunwich to Oovehitbe,' pp. vi, 87, with a coloured folding plate of the cliff-sec. tiona, By W. WHITAKER. 1887. Price 2s. 6d.
For Ipswich, g-c. Maps-Quarter-sheets 48, N.E. (Ipswich and Felixstow), 49, S. (AId borough), and 50, S.E. (Orford and Chillesford), 'The Geology of the County around Ipswich, Hadleigh and Felixstow,' pp. vii,156. By W. WHITAKER. 1885. Price 2s. , The Geology of the County around Aldborough . . . . Orford,' etc., pp. vi, 56. By W. H. DALTON. 1886. Price Is.
EXCURSION TO HIGHAM. SATURDAY, JUNE 22ND,
Director: F. C. (Report by
1889.
J. Sl'URRELL.
THE DIRECTOR.)
On leaving Higham Station, where the junction of Chalk and Thanet Sand, covered by Brickearth, was seen, the party proceeded to Higham Churchyard, where the Director described the geology of the marshland of the Thames. He also pointed out the sites of the extensive Homan potteries of the neighbourhood. Passing by the little inn still known as the Old Ferry House, the party traversed the marsh northward over the causeway or bridge, as