Chapter 44

On being informed of this discovery, the late Sir Joseph Prestwich and I at once visited the locality. I have also been there on many subsequent occasions. The implements in this case have not been found in their original matrix, but exposed upon the sea-shore at the base of the cliff, between Herne Bay and Reculver, and for the most part at a short distance from the Bishopstone Coast-guard Station. In all, there must have been upwards of a hundred discovered. I have myself found at various times eight specimens. Sir Joseph Prestwich,[2659]Mr. James Wyatt, Mr. Whitaker, and others, have also found some. The greatest number, however, have either been found by or passed into the hands of the late Mr. John Brent,[2660]F.S.A., of Canterbury, who has supplied a series of twelve or fourteen to the Christy Collection.A magnificent implement was found near Bishopstone about 1891, and has been brought under my notice by Col. A. J. Copeland, F.S.A. It is rather more pointed than Fig. 472, and is 11 inches long and nearly 6 inches wide towards the base. It rivals in size that from Shrub Hill, mentioned on p.569.Fig. 458.—Near Reculver.1⁄1The majority of the specimens seem to be of the pointed form, of which the implement engraved full size in Fig. 458 offers a fine example. It was found by myself in 1861, and has already been figured in theArchæologia,[2661]as has also Fig. 459, the original of which was found by Sir Joseph Prestwich.Fig. 459.—Near Reculver.1⁄1A small, but rather curious implement from Mr. Brent’s collection{616}is shown in Fig. 460. It is slightly curved in the direction of its length, and has a remarkably thick butt. The original of Fig. 461 is in the Christy Collection, and has been made from a broad flake, which has subsequently been chipped into an oval form. Its surface is much altered in structure, and has become mottled and ochreous. In general character this instrument much resembles the large broad flakes from the gravel at Montiers, near Amiens, but it has been chipped to a more symmetrical outline than that which they usually present. Another, of much the same form, has been found by Mr. Brent, in the gravel at Canterbury. An engraving of another pointed implement from Reculver is given inOnce a Week.[2662]A few specimens have been found of oval or ovate, and of sub-triangular form, and equally convex on both faces.Fig. 460.—Reculver.1⁄2Thanks to Mr. F. Rutley, F.G.S., I have a small ochreous oval implement, which he found on the shore11⁄2miles west of Reculver.Fig. 461.—Reculver.1⁄2Though the implements are usually found on the sea-shore at the foot of the cliff, there can be no doubt of their being derived from the gravels at its summit. They are generally somewhat worn by the action of the waves, but occasionally they have preserved their edges quite sharp, and their angles unabraded, so that they could not have been many days upon the shore, and must have been quite recently derived from the cliff. I have, indeed, been informed by a coastguard-man that in{617}1884 he found an implementin situin the gravel on the cliff somewhat west of Old Haven Gap. Many of them are stained of the same ochreous colour as the other flints in the gravel, and I have, moreover, in one instance, found the point of an implement on the surface a short distance inland. Dr. G. D. Gibb, F.G.S.,[2663]also records finding a broken implement on the top of the cliff, half-way between Herne Bay and Reculver. The late Mr. Brent, F.S.A., had a long flake stained of an ochreous colour, and apparently derived from the gravel, which also came from the top of the cliff.The lower part of the cliff, of which a section has been published by Sir Joseph Prestwich,[2664]consists of Thanet Sands and the sandy beds of the Woolwich Series, above which is a local pebbly clay deposit of small extent, and about 8 feet thick, to which he is inclined to refer the flint implements. Its height is about 50 feet above the sea. At a higher level farther west, near Old Haven Gap, are other gravel beds, which he presumes to be of older date. Into this question I need not enter, but for further geological details will refer the reader to my account of this discovery in theArchæologia.[2665]There are pits, in which gravel is dug, near Chislet, where not improbably similar implements will eventually be discovered. I may add that it is difficult to form an idea of the position of the coast-line at the time when these gravels, which appear to be of freshwater origin, were deposited; as, owing to the soft nature of the base of the cliffs, the gain of the sea upon the land has been very rapid in this district, for even since Leland’s time—say three and a half centuries ago—it has encroached nearly a mile,[2666]but to this subject I shall have to recur.To the west of Herne Bay, and about midway between that place and Whitstable, is another cliff, near Studhill, where, in the gravel which caps it, 50 feet above the sea, I have found a portion of a molar ofElephas primigenius, and at the foot of the cliff, rather farther to the west, the implement shown full size in Fig. 462.[2667]It is stained of an ochreous colour to some depth, and its surface is much altered in structure. Sir Joseph Prestwich[2668]seems inclined to refer this implement to a stratum of clay and gravelly sand at a lower level, but its colour is more in accordance with the higher beds. I subsequently picked up another implement of sub-triangular form, deeply stained, and much waterworn at the edges, at the foot of the same cliff. Tusks and bones ofElephas primigenius,[2669]are stated to be found near this spot when the cliff falls, as is frequently the case, from its being undermined by the sea. Elephants’ teeth are occasionally dredged up off the shore, and I have seen one which was found on the shore at Reculver.At Swalecliffe, nearer Whitstable, where, in the shingle, an ochreously-stained flint flake was found by my son, and again, nearer Herne Bay, at Hampton, there are more argillaceous freshwater beds at a lower level, and containing land and marsh shells; but these seem to be comparatively modern, and connected with small lateral valleys rather than with the main valley of the Thames, or of any other ancient river.{618}Fig. 462.—Studhill.1⁄1Immediately east of Reculver lies the marshy valley which separates the Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent, a valley which is traversed by the river Stour, the principal stream of which passes by Sandwich, eastward, while a smaller channel connects it with a small stream rising to the west of Chislet, and conducts part of its waters northward to Northmouth sluice. The Stour and its tributaries drain an area of upwards of 300 square miles, and not far from its source at Rowton Chapel, near Lenham, Mr. G. Bunyard, of Maidstone, found in 1885 a good ovate palæolithic implement of flint, while near Canterbury, flint implements have been found in considerable numbers in the gravels in the neighbourhood of the river.Fig. 463.—Thanington.1⁄2Their discovery is due to the late Mr. John Brent, F.S.A., of Canterbury, with whom I have visited the neighbourhood, and who has most kindly furnished me with all the information at his command, including some particulars of the levels, and has allowed me to{619}engrave some of his specimens. One of the finest of these is shown in Fig. 463. The flint of which it is composed has become porcellanous, and nearly white. Small portions of the original crust are left at the base, and on one of the faces; the point has been broken off in ancient times. It was found in Thanington parish, on the surface, and not in the gravel, from which, however, it was undoubtedly derived. Several other specimens have been found in the same manner, among stones gathered from the surface of the slope of the southern side of the valley of the Stour, between Thanington and Canterbury. I have a pointed implement, but unfortunately broken, which was found by the late Mr. Frederick Pratt Barlow, on a heap of stones, when he visited the spot with me in 1868. The gravel beds near Thanington, out of which the implements appear to have come, must be from 80 to 100 feet above the river. Nearer Canterbury, at the back of Wincheap, between the waterworks and the gasometer, pits have been sunk in the gravel, at a lower level, where the surface{620}of the ground is about 29 feet above the river, from which the pits are distant about 600 yards; and from this spot Mr. Brent has procured several well-wrought implements of various forms. One of these is shown in Fig. 464.[2670]Its surface is lustrous, and of an ochreous colour, and the central ridge is waterworn.Fig. 464.—Canterbury.1⁄2The gravel, which is about 12 feet in thickness, and rests on the chalk, is coarse, and consists principally of sub-angular flints, with an admixture of rounded chalk, sandstone and iron-stone pebbles, with some fragments of fossil wood apparently from the Thanet Sands. The matrix is sandy, and there are some sandy veins. In parts of the pit there is a great thickness of brick-earth or loam. No land or freshwater shells have as yet been found, but some mammalian remains have occurred, among which is a molar ofElephas primigenius. At a lower level, in the gravel exposed by drainage works along Wincheap, I found several flakes; and more recently, in 1870, Mr. Brent has kindly sent me two pointed implements found in gravel in a pit near the new gasometer, where the surface is lower than that near the waterworks by 5 or 6 feet. One is of much the same type as the Reculver specimen, Fig. 458, but of coarser workmanship, and about 6 inches long. The other is less symmetrical, and only41⁄2inches in length. The surface of each is very much bruised and waterworn, and deeply stained of a dark ochreous colour.There are in my collection numerous other specimens from Canterbury, both pointed and ovate. Many of them are deeply stained and much waterworn. One of these, by the kindness of Mr. Worthington Smith, is shown in Fig. 464A.[2671]The white patches marked A show where chips that have been detached before the implement was left in its final position in the gravel have left an unabraded surface. Mr. Smith regards this implement as one of the oldest class, and certainly it appears to have met with many vicissitudes and to have travelled a long way down the valley of the Stour before attaining its last resting-place. Another specimen, from the New Cemetery, is sharp and unabraded, and almost black and unstained. A fine pointed implement 7 inches long, has become white and porcellanous.Higher up the valley, an implement has been found on the surface near Chilham, by Mr. John Marten, formerly of Easinge. It was at a distance of a quarter of a mile from the river, and at a height of about 100 feet above it.Lower down, near Wear Farm, between Chislet and Reculver, on the western bank of the North Channel of the Stour, is a pit with sand and loam above the chalk, which has been described by{621}Prestwich.[2672]In the lower beds of sand, at a height of but a few feet above the sea, he found freshwater shells (including theCorbicula fluminalis), mammalian remains, and valves of the marine shellBalanus, as well asEntomostracaandForaminifera, characteristic of brackish water conditions. It would appear that we have here another instance of the occurrence of beds with theCorbicula, at no great distance from those productive of flint implements, but at a lower level. From a pit of the same character, on the opposite side of the road, I have seen elephant remains in the possession of Mr. Slater, of Grays, near Chislet.Fig.464A.—Canterbury.1⁄2Another palæolithic implement of ovate form was discovered in 1865, on a heap of stones, about 3 miles north of Folkestone, by Mr. W. Topley, F.R.S., of the Geological Survey. It is of course impossible to say from what source it was derived; but it may be mentioned that at Folkestone itself, at the top of the West Cliff, near the Battery, at the height of 110 feet above low-water mark, are some beds of Drift of much the same character as those in which flint implements have occurred in other localities, containing remains ofElephas primigenius,Hippopotamus major, and other mammals, and shells ofHelix.Since this passage was written, a remarkably well-shaped ovate implement has been found in St. John’s Road (Radnor Park end), Folkestone, by Mr. Richard Kerr, F.G.S., in August, 1893. It lay in brick-earth at a comparatively low level, and is of flint partially whitened. With it was found a molar tooth ofRhinoceros tichorhinus. It is now, through Mr. Kerr’s kindness, in my collection, and is represented in Fig.464B.{622}Proceeding along the southern coast, the next discoveries that have to be recorded are those made to the west of Eastbourne by Mr. R. Hilton. At Bell’s Field, Friston, he has found ovate implements, both ochreous and white and porcellanous, and he has given me a pointed implement from Crow Link Gap, East Dean. Although found on the surface and not in gravel or brick-earth, the implements present types which seem to justify their being regarded as of Palæolithic age.Farther west, in the so-called Elephant bed at Brighton, a bed apparently of subaërial origin, and containing numerous mammalian remains of the Pleistocene period, Mr. Ernest Willett, in 1876, found a well-marked ovate implement,51⁄2inches long, of the type shown in Plate II., No. 11.Fig.464B.—Folkestone.1⁄2With these exceptions, if such they be, the valleys of the smaller rivers along the southern coast of England have as yet been barren of discoveries of implements in their gravels, until we come to the Itchen and the Test, which unite below Southampton, and now discharge into Southampton Water. As will be subsequently seen, there is good reason for believing that at the time when these implements were in use, a portion of the ground now covered by this estuary formed the bed of a river, itself a branch of a larger stream, only a small part of the course of which now remains, and that in a greatly altered condition, having been widened out into the Solent and Spithead.The localities at which palæolithic implements have been found in the neighbourhood of the Itchen and Test are as yet mainly confined to the lower part of their course, namely, near the town of Southampton and along the shore of Southampton Water. The first discoveries in the district were made in 1863,[2673]by Mr. James Brown, of Salisbury, who found several implements in the neighbourhood of{623}Hill Head, about nine miles S.E. of Southampton; while the earliest discoveries near the latter place are of somewhat more recent date, and due to Mr. W. Read, C.E., until lately a resident of Southampton.Fig. 465.—Southampton.1⁄2I take the Southampton discoveries first, as being nearer the sources of the rivers. The implements obtained by Mr. Read have come from four different excavations in the gravel, at some distance from each other, three of them on Southampton Common, all of which I have, through his courtesy, had the opportunity of examining in his company, and the other at Freemantle, to the west of the town, about 60 feet above mean-tide level. The first of those on the Common was on the southern side, close by the road leading to the cemetery, where a section of gravel about 6 feet in thickness was exposed. This consisted principally of sub-angular flints and Lower Tertiary flint-pebbles mixed with a few of quartz, in a loose sandy matrix, and with some sandy and marly seams in places. At the base of the gravel was found the pointed implement shown in Fig. 465. It is stained of an ochreous colour, and has a projection on one side, towards the base, like that on the implement from Thetford, Fig. 427. One face is more carefully chipped than the other, and the edges and angles are slightly{624}water-worn. The elevation of the ground, at the spot where it was found, is estimated to be 86 feet above the mean sea-level.[2674]In another small pit, at a rather higher level, and close to the N.E. corner of the cemetery, at a depth of 5 feet from the surface, an oval implement was found by Mr. Read,in situ, in the gravel, which here attains a thickness of about 8 feet. In this, as also in the preceding case, a bed of brick-earth or loess has been removed from above the gravel. The surface of this implement is ochreous and polished, and its angles are waterworn. The periphery is much twisted, like that of Fig. 434 from Santon Downham.At the N.W. corner of the Common, fully half a mile from the first pit, and at a higher level still, where the surface of the ground is stated to be more than 160 feet above the mean sea-level, was the extensive excavation known as the Town Pit. The gravel here retains the same character, but is perhaps rather less coarse; and above it is a thin bed of marl, which separates it from the loess or brick-earth, which in most places has been removed for use. The gravel itself attains a thickness of from 8 to 15 feet, and from “a fall,” at about 6 feet from the surface, was picked out an ovate implement41⁄2inches in length, and in form like Fig. 419 from Bury St. Edmunds. Its edges are sharp, and its surface lustrous and stained of an ochreous tint, though on one face the flint has become partially whitened.Another and still more interesting specimen(51⁄2inches), which, like that last described, is now, by the kindness of Mr. Read, in my own collection, has also been found in this pit. It is irregularly oval in form, being somewhat truncated at one end, but bearing a strong general resemblance to that from Hill Head, Fig. 466. Its surface is lustrous and deeply stained all over of a bright ochreous colour, and its angles and edges are much waterworn. The significance of this fact, in the case of an implement found in gravel capping a gently sloping tongue of land, between two rivers, the levels of which are now 160 feet below it, will be considered hereafter. Numerous other implements have been found near Southampton, and extensive collections of them are in the possession of Mr. W. E. Darwin and Mr. W. Dale. There is also a series in the Hartley Institution at Southampton. Higher up the valleys of the Itchen or the Test, none of the more highly-wrought implements have as yet been found in the gravels, although it seems probable that they may eventually be discovered, especially if the drift-beds at some considerable height above the present river levels be excavated. I have, however, seen a flake with one face artificial, and with signs of use or wear at the edge, which was found in a gravel-pit near the Fleming Arms, Swathling, a few miles north of Southampton, by Mr. Spencer G. Perceval. In the gravel near this place a molar ofElephas primigeniusis recorded to have been found.[2675]I have also a deeply-stained ovate implement from Redbridge, close to Southampton, found by Mr. Worthington G. Smith.

A magnificent implement was found near Bishopstone about 1891, and has been brought under my notice by Col. A. J. Copeland, F.S.A. It is rather more pointed than Fig. 472, and is 11 inches long and nearly 6 inches wide towards the base. It rivals in size that from Shrub Hill, mentioned on p.569.

Fig. 458.—Near Reculver.1⁄1

The majority of the specimens seem to be of the pointed form, of which the implement engraved full size in Fig. 458 offers a fine example. It was found by myself in 1861, and has already been figured in theArchæologia,[2661]as has also Fig. 459, the original of which was found by Sir Joseph Prestwich.

Fig. 459.—Near Reculver.1⁄1

A small, but rather curious implement from Mr. Brent’s collection{616}is shown in Fig. 460. It is slightly curved in the direction of its length, and has a remarkably thick butt. The original of Fig. 461 is in the Christy Collection, and has been made from a broad flake, which has subsequently been chipped into an oval form. Its surface is much altered in structure, and has become mottled and ochreous. In general character this instrument much resembles the large broad flakes from the gravel at Montiers, near Amiens, but it has been chipped to a more symmetrical outline than that which they usually present. Another, of much the same form, has been found by Mr. Brent, in the gravel at Canterbury. An engraving of another pointed implement from Reculver is given inOnce a Week.[2662]A few specimens have been found of oval or ovate, and of sub-triangular form, and equally convex on both faces.

Fig. 460.—Reculver.1⁄2

Thanks to Mr. F. Rutley, F.G.S., I have a small ochreous oval implement, which he found on the shore11⁄2miles west of Reculver.

Fig. 461.—Reculver.1⁄2

Though the implements are usually found on the sea-shore at the foot of the cliff, there can be no doubt of their being derived from the gravels at its summit. They are generally somewhat worn by the action of the waves, but occasionally they have preserved their edges quite sharp, and their angles unabraded, so that they could not have been many days upon the shore, and must have been quite recently derived from the cliff. I have, indeed, been informed by a coastguard-man that in{617}1884 he found an implementin situin the gravel on the cliff somewhat west of Old Haven Gap. Many of them are stained of the same ochreous colour as the other flints in the gravel, and I have, moreover, in one instance, found the point of an implement on the surface a short distance inland. Dr. G. D. Gibb, F.G.S.,[2663]also records finding a broken implement on the top of the cliff, half-way between Herne Bay and Reculver. The late Mr. Brent, F.S.A., had a long flake stained of an ochreous colour, and apparently derived from the gravel, which also came from the top of the cliff.

The lower part of the cliff, of which a section has been published by Sir Joseph Prestwich,[2664]consists of Thanet Sands and the sandy beds of the Woolwich Series, above which is a local pebbly clay deposit of small extent, and about 8 feet thick, to which he is inclined to refer the flint implements. Its height is about 50 feet above the sea. At a higher level farther west, near Old Haven Gap, are other gravel beds, which he presumes to be of older date. Into this question I need not enter, but for further geological details will refer the reader to my account of this discovery in theArchæologia.[2665]

There are pits, in which gravel is dug, near Chislet, where not improbably similar implements will eventually be discovered. I may add that it is difficult to form an idea of the position of the coast-line at the time when these gravels, which appear to be of freshwater origin, were deposited; as, owing to the soft nature of the base of the cliffs, the gain of the sea upon the land has been very rapid in this district, for even since Leland’s time—say three and a half centuries ago—it has encroached nearly a mile,[2666]but to this subject I shall have to recur.

To the west of Herne Bay, and about midway between that place and Whitstable, is another cliff, near Studhill, where, in the gravel which caps it, 50 feet above the sea, I have found a portion of a molar ofElephas primigenius, and at the foot of the cliff, rather farther to the west, the implement shown full size in Fig. 462.[2667]It is stained of an ochreous colour to some depth, and its surface is much altered in structure. Sir Joseph Prestwich[2668]seems inclined to refer this implement to a stratum of clay and gravelly sand at a lower level, but its colour is more in accordance with the higher beds. I subsequently picked up another implement of sub-triangular form, deeply stained, and much waterworn at the edges, at the foot of the same cliff. Tusks and bones ofElephas primigenius,[2669]are stated to be found near this spot when the cliff falls, as is frequently the case, from its being undermined by the sea. Elephants’ teeth are occasionally dredged up off the shore, and I have seen one which was found on the shore at Reculver.

At Swalecliffe, nearer Whitstable, where, in the shingle, an ochreously-stained flint flake was found by my son, and again, nearer Herne Bay, at Hampton, there are more argillaceous freshwater beds at a lower level, and containing land and marsh shells; but these seem to be comparatively modern, and connected with small lateral valleys rather than with the main valley of the Thames, or of any other ancient river.{618}

Fig. 462.—Studhill.1⁄1

Immediately east of Reculver lies the marshy valley which separates the Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent, a valley which is traversed by the river Stour, the principal stream of which passes by Sandwich, eastward, while a smaller channel connects it with a small stream rising to the west of Chislet, and conducts part of its waters northward to Northmouth sluice. The Stour and its tributaries drain an area of upwards of 300 square miles, and not far from its source at Rowton Chapel, near Lenham, Mr. G. Bunyard, of Maidstone, found in 1885 a good ovate palæolithic implement of flint, while near Canterbury, flint implements have been found in considerable numbers in the gravels in the neighbourhood of the river.

Fig. 463.—Thanington.1⁄2

Their discovery is due to the late Mr. John Brent, F.S.A., of Canterbury, with whom I have visited the neighbourhood, and who has most kindly furnished me with all the information at his command, including some particulars of the levels, and has allowed me to{619}engrave some of his specimens. One of the finest of these is shown in Fig. 463. The flint of which it is composed has become porcellanous, and nearly white. Small portions of the original crust are left at the base, and on one of the faces; the point has been broken off in ancient times. It was found in Thanington parish, on the surface, and not in the gravel, from which, however, it was undoubtedly derived. Several other specimens have been found in the same manner, among stones gathered from the surface of the slope of the southern side of the valley of the Stour, between Thanington and Canterbury. I have a pointed implement, but unfortunately broken, which was found by the late Mr. Frederick Pratt Barlow, on a heap of stones, when he visited the spot with me in 1868. The gravel beds near Thanington, out of which the implements appear to have come, must be from 80 to 100 feet above the river. Nearer Canterbury, at the back of Wincheap, between the waterworks and the gasometer, pits have been sunk in the gravel, at a lower level, where the surface{620}of the ground is about 29 feet above the river, from which the pits are distant about 600 yards; and from this spot Mr. Brent has procured several well-wrought implements of various forms. One of these is shown in Fig. 464.[2670]Its surface is lustrous, and of an ochreous colour, and the central ridge is waterworn.

Fig. 464.—Canterbury.1⁄2

The gravel, which is about 12 feet in thickness, and rests on the chalk, is coarse, and consists principally of sub-angular flints, with an admixture of rounded chalk, sandstone and iron-stone pebbles, with some fragments of fossil wood apparently from the Thanet Sands. The matrix is sandy, and there are some sandy veins. In parts of the pit there is a great thickness of brick-earth or loam. No land or freshwater shells have as yet been found, but some mammalian remains have occurred, among which is a molar ofElephas primigenius. At a lower level, in the gravel exposed by drainage works along Wincheap, I found several flakes; and more recently, in 1870, Mr. Brent has kindly sent me two pointed implements found in gravel in a pit near the new gasometer, where the surface is lower than that near the waterworks by 5 or 6 feet. One is of much the same type as the Reculver specimen, Fig. 458, but of coarser workmanship, and about 6 inches long. The other is less symmetrical, and only41⁄2inches in length. The surface of each is very much bruised and waterworn, and deeply stained of a dark ochreous colour.

There are in my collection numerous other specimens from Canterbury, both pointed and ovate. Many of them are deeply stained and much waterworn. One of these, by the kindness of Mr. Worthington Smith, is shown in Fig. 464A.[2671]The white patches marked A show where chips that have been detached before the implement was left in its final position in the gravel have left an unabraded surface. Mr. Smith regards this implement as one of the oldest class, and certainly it appears to have met with many vicissitudes and to have travelled a long way down the valley of the Stour before attaining its last resting-place. Another specimen, from the New Cemetery, is sharp and unabraded, and almost black and unstained. A fine pointed implement 7 inches long, has become white and porcellanous.

Higher up the valley, an implement has been found on the surface near Chilham, by Mr. John Marten, formerly of Easinge. It was at a distance of a quarter of a mile from the river, and at a height of about 100 feet above it.

Lower down, near Wear Farm, between Chislet and Reculver, on the western bank of the North Channel of the Stour, is a pit with sand and loam above the chalk, which has been described by{621}Prestwich.[2672]In the lower beds of sand, at a height of but a few feet above the sea, he found freshwater shells (including theCorbicula fluminalis), mammalian remains, and valves of the marine shellBalanus, as well asEntomostracaandForaminifera, characteristic of brackish water conditions. It would appear that we have here another instance of the occurrence of beds with theCorbicula, at no great distance from those productive of flint implements, but at a lower level. From a pit of the same character, on the opposite side of the road, I have seen elephant remains in the possession of Mr. Slater, of Grays, near Chislet.

Fig.464A.—Canterbury.1⁄2

Another palæolithic implement of ovate form was discovered in 1865, on a heap of stones, about 3 miles north of Folkestone, by Mr. W. Topley, F.R.S., of the Geological Survey. It is of course impossible to say from what source it was derived; but it may be mentioned that at Folkestone itself, at the top of the West Cliff, near the Battery, at the height of 110 feet above low-water mark, are some beds of Drift of much the same character as those in which flint implements have occurred in other localities, containing remains ofElephas primigenius,Hippopotamus major, and other mammals, and shells ofHelix.

Since this passage was written, a remarkably well-shaped ovate implement has been found in St. John’s Road (Radnor Park end), Folkestone, by Mr. Richard Kerr, F.G.S., in August, 1893. It lay in brick-earth at a comparatively low level, and is of flint partially whitened. With it was found a molar tooth ofRhinoceros tichorhinus. It is now, through Mr. Kerr’s kindness, in my collection, and is represented in Fig.464B.{622}

Proceeding along the southern coast, the next discoveries that have to be recorded are those made to the west of Eastbourne by Mr. R. Hilton. At Bell’s Field, Friston, he has found ovate implements, both ochreous and white and porcellanous, and he has given me a pointed implement from Crow Link Gap, East Dean. Although found on the surface and not in gravel or brick-earth, the implements present types which seem to justify their being regarded as of Palæolithic age.

Farther west, in the so-called Elephant bed at Brighton, a bed apparently of subaërial origin, and containing numerous mammalian remains of the Pleistocene period, Mr. Ernest Willett, in 1876, found a well-marked ovate implement,51⁄2inches long, of the type shown in Plate II., No. 11.

Fig.464B.—Folkestone.1⁄2

With these exceptions, if such they be, the valleys of the smaller rivers along the southern coast of England have as yet been barren of discoveries of implements in their gravels, until we come to the Itchen and the Test, which unite below Southampton, and now discharge into Southampton Water. As will be subsequently seen, there is good reason for believing that at the time when these implements were in use, a portion of the ground now covered by this estuary formed the bed of a river, itself a branch of a larger stream, only a small part of the course of which now remains, and that in a greatly altered condition, having been widened out into the Solent and Spithead.

The localities at which palæolithic implements have been found in the neighbourhood of the Itchen and Test are as yet mainly confined to the lower part of their course, namely, near the town of Southampton and along the shore of Southampton Water. The first discoveries in the district were made in 1863,[2673]by Mr. James Brown, of Salisbury, who found several implements in the neighbourhood of{623}Hill Head, about nine miles S.E. of Southampton; while the earliest discoveries near the latter place are of somewhat more recent date, and due to Mr. W. Read, C.E., until lately a resident of Southampton.

Fig. 465.—Southampton.1⁄2

I take the Southampton discoveries first, as being nearer the sources of the rivers. The implements obtained by Mr. Read have come from four different excavations in the gravel, at some distance from each other, three of them on Southampton Common, all of which I have, through his courtesy, had the opportunity of examining in his company, and the other at Freemantle, to the west of the town, about 60 feet above mean-tide level. The first of those on the Common was on the southern side, close by the road leading to the cemetery, where a section of gravel about 6 feet in thickness was exposed. This consisted principally of sub-angular flints and Lower Tertiary flint-pebbles mixed with a few of quartz, in a loose sandy matrix, and with some sandy and marly seams in places. At the base of the gravel was found the pointed implement shown in Fig. 465. It is stained of an ochreous colour, and has a projection on one side, towards the base, like that on the implement from Thetford, Fig. 427. One face is more carefully chipped than the other, and the edges and angles are slightly{624}water-worn. The elevation of the ground, at the spot where it was found, is estimated to be 86 feet above the mean sea-level.[2674]

In another small pit, at a rather higher level, and close to the N.E. corner of the cemetery, at a depth of 5 feet from the surface, an oval implement was found by Mr. Read,in situ, in the gravel, which here attains a thickness of about 8 feet. In this, as also in the preceding case, a bed of brick-earth or loess has been removed from above the gravel. The surface of this implement is ochreous and polished, and its angles are waterworn. The periphery is much twisted, like that of Fig. 434 from Santon Downham.

At the N.W. corner of the Common, fully half a mile from the first pit, and at a higher level still, where the surface of the ground is stated to be more than 160 feet above the mean sea-level, was the extensive excavation known as the Town Pit. The gravel here retains the same character, but is perhaps rather less coarse; and above it is a thin bed of marl, which separates it from the loess or brick-earth, which in most places has been removed for use. The gravel itself attains a thickness of from 8 to 15 feet, and from “a fall,” at about 6 feet from the surface, was picked out an ovate implement41⁄2inches in length, and in form like Fig. 419 from Bury St. Edmunds. Its edges are sharp, and its surface lustrous and stained of an ochreous tint, though on one face the flint has become partially whitened.

Another and still more interesting specimen(51⁄2inches), which, like that last described, is now, by the kindness of Mr. Read, in my own collection, has also been found in this pit. It is irregularly oval in form, being somewhat truncated at one end, but bearing a strong general resemblance to that from Hill Head, Fig. 466. Its surface is lustrous and deeply stained all over of a bright ochreous colour, and its angles and edges are much waterworn. The significance of this fact, in the case of an implement found in gravel capping a gently sloping tongue of land, between two rivers, the levels of which are now 160 feet below it, will be considered hereafter. Numerous other implements have been found near Southampton, and extensive collections of them are in the possession of Mr. W. E. Darwin and Mr. W. Dale. There is also a series in the Hartley Institution at Southampton. Higher up the valleys of the Itchen or the Test, none of the more highly-wrought implements have as yet been found in the gravels, although it seems probable that they may eventually be discovered, especially if the drift-beds at some considerable height above the present river levels be excavated. I have, however, seen a flake with one face artificial, and with signs of use or wear at the edge, which was found in a gravel-pit near the Fleming Arms, Swathling, a few miles north of Southampton, by Mr. Spencer G. Perceval. In the gravel near this place a molar ofElephas primigeniusis recorded to have been found.[2675]

I have also a deeply-stained ovate implement from Redbridge, close to Southampton, found by Mr. Worthington G. Smith.

I have already, in 1864, described elsewhere[2676]the discoveries which have been made in the gravels on the eastern shore of{625}Southampton Water, in the neighbourhood of Hill Head. Since that time a considerable number of flint instruments have been found in this locality, principally by Mr. James Brown, the original discoverer, and his friends.

Fig. 466.—Hill Head.A large number of specimens from this district are preserved in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury. Among them is at least one of chert. Of those found near Hill Head, a large proportion are flat, oval, and ovate specimens, one of which is engraved as Fig. 466. It was found by Mr. James Brown, in 1863, on the shore between Brunage and Hill Head. It is ochreous, and has its angles slightly waterworn, possibly in modern times, by the action of the pebbles on the shore. Some of the specimens have suffered considerably from this cause; but that the implements are derived from the gravel is proved by the fact of one having been discovered by Mr. James Brown,[2677]in a mass which had fallen from the cliff. Some of the{626}implements are of the pointed form with straight sides, and a few have the rounded butt of the flint left untouched, apparently by way of handle. One or two well-chipped broad flakes have also been found. The discoveries have extended over about 9 miles of the coast between Warsash and Gosport. Along a great part of this distance there is a low cliff, ranging in height from about 20 to 38 feet[2678]above the mean sea-level, and consisting of sands belonging to the Bracklesham series, capped by gravelly beds, in many places 10 to 12 feet thick, and in some, as much as 15 or 16 feet. These beds are almost continuous, and rest on a nearly horizontal base, except where the cliff is intersected by transverse valleys. The gravel consists almost entirely of chalk flints, mostly subangular, among which are some of considerable size, and some quite fresh and unrolled. There are also a few quartz and chert pebbles in the mass, and some large blocks of sandstone of Tertiary origin. Some loamy and sandy beds occur at intervals, but no mammalian remains or land or freshwater shells have, I believe, as yet been found in these beds of Drift. The gravels extend eastward a considerable distance, as may be seen on the excellent map[2679]given by Mr. Codrington in illustration of his paper on the Superficial Deposits of this District, as well as on the new Geological Survey Map. Since his paper was written Mr. Codrington has foundin situ, in a gravel-pit at Warsash, a mile to the north of Hook a well-wrought, long, pointed implement, at a height of about 46 feet above the mean sea-level. Two implements, one of them much like Fig. 468, found on Southsea Common to the east of Portsmouth, by Lieut. Oliver, R.E., and Mr. G. Smith, are now in the Blackmore Museum.During building operations at Lee on the Solent,[2680]numerous palæolithic implements have been found and preserved by Sir J. C. Robinson, F.S.A., to whom I am indebted for several specimens.On the other side of Spithead, at the Foreland or most eastern point of the Isle of Wight, the cliff-section shows a bed of shingly gravel, apparently a beach-deposit, according to Mr. Codrington, and between 30 and 40 feet thick, resting in a deep valley in the Bembridge marl. Towards the edge, where the gravel would abut against the marl, it is cut off by a trough filled with brick-earth 36 feet thick, with a few seams of small angular flints. This brick-earth appears to extend some distance upwards over the slope of the marl as well as over the shingly gravel; and among some flints derived from it, at a height of about 80 feet above the mean sea-level, Mr. Codrington found the neatly-chipped ovate implement shown in Fig. 467. Its surface is lustrous and in part whitened, and its angles and edges are sharp and unworn. The possible connection of the bed containing this instrument with others in this district is a matter for future consideration.The discovery is not, however, the only one that has been made in the Isle of Wight. I have two ovate water-worn specimens, found on the shore at Bembridge, and a thick, pointed implement, found on the beach between the flag-staff at Bembridge Point and the ferry. Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., has also found two implements on the shore at Seaview between Ryde and Bembridge.{627}I now turn to the discoveries made in the valleys of the Avon and its affluents, which drain an area of about 670 square miles. The first of these took place in the River-drift beds, in the neighbourhood of Salisbury; beds which were pointed out by Sir Joseph Prestwich in 1859[2681]as likely to contain implements of the same class as those from the valley of the Somme. This prognostication was made in ignorance of the fact that, already in 1846, a palæolithic implement had been found near Salisbury, and had come into the possession of the late Dr. S. P. Woodward, of the British Museum, who at that time put it aside, as having little reference to his own special studies.Fig. 467.—The Foreland, Isle of Wight.1⁄2In 1863, however, Dr. Humphrey P. Blackmore, of Salisbury, discovered a flint implement in the gravel at Bemerton, near that town; and since that time numerous other discoveries have been made by him in the district, and also by the late Mr. E. T. Stevens, Mr. James Brown, and other explorers resident at Salisbury, the results of whose zealous researches may be seen in the admirable Blackmore Museum. These discoveries have been made in the valleys of the Avon and the Wiley, and also on the spur of land separating those streams, and on that between the Avon and the Bourne. In the valley of the Avon, implements have been found at Lake, about 6 miles above Salisbury; and also at Ashford, near Fordingbridge, about 12 miles below its junction with the Wiley and Nadder at that city. As Lake is the highest point in the Valley of the Avon proper at which, up to the present time, such discoveries have been made in the River-drift, it will be well to notice it first, though it must be mentioned that Mr. F. J. Bennett, of the Geological Survey, has found a good palæolithic implement farther north, near Pewsey Station.Implements were found at this spot, in 1865, by Mr. Tiffin, jun., of{628}Salisbury,[2682]but only a few have since been discovered, as the gravel is little, if at all, worked; and it is therefore only on the slope of the hill where the beds have been cut through by the deepening of the valley that they occur. That shown in Fig. 468 is preserved in the Blackmore Museum. It is stained of an ochreous tint, and is worn at its edges. Others of similar form, but white, have also been found, as well as some large broad flakes. It is needless to discuss the character of the gravel, as so many discoveries, of which the circumstances can be better ascertained, have been made in the same neighbourhood. In the valley of the Wiley, at South Newton, about 5 miles above Salisbury, an isolated specimen of a flat ovate implement has also been found.Fig. 468.—Lake.1⁄2Nearer Salisbury, at Bemerton and Fisherton, the discoveries have been of more interest and importance. They have already, to some extent, been described by myself,[2683]principally from information given me by Dr. Humphrey P. Blackmore. The beds of Drift at these two places are at different levels on the slope of the north side of the valley of the Wiley, and of different characters; that at Bemerton being at the higher level, and principally gravel, and that at Fisherton lower, and principally consisting of brick-earth, with a few gravelly seams.The pit at Bemerton, in which most of the implements have been found, is about a mile west of Salisbury, nearly opposite the new church, and close to the lane connecting the roads to Wilton and Devizes, and nearly midway between them. The gravel consists mainly of subangular flints, with a few Upper Greensand pebbles and Tertiary sandstone blocks in a red clayey matrix. It is 10 to 12 feet{629}in thickness, and attains a height of at least 100 feet above the river, though in this particular pit it is only about 80 feet above it. The gravel caps the hill, instead of lying merely in a trough along its side, so that in this particular, the section I have elsewhere given is incorrect. The chalk comes nearly to the surface, lower down the slope, and divides the gravel from a brick-earth deposit continuous with that of Fisherton, farther down the valley.Fig. 469.—Bemerton.1⁄2Fig. 470.—Highfield.1⁄2The implements found at Bemerton are principally oval, ovate, and ovate-lanceolate. They are for the most part considerably altered in texture at the surface, and many of them are much rolled and waterworn. A few flakes and spalls of flint have also been found. The original of Fig. 469 is in the Blackmore Museum, and is of grey flint, not waterworn. It shows some marks of use on the edge, towards the point, and a portion of the natural crust of the flint remains at the base. In all, upwards of twenty specimens have been found in this gravel, one of them as high as the cemetery. Several others have also been found between that place and Highfield, which is about a quarter of a mile nearer Salisbury than the Bemerton Pit; and in gravel which there caps the hill between the Wiley and the Avon, implements have also been found.A remarkably small specimen from this place is shown in Fig. 470. It is of grey flint, slightly ochreous, and with its angles somewhat worn. The original is in the Blackmore Museum.{630}I am not aware of any organic remains having as yet been found in these upper gravels, though they are abundant in the brick-earth at a lower level, at Fisherton Anger, where, however, flint implements are so scarce that only few have been found; two of these are in the Blackmore Museum. One of them, obtained beneath remains of the mammoth, in 1874,[2684]is shown in Fig. 471. The flint of which it is made has become white and porcellanous, its angles are sharp, but along the edges of both sides towards the base there are marks of wearing away by use. The other specimen is only fragmentary, but the flint has assumed the same characters. The edge is like that of Fig. 437; one face of the implement having been flat and the section wedge-shaped.Fig. 471.—Fisherton.1⁄2The Drift deposits at Fisherton have long been known to geologists, and have been described by Sir Charles Lyell,[2685]Sir Joseph Prestwich,[2686]and others. They present a great similarity to the implement-bearing beds at Menchecourt, near Abbeville, as has been pointed out by Sir Joseph Prestwich;[2687]and this circumstance led us to visit the spot in 1859, with a view of discovering works of man in the beds, though at that time our search was unrewarded.It is needless for me here to describe the beds in detail: suffice it to say, that resting on a more highly inclined surface of chalk is a deposit, the upper portion of which forms the surface of the present slope on the northern side of the valley of the united Wiley and Nadder. It is in some places nearly 30 feet in thickness, but thins out{631}towards the bottom of the valley. This deposit,[2688]leaving the superficial soil out of the question, has usually in its upper part a rubbly gravel, with angular and subangular flints, fragments of chert, iron-stone, and chalk, mixed with clay and brick-earth, to a thickness of 4 or 5 feet; below that is from 10 to 18 feet of brick-earth mixed with variable masses of flint and chalk rubble, and containing bones and shells, principally in its lower part; below this again, from 1 to 2 feet of fine marl, full of well-preserved shells and a few bones; and at the base, flint and chalk rubble, with sand and clay.The following species are recorded by Dr. Blackmore as having occurred in these beds:—Canis lupus,Canis vulpes,Hyæna spelæa,Felis spelæa,Bison minor,[2689]Bos primigenius,Ovibos moschatus,Cervus tarandus,Cervus(Guettardi?),Cervus elaphus,Equus(four varieties),Rhinoceros tichorinus,Elephas primigenius,Spermophilus(superciliosus?),Lemmus torquatus,Lemmus(norvegicus?),Arvicola(sp. nov.?) andLepus timidus.Of birds, some bones of the wild goose,Anser segetum, have been found, and portions of the shells of eggs corresponding to those of the same bird, and of the wild duck,Anas boscas.The land and freshwater shells consist ofAncylus,Limnæa,Planorbis,Bythinia,Valvata,Pisidium,Acme,Carychium,Succinea,Helix,Limax,Pupa,Zonites, andZua.It is worthy of notice in passing, that the presence of the musk ox, the marmot, and the lemming, to say nothing of the reindeer, seems to point to a colder climate having prevailed at the time of the deposit of these beds, than now. The egg of the wild goose, if such it be, is also suggestive of a more arctic climate; as the breeding-place of this bird is presumably in the far north. This question of climate will come under consideration farther on.The discoveries at Milford Hill have already been placed on record by Dr. H. P. Blackmore.[2690]This hill, the name of which has on the old Ordnance Map been by error assigned to Cricket Down, forms a spur between the valleys of the Avon and the Bourne, and is in fact a continuation of Mizmaze Hill, from which, however, it is cut off by a transverse valley about 30 feet in depth. The summit of the hill rises to an elevation of about 100 feet above the waters of the Avon and the Bourne, which flow on either side of it, and unite below the point of the spur. At the summit of the hill the gravel attains its greatest thickness, which is about 12 feet. It rests on an irregular surface of chalk, occasionally running down into pipes, and thins out towards the sides, ceasing altogether rather more than half way down the hill. In places, there is chalk rubble or gravel in a chalky matrix at the base. The gravel consists principally of subangular flints, a few Tertiary pebbles, and blocks of sandstone, and contains a larger proportion of Upper Greensand chert than the Bemerton gravel—the whole mixed with a variable proportion of sand and stiff clay, and for the most part deeply stained by iron. Many of the large flints are said to present{632}no signs of wearing by water transport. On the slope of the hill, near the base of the gravel, a narrow seam of sand was found to contain some land shells of the generaHelix,Pupa,andZua. No mammalian remains, with the exception of a tooth of horse, have been found in the gravel.Flint implements have been discovered here in considerable numbers, mostly of the pointed lanceolate form; some of ovate, and other forms, including a scraper, have also occurred. Most of them are now in the Blackmore Museum. More than one specimen is of chert. In about 150 yards of gravel, excavated to form a cellar at Elm Grove, Milford Hill, no less than twenty implements of different forms were found, principally by Mr. James Brown. Dr. Blackmore observes that the implements on the side of the hill are relatively only half as numerous as on the top, and that the condition of their surface varies considerably, the majority being waterworn, but others having their edges and angles as sharp as if they had been made yesterday. The degree of staining also varies, and is not always due to their present position in the gravel, some deeply stained having been dug out of the chalk rubble at the base, where they lay side by side with fragments of flint, which retained their original colour; and, on the other hand, perfectly unstained specimens having been obtained from the ochreous gravel. Several implements were observed,in situ, by Mr. Wheaton, Mr. James Brown, and others; and they were found scattered unevenly through the deposit, but the majority low down and towards the base. Many of them are extremely rude; in fact, as a whole, “ruder and less skilfully made than most of the specimens from the valley of the Somme.” Flakes and spalls were found in considerable numbers, and also a few remarkably well-made implements, of which a magnificent specimen is shown in Fig. 472. It is of light-grey flint, with the natural crust on part of the base. The face not shown is roughly chipped, but it has been neatly wrought at the edge to a symmetrical form. Its angles are but slightly rounded. A detailed account of the discoveries at Bemerton[2691]and Milford Hill, with maps and figures of several implements, has been given by Mr. C. J. Read, of Salisbury.A scraper-like implement from Britford, a short distance below Salisbury, is in the Blackmore Museum.About 6 miles below Salisbury, in gravel, near Downton,[2692]and at an elevation of about 150 feet above the river Avon, Sir Joseph Prestwich picked up a small ovate implement, in form like Fig. 456, but more sharply pointed and only 3 inches in length. Between the pit, in which it was found, and the river, two gravel-terraces occur, one 80 to 110 feet, and the other 40 to 60 feet, above its level. At Breamore, farther south, a well-shaped pointed implement of chert was found by Mr. E. Westlake in 1888, in gravels 100 feet above the Avon.Fig. 472.—Milford Hill, Salisbury.1⁄2A few miles farther down the valley, and about half a mile S.W. of Fordingbridge, at Ashford[2693]railway station, is a gravel-pit, which was largely worked for the purpose of ballasting the railway, and in this{633}gravel also, implements have been found; first by Mr. Toomer, of Salisbury, in 1866, and subsequently by Mr. James Brown, myself, and others. Several specimens are preserved in the Blackmore Museum, one of which is shown in Fig. 473. It is of ochreous flint, with the angles slightly waterworn. Some of the implements found in this gravel have been much rolled. Mr. J. W. Brooke, of{634}Marlborough, has in his collection a series of about forty implements and flakes from Fordingbridge, many of them water-worn.Fig. 473.—Fordingbridge.1⁄2The gravel here rests upon Tertiary beds, and consists principally of subangular flints, with many Lower Tertiary pebbles, a few pieces of greensand iron-stone, and more rarely quartz pebbles among them. The beds are about 10 feet thick, and their height above the river about 40 feet. Remains of mammoth[2694]have been found in them.Farther down the course of the Avon, palæolithic implements have not as yet been found; and in the basin of the Stour, which joins the Avon at Christchurch, but one discovery has been made. This was of a small brown ochreous implement, made from a large external flake, trimmed into a somewhat kidney-shaped outline, and having its edges worn round, and its angles waterworn. It was found at Wimborne Minster, by Mr. W. F. Tiffin, of Salisbury, in gravel brought from a pit in the neighbourhood, and notin situ. I have searched for implements, but in vain, in some of the pits near Wimborne, though the gravel, especially at Oakley, has all the characters of a deposit likely to contain them.Though the united Avon and Stour now find their way into the sea near Christchurch, it seems probable, as will subsequently be shown, that they were in remote times affluents of a river running from west to east, and that a portion of this river, now widened out by the sea,{635}has become the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The course of this ancient river appears to have been a little to the south and seaward of the present line of the coast at Bournemouth; and some of the gravels which formerly lined its valley now cap the cliffs for some distance between Poole Harbour and Hengistbury Head, and thence on in the direction of Portsmouth.In these gravels, a very large number of palæolithic implements has been found. The first discovery at Bournemouth was made in 1866,[2695]by Mr. Alfred H. Stevens, of Salisbury, and in immediately subsequent years they were principally due to Dr. H. P. Blackmore, my son, P. Norman Evans, Mr. Albert Way, and others. The first implements were found in the gravel, after it had been dug and spread upon the roads; but Dr. Blackmore found an implementin situ, and two or three rough flakes, close to Boscombe Mouth, at almost the highest point of the cliff, more than 100 feet above the sea-level.Fig. 474.—Boscombe, Bournemouth.1⁄2This implement, which is nearly white and unworn, is preserved in the Blackmore Museum, and is represented in Fig. 474. Numerous implements of other forms have since been found in the gravel dug in the neighbourhood of Boscombe. Among them is a side-scraper31⁄2inches long and of the same type as that from Santon Downham, Fig. 437. It was found by Mrs. E. Sandars, of Bournemouth, who has kindly added it to my collection. A rude chopper-like implement was also found there. One of the finest, however, of all the early Boscombe implements is that shown in Fig. 475, which was found by my son Norman in 1868. It has unfortunately lost a portion near the{636}base, through a crack in the stone, but is otherwise perfect. The material is not, as usual, flint from the Chalk, but chert from the Upper Greensand. The surface is slightly ochreous, and to some extent lustrous. I have another implement of chert, but of ovate form, found at Boscombe, as well as some good pointed implements of flint. In the railway-cutting east of Boscombe, I, some years ago, found a flake of flint. Other implements have been found in gravel which is believed to have been dug to the west of Bournemouth, near the Bourne Valley Pottery and the turnpike on the Poole road. That shown in Fig. 476 was found by Miss Way, and kindly communicated to me by her father, the late Mr. Albert Way, F.S.A. It is of flint, now of a milky-white colour. Mr. Way has found three or four other specimens of much the same character. I have two large, rather coarsely chipped, irregularly oval specimens from the same gravels, both found by my son Norman.Fig. 475.—Boscombe, Bournemouth.1⁄2The beds near the turnpike are from about 6 to 8 feet thick, and rest on a slightly irregular surface of Bagshot Sands. The gravel{637}consists principally of subangular and rolled flints, a few Tertiary flint-pebbles, a considerable proportion of small quartz pebbles, and a few fragments of old rocks and Upper Greensand chert; the whole in a sandy matrix, and having in places some sandy seams. I am not aware of any mammalian or molluscan remains having been found in them. They are nearly, if not quite, on the summit of table-land, slightly inclining seawards, and with the valley of the Bourne to the north, with higher ground beyond it and also to the west. The surface near the turnpike is about 130 feet above the mean sea-level.Following the presumed course of the ancient river Solent for about ten miles eastward, along what is now the coast, we come to Barton. For the whole distance the land to the north is thickly capped with gravel; and at Barton, on the slope of the cliff, a flat, oval implement, 6 inches long, and in form much like that from Hill Head, Fig. 466, was found by an officer of the Coast Guard, about 1868, and was subsequently presented to the Christy Collection by Mr. Albert Way, F.S.A.Fig. 476.—Bournemouth.1⁄2Since that time an astonishing number of palæolithic implements has been found in the district extending from Chuton Bunny by Barton and Hordwell to Milford. I have about sixty specimens from this district in my own collection, many of them very perfect of their kind. For the most part they have been picked up on the shore and on the talus of the gravel-capped cliff, but they have occasionally been found in the gravel itself. A few have been made of Upper Greensand chert, but the majority are of flint. Nearly all the usual types are represented, several by large examples. I have pointed, oval, and ovate specimens, as much as 8 and81⁄2inches in length. Those from the gravel are as a rule sharp and but little abraded, while the condition of those found on the shore depends upon the length of time that they have been exposed to the rolling action of the sea since their fall from the cliff.{638}A palæolithic flake has been found still farther east, at Stone,[2696]between Exbury and Calshot Castle.Fig. 477.—Broom Pit, Axminster.1⁄2Assuming the existence of an ancient river Solent flowing at an elevation of upwards of 100 feet above the present level of the sea at Bournemouth, its western sources must have drained much the same basin as that of the rivers now discharging into Poole Harbour; but without at present entering into that question, I may mention the discovery of a palæolithic implement at Dewlish, about 3 miles N. of Piddletown, Dorsetshire, by Mr. James Brown, of Salisbury. It is very neatly chipped, but slightly unsymmetrical in form, one side being straight and the other curved; but in general character it resembles Fig. 430 from Thetford, having been made from a large flake, and showing the original crust of the flint at its base. It was found on the surface, at the top of a high hill, at no great distance from the branch of the Trent or Piddle, which flows past Dewlish. Elephant[2697]remains have been found near the same place, which have, however, been assigned toElephas meridionalis.{639}In the Blackmore Museum there were in 1872 four implements of chert, of oval and tongue-shaped types, found during the erection of the telegraph posts between Chard and Axminster. There was also another thin oval implement of ochreous flint,71⁄2inches long and31⁄2broad, which was found near Colyton, Devon. The exact locality where those first mentioned were found, is unknown; but it appears probable that the gravel, like that at Colyton, belongs to the valley of the Axe, in which I suggested in 1872 that further search should be made.Such a search has long since been rewarded. In 1877[2698]I recorded some discoveries at Broom, near Axminster, and in 1878 the late Mr. W. S. M. D’Urban[2699]gave an account of the ballast pit at Broom, in the parish of Hawkchurch, near Axminster, and close to the river Axe. It was worked in a low hill consisting of chert gravel intermingled with seams of ferruginous and sandy clay, and a section was exposed about 40 feet deep, the base being about 150 feet above the level of the sea, which comes within a distance of about six miles. At that time numerous palæolithic implements of various types had been found in the pit. They were formed of dark Upper Greensand chert, and some were much water-worn, while others were quite sharp and uninjured. Since then very many more have been collected, and a fine series of them is preserved in the Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter. There are also some good specimens in the Horniman Museum[2700]at Forest Hill, S.E. I have engraved a typical example of the ovate form in my own collection as Fig. 477.Some implements from Broom are of large size. I have a very rude specimen that I found among the ballast on the South Western Railway in August, 1877. It is81⁄2inches long and 6 inches wide. Other specimens are small. The ovate type seems to predominate, but the pointed forms are not scarce. A few broad flakes trimmed at the edges, of the so-called Le Moustier type, occur with the other forms.In the valley of the Culm, at Kentisbeare, near Cullompton, Mr. W. Downes,[2701]in 1879, found a chert implement in form like Plate II., Fig. 17.With the exception of those from the bone-caves of Devonshire, no palæolithic implements have as yet been found farther west in Britain.

Fig. 466.—Hill Head.

A large number of specimens from this district are preserved in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury. Among them is at least one of chert. Of those found near Hill Head, a large proportion are flat, oval, and ovate specimens, one of which is engraved as Fig. 466. It was found by Mr. James Brown, in 1863, on the shore between Brunage and Hill Head. It is ochreous, and has its angles slightly waterworn, possibly in modern times, by the action of the pebbles on the shore. Some of the specimens have suffered considerably from this cause; but that the implements are derived from the gravel is proved by the fact of one having been discovered by Mr. James Brown,[2677]in a mass which had fallen from the cliff. Some of the{626}implements are of the pointed form with straight sides, and a few have the rounded butt of the flint left untouched, apparently by way of handle. One or two well-chipped broad flakes have also been found. The discoveries have extended over about 9 miles of the coast between Warsash and Gosport. Along a great part of this distance there is a low cliff, ranging in height from about 20 to 38 feet[2678]above the mean sea-level, and consisting of sands belonging to the Bracklesham series, capped by gravelly beds, in many places 10 to 12 feet thick, and in some, as much as 15 or 16 feet. These beds are almost continuous, and rest on a nearly horizontal base, except where the cliff is intersected by transverse valleys. The gravel consists almost entirely of chalk flints, mostly subangular, among which are some of considerable size, and some quite fresh and unrolled. There are also a few quartz and chert pebbles in the mass, and some large blocks of sandstone of Tertiary origin. Some loamy and sandy beds occur at intervals, but no mammalian remains or land or freshwater shells have, I believe, as yet been found in these beds of Drift. The gravels extend eastward a considerable distance, as may be seen on the excellent map[2679]given by Mr. Codrington in illustration of his paper on the Superficial Deposits of this District, as well as on the new Geological Survey Map. Since his paper was written Mr. Codrington has foundin situ, in a gravel-pit at Warsash, a mile to the north of Hook a well-wrought, long, pointed implement, at a height of about 46 feet above the mean sea-level. Two implements, one of them much like Fig. 468, found on Southsea Common to the east of Portsmouth, by Lieut. Oliver, R.E., and Mr. G. Smith, are now in the Blackmore Museum.

During building operations at Lee on the Solent,[2680]numerous palæolithic implements have been found and preserved by Sir J. C. Robinson, F.S.A., to whom I am indebted for several specimens.

On the other side of Spithead, at the Foreland or most eastern point of the Isle of Wight, the cliff-section shows a bed of shingly gravel, apparently a beach-deposit, according to Mr. Codrington, and between 30 and 40 feet thick, resting in a deep valley in the Bembridge marl. Towards the edge, where the gravel would abut against the marl, it is cut off by a trough filled with brick-earth 36 feet thick, with a few seams of small angular flints. This brick-earth appears to extend some distance upwards over the slope of the marl as well as over the shingly gravel; and among some flints derived from it, at a height of about 80 feet above the mean sea-level, Mr. Codrington found the neatly-chipped ovate implement shown in Fig. 467. Its surface is lustrous and in part whitened, and its angles and edges are sharp and unworn. The possible connection of the bed containing this instrument with others in this district is a matter for future consideration.

The discovery is not, however, the only one that has been made in the Isle of Wight. I have two ovate water-worn specimens, found on the shore at Bembridge, and a thick, pointed implement, found on the beach between the flag-staff at Bembridge Point and the ferry. Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., has also found two implements on the shore at Seaview between Ryde and Bembridge.{627}

I now turn to the discoveries made in the valleys of the Avon and its affluents, which drain an area of about 670 square miles. The first of these took place in the River-drift beds, in the neighbourhood of Salisbury; beds which were pointed out by Sir Joseph Prestwich in 1859[2681]as likely to contain implements of the same class as those from the valley of the Somme. This prognostication was made in ignorance of the fact that, already in 1846, a palæolithic implement had been found near Salisbury, and had come into the possession of the late Dr. S. P. Woodward, of the British Museum, who at that time put it aside, as having little reference to his own special studies.

Fig. 467.—The Foreland, Isle of Wight.1⁄2

In 1863, however, Dr. Humphrey P. Blackmore, of Salisbury, discovered a flint implement in the gravel at Bemerton, near that town; and since that time numerous other discoveries have been made by him in the district, and also by the late Mr. E. T. Stevens, Mr. James Brown, and other explorers resident at Salisbury, the results of whose zealous researches may be seen in the admirable Blackmore Museum. These discoveries have been made in the valleys of the Avon and the Wiley, and also on the spur of land separating those streams, and on that between the Avon and the Bourne. In the valley of the Avon, implements have been found at Lake, about 6 miles above Salisbury; and also at Ashford, near Fordingbridge, about 12 miles below its junction with the Wiley and Nadder at that city. As Lake is the highest point in the Valley of the Avon proper at which, up to the present time, such discoveries have been made in the River-drift, it will be well to notice it first, though it must be mentioned that Mr. F. J. Bennett, of the Geological Survey, has found a good palæolithic implement farther north, near Pewsey Station.

Implements were found at this spot, in 1865, by Mr. Tiffin, jun., of{628}Salisbury,[2682]but only a few have since been discovered, as the gravel is little, if at all, worked; and it is therefore only on the slope of the hill where the beds have been cut through by the deepening of the valley that they occur. That shown in Fig. 468 is preserved in the Blackmore Museum. It is stained of an ochreous tint, and is worn at its edges. Others of similar form, but white, have also been found, as well as some large broad flakes. It is needless to discuss the character of the gravel, as so many discoveries, of which the circumstances can be better ascertained, have been made in the same neighbourhood. In the valley of the Wiley, at South Newton, about 5 miles above Salisbury, an isolated specimen of a flat ovate implement has also been found.

Fig. 468.—Lake.1⁄2

Nearer Salisbury, at Bemerton and Fisherton, the discoveries have been of more interest and importance. They have already, to some extent, been described by myself,[2683]principally from information given me by Dr. Humphrey P. Blackmore. The beds of Drift at these two places are at different levels on the slope of the north side of the valley of the Wiley, and of different characters; that at Bemerton being at the higher level, and principally gravel, and that at Fisherton lower, and principally consisting of brick-earth, with a few gravelly seams.

The pit at Bemerton, in which most of the implements have been found, is about a mile west of Salisbury, nearly opposite the new church, and close to the lane connecting the roads to Wilton and Devizes, and nearly midway between them. The gravel consists mainly of subangular flints, with a few Upper Greensand pebbles and Tertiary sandstone blocks in a red clayey matrix. It is 10 to 12 feet{629}in thickness, and attains a height of at least 100 feet above the river, though in this particular pit it is only about 80 feet above it. The gravel caps the hill, instead of lying merely in a trough along its side, so that in this particular, the section I have elsewhere given is incorrect. The chalk comes nearly to the surface, lower down the slope, and divides the gravel from a brick-earth deposit continuous with that of Fisherton, farther down the valley.

Fig. 469.—Bemerton.1⁄2Fig. 470.—Highfield.1⁄2

Fig. 469.—Bemerton.1⁄2

Fig. 470.—Highfield.1⁄2

The implements found at Bemerton are principally oval, ovate, and ovate-lanceolate. They are for the most part considerably altered in texture at the surface, and many of them are much rolled and waterworn. A few flakes and spalls of flint have also been found. The original of Fig. 469 is in the Blackmore Museum, and is of grey flint, not waterworn. It shows some marks of use on the edge, towards the point, and a portion of the natural crust of the flint remains at the base. In all, upwards of twenty specimens have been found in this gravel, one of them as high as the cemetery. Several others have also been found between that place and Highfield, which is about a quarter of a mile nearer Salisbury than the Bemerton Pit; and in gravel which there caps the hill between the Wiley and the Avon, implements have also been found.

A remarkably small specimen from this place is shown in Fig. 470. It is of grey flint, slightly ochreous, and with its angles somewhat worn. The original is in the Blackmore Museum.{630}

I am not aware of any organic remains having as yet been found in these upper gravels, though they are abundant in the brick-earth at a lower level, at Fisherton Anger, where, however, flint implements are so scarce that only few have been found; two of these are in the Blackmore Museum. One of them, obtained beneath remains of the mammoth, in 1874,[2684]is shown in Fig. 471. The flint of which it is made has become white and porcellanous, its angles are sharp, but along the edges of both sides towards the base there are marks of wearing away by use. The other specimen is only fragmentary, but the flint has assumed the same characters. The edge is like that of Fig. 437; one face of the implement having been flat and the section wedge-shaped.

Fig. 471.—Fisherton.1⁄2

The Drift deposits at Fisherton have long been known to geologists, and have been described by Sir Charles Lyell,[2685]Sir Joseph Prestwich,[2686]and others. They present a great similarity to the implement-bearing beds at Menchecourt, near Abbeville, as has been pointed out by Sir Joseph Prestwich;[2687]and this circumstance led us to visit the spot in 1859, with a view of discovering works of man in the beds, though at that time our search was unrewarded.

It is needless for me here to describe the beds in detail: suffice it to say, that resting on a more highly inclined surface of chalk is a deposit, the upper portion of which forms the surface of the present slope on the northern side of the valley of the united Wiley and Nadder. It is in some places nearly 30 feet in thickness, but thins out{631}towards the bottom of the valley. This deposit,[2688]leaving the superficial soil out of the question, has usually in its upper part a rubbly gravel, with angular and subangular flints, fragments of chert, iron-stone, and chalk, mixed with clay and brick-earth, to a thickness of 4 or 5 feet; below that is from 10 to 18 feet of brick-earth mixed with variable masses of flint and chalk rubble, and containing bones and shells, principally in its lower part; below this again, from 1 to 2 feet of fine marl, full of well-preserved shells and a few bones; and at the base, flint and chalk rubble, with sand and clay.

The following species are recorded by Dr. Blackmore as having occurred in these beds:—Canis lupus,Canis vulpes,Hyæna spelæa,Felis spelæa,Bison minor,[2689]Bos primigenius,Ovibos moschatus,Cervus tarandus,Cervus(Guettardi?),Cervus elaphus,Equus(four varieties),Rhinoceros tichorinus,Elephas primigenius,Spermophilus(superciliosus?),Lemmus torquatus,Lemmus(norvegicus?),Arvicola(sp. nov.?) andLepus timidus.

Of birds, some bones of the wild goose,Anser segetum, have been found, and portions of the shells of eggs corresponding to those of the same bird, and of the wild duck,Anas boscas.

The land and freshwater shells consist ofAncylus,Limnæa,Planorbis,Bythinia,Valvata,Pisidium,Acme,Carychium,Succinea,Helix,Limax,Pupa,Zonites, andZua.

It is worthy of notice in passing, that the presence of the musk ox, the marmot, and the lemming, to say nothing of the reindeer, seems to point to a colder climate having prevailed at the time of the deposit of these beds, than now. The egg of the wild goose, if such it be, is also suggestive of a more arctic climate; as the breeding-place of this bird is presumably in the far north. This question of climate will come under consideration farther on.

The discoveries at Milford Hill have already been placed on record by Dr. H. P. Blackmore.[2690]This hill, the name of which has on the old Ordnance Map been by error assigned to Cricket Down, forms a spur between the valleys of the Avon and the Bourne, and is in fact a continuation of Mizmaze Hill, from which, however, it is cut off by a transverse valley about 30 feet in depth. The summit of the hill rises to an elevation of about 100 feet above the waters of the Avon and the Bourne, which flow on either side of it, and unite below the point of the spur. At the summit of the hill the gravel attains its greatest thickness, which is about 12 feet. It rests on an irregular surface of chalk, occasionally running down into pipes, and thins out towards the sides, ceasing altogether rather more than half way down the hill. In places, there is chalk rubble or gravel in a chalky matrix at the base. The gravel consists principally of subangular flints, a few Tertiary pebbles, and blocks of sandstone, and contains a larger proportion of Upper Greensand chert than the Bemerton gravel—the whole mixed with a variable proportion of sand and stiff clay, and for the most part deeply stained by iron. Many of the large flints are said to present{632}no signs of wearing by water transport. On the slope of the hill, near the base of the gravel, a narrow seam of sand was found to contain some land shells of the generaHelix,Pupa,andZua. No mammalian remains, with the exception of a tooth of horse, have been found in the gravel.

Flint implements have been discovered here in considerable numbers, mostly of the pointed lanceolate form; some of ovate, and other forms, including a scraper, have also occurred. Most of them are now in the Blackmore Museum. More than one specimen is of chert. In about 150 yards of gravel, excavated to form a cellar at Elm Grove, Milford Hill, no less than twenty implements of different forms were found, principally by Mr. James Brown. Dr. Blackmore observes that the implements on the side of the hill are relatively only half as numerous as on the top, and that the condition of their surface varies considerably, the majority being waterworn, but others having their edges and angles as sharp as if they had been made yesterday. The degree of staining also varies, and is not always due to their present position in the gravel, some deeply stained having been dug out of the chalk rubble at the base, where they lay side by side with fragments of flint, which retained their original colour; and, on the other hand, perfectly unstained specimens having been obtained from the ochreous gravel. Several implements were observed,in situ, by Mr. Wheaton, Mr. James Brown, and others; and they were found scattered unevenly through the deposit, but the majority low down and towards the base. Many of them are extremely rude; in fact, as a whole, “ruder and less skilfully made than most of the specimens from the valley of the Somme.” Flakes and spalls were found in considerable numbers, and also a few remarkably well-made implements, of which a magnificent specimen is shown in Fig. 472. It is of light-grey flint, with the natural crust on part of the base. The face not shown is roughly chipped, but it has been neatly wrought at the edge to a symmetrical form. Its angles are but slightly rounded. A detailed account of the discoveries at Bemerton[2691]and Milford Hill, with maps and figures of several implements, has been given by Mr. C. J. Read, of Salisbury.

A scraper-like implement from Britford, a short distance below Salisbury, is in the Blackmore Museum.

About 6 miles below Salisbury, in gravel, near Downton,[2692]and at an elevation of about 150 feet above the river Avon, Sir Joseph Prestwich picked up a small ovate implement, in form like Fig. 456, but more sharply pointed and only 3 inches in length. Between the pit, in which it was found, and the river, two gravel-terraces occur, one 80 to 110 feet, and the other 40 to 60 feet, above its level. At Breamore, farther south, a well-shaped pointed implement of chert was found by Mr. E. Westlake in 1888, in gravels 100 feet above the Avon.

Fig. 472.—Milford Hill, Salisbury.1⁄2

A few miles farther down the valley, and about half a mile S.W. of Fordingbridge, at Ashford[2693]railway station, is a gravel-pit, which was largely worked for the purpose of ballasting the railway, and in this{633}gravel also, implements have been found; first by Mr. Toomer, of Salisbury, in 1866, and subsequently by Mr. James Brown, myself, and others. Several specimens are preserved in the Blackmore Museum, one of which is shown in Fig. 473. It is of ochreous flint, with the angles slightly waterworn. Some of the implements found in this gravel have been much rolled. Mr. J. W. Brooke, of{634}Marlborough, has in his collection a series of about forty implements and flakes from Fordingbridge, many of them water-worn.

Fig. 473.—Fordingbridge.1⁄2

The gravel here rests upon Tertiary beds, and consists principally of subangular flints, with many Lower Tertiary pebbles, a few pieces of greensand iron-stone, and more rarely quartz pebbles among them. The beds are about 10 feet thick, and their height above the river about 40 feet. Remains of mammoth[2694]have been found in them.

Farther down the course of the Avon, palæolithic implements have not as yet been found; and in the basin of the Stour, which joins the Avon at Christchurch, but one discovery has been made. This was of a small brown ochreous implement, made from a large external flake, trimmed into a somewhat kidney-shaped outline, and having its edges worn round, and its angles waterworn. It was found at Wimborne Minster, by Mr. W. F. Tiffin, of Salisbury, in gravel brought from a pit in the neighbourhood, and notin situ. I have searched for implements, but in vain, in some of the pits near Wimborne, though the gravel, especially at Oakley, has all the characters of a deposit likely to contain them.

Though the united Avon and Stour now find their way into the sea near Christchurch, it seems probable, as will subsequently be shown, that they were in remote times affluents of a river running from west to east, and that a portion of this river, now widened out by the sea,{635}has become the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The course of this ancient river appears to have been a little to the south and seaward of the present line of the coast at Bournemouth; and some of the gravels which formerly lined its valley now cap the cliffs for some distance between Poole Harbour and Hengistbury Head, and thence on in the direction of Portsmouth.

In these gravels, a very large number of palæolithic implements has been found. The first discovery at Bournemouth was made in 1866,[2695]by Mr. Alfred H. Stevens, of Salisbury, and in immediately subsequent years they were principally due to Dr. H. P. Blackmore, my son, P. Norman Evans, Mr. Albert Way, and others. The first implements were found in the gravel, after it had been dug and spread upon the roads; but Dr. Blackmore found an implementin situ, and two or three rough flakes, close to Boscombe Mouth, at almost the highest point of the cliff, more than 100 feet above the sea-level.

Fig. 474.—Boscombe, Bournemouth.1⁄2

This implement, which is nearly white and unworn, is preserved in the Blackmore Museum, and is represented in Fig. 474. Numerous implements of other forms have since been found in the gravel dug in the neighbourhood of Boscombe. Among them is a side-scraper31⁄2inches long and of the same type as that from Santon Downham, Fig. 437. It was found by Mrs. E. Sandars, of Bournemouth, who has kindly added it to my collection. A rude chopper-like implement was also found there. One of the finest, however, of all the early Boscombe implements is that shown in Fig. 475, which was found by my son Norman in 1868. It has unfortunately lost a portion near the{636}base, through a crack in the stone, but is otherwise perfect. The material is not, as usual, flint from the Chalk, but chert from the Upper Greensand. The surface is slightly ochreous, and to some extent lustrous. I have another implement of chert, but of ovate form, found at Boscombe, as well as some good pointed implements of flint. In the railway-cutting east of Boscombe, I, some years ago, found a flake of flint. Other implements have been found in gravel which is believed to have been dug to the west of Bournemouth, near the Bourne Valley Pottery and the turnpike on the Poole road. That shown in Fig. 476 was found by Miss Way, and kindly communicated to me by her father, the late Mr. Albert Way, F.S.A. It is of flint, now of a milky-white colour. Mr. Way has found three or four other specimens of much the same character. I have two large, rather coarsely chipped, irregularly oval specimens from the same gravels, both found by my son Norman.

Fig. 475.—Boscombe, Bournemouth.1⁄2

The beds near the turnpike are from about 6 to 8 feet thick, and rest on a slightly irregular surface of Bagshot Sands. The gravel{637}consists principally of subangular and rolled flints, a few Tertiary flint-pebbles, a considerable proportion of small quartz pebbles, and a few fragments of old rocks and Upper Greensand chert; the whole in a sandy matrix, and having in places some sandy seams. I am not aware of any mammalian or molluscan remains having been found in them. They are nearly, if not quite, on the summit of table-land, slightly inclining seawards, and with the valley of the Bourne to the north, with higher ground beyond it and also to the west. The surface near the turnpike is about 130 feet above the mean sea-level.

Following the presumed course of the ancient river Solent for about ten miles eastward, along what is now the coast, we come to Barton. For the whole distance the land to the north is thickly capped with gravel; and at Barton, on the slope of the cliff, a flat, oval implement, 6 inches long, and in form much like that from Hill Head, Fig. 466, was found by an officer of the Coast Guard, about 1868, and was subsequently presented to the Christy Collection by Mr. Albert Way, F.S.A.

Fig. 476.—Bournemouth.1⁄2

Since that time an astonishing number of palæolithic implements has been found in the district extending from Chuton Bunny by Barton and Hordwell to Milford. I have about sixty specimens from this district in my own collection, many of them very perfect of their kind. For the most part they have been picked up on the shore and on the talus of the gravel-capped cliff, but they have occasionally been found in the gravel itself. A few have been made of Upper Greensand chert, but the majority are of flint. Nearly all the usual types are represented, several by large examples. I have pointed, oval, and ovate specimens, as much as 8 and81⁄2inches in length. Those from the gravel are as a rule sharp and but little abraded, while the condition of those found on the shore depends upon the length of time that they have been exposed to the rolling action of the sea since their fall from the cliff.{638}

A palæolithic flake has been found still farther east, at Stone,[2696]between Exbury and Calshot Castle.

Fig. 477.—Broom Pit, Axminster.1⁄2

Assuming the existence of an ancient river Solent flowing at an elevation of upwards of 100 feet above the present level of the sea at Bournemouth, its western sources must have drained much the same basin as that of the rivers now discharging into Poole Harbour; but without at present entering into that question, I may mention the discovery of a palæolithic implement at Dewlish, about 3 miles N. of Piddletown, Dorsetshire, by Mr. James Brown, of Salisbury. It is very neatly chipped, but slightly unsymmetrical in form, one side being straight and the other curved; but in general character it resembles Fig. 430 from Thetford, having been made from a large flake, and showing the original crust of the flint at its base. It was found on the surface, at the top of a high hill, at no great distance from the branch of the Trent or Piddle, which flows past Dewlish. Elephant[2697]remains have been found near the same place, which have, however, been assigned toElephas meridionalis.{639}

In the Blackmore Museum there were in 1872 four implements of chert, of oval and tongue-shaped types, found during the erection of the telegraph posts between Chard and Axminster. There was also another thin oval implement of ochreous flint,71⁄2inches long and31⁄2broad, which was found near Colyton, Devon. The exact locality where those first mentioned were found, is unknown; but it appears probable that the gravel, like that at Colyton, belongs to the valley of the Axe, in which I suggested in 1872 that further search should be made.

Such a search has long since been rewarded. In 1877[2698]I recorded some discoveries at Broom, near Axminster, and in 1878 the late Mr. W. S. M. D’Urban[2699]gave an account of the ballast pit at Broom, in the parish of Hawkchurch, near Axminster, and close to the river Axe. It was worked in a low hill consisting of chert gravel intermingled with seams of ferruginous and sandy clay, and a section was exposed about 40 feet deep, the base being about 150 feet above the level of the sea, which comes within a distance of about six miles. At that time numerous palæolithic implements of various types had been found in the pit. They were formed of dark Upper Greensand chert, and some were much water-worn, while others were quite sharp and uninjured. Since then very many more have been collected, and a fine series of them is preserved in the Albert Memorial Museum at Exeter. There are also some good specimens in the Horniman Museum[2700]at Forest Hill, S.E. I have engraved a typical example of the ovate form in my own collection as Fig. 477.

Some implements from Broom are of large size. I have a very rude specimen that I found among the ballast on the South Western Railway in August, 1877. It is81⁄2inches long and 6 inches wide. Other specimens are small. The ovate type seems to predominate, but the pointed forms are not scarce. A few broad flakes trimmed at the edges, of the so-called Le Moustier type, occur with the other forms.

In the valley of the Culm, at Kentisbeare, near Cullompton, Mr. W. Downes,[2701]in 1879, found a chert implement in form like Plate II., Fig. 17.

With the exception of those from the bone-caves of Devonshire, no palæolithic implements have as yet been found farther west in Britain.

Back to Index Next