Excursion to Erith and Crayford. May 4th, 1872 - Geologists' Association excursion

From: A record of excursions made between 1860 and 1890. Edited by Thomas Vincent Holmes , F.G.S. and C. Davies Sherborn, F.G.S. London: Edward Stanford [For the Geologists’ Association], 1891. Source: Cornell University copy on the Internet Archive (Public domain work)

Figure 13 West side of the large ballast pit at Erith, 1885.

Figure 14 East side of the large brick pit at Erith, 1885.

Figure 15 South side of a footpath leading from Bexley Road to the large ballast pit at Erith, 1885.

Figure 16 Section shown by the southern face of The Great Pit at the Erith Brickyard, 1867.

Figure 17 Section shown by the northern pace of the great pit at the Crayford Brickyard, 1867.

Figure 18 Section at Erith.

Figure 19 Section of the "Corbicula" Pit, Erith. b-e Beds of River Drift. A Chalk.

Figure 20 Section in Crayford Pit.

Figure 21 Section at Stoneham's Pit, Crayford.

Figure 22 Section of part of the "Corbicula" Bed, Crayford.

Figure 23 Non-marine mollusca, from the River Drift (with the exception of 6), extinct in Britain. [Lent by Mr. B. B. Woodward.]

Figure 24 Section in Crayford Pit.

Figure 25 Section of cliff near Crayford.

[Frith and Crayford were next visited on May 4th, 1872, J. Logan Lobley, F.G.S., being the Director. From his report the following remarks are extracted (Proc., vol. iii. p. 83).]

Excursion to Erith and Crayford. May 4th, 1872

On arrival at Erith Station the party proceeded to the fine sections of the Thanet Sands, exposed in the great Ballast Pit. This excavation has been formed by the removal of the loamy Thanet Sand, which is used as ballast, and subsequently for iron-casting purposes.

The bottom of the pit is about two feet above the top of the Chalk, which underlies the whole, and is seen at one or two small wells. Wells of little depth in this area furnish water in abundance. The proximity of the Thames, and the slight difference of level between the bottom of the Ballast Pit and high-water mark, cause here an unlimited supply of water in the bed of Chalk immediately underlying the Bul'- Head bed, the whole of the Chalk below being filled to saturation. As may be expected, the water falls and rises in these wells with the ebb and flow of the tide in the adjacent river. The sides of the pit reach a height of sixty or seventy feet, and are (1872) formed almost exclusively of the Thanet Sands, the only exception being a small capping of the Woolwich and Reading Series at one place, that at which the side of the pit is highest.

Leaving the Ballast Pit the hill on the south was ascended, and exposures inspected of the Woolwich and Reading Series and of the Old-haven Beds, which latter consist in this place of a great accumulation of pebbles.

The extensive excavation known as White's Pit was next visited. At this place an interesting section of the old river-bank is capped by great deposit of Pleistocene sands and brick-earth. The Thanet Sands, which, at the Ballast Pit, about half a mile distant, are sixty feet thick, are here only fifteen; they rest on the Chalk, and form the summit of what was a steep river-bank.

The Pleistocene deposits yield Corbicula [Cyrena] fluminalis Valvata piscinalis, Pisidium amnicum, Bythinia tentaculata, &c., and from them have also been derived remains of several species of Mammalia, including, according to Boyd Dawkins, Bos primigenius, Canis lupus, Elephas antiquus, E. primigenius, Equus fossilis (= caballus), and Felis spelæa.

Leaving White's Pit the great excavation at Crayford was reached.

The sections exposed here are very varied, and display some remarkable features of the ancient Chalk river-banks, which have been preserved from destruction or even injury by the enveloping Pleistocene deposits. The fauna is, as might be expected, similar to that of the Erith Pit, but the remains of Mammalia found at Crayford give us a list of species much longer than those from Erith.

[Excursions to Erith and Crayford were made on June 26th, 1875 (J. Logan Lobley again acting as Director), and on April 6th, 1879, under the leadership of Prof. J. Morris. The reports of both are extremely brief, and contain nothing new. They may be found in Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. iv., p. 323, and vol. vi., p. 174. On June 13th, 1885, the Erith and Crayford pits were again visited, F. C. J. Spurrell directing. A full report of this excursion is given in Proc., vol. ix., pp. 213-16, by F. C. J. Spurrell and J. G. Goodchild, with a section of a cliff near Crayford (Fig. 25), and references to writers on the formations seen in this neighbourhood. The latest visit of the Association to Crayford was on May 3rd, 1890, the Directors being F. C. J. Spurrell and E. T. Newton.

On Saturday, May 27th, 1890, there was an excursion to Swanscombe under the direction of F. C. J. Spurrell. The party alighted at Northfieet and returned from Greenhithe.

Near Crayford, but a little higher up the valley of the Cray, is Bexley. The most important sections visible in this neighbourhood are those seen during descents of the deneholes, which abound in Jorden's Wood.]

References

Maps

Ordnance Survey. Geological, Sheet 1 S.W. 3s.

New Ordnance Survey. Sheet 271. IS.

Books

PRESTWICH, J.—"Deposits containing the Remains of Extinct Mammalia, and Flint Implements," Phil. Trans., vol. cliv, part 2, 1864.

DAWKINS, W. BOYD —"Ace of the Lower Brick-Earths of the Thames Valley," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxiii, 1867.

SPURRELL, F. C. J.—"On the Discovery of Palmolithic Implements at Crayford," Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxxvi, 1880.

WHITAKER, W.—"Geology of London, etc. 8vo. London (Geol. Surv.), 1889, vol. i, chapters 20, 21, 24, and 25. [For literature.]

WOODWARD, B. B.—"Pleistocene (non-marine) Mollusca of the London District," Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. xi., 1890, p. 335.

WHITAKER, W.—"Guide to the Geology of London." 8vo. London (Geol. Surv.), ed. 1889. 1s.