Excursion to Newport, Audley End, and Saffron Walden, Saturday, July 22nd, 1911 - Geologists' Association excursion: Difference between revisions

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Meet Excursion Secretary in Main Line Booking Office, Liverpool Street Station, not later than 10.50. Members should bring lunch.
Meet Excursion Secretary in Main Line Booking Office, Liverpool Street Station, not later than 10.50. Members should bring lunch.


The main purpose of this excursion is to examine the series of Glacial deposits in the vicinity of Saffron Walden on the north-west border of Essex, and will form a link with the recent excursion to Cambridge and Bishops Stortford. The district may be described as an undulating Chalk plateau broken up by a series of erosion valleys which drain northward through the Chalk escarpment into the Cambridgeshire basin. The plateau top is covered by a deposit of Boulder Clay averaging about 60 ft. is thickness, with underlying chalky, glacial gravels and sands of varying thickness, which may, in some cases, be absent. Although the Boulder Clay is now much cut up, and occurs at different levels, yet it was obviously deposited as a uniform sheet over the whole district. The chalk is exposed by denudation on the upper slopes of the valley, but in the lower parts a second series of Glacial deposits is exposed, which may or may not have been originally continuous with the upper Boulder Clay. A typical section is that seen in the cutting just north of the bridge at Audley End (Wenden) Station. Here a Boulder Clay with rounded and glaciated chalk nodules overlies a hard, yellow. stoneless loam, which in turn passes into a very chalky Boulder Clay resting against the Chalk (Fig. 11 as, Memoir 47, Geol. Surv., p 38). The same succession will be seen in cuttings of the Saffron Walden Branch Line, and in One instance where the lower bed is comse gravel the middle bed of sand has been excavated out into a channel subsequently filled with a very chalky Boulder Clay (Fig. 12, Memoir 47, p. 39). Local well sections point to the existence of an ancient drift-filled gorge in the Chalk, which must follow the general line of the Cam Valley through Littlebury, Wenden, and Newport. The floor of this channel is more than 60 ft. below present sea-level, a well at Littlebury (155 ft. O.D.) having pierced 218 ft. of clays and Barns without reaching the chalk.
The main purpose of this excursion is to examine the series of Glacial deposits in the vicinity of Saffron Walden on the north-west border of Essex, and will form a link with the recent excursion to Cambridge and Bishops Stortford. The district may be described as an undulating Chalk plateau broken up by a series of erosion valleys which drain northward through the Chalk escarpment into the Cambridgeshire basin. The plateau top is covered by a deposit of Boulder Clay averaging about 60 ft. is thickness, with underlying chalky, glacial gravels and sands of varying thickness, which may, in some cases, be absent. Although the Boulder Clay is now much cut up, and occurs at different levels, yet it was obviously deposited as a uniform sheet over the whole district. The chalk is exposed by denudation on the upper slopes of the valley, but in the lower parts a second series of Glacial deposits is exposed, which may or may not have been originally continuous with the upper Boulder Clay. A typical section is that seen in the cutting just north of the bridge at Audley End (Wenden) Station. Here a Boulder Clay with rounded and glaciated chalk nodules overlies a hard, yellow. stoneless loam, which in turn passes into a very chalky Boulder Clay resting against the Chalk (Fig. 11 as, Memoir 47, Geol. Surv., p 38). The same succession will be seen in cuttings of the Saffron Walden Branch Line, and in One instance where the lower bed is corse gravel the middle bed of sand has been excavated out into a channel subsequently filled with a very chalky Boulder Clay (Fig. 12, Memoir 47, p. 39). Local well sections point to the existence of an ancient drift-filled gorge in the Chalk, which must follow the general line of the Cam Valley through Littlebury, Wenden, and Newport. The floor of this channel is more than 60 ft. below present sea-level, a well at Littlebury (155 ft. O.D.) having pierced 218 ft. of clays and Barns without reaching the chalk.


Inspect Chalk pit near station at Newport, with a large pipe with Tertiary (1) sands, then along road to Wenden, passing the "Leper Stone" (a Sarsen block) to the Gravel pit—recent river gravel. Turn aside at Wenden to inspect section of Boulder Clay just north of the station, the peat deposit under the viaduct and Hertfordshire Conglomerate boulders in the walls; thence across to the Calcrete boulder about half-way to Walden, and, if permission can be obtained from the Great Eastern Railway Company, the section in the railway cutting. From thence across to the Fulfen Slade, noting the erosion caused by an intermittent stream with springs at the foot of the valley, then across the Park to Saffron Walden. Visit Cement Works to see the manufacture of cement from Chalk and Boulder Clay. Visit the Boulder Clay pits and strike across to Seward's, passing some Basalt boulders, and back to Walden. Visit the Museum and inspect the local geological collections.
Inspect Chalk pit near station at Newport, with a large pipe with Tertiary (1) sands, then along road to Wenden, passing the "Leper Stone" (a Sarsen block) to the Gravel pit—recent river gravel. Turn aside at Wenden to inspect section of Boulder Clay just north of the station, the peat deposit under the viaduct and Hertfordshire Conglomerate boulders in the walls; thence across to the Calcrete boulder about half-way to Walden, and, if permission can be obtained from the Great Eastern Railway Company, the section in the railway cutting. From thence across to the Fulfen Slade, noting the erosion caused by an intermittent stream with springs at the foot of the valley, then across the Park to Saffron Walden. Visit Cement Works to see the manufacture of cement from Chalk and Boulder Clay. Visit the Boulder Clay pits and strike across to Seward's, passing some Basalt boulders, and back to Walden. Visit the Museum and inspect the local geological collections.
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1894. RAMSAY, SIR A.—"Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain."
1894. RAMSAY, SIR A.—"Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain."


== Images ==
== Images ==

Latest revision as of 22:44, 28 September 2020

Geologists' Association Circular No. 135. Session 1910–1911. p.8-10

Excursion to Newport, Audley End, and Saffron Walden, Saturday, July 22nd, 1911. (Transcription from GA Circular No. 135. Session 1910–1911. p.8-10.)

DIRECTORS: G. MORRIS and G. MAYNARD.

EXCURSION SECRETARY: THOMAS W. READER, 17, Gloucester Road, Finsbury Park, N.

Leave Liverpool Street 11.5; arrive at Newport 12.17. Special return tickets, 4s. 8d. each.

Meet Excursion Secretary in Main Line Booking Office, Liverpool Street Station, not later than 10.50. Members should bring lunch.

The main purpose of this excursion is to examine the series of Glacial deposits in the vicinity of Saffron Walden on the north-west border of Essex, and will form a link with the recent excursion to Cambridge and Bishops Stortford. The district may be described as an undulating Chalk plateau broken up by a series of erosion valleys which drain northward through the Chalk escarpment into the Cambridgeshire basin. The plateau top is covered by a deposit of Boulder Clay averaging about 60 ft. is thickness, with underlying chalky, glacial gravels and sands of varying thickness, which may, in some cases, be absent. Although the Boulder Clay is now much cut up, and occurs at different levels, yet it was obviously deposited as a uniform sheet over the whole district. The chalk is exposed by denudation on the upper slopes of the valley, but in the lower parts a second series of Glacial deposits is exposed, which may or may not have been originally continuous with the upper Boulder Clay. A typical section is that seen in the cutting just north of the bridge at Audley End (Wenden) Station. Here a Boulder Clay with rounded and glaciated chalk nodules overlies a hard, yellow. stoneless loam, which in turn passes into a very chalky Boulder Clay resting against the Chalk (Fig. 11 as, Memoir 47, Geol. Surv., p 38). The same succession will be seen in cuttings of the Saffron Walden Branch Line, and in One instance where the lower bed is corse gravel the middle bed of sand has been excavated out into a channel subsequently filled with a very chalky Boulder Clay (Fig. 12, Memoir 47, p. 39). Local well sections point to the existence of an ancient drift-filled gorge in the Chalk, which must follow the general line of the Cam Valley through Littlebury, Wenden, and Newport. The floor of this channel is more than 60 ft. below present sea-level, a well at Littlebury (155 ft. O.D.) having pierced 218 ft. of clays and Barns without reaching the chalk.

Inspect Chalk pit near station at Newport, with a large pipe with Tertiary (1) sands, then along road to Wenden, passing the "Leper Stone" (a Sarsen block) to the Gravel pit—recent river gravel. Turn aside at Wenden to inspect section of Boulder Clay just north of the station, the peat deposit under the viaduct and Hertfordshire Conglomerate boulders in the walls; thence across to the Calcrete boulder about half-way to Walden, and, if permission can be obtained from the Great Eastern Railway Company, the section in the railway cutting. From thence across to the Fulfen Slade, noting the erosion caused by an intermittent stream with springs at the foot of the valley, then across the Park to Saffron Walden. Visit Cement Works to see the manufacture of cement from Chalk and Boulder Clay. Visit the Boulder Clay pits and strike across to Seward's, passing some Basalt boulders, and back to Walden. Visit the Museum and inspect the local geological collections.

Total walking distance 6 miles.

Tea at Taylor's Restaurant. Price

Return train 5.32, due Liverpool Street 7.21.

Should members with to remain and visit the Church, Battle Ditches, Dutch Gardens, etc., a train leaves Saffron Walden, arriving Liverpool Street at 10.2.

Total walking distance between 7 and 8 miles.

REFERENCES.

Geol. Survey Map, Sheet 47, Drift Edition. 1884.

Memoir 47, Geol. Survey, N.W. Essex and N.E. Herts. (Whitaker, Penning, Dalton,and Bennett).

Horizontal sections of Geol. Survey, Sheet 126.

1867, WOOD, S. V., JUN.—"Boulder Clay and Drift of Norfolk, Suffolk, and on North Side of Thames Valley." Geol. Mag. vol. iv, p. 475.

1867. WOOD, S. V., JUN.—"Structure of Post-Glacial Deposits of South-East England." Quart. Journ. Geol, Soc., vol. xxiii, pp. 394–417.

1868. WOOD, S. V., JUN.—Corrections in Geol. Mag., vol. v, pp. 43: 834.

1870. WOOD, S. V., JUN.— "Observations on Sequence of the Glacial Beds.' ' Geol. Mag., vol. vii, pp. 17, 61.

1876. WOOD, S. V., JUN.—"Observations on Physical Geography of East Anglia during Glacial Period." Geol. Mag., dec. 2, vol. ill, pp. 284–6.

1880. MACKINTOSH.—"Correlation of Drift Deposits of North-West of England and Wales with those of Midland and Eastern Counties." Quart. Journ. Geol, Soc., vol. xxxvi, pp. 178-188.

1881. WOOD, S. V., JUN.—"Further Remarks on the Origin of the Valley Systemof South-East England." Geol. Mag., dec. 2, VOL viii, pp. 302-504.

1884. "Essex Well Sections." Trans. Essex Field Club, vol. iv, pp. 149, 174.

1887. ROWE, REV. A. W.—"Rocks of the Essex Drift." Quart. Journ. Geol, Soc.,vol. xliii, pp. 351, 363.

1887. ROWE, REV. A. W.—"Some Essex Boulders." Essex Nat., vol. 1, p. 117. 1889.

WHITAKER, W.—"On a Deep Channel of Drift in the Valley of the Cam, Essex." Essex Nat., vol. iii, p. 140.

1894. RAMSAY, SIR A.—"Physical Geography and Geology of Great Britain."

Images

Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911

List of photographs

Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911

Page 65 P805460 Calcrete boulder about midway between Wenden and Saffron Walden. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911.
Page 65 P805461 Calcrete boulder about midway between Wenden and Saffron Walden. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911.
Page 65 P805462 Sections in the Boulder Clay of the North Essex Cement Works near Sewards End, Saffron Walden. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911. Sections in the Boulder Clay of the North Essex Cement Works near Sewards End, Saffron Walden, showing the chalk blocks and other stones in position in the clay and also as picked out by the diggers.
Page 65 P805463 Sections in the Boulder Clay of the North Essex Cement Works near Sewards End, Saffron Walden. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911. Sections in the Boulder Clay of the North Essex Cement Works near Sewards End, Saffron Walden, showing the chalk blocks and other stones in position in the clay and also as picked out by the diggers.
Page 67 P805464 Cutting three-quarters of a mile from Audley End Station on the Walden Line. Chalk overlain by Boulder Clay, gravel and loam, and top layer of Boulder Clay. 200-280 OD. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911.
Page 67 P805465 Brickyard pit near Wenden Mill, Audley End Station, close to present stream level. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911. Recent chalky gravels overlain by brown valley earth (photograph 1) and banked against a thick bed of sandy loam (photographs 2 and 3) which is seen by the side of the tram line. Added note: Photograph 1.
Page 67 P805466 Brickyard pit near Wenden Mill, Audley End Station, close to present stream level. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911. Recent chalky gravels overlain by brown valley earth (photograph 1) and banked against a thick bed of sandy loam (photographs 2 and 3) which is seen by the side of the tram line. Added note: Photograph 2.
Page 67 P805467 Brickyard pit near Wenden Mill, Audley End Station, close to present stream level. Excursion to Audley End and Saffron Walden, July 22nd 1911. Recent chalky gravels overlain by brown valley earth (photograph 1) and banked against a thick bed of sandy loam (photographs 2 and 3) which is seen by the side of the tram line. Added note: Photograph 3.