EARLY MAN of what it must have been originally, much of it having been destroyed by river action of later times ; and both north and south ends are abrupt and without any present connexion with the neighbouring higher ground. Nor is the ridge continuous from end to end. At some time in its history it has been cut across at right angles by streams coming from the east. There are at least three such breaches of continuity which will be described more fully presently. And these three breaches are by no means the only evidences of the past destructive forces to which this area of ground has been exposed. The very fact that to-day it exists as a ridge speaks eloquently of its past history. All along the top of the ridge are gravels, most of them implementiferous, and at least two of them teeming with the handiwork of man. When these gravels were laid down what is now the ridge must have been a valley, all traces of the boundaries of which have now disappeared. To the west the ridge slopes down to the flat expanse of the chalk plain of Cambridgeshire and the Fen country ; whilst to the east it is bounded by a valley, in many parts a mile wide, running parallel to the ridge from north to south, which valley must have been ScAkt I INCH TO TMt MILt Plan of the Mildenhall District 237
