Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/36

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A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK extensively buried up by the succeeding glacial deposits, which form a mantle over by far the greater part of the county. The chalky Boulder Clay occupies much of western and central Suffolk, and the lighter Glacial sands and gravels much of the eastern part. To them the agricultural characters of the land and its scenery are principally due : the strong loam of the Boulder Clay forming arable tracts, and the sands and gravels, together with the Crag series, giving rise to those pleasant, gorse-covered commons which form a marked feature in eastern Suffolk, Later deposits belonging to old valleys, but some of high antiquity, have attained renown, notably at Hoxne and Brandon, as repositories of the flint implements of Paleolithic man ; while the more recent accu- mulations — marine, estuarine and freshwater — occupy lower levels in the valleys and fringe the coasts. The chief industries connected with geology are lime-burning and brick-making. The old gun-flint manufactory at Brandon is practically extinct, while the ' coprolite diggings ' have been abandoned owing to the introduction of foreign phosphates. Although the geological structure of the county has been spoken of as simple, the particular relations of many of the sub-divisions in the Pliocene and newer strata have formed the subject of much controversy, and mainly on this account the literature is voluminous. For some of the earlier records relating to the county we are indebted to the Rev. William Branwhite Clarke,' who was born at East Bergholt, and who ultimately became the ' Father of Australian Geo- logy.' To Searles Valentine Wood of Hasketon and Martlesham, and to his son S. V. Wood, junior ; to Edward Charlesworth, Sir Joseph Prestwich, John Ellor Taylor, Professor E. Ray Lankester, Mr. William Whitaker, Mr. E. T. Newton, Mr. Clement Reid and Mr. F. W. Harmer we are especially indebted for our knowledge of the Tertiary and newer strata and their organic remains.^ To Mr. A. J. Jukes- Browne and Mr. William Hill we owe our special knowledge of the Chalk. To the publications of the Geological Survey we are likewise indebted, and frequent reference is made to the Memoirs issued by that institution. The strata or formations known in Suffolk may be grouped as follows, the names in italics referring to those not exposed at the sur- face. ' ' On the Geological Structure and Phzenomena of tlie County of Suffolk,' Trans. Geo!. Soe. sec. l, V. 359.

  • For bibliography see list in Whitaker's 'Geology of the Country around Ipswich, Hadleigh

and Felixstow,' Geol. Survey (1885), p. 134 ; with addenda in 'Geology of Parts of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk,' Geol. Survey (1891), p. i 21. See also ' Sketch of the Geology of Suffolk,' by J. E.Taylor, reprinted from the fourth edition of White's History, etc., of the county (1884.). 2