Introduction § 1. The tract included in the view from the northern brow of the hill, on which stands the rectory of Tortworth, is no less calculated to gratify a taste for the picturesque than to excite a lively interest by its geological structure. The rich and beautiful vale of the Severn, diversified by gentle inequalities, is bounded on the east by a bold abrupt escarpment of oolite, from which Stinchcombe-hill projects far out into the vale. In the distance, to the north, appears the Malvern chain of hills, flanked on the west by the Doghill range, and succeeded on the south-west by Mayhill, and the hills which, inclosing the coal-tract of the Forest of Dean, pass on into Monmouthshire. But the more immediate objects presented to the eye from this station, in the vale below, are the narrow transverse valleys of the Avon and Falfield; the former proceeding from the south-east, the latter from the south-west; and coinciding at a short distance above the village of Stone, their united waters pursue a course to the north-west, finding a vent in the Severn below the town of Berkeley. The Falfield valley and the lower part of the Avon are bordered on the west by the isolated table-lands and ridges of Eastwood and Whitecliff park; while the general course of the Avon is bounded on the east by the foot of the great escarpment. In the view thus described, the eye takes in at a glance a succession of geological formations