On the Wealden Strata exposed by the Tunbridge Wells Railway

Abstract

In Dr. Fitton's valuable memoir “On the Strata below the Chalk,” it is incidentally observed, that “the relations of the strata at Tunbridge Wells, and in the tract on the north of it towards the valley of the Weald, are well-deserving of attentive examination.” (Geol. Trans., 2nd Ser., vol. iv. p, 171, note.) At that period no extensive sections were visible by which the superposition of the beds in this district could be accurately traced; but the deep cuttings for the Tunbridge Wells branch railway, traversing some of the longitudinal ridges of the Wealden sandstones, have fortunately afforded some information on the subject, a brief account of which is now laid before the Society, as exhibiting some interesting sections of the Upper Wealden series, as well as a remarkable flexure and fault by which these beds have been affected. Our object in the present communication is simply to record the details of structure and superposition of the strata cut through; and if their correct superposition with reference to any given line can be established, they may then be connected with other deposits whose position with regard to the same base may have been already determined. The Dover railway traverses the Upper Wealden district from a short distance beyond the Redhill station nearly to Ashford, the branch line proceeding southward to Tunbridge Wells, deviating fi'om it nearly at a right angle about a quarter of a mile beyond the Tunbridge station. It is well-known that the strata of the Wealden consist