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5
THE PARISH OF STOKE NEWINGTON.
Topographical Notes.—Geology.—Church Street runs across
the parish and bisects it into a larger northern part and a somewhat
smaller southern part. If a line be drawn parallel to Church
Street, but some 150 yards to the north, the area of the parish
north of this line has, according to the Geological Survey, the
London clay to a varying depth upon its surface. A deep boring
in any part of this area would penetrate first a variable depth of
London clay, then the so-called Woolwich and Reading beds of
clay and sand, then a shallow deposit of Thanet sand, then a
great depth of chalk; beneath the chalk a shallow depth of upper
green sand would first be encountered, then the gault (a deposit of
stiff bluish clay), and finally a thin bed of lower green sand.
South of the line indicated above the surface of the area comprised
within the parish consists of brick-earth—a brown loam of
no great thickness. This brick-earth overlies the London clay,
varies from a clayey sand to a sandy clay, and at points contains
a few flints and pebbles; it is believed to be a deposit from flood
waters, for it contains land and fresh-water shells (of snails,
bivalves, &c.). Some beds of this formation have been laid open
in Stoke Newington, and have been found to contain palaeolithic
instruments of great geological interest.
On the extreme south and south-east confines of the district
there are some shallow gravel patches, which overlie the London
clay.
Surface configuration.—The parish lies at a very uniform
height of 100 feet above ordnance datum (i.e., the approximate
mean height of the tide at Liverpool).
From the northern boundary line of the parish the ground
slopes away to a level of 50 feet above " datum," and in a direction
due north of this point the altitude of 100 feet is not again attained