has become the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the mainland. The course of this ancient river appears to have been a little to the south and seaward of the present line of the coast at Bournemouth; and some of the gravels which formerly lined its valley now cap the cliffs for some distance between Poole Harbour and Hengistbury Head, and thence on in the direction of Portsmouth.
In these gravels, a very large number of palæolithic implements has been found. The first discovery at Bournemouth was made in 1866,[1] by Mr. Alfred H. Stevens, of Salisbury, and in immediately subsequent years they were principally due to Dr. H. P. Blackmore, my son, P. Norman Evans, Mr. Albert Way, and others. The first implements were found in the gravel, after it had been dug and spread upon the roads; but Dr. Blackmore found an implement in situ, and two or three rough flakes, close to Boscombe Mouth, at almost the highest point of the cliff, more than 100 feet above the sea-level.
Fig. 474.—Boscombe, Bournemouth. 12
- ↑ "Flint Chips," p. 48. Lyell, "Prin. of Geol.," 10th ed., vol. ii. p. 562. Codrington, Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc. (1870), vol. xxvi. p. 537.