Red Flints in the Chalk

Abstract

ARE red flints common in the Chalk? A portion of our Colege farm lies on a gentle slope on the Upper Chalk, which rises westward from the banks of the Hampshire Avon. On the higher parts of this slope black flints are excessively abundant, so much so that after sheep have been folded on the land, the fields present the appearance of a newly macadamised road, and the flints are picked up and put into heaps until an opportunity offers to use them for road-metal; in the course of a year they “grow” again as thickly as before. But one field on a ridge near the foot of the slope is remarkable for the number of red flints it contains; on the dusty soil they look just like bits of broken earthenware, and might at first fail to attract attention. Their size is much less than the average size of the black flints; some are rounded and some angular, others almost flake like. As to the frequency of their occurrence, I found I was able to pick up at least one at every step I took.