The Pleistocene History of the West Midlands*

Abstract

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF DRIFT AND THEIR DISTRIBUTION THE region I propose to deal with is bounded on the west by the north-south line of hills from the Glees in Shropshire to Malvern; on the south by the Cotteswold escarpment; and on the east by the watershed surrounding the headwaters of the Avon. Its northern limit may be defined by a line from Iron Bridge to Wolverhampton, Lichfield, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Rugby. Within these boundaries there are the two great vales of Severn and Avon, embracing on the west, south and east a triangular plateau drained by the Cole, Blythe and Tame, which carry its waters away northwards to the Trent. In this 'Midland Plateau* is the high ground of the South Staffordshire coalfield reaching, via the Lickey Hills, into East Worcestershire and West Warwickshire, and into the high ground of the East Warwickshire coalfield: the lower ground of the Cole and Blythe valleys between these heights is itself elevated an upland rather than a vale.