A brief account is given of current research upon Middle Pleistocene deposits exposed in a working limestone quarry near Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset. The geology and fossil mammal content are outlined and show the deposits divisibvle into an upper group formed in a cave environment and a lower group of waterlaid deposits washed in from outside. Stratified deposits representing the cave environment contain rich temperate mammalian fauna no later than Elserian (Anglain) in age. The underlying waterlaid deposits represent an earlier climatic phase, containing a sparse mammalian fauna no later than ‘Cromerian’ in age, but probably not as early as the pre-glacial Lower Pleistocene. Several mammal species are recorded from this site for the first time in Britain.

A description is given of two Lower Palaeolithic (Acheulian) bifacial implements and a small number of flakes found recently on ploughed ground on a 50 ft terrace of the Bristol Avon at Ham Green, on the left bank of the river. The context of these artefacts is considered in terms of the considerable number of Lower Palaeolithic finds previously made in the Bristol region, which do not seem to be well known, other than locally, in spite of several publications. Brief comments are made on the distribution of Acheulian finds in southwest Britain. Attention is drawn to the uncertainties of the Pleistocene chronology of the Bristol Avon and the hope is expressed that new evidence might be sought to help clear these up.

Periglacial sands and breccias are described as overlying a marine platform with a notch and cave at Holly Lane, Clevedon. The sequence of periglacial deposits is believed to represent local climatic fluctuations during the last (Devensian) stage. The contained Mollusca and foraminiferid fossils are described and former records discussed. The buried littoral features are attributed to the Ipswichian interglacial stage and represent a maximum height of wave activity in the order of 20 m O.D.

McGanns Cave, located on the northwest flank of Aillwee Hill, Co. Clare, consists of a single horizontal passage some 204 m. long. The original passage was of considerable dimensions but is now largely infilled over much of its length. The cave is almost fossil but once functioned as a major resurgence, possibly carrying glacial meltwater for a relatively short time. The cave is little influenced by local geological or hydrological controls and thus differs markedly from the majority of caves in this area of Co. Clare.