Bibliography - J. F. Kirkaldy M.Sc., F.G.S.
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The Sandgate Beds of the Western Weald: Weald Research Committee Report, No. 17, by J. F. Kirkaldy, M.Sc., F.G.S., published 1933 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 44 issue 3, article, pp.270-311)   View Online

Our present knowledge of the Lower Greensand of the Weald is somewhat disconnected. The main facts conceming these beds are familiar; but owing to the absence of any general survey comparable with the special Memoirs of H.M. Geological Survey on the Jurassic and the Upper Cretaceous rocks, much remains to be done in the collection of local detail and also in the discussion of questions of correlation and other matters which need to be considered from a broad, regional point of view. In the well-known coast section between Hythe and Folkestone in Kent, the Lower Greensand has been divided into four main lithological units, the Folkestone Sands, the Sandgate Beds, the Hythe Beds, and the Atherfield Clay.

The base of the Gault in Sussex, by John Francis Kirkaldy, published January 1935 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 91, issue 1-4, article, pp.519-537)   View Online

Recent detailed stratigraphical work on the Mesozoic rocks has shown very clearly the importance of careful study of the age and lithology of beds which indicate the presence of transgressions, or of pauses in the deposition of sediment. Arkell, in his well-known monograph (1933), has shown the extreme importance of this in unravelling the history of the Jurassic period, but unfortunately our knowledge of similar phenomena in Cretaceous times is not nearly so complete or to be found in so accessible a form.
The presence of a marked break in deposition and, in some areas, of widespread transgression at the base of the Gault clays is well known, but the details of the exact age and lithology of the basal beds of the Gault have only been worked out in the belt of country lying at the foot of the main Chalk escarpment of England (Kitchin and Pringle, 1920, 1922). In the Weald, the facts are less completely known, whilst those available are only to be found after search through a score of separate publications. It is in an attempt to fill in a part of this gap in our knowledge that the present study of the base of the Gault between Petersfield and Eastbourne is offered.

The overstep of the sandgate Beds in the Eastern Weald, by John Francis Kirkaldy, published January 1937 in Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society (vol. 93, issue 1-4, article, pp.94-126)   View Online

Comparatively little work has been done on the Lower Greensand of the eastern Weald for the last fifty years, whilst the current maps of H.M. Geological Survey are based on the original survey made under Topley prior to 1875. The general succession and fauna of the beds are fairly well known in East Kent, but in East Sussex, where the beds are thin, great difficulty has been found in the past in subdividing them and correlating them with the lithological subdivisions recognizable in other parts of the Weald.
Detailed mapping of the outcrop has, however, shown that in the extreme east of Sussex the Sandgate Beds overstep the Hythe Beds to rest on the Weald Clay. A similar overstep is traceable in the Boulonnais and in the boreholes of the East Kent coalfield.

Notes of the Geology of the country around Haslemere and Midhurst, by J. F. Kirkaldy, M.Sc., F.G.S. and S. W. Wooldridge, D.Sc., F.G.S., published 1938 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 49 issue 2, article, pp.135-147)   View Online

A traverse from Haslemere to Midhurst involves the crossing of nearly 1,000 feet of the Lower Cretaceous beds and reveals the structure and physiography of the Weald in somewhat unusual light. We have made observations on this area for some ten years, and on the occasion of the Field Meeting the opportunity was taken of co-ordinating these observations and presenting a brief connected account of the geology of the district as a whole.

The geomorphology of the rivers of the Southern Weald: Weald Research Committee Communication No. 28, by J. F. Kirkaldy, M.Sc., F.G.S. and A. J. Bull, Ph.D., F.G.S., published 1940 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 51 issue 2, article, pp.115-150)   View Online

In a recent communication one of the authors dealt with the evidence of periods of 'still-stand' shown by the bevelled spurs of the South Downs. The present paper is an attempt to extend the investigation over a wider area and through a greater period of geological time. It is hoped that by combining the evidence of the Downland spurs with that of the drainage plan, longitudinal profiles and drift deposits of the rivers Cuckmere, Ouse, Adur and Rother-Arun and the raised beaches and infilled valleys of the Coastal Plain of Sussex, a clearer picture than hitherto available of the events of the later stages of geological time in the Southern Weald will be obtained.

Geological Report on Chipping Sites and Hearths on Bedham Hill, near Pulborough, by J. F. Kirkaldy, M.Sc., published 1940 in Sussex Archæological Collections (vol. 81, article, p.235) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 2166] & The Keep [LIB/500348] & S.A.S. library

Geology of the Weald, by J. F. Kirkaldy, published 1967 in Geologists' Association Guide (no. 29, article)

William Topley and 'The Geology of the Weald', by J. F. Kirkaldy, published 1975 in The Proceedings of the Geologists' Association London (no. 86 issue 4, article, pp.372-388)   View Online

This article was written to commemorate the centenary of the publication of William Topley's well-known memoir The Geology of the Weald. The progress of the primary geological survey of the Weald is traced from its beginning, in the autumn of 1855, to the publication, in December 1868, of the last of the Old Series sheets covering the area. Biographical details are given of the ten members of the Geological Survey who shared the field work. F. Drew mapped by far the greatest area, the other major contributors being C. Le Neve Foster, C. Gould, H.W. Bristow, W. Boyd Dawkins and W. Topley. Owing to death, promotions and resignations, the task of writing the memoir devolved on Topley, who by then had been transferred to Northumberland. Despite this handicap, Topley produced a masterly memoir, notable especially for the breadth of his treatment of so many aspects of Wealden geology. The value of the memoir is assessed against the background of the previous work on the area. During the following century, the Institute of Geological Sciences has been resurveying the Weald, publishing New Series maps and sheet memoirs. The Weald Research Committee and many other geologists have also been active in the area. The advances in our knowledge of the Weald made during the post-Topley period are summarised.