16 

 COLLYWESTON SLATE. 



BY FREDERICK M. BURTON, ESQ. 



Whenever any particular locality possesses something of interest not 

 attainable elsewhere, any account, though even the most bare and unscientific, 

 from those who have access to it, becomes worthy of perusal, and it is 

 for this reason that I venture to send the following lines to "The Natu- 

 ralist:" — But before alluding to these Slate pits, it will be advisable shortly 

 to state the general formation of the strata in thi3 neighbourhood. Up- 

 pingham is situated on a small outlier of the Lower Oolite, the junction 

 of which with the Lias is plainly manifest in many places. This outlier 

 is formed most probably by the great mass of the Oolite having been in 

 ancient days partially swept away by some vast river or arm of the sea, 

 leaving the Lias exposed beneath; and this supposition is warranted by the 

 general appearance of the surrounding country, which lies in long smooth 

 furrows from west to east, and presents evident traces of denudation. It 

 terminates to the west of Uppingham, just outside the town, but in the 

 opposite direction it stretches towards Stamford, to the distance of eight 

 or nine miles; it is nowhere very wide, the greatest breadth, that opposite 

 Collyweston, to the north of the Welland, being not much more than a 

 mile and a half. Shortly after leaving Uppingham to the east, the great 

 bed of the inferior Oolite is succeeded by the higher strata of the system, 

 alternate bands of sandstone and concretionary limestone, under which the 

 former dips, the inclination being to the east, and on Barrowden Common, 

 a bed, or rather single layer of a large Oyster, (Ostrcea Marshii,) is found 

 uppermost, in some places not more than twelve inches from the surface. 

 As you approach Collyweston, you leave this outlier to the north, and 

 crossing the River Welland, which runs over beds of Lias, you come to 

 the general mass of the Lower Oolite formation, and there we find strata 

 which are not to be met with in any other part of the kingdom. Allied 

 to the Slates of Stonesfield, they yet differ from them in some respects, 

 the latter being situated at the foot of the great Oolite, while the former, 

 though originally supposed by some to have been below the Fuller's Earth, 

 are now ascertained by Professor Morris to be situated one hundred feet 

 higher than the Stonesfield beds, at the top of the great Oolite, and 

 equivalent to the Forest Marble of Somersetshire and other places. 



The quarries are worked only in the winter time, as it requires the rains 

 and frosts of that season to enable the slate to be split. The blocks, when 

 first taken out, are on this account exposed in fields to the action of the 

 weather, and in dry seasons watered to make them more amenable to the 

 frosts. The slates when prepared are extensively used in this neighbour- 



