OF THE NORTH-WEST OF ENGLAND. 255 



beautiful section of the permian beds is seen. After the fine 

 development of the upper new red sandstone of St. Bees' 

 Head, of from 600 to 700 feet in thickness, by means of a 

 dislocation in the shape of an upthrow, the permian beds are 

 brought in, and consist of the following deposits finely ex- 

 posed in the cliff, namely : — 



Ft. In. 



Upper new red sandstone 



^ Red marls, about 30 



Red marls, containing most beautiful white granular 



5 gypsum, about 29 1 



S <^ Magnesian limestone, of a cream colour, containing 



casts of Bakevellia, Schizodus, and other shells ... 10 6 

 Coarse sandy conglomerate, containing pebbles of the 



size of a man's head 3 



Red and purple coloured sandstones of great thick- 

 ness, generally described as lower new red sandstone. 



72 7 



The conglomerate, many of the pebbles of which are 

 hollow and contain crystals of carbonate of lime, rests on 

 purple-coloured sandstones with a very uneven surface, the 

 latter having been a good deal eroded and subsequently filled 

 up with sandstone. The dip of all the beds appears to be 

 about the same, viz., 10° to the south-south-west. The red 

 marls, (the lower of which contains a very thick bed of the 

 finest white granular gypsum I ever saw, full 25 feet in thick- 

 ness,) the limestone, and the conglomerate, are without doubt 

 all members of the permian group. The purple sandstone is 

 generally considered by Professor Sedgewick and others to 

 be lower new red sandstone overlying the coal-measures of 

 Whitehaven ; but with all respect to so great an authority, I 

 am inclined to believe that it is a carboniferous sandstone. 



The two compact beds of yellow magnesian limestone at 

 Stank and Barrow Mouth, above described, are very unlike 

 in their appearance to the ribbon beds and nodules of impure 

 limestone found in the red marls of South Lancashire ; but 

 they have great resemblance both in colour, structure, and 



