GEOLOGY OF THE VALE OF EVESHAM. 5 



geology, the Worcestershire Natural History Society shall prevent 

 future speculators from sinking their fortune<j underground in 

 places where they will never draw them up again, our infant 

 Society will not be without its use. 



The Lias Formation consists here, as elsewhere, of a series of 

 black or blue shales, producing, by exposure to the atmosphere, a 

 cold, stiff, clay soil. At the lower part of the formation, thin beds 

 of limestone occur, from 2 to S or 10 inches thick, which produce 

 excellent lime, but when used as a building-stone are apt to shiver 

 with the frost. At Binton, near Bidford, and at Haselor, these beds 

 are thin, smooth, and of fine quality, and are used for flooring 

 and other purposes. Experiments, partly successful, have been 

 made to apply the Haselor stone to lithography. It is well adapt- 

 ed for the lithographic ink, but is not suited for crayons. 



The strata we have hitherto described are very regular and con- 

 formable in their arrangement with respect to each other, but the 

 Lias presents us with an extensive fault or break in the strata, by 

 which the Red Marl beneath is unexpectedly exposed on the 

 surface. This fault has been traced from near Netherton on the S. 

 to Lower Bentley on the N., a distance of 15 miles, and is dis- 

 tinguished on the map by a narrow strip of Red Marl running 

 towards the S., with Lias on each side. From Netherton to 

 Radford, on the Worcester and Alcester road, this fault is marked 

 by a shallow valley, from half-a-mile to a mile in width, crossing 

 the valley of the Avon, and interrupted near the middle of its 

 length by the Cracombe Hills. Throughout this space the eastern 

 side of the valley is the highest and steepest, the rise on the W. 

 being very gradual. This valley is one of those which geologists 

 term vallies of elevation, being a gap, caused by strata separating 

 and sloping off to either side in consequence, as they suppose, of 

 an elevation of the strata beneath. But as the same effect, (as far 

 at least as relates to level,) would ensue from the depression of two 

 neighbouring districts, as from the elevation of some point between 

 them, it would perhaps be better to give to vallies of doubtful 

 origin a name founded, not on theory, but on facts, and to terra 

 them anticlinal vallies, that is, vallies in which the strata on either 

 side dip away in opposite directions. 



The portion of Red Marl exposed by the fault in question, is at 

 first a narrow strip, with a regular width, of about half-a-mile, 

 commencing near Netherton, and passing between Cropthorne 

 and Charlton, whence it spreads out to a mile in width, reaching 

 from Cracombe nearly to Chadbury. The Cracombe Hills cause 

 an interruption to the anticlinal valley, and the Lias, which is con- 

 tinued uninterruptedly along their summit, forms a kind of bridge, 

 connecting the Lias on the two opposite sides of the line of fault. 

 The Red Marl rises about three quarters of the height of these 

 hills, and may be traced dipping beneath the Lias, both on the E. 

 side and the West. 



Beyond Cracombe Hill the valley resumes its course as far as 

 Rouse Lench and Radford, with a width of half to three-quarters of 

 a mile. The eastern limit of the Red Marl follows the brow of a 



