NOTES ON CRICH HILL. 45 



This has been done by lateral pressure. On tlie west side of 

 the hill the higher beds have been sunk, and the millstone grit 

 and Yoredale shales denuded from the top of what was once 

 a higher hill, leaving the surface of the limestone bare ; so that 

 we have the limestone hill on which Crich village is situated, like 

 an island mountain of limestone rising up from under the sea of 

 newer rocks around it. 



It is generally said that the last landslip was caused by the 

 limestone sliding over a bed of clay. This bed is exposed in the 

 quarry, and if examined carefully, it is found to be not a bed of 

 clay, but one of black shale containing fossils. The upper and 

 lower portions of the shale bed are decomposed to a sort of clay. 

 The sliale contains numerous crystals of pyrites (sulphate of iron). 

 This mineral easily decomposes into tiny crystals of selenite 

 (sulphate of lime), which are found in the more altered portions 

 of the shale. 



There are many old shafts in this hill leading lo several old 

 lead mines. In one mine heap I found several pieces of a rock 

 called toadstone, which had been brought up from the mine at a 

 depth greater than that of the floor of the quarry, none of this 

 rock being seen in the quarry. It has been a matter 



of dispute whether lead ore has been found in the toadstone ; 

 some have maintained that it has, and others have denied 

 it, pointing to its name as having been derived from the 

 German Todtstein, meaning deadstone, because ore was not found 

 in it. When I heard, therefore, that the lead ore was being 

 worked in the toadstone inside Crich Hill, I was anxious to go 

 down the Wakebridge mine, and satisfy myself of the correctness 

 of the statement. 



In the Wakebridge mine, the men work in shifts of six hours 

 each, changing at noon, midnight, six a.m., and six p.m., so that 

 when I arrived a little before one o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, 

 the miners had left work for the week. 



I was accompanied by Mr. Benjamin Spencer, son of Mr. W. 

 Spencer, the agent of the mine. We entered a stone building, 

 something like a cowshed outside, called the " Coe," or 



