114 



the Eden Valley is a decided misnomer. Viewed broadly, and 

 without regard to the minor inequalities of the surface, the part under 

 notice appears as an irregular plain inclined in a north-easterly direc- 

 tion, and falling from an elevation of 1500 to 2000 feet (that of the 

 east and west physical axis of the Lake District,) to a general level 

 of between five and six hundred feet above the sea near the foot of 

 the Escarpment. This inclined plain terminates rather abruptly at 

 both its south-eastern and its north-eastern margins against the 

 steep edge of the great upland tract of Carboniferous rocks that 

 forms the Cross Fell Escarpment, and its continuation from Brough 

 southward past Kirkby Stephen. The bounding edges referred to 

 as forming the termination of the plain range in elevation from 

 about fifteen hundred to between two- and three thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. In plan, the area thus enclosed is 

 rudely triangular in form, with the apex of the triangle directed 

 towards the south-east. At the opposite, or north-western, end, 

 the depressed area under notice gradually merges into the low 

 ground of the Solway, nearly opposite Criffel. From the Solway 

 to the inland termination of the plain is about sixty miles. Kirkby 

 Stephen, -Appleby, Penrith, and Carlisle, are all situated upon the 

 plain referred to. A comparatively-slight and shallow depression 

 in the mountain framework bordering the south-eastern termination 

 of the lowland area bears the name of Stainmoor. This Stainmoor 

 depression is continued away from the plain at its foot eastward 

 for many miles, ranging between the high lands of Upper Tees- 

 dale, etc., on the north, and the fells on the north side of Swaledale, 

 Arkendale Head, etc., on the south. In another direction, between 

 the Howgill Fells and the massif of the Lake District, a second 

 wide and shallow depression ranges southward along the general 

 course of the Lune valley, and, as it were, connects the lowlands 

 north of the Lake District with those of the Kendal area. On the 

 western side of this depression lies the outcrop of the well-known 

 Shap Granite. 



Geological Structure' — The greater part of the lowland tract 

 consists of — (i) The Upper New Red, consisting of the Stanwix 



