17 



As far back as 1860, the eminent geologist, the Rev. W. S. Symonds, in a 

 communication to the Geological Society of London, said that " Nowhere in the 

 world is there exhibited such a view of the passage-rocks between the Silurian and 

 Old Red Systems, as at the entrance to the Ledbury tunnel." What was true 

 then is vastly more apparent now, for at that time a few feet only of the passage 

 beds were to be seen outside of the tunnel's mouth ; the remainder had to be 

 sought for within, by the aid of candles, amid dirt and mire indescribable. At 

 the present time, the whole of the beds are uncovered, and geologists should take 

 early advantage of the rare opportunity for inspection now afforded to them. 



After the Club had made a close and careful examination of the whole cutting, 

 the President said :— The great geological formation known as the " Old Red 

 Sandstone," and the vast range of fossiliferous strata named by Murchison, 

 "The Silurian System," found beneath the Old Red, and above the Cambrian 

 Schists, meet conformably on the western flanks of the hills, which lie on the 

 eastern side of the town of Ledbury. The area of the ancient town is entirely of 

 Old Red Sandstone, and the very lowest beds of that important series. The Frith 

 wood, close by, is Upper Ludlow. Dog hill, or Roberts's wood, with the large 

 quarry in the Knap lane are of Aymestry limestone, and the Conigre wood vrith the 

 Commissioners' quarries, and the deep rocks near the Pear-tree walk, are of Wen- 

 lock limestone. The sections in Cut-throat lane are Lower Ludlow. These places 

 are all close to the railway station. The recent cutting at the eastern end of the 

 great excavation, near the railway station at Ledbury, has laid bare the lowest of 

 the passage beds between the two great systems, and has sectioned and exposed to 

 view all the Upper Silurian Strata, down to the Lower Ludlow beds, so that in a 

 few minutes' walk you may, in broad daylight, examine the true base of the Old 

 Red Sandstone, and all the different strata which lie in their exact positions be- 

 tween it and the blue muddy formation known as the Lower Ludlow, which 

 attains here a thickness of several hundred feet, and lies immediately upon the 

 solid beds of Wenlock limestone. It may be safely asserted that there is no other 

 spot in the whole world where the exact union of these two great systems may be so 

 readily observed, and so thoroughly studied, as here ; and in order that a record of 

 the true sequence and dimensions, and lithological character of the various bands 

 composing the passage beds may be preserved, I have made a careful examination 

 and admeasurement of the whole. This has never before been done. To do this, 

 now, merely required care and attention, but in the course of a year or two, 

 weathering, and the growth of weeds and plants, would render it altogether im- 

 practicable. Another object was to identify, with precision, the few beds which 

 contain the exceedingly rare and interesting fossils found here— some of which are 

 new to science— for I need scarcely say fossils are not scattered everywhere ; each 

 has its own peculiar habitat, and some of the larger and more conspicuous of the 

 beds are \vithout fossils ; indeed, it may be said that of the true passage beds, 

 which here attain a thickness of 396 feet, some 350 feet are practically without 

 organic remains, which are principally found in five narrow bands, having an 

 aggregate of 14 feet only. My admeasurements have been taken on the north side 

 of the section, and in order to have a starting point, at once conspicuous and 



