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Professor Hull, in his Memoir on the Geology of the Leicestershire Coalfield, 

 states that the Red Marls (which undoubtedly occur at Ingleby between the Bunter 

 Conglomerates and the Coal Measure) can be traced eastward for some distance, but 

 that at Knowle Hills some beds of sandstone, "differing considerably in mineral 

 character from those of the Trias," are found to intervene between the Conglomerates 

 and the Red Marl; and he naturally concludes from this observation that between 

 Knowle Hills and Ingleby the Knowle Hill sandstones have been unconformably over- 

 lapped by the Bunter Conglomerates; and from this circumstance, taken in conjunction 

 with their lithological character, it is considered proliable that the former are of 

 Permian age. 



I approached the examination of the Knowle Hill district after a very careful and 

 prolonged study of all the beds lying between the Trias and the Coal Measures on the 

 whole of the western boundary of our coalfield. 



Between Measham and Ticknall, a distance of over seven miles, the Permian beds 

 where visible, although shewing slight transitional differences of character, nowhere 

 present strata which are in any degree comparable with the sandstones of Knowle 

 Hills; on the contrary, when sandstones do occur in the Permian series they present 

 peculiar and entirely distinct lithological features. It would appear then, if the Survey 

 is right, that, in the short distance of a mile or so between Ticknall and Knowle Hills, 

 beds — which, for a distance of seven miles, have remained constant in character — 

 suddenly, and without any apparent transition, entirely change their fades. The great 

 improbability of this, coupled with the fact (notwithstanding Professor Hull's statements 

 to the contrary) that the lithological character of the sandstones in question resembles 

 very closely that of certain beds of the neighbourhood which undoubtedly overlie the 

 Bunter, led me to doubt the Permian age of these beds. Nothing, however, short of 

 a careful re-survey of the neighbourhood could set the matter at rest. This I have now 

 accomplished, making great use of the hand-borer to establish more accurately the 

 boundaries of the formation. The result is given in the accompanying map, which has 

 been reduced in scale one-half 



It will be noticed that the outcrop of the Permian Marls below the Conglomerates 

 at Ingleby, when traced southward, is terminated suddenly by a fault with a downthrow 

 to the S.W. The result of this fault is to let down against the Coal Measures on the S. 

 and S.W. Triassic beds of a higher horizon than the Bunter Conglomerates — beds, in 

 fact, of Lower Keuper age. When the fault is traced to the S.S.E., it is found to 

 be met by another fault running N.W. and S.E. having a throw in the opposite 

 direction. The result of this is that a wedge-shaped piece of country, including Knowle 

 Hill and Coppy Hill, has been let down to a level lower than it originally occupied, 

 relatively to the rocks outside the wedge. This is a good example of what is known 

 as a "trough fault." Before the existence of these faults was made out, it was natural 

 to suppose, from their apparent relative position, that the Sandstones of Knowle Hills 

 underlie the Conglomerates to the South. Their true stratigraphical position is, however, 

 CONSIDERABLY OVER THE LATTER, and. Consequently, they cannot be Permian: they 

 are, in fact. Lower Keuper. The numerous facts which prove the existence of these 

 faults cannot here be given, but members will have abundance of opportunities of 

 examining the ground, and of receiving all explanations on the spot. 



A sharp line of demarcation cannot be drawn anywhere in this district between 

 the Bunter and Lower Keuper; the rock, in which the curious rock cellars of Knowle 

 Hills have been excavated, may, however, be taken as apjiroximately marking the 



