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GEOLOGICAL ADDEESa. 

 [By the President, Rev. Wm. Elliot]. 



Gentlemen -Twelve years ago I had the privilege, as Secretary of the Caradoc 

 Club, of accompanying that body in a joint Field Meeting with the Woolhope over 

 the same ground which we are traversing to-day : and here perhaps I may 

 say that, as there appears to be only the very briefest announcement of that 

 meeting in the Transactions of our Club-in marked contrast to the ordmanly 

 very full notices of the kind-we (the Secretaries and myself) may find an 

 excuse, if we want one, for electing to follow the traces of our previous foot- 

 steps on this occasion. On the day to which I refer we were happy m having 

 Mr Banks of Ridgebourne, among our company, and in hearing from him, who 

 is so well able, from his acquaintance with the locality and from his scientific 

 knowledge, to give it, an address on the chief features of the interesting geology of 

 this district. I wish much that we had Mr. Banks with us now, and might once 

 a-ain have the benefit of his instruction. In his absence, however. I have 

 tiken it upon myself to offer you a few words, beggiug at the same time your 

 indulgence for what I fear may prove to be their weakness and want of interest. 

 I would begin by saying that we stand at a point of the earth's surface which 

 owes its peculiar configuration and the nature of some of its more striking rocks 

 to the action of those mighty fire-forces which fron> time to time have burst 

 throu-h the enveloping crust from the central chambers of the globe. Stanner 

 Rocks and Hanter Hill form links in an axial chain which runs from the Wrekm 

 in Shropshire down to the neighbourhood of St. David's, and which includes the 

 hills of the Caradoc and Lawley near Church Stretton, and the less conspicuous 

 eminence of Wartle Knoll near the Craven Arms. The process by which volcanic 

 eruption at the bottom of more or less deep sea.s forced upwards large molten 

 masses through the deposits that formed the ocean bed is so obvious as not to 

 need any enlarging upon. You can conceive the disturbance that would take 

 place ; you may see for yourselves the traces of that disturbance. These eruptions 

 were accompanied by long cracks in the solidified, or partly solidified, beds, which 

 were crumbled and bent by the pressure from beueath. Such cracks are called 

 faults, and the result of them was to destroy the surface uniformity of the beds in 

 question, raising some above their previous level, and depressing others. At the 

 same time the rock material which came in contact with the molten flow would 

 undergo naturally a process of roasting, or alteration in its constituent molecules. 

 Now, you may see instances of both these phenomena arising from the protrusion 

 of Stanner and Hanter here where you are. Following the direction of the 

 upheaved axis, that is from N.E. to S.W., there are two such cracks or faults 

 between here and the hill on which Old Radnor Church stands, and which we 

 have just crossed. To the west of the one at the foot of Old Radnor Hill the 

 Wenluck beds are thrown up, while on this side of it the Ludlow beds are brought 

 down to meet them. The other fault, parallel to the former, and whose line may 



