134 
Beneath the latter, hard strata were met, probably belonging to 
the limestone and clay layers of the Lower Lias. The depth of 
the peat is apparently unequal, as two chains away from the 
situation of the boring just given, a bridge foundation was opened 
down to the top of the blue clay, through a depth of 7ft. of peat. 
A few chains further on the Lias again crops out, about 23ft. 
in vertical height above the level of the peat, with a strike E and 
W. Dipping northward, at about 15 degrees, a slight synclinal 
fold follows, immediately succeeded by an anticlinal, in which the 
Lias finally disappears beneath the peat at an angle of about 
15 degrees. There were only one or two beds of hard limestone 
exposed, the mass of the Lias consisting of the clays and shales. 
The characteristic fossil of this cutting was the Rhynchonella 
variabilis, which occurred in the clays in very large numbers; one 
bed seemed to be inexhaustible, aud the clay, when dried and 
broken in the hand, would scatter them literally by dozens. 
Some limas were also found, notably Lima gigantea. 
The remainder of the line, from where the strata of the hillock 
dips beneath the peat, is on the Edington Peat Moor, and 
geologically calls for no special remark. In boring for foundations 
at a little distance north of the last cutting the Lias strata were 
again met with, still dipping northwards at about the same angle. 
Borings at the Edington Canal Bridge, within a short distance 
of Edington Junction, showed, 
Ft. 
Peat iwe _ yee: 
Blue Clay ... ha we 24 
Total” “2 eo Oe 
beneath which came hard limestone. 
Nothing of interest was found in the peat, although many relics 
of bygone man have been obtained in the neighbourhood. It 
however abounded in wood, hazel and birch, which lay geusraly 
near the surface. 
