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Clutton fault to the east and with it no doubt forming a junction, 
this fault is downcast south 600 feet. Further than this in the 
direction of Bath the mines have not been worked, we can 
therefore have no certain information of the existence of faults. 
But taking a general view of the last two, and the magnitude of 
the disturbance they represent, we have a right to think that 
they do not terminate with our discoveries in the mines ; but 
rather that they continue their course through the limestone 
anticlinal underneath Bath. In that case we should expect to 
find that the fracture took the direction of least resistance which 
would be at right angles with the outcrop of the limestone. In 
that case it would take a straight course (always characteristic of 
arterial faults), to the spring at Queen’s Bath, to that of Royal 
Baths and the old mine shaft at Batheaston where the hot water 
was tapped in 1815. : 
There is but little probability of the water receiving addition 
on the way from the Mendip end, by any other means than that 
which we have considered, except it be another fault intersecting 
the Mendip anticlinal. From the slopes of Mendip to the suburbs 
of Bath the whole of the limestone formation is sealed down with 
impervious beds of lower Coal Measure clay, effectually excluding 
any water from percolating into the course from above. This I 
have particularly observed in colliery workings in that series ;. 
the beds have the appearance of dry shale, but when they come 
in contact with water the expansion is great, and being subject to: 
pressure, no water course can exist init. This peculiarity is a 
source of continual expense to colliery owners in re-excavating the 
roadways. 
But when we come to the Bath end we have strong reasons to: 
doubt whether the water at the springs is of the same quality and 
heat as when it leaves its limestone course 207 feet deep. 
As it rises, the first stratum it passes through is the Dolomitic 
Conglomerate ; a pebble beach on the shore of the sea of the early 
Triassic age it is exceedingly water bearing, this is proved by 
