132 



Old Eed Sandstone, and are thus lost, with the exception of a 

 small patch which constitutes the so-called Newent Coal-field. 

 The complication of the beds at this point is very great, and 

 is due to the force exerted bj the protrusion of the Sienitic 

 range of the Malverns, which taking place in later Permian 

 times, has upheaved, thrown down, compressed, and shattered 

 the Palseozoic beds in the neighbourhood, causing a vast 

 elevation of the strata on their western flanks, and a corre- 

 sponding down-throw on the east. This, said the lecturer, is 

 the key to the geological history of the elevation of the May 

 Hill and Forest of Dean districts on the one hand, while the 

 undulating plain at the foot of the Malverns to the eastward, 

 is due to the Mesozoic beds resting almost horizontally on the 

 upturned and denuded edges of the great eastern down-throw. 



From the "Castle Tump" the party proceeded under the 

 guidance of Mr. Symonds along a ridge of Permian " breccia " 

 charged with iron, having the " Bunter " beds abutting against 

 it on the east, and on the west the Old Red Sandstone, between 

 which and the Permian beds is squeezed in a small patch of 

 Coal-measure " shale ". An abandoned iron-mine was visited, 

 which has been sunk in the Permian on the dip of the beds, 

 here pitched at a high angle ; but the percentage of iron being 

 found to be too small to repay further excavations, it was soon 

 abandoned. From this point a pleasant ramble over green fields 

 brought the party to the Hill-House Colliery. The workings 

 appeared to be on a very small scale, but were probably quite 

 commensurate with the importance of the venture. The beds 

 are here thrown on edge, and are so crumpled axid crushed by 

 the enormous forces which have upheaved the " Old Red " and 

 " Carboniferous " beds, that there is small probability that coal 

 can ever be worked so as to yield a result of economic value ; 

 though, as Mr. Symonds remarked, there seems no reason why 

 coal of a workable quality may not be found at points more 

 remote from the great centre of disturbance. 



It was now past one o'clock; the wayfarers had been on their 

 legs for two hours, and the desire for food began to be uppermost 

 in their minds, when, to the delight of all, appeared a table 

 spread in the wilderness, on which was displayed a most 



