25 



and to have iiiliueuced the elevation of Cam Down, Uley 

 Bury, &c., as shewn by the Horizontal Section No. 1, Sheet 14 

 of the Geological Sm*vey. It probably also extends to Frocester 

 Hill, and Buckholt Wood, where I find the junction of the 

 Lias and Sands occurs at an elevation of 600 feet, whereas at 

 Ruscombe it is at 411 feet, and at Doverow, which stands in 

 advance of a line drawn between these two points, this junction 

 is at 325 feet only. It is true that the beds of Inferior Oolite 

 which cap Doverow Hill stand at such an angle as to shew that 

 they have slipped down from a higher position than that which 

 they now occupy ; but if we add even 50 feet to allow for this, 

 their position will stiU indicate that the portion of the escarp- 

 ment which once existed, over what is now the Stonehouse 

 Valley, possessed a less elevation than the strata lying to the 

 north and to the south of this spot. This depression in the line 

 of the escarpment may be the cause that the present outflow of 

 the rainfall of this district takes place at this point, and to the 

 N.N.E., a dii-ection exactly opposite to the general dip of the 

 strata ; but this direction of the outflow may also have been 

 imparted to a very ancient River Frome, existing before these 

 Secondary Rocks had assumed their present decided dip to the 

 east, and this ancient river may have maintained its course in 

 this direction through all the subsequent changes of level which 

 have taken place of the strata Ijdng beneath and around it. In 

 passing, I would observe that nearly all the streams which 

 cross the vale lying between the Cotteswold Hills and the River 

 Severn, and from the Chelt to the Bristol Avon, flow in this 

 N.N.W. direction. 



It has been mentioned that the strata, as shewn by the second 

 section, have a synclinal axis, — this aiTangement of the beds 

 would, according to the views of Mr. Huli,, in his paper " On 

 the Physical Geography of the Cotteswold Hills," * produce a 

 line of strength, and lead to the preservation of the overlying 



* In the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, for Nov., 1855. 

 For bringing to my notice this and several other articles and publications 

 bearing on the subject of this paper, I am indebted to the kindness of W. C. 



IjTTCT, Esq. 



