105 
the prevalence of Tupor architecture, with its gabled roofs 
and mullioned and transomed windows. 
Through this lovely country ran the road of the travellers. 
The ascent from Stroud to the summit of the plateau involved 
a stiff pull, of a nature to try both horses and tackle, and, as 
the event proved, was too much for the apparatus of one of 
the vehicles, of which a splinter-bar snapped, causing no little 
delay before it could be replaced. 
The first halt was made at a quarry near the Union 
Workhouse, where Mr. Wircurti drew attention to the great 
development of the oyster bed (Grypheea sublobata) as compared 
with the same beds at Rodborough Hill and other localities. 
The Gryphea is here observed in separate layers at the partings 
of the beds, instead of being in one bed, as at Rodborough, and 
while at Rodborough the thickness of the bed is about two feet, at 
Stroud Hill it is from ten to twelvefeet. It consists of a tough 
sandy grit, in which fossils are abundant, but impossible to extract. 
A short distance beyond and lower down the hill the 
Geologists examined a quarry called “The Coneygre,” where 
was shewn a fine section of the “ Oolite Marl,” about ten feet 
in thickness, containing the characteristic fossil Rhynchonella 
jimbria in abundance. Here Mr. Wircuett drew attention to a 
good example in the building freestone of what is known as 
“ slickensides.” The rock had fallen away, so that only a portion 
of the rubbed surface was visible, but in it were sections of 
fossils partly ground down. These smoothed surfaces are due 
to the unequal movement of the beds in course of upheaval or 
depression, by which the surfaces are ground against each 
other. This quarry was a perfect garden of wild flowers, 
ablaze with blossoms of every hue,—the rosy spikes of the 
Rose-bay, Willow-herb, (Hpilobium angustifoliwm) Viper’s 
Bugloss (Echiwm vulgare), Lady’s Fingers (Anthyllis vulneraria), 
Musk Mallow (Malva moschata), Sweet Marjoram, the golden 
stars of the Ragwort, the ramping Clematis, and many others. 
The prospect, looking down the Stroud valley from this point, 
was extensive and singularly picturesque, the broken ground 
of the quarry forming an admirable and effective foreground. 
