186 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1906 
shelly limestones, with less compact partings ; in another false-bedded 
oolite; whilst in the new quarry in the direction of the Devil’s 
Chimney it is represented by a very conspicuous band of clay. 
In the early days of Inferior-Oolite geology the Lower Freestone 
was divided into two parts—the Lower Ragstone or Roestone and what 
Murchison called Ze Freestone because it was the best building-stone 
and was the most extensively quarried. The thickness of this Free- 
stone, Strickland found to be 31 feet 6 inches—nearly the same as that 
in the present record. But the ‘‘Roestones” (a coarser. limestone 
than the Freestone, more variable in texture, and less extensively 
quarried) he estimated at 75 feet. This, however, is certainly an 
over-estimate. 
Strickland and Brodie probably worked in company, because in the 
same year as the former geologist’s remarks were published, Brodie 
communicated a paper dealing more particularly with the fossils from 
the ‘‘ Roestone,” or as he termed it the ‘‘ shelly freestone,” and also 
from a bed of coarse crystalline limestone, ‘‘ mainly composed of shells 
and corals a foot and a half thick,” which occurs at 18 feet below the 
Oolite Marl. From these strata Brodie obtained an astonishing number 
of small fossils. Those fossils for which there were names in existence 
were listed in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society for 
1850,’ whilst the new forms were described by Lycett.* These 
researches revealed the interesting fact that in addition to the strata 
presenting great similarities in lithological characters with some of the 
Great-Oolite Beds, they contained many forms of life not unlike those 
of the date of the later strata. 
The Oolite Marl was pointed out and it was remarked that at 
Leckhampton Hill it was more ‘‘ rocky ” than at most places. On 
the adjoining Charlton Common (as the Members saw later in the 
afternoon) it was much softer. In the new quarry near the Devil’s 
Chimney, the Oolite Marl is very well seen with the greater part of 
the Upper Freestone above. Here again it is fairly compact and 
barely 8 feet in thickness. The ‘‘ Marl” merges somewhat into the 
overlying freestone, and after the beds have been weathered for some 
time it is difficult to say definitely where the one division ends and the 
other begins. This accounts for the thickness assigned to the Oolite 
Marl by various authors varying from 6 to 17 feet. The Oolite Marl 
is very fossiliferous, Zerebratula fimbria being the most abundant fossil. 
Details of the Upper Freestone will be found in the section. 
The position of the fault depicted in Plate VIII was indicated, and it 
was mentioned that this was a very convenient place for examining the 
Oolite Marl, Upper Freestone, Lower Zrigonia-Grit and the basal 
portion of the Buckmant-Grit. 
In the early days of Inferior-Oolite geology the series at Leck- 
hampton Hill above ‘the flaggy light-coloured oolitic beds” (the 
Upper Freestone) consisted of Gryphite-Grit and Zrigonia-Grit. H. 
1 Vol. vi., pp. 247-249. 
2 Ann. Nat. Hist., vol. vi., No. 36 (Dec., 1850). 
