8 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB igio 



gritty and conglomeratic beds of the Lower Coal Measures, resting markedly 

 unconformably upon the Cambrian (Oldbury) Shales (text-fig. i), which have 

 been " bent back and folded by the soil-creep down the hill-slope."' Passing 

 under the arch, towards the abandoned works, the Members saw a diorite dyke 

 intrusive in the shales, and, in the field hard by the works, were other open- 

 ings in the shales. Rejoining the brakes, the drive was continued to Oldbury, 

 and on the way there, on the south side of the road, the very furrowed 

 country, where parallel diorite dykes prevail amid the shales, was pointed 

 out. This effect of the rocks upon the scenery was further emphasized in 

 the short walk over the fields to Raspberry Knob, and the presence of the 

 diorite dykes was finally displayed in the huge Mancetter Quarries close to 

 the Oldbury Reservoir which feeds the Coventry Canal. 



" The rock type presented by the Nuneaton Diorites," writes Prof. W. 

 W. Watts (Proc. Geol. Assoc,, vol. xx., pt. 9, 1898, pp. 395-396), " is a widely 

 disseminated one. Whenever Stockingford Shales have been penetrated by 

 deep borings, they are found to be pierced by sills of this rock. A similar 

 rock is intrusive in the Archaean rocks of the Lickey, in the Shineton Shales 

 of the-Wrekin, in the rocks of the Longmynd itself, and its northern contin- 

 uation at Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury, and they are known to pierce the 

 Cambrian rocks in other localities. Similar rocks are intrusive in the Cam- 

 brian Quartzites and Limestone of Inchnadamfi, and a hornblcnde-picrite, 

 like that of Chilvers Coton, occurs among the Bray Head rocks at Grey- 

 stone, in Ireland. In none of these localities are the rocks known to pene- 

 trate any formation of later than Cambrian age." 



The scenery of the district around the reservoir is very picturesque, and 

 the marvellous carpet of blue squills — usually called "wild hyacinths" — 

 came in for particular attention. 



At Hartshill, the home of Michael Drayton was pointed out (Plate II., 

 fig. 2). Michael Drayton was a contemporary of Shakespeare. Professor 

 Morley, writing of Drayton, says: — " In his long poem of England many- 

 ways-happy (Polyolbion), he lovingly described his native Warwickshire and 

 the wooded region called, therefore, Arden, north-west of the Tame, near his 

 own birthplace, which is on the Anker, celebrated in his verse, a stream flow- 

 ing from above Nuneaton to Tamworth. The fullness with which he dwelt 

 in this part of his poem on the hunting of the hart, was probably suggested 

 by the fact that his birthplace was named from it." From the ridge a dis- 

 tant \'icw was obtained of Bosworth battlefield, and Henry Richmond's 

 march prior to his sharp but decisive struggle with Richard Crookback was 

 indicated by Mr Spurrell. Nor was it lost sight of that the party had pene- 

 trated into the country of George Eliot, the famous novelist, and that a drive 

 of a very few miles would have taken them to her birthplace. At Hartshill 

 there is a survival of cottage silk-weaving, and the occupant of one tenement 

 permitted an inspection of her loom and accessories. The village is not far 

 from Coventry, where there is a considerable concentration of the silk 

 industry. In Hartshill also there is a Quakers' meeting-house, and George 

 Fox, the founder of the sect, was born at Fenny Drayton, not many miles 

 away. 



Hartshill Castle, now a picturesque ruin, is on the site of an ancient 

 British village. The village is mentioned in Domesday Book, " and in 1125, 

 together with Ansley, was given by Ranulf, the powerful Earl of Chester, to 

 his kinsman, who took the surname of ' de Hardredeshull ' from the place, 

 and built a castle, the massive wall of which, enclosing a spacious square, 

 and pierced all round with loopholes cut in large square stones, still stands. 



I For an account of the Geology of the district, see C. Lapworth, Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xx., 

 pt. 9 (1898), pp. 313-416 : ibid., pt. 10, pp. 417-421 : Trans. Leicester Lit. and Phil. Soc, vol. v., pt. 

 6 (1899), pp. 306-308. 



