64 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1910 



received considerable attention at the hands of several geolo- 

 gists : that of the Mid Cotteswolds is fairly well known ; but 

 that of the North — excepting of the Cleeve-Hill plateau — still 

 requires a considerable amount of attention. 



It is proposed, therefore, to deal with the Inferior Oolite 

 and contiguous deposits of the Cotteswold Hills in two papers. 

 The first and present one describes the stratigraphy of the 

 beds in the South Cotteswolds, and shows the connection 

 between these beds and those in the Bath-Doulting district, 

 and through them with those in Dorset and Normandy. The 

 second will deal with the beds of the same Series in the Mid 

 {pars : see footnote on page 63) and North Cotteswolds, and on 

 the one hand will show their connection with the South-Cottes- 

 wold rocks, and on the other with the beds in the Rissington- 

 Burford district. 



(i.) Geographical Extent of the Inferior Oolite in the South 

 Cotteswolds. — The South Cotteswolds are twenty-four miles 

 long, and extend from Lansdown, near Bath, to Rodborough- 

 Hill, near Stroud. 



In the neighbourhood of Bath, deep ramifying valleys run 

 far northwards into the hill-country ; but from Tog Hill, near 

 Doynton, as far north as Hillsley, the escarpment is free from 

 noticeable combs. Between this latter locality and Uley Bury, 

 however, the upland is again greatly incised, and long strag- 

 gling hills alternate with deep sinuous valleys. Thence 

 northwards, as Lycett wrote, " the heights are much more 

 wall-like, affording on their summit a pleasing variety of bare 

 ground, of oolite quarries and of beech woods," and terminate 

 in Selsley Hill, which overlooks the populous vale of Stone- 

 house. To the east is the Nailsworth Valley, which is 

 separated from the deep, canal-like Chalford Valley by 

 Rodborough Hill and Minchinhampton Common. 



In the South Cotteswolds, in the southern portion, the 

 Inferior-Oolite rocks do not give rise to any very striking fea- 

 tures. This is due, partly to the fact that they occur at 

 a comparatively low altitude ; partly to their thinness ; and 

 partly again to the thick succeeding deposits of Fullers' Earth 

 and Great Oolite diverting the eye from any small feature 

 they might make. As the hills are followed to the north, how- 

 ever, the altitude at which the Inferior-Oolite beds crop out 



