430 GLANCE AT THE GEOLOGY OF 



possessed of considerable knowledge in selecting 

 durable stones, but they also well understood 

 the advantage of placing such in their proper 

 bedding, as they were originally deposited in 

 the earth, and did not put them on their edges, 

 as too many of our modern builders do. 



The whole of the stone forming the abbey, 

 with the exception of some few pieces of Purbeck 

 limestone used in the internal decorations, is of 

 upper new red sandstone, obtained from the 

 neighbourhood of the abbey. 



Magnesian Limestone. — In other com- 

 munications I have described the magnesian 

 limestones of Collyhurst, Monton, Bedford, and 

 Atherton, the only places in this county where 

 this deposit has, as yet to my knowledge, been 

 met with. The stone in these localities was 

 identified with the limestones of Durham, York- 

 shire, Nottingham, and Derby, more by its fossil 

 organic remains and position, than from its 

 appearance or chemical composition. Indeed, 

 no casual observer would have considered the 

 limestones to be of the same age, for while the 

 former was a softy, earthy stone, generally of a 

 cream colour, mingled with patches of dark red. 



