SKETCH OF THE GEOLOGY OF DERBYSHIRE, 2) 
is got, prepares us to expect to find the same formation lying, in a si- 
milar manner, more to the S. upon the coal measures themselves, 
without the intervention of any magnesian limestone. One outlier of 
this kind forms a small hill to the S.W. of Strelley ; it consists of 
fine, red, soft sandstone, capped by a hard, dark conglomerate, exactly 
the same as that of the Bramcote Hills, which also consist of red 
sand at their base. On the W. side of this hill, near Shaw’s plan- 
tation, a coal pit was sunk through 20 yards of the sandstone, 
which may be traced to the S. lying immediately on the coal mea- 
sures, as far asgTrowell Moor, where it has thinned out and disap- 
peared. From an examination of the country, it is evident that the beds 
of this outlier once stretched entirely across the valley through which 
the canal goes down to Nottingham, and that the outlier itself was a 
continuous part of what are now the Bramcote Hills, and that all the 
Wollaton coal-field was then covered by new red sandstone, from Rad- 
ford to Brameote and Strelley. If, moreover, we examine the very 
irregular boundary line of the new red sandstone along the south of 
the coal-field, we shall see that that formation must have once covered 
more of the coal-field in that direction than it does ‘at present. In 
either case there is proof of great denudation, and that large portions 
of the new red sandstone have been swept off and washed away, leav- 
ing the coal measures exposed at the surface. The mere presence, 
then, of new red sandstone where we now find it, by no means argues 
the necessity of their being no coal underneath, nor that of any great 
fault separating it from the coal measures ; and it is almost certain 
that many of the present workings will be carried on, to a slight 
extent at least, underneath the new red sandstone, and beyond what 
is now conceived to be the boundary of the beds.* It would be un- 
wise, however, in the present state of our knowledge, to set on foot 
any undertaking (other than a mere extension of the works now 
going on) in search of coal to the S. of its present known boundary, 
since the new red sandstone so entirely masks the beds as to reduce 
us to mere conjecture as to their position. If now we trace on the 
boundary of the new red sandstone, from where we left it at Mor- 
ley, we shall find it running to the S. as far as Breadsall, and thence 
crossing the Derwent to Darley and Allestree. It then passes by 
* As, for instance, at Trowell Moor, the beds which they are now work- 
ing, basset, I believe, either under the Bramcote Hills or even to the S, 
of them. <A very pretty instance of new red sandstone lying horizontally on 
‘an inclined coal grit may be seen in a quarry by the canal side, near Trowell. 
