the Cheshire Rock- Sali District. 211 



Ibe north wilh the hills in the West Riding of York, and 

 dn their ea-.tern side passing into the limeslnne hills of 

 Di^rbvshire. The sandstone, in a considerable part of this 

 range, is slaty in its structure, and would seem to belong 

 to the Independent Coal-formation of Werner, some pretty 

 extensive beds of coal being found and worked under it. 

 The southern boundary of the plain, which is the one ap- 

 proachinij most nearly to the rock salt, is irregularly formed 

 by ridges of limestone and calcareous sandstone, leaving 

 open some communications with the level country in the 

 nuddle of Shropshire. To the west its limits are marked 

 by the sandstone and limestone hills in the adjoining part 

 of Wales, and by the sandy oestuaries of the Mersey and 

 Dee. 



The only ridge of hills, properly speaking, within the 

 Cheshire plain, is one on the western side -^t the country, 

 extending with a few interruptions from Frodsham to Mal- 

 pas, and including in its progress from north to south, the 

 hie;h grounds of Delamere Forest, the Hill of Beeston, and 

 the Peckforlon Kills. This range, which no where attains 

 an elevation of more than four or five hundred feet, is com- 

 posed entirelv of sandstone. A small quantity of copper 

 ore has been found in the Peckforlon Hills, which form its 

 southern extremity^ Another ridge of land, possessing a 

 small and irregular elevation above the adjoining plain, may 

 be traced from the hills on the eastern border of Cheshire, 

 in .1 westerly or north-westerly direction to Halton and 

 Runcorn. At this point, where it attains ils greatest 

 height, it is separated from the northern extrennty of the 

 former ridge, only by the intervention of the valley of the 

 Weaver, which valley is here about two n)ile8 in width. 

 Towards the eastern exireinity of this range, we meet with 

 a singular sandstone hill, called Alderley Edge, in which 

 have been found ores of lead, copper and cobalt, and masses 

 of sulphate of baryles. 



This distribution of the high grounds in the Cheshire 

 plain is traced out in the annexed map, and it will be seen, 

 by a rcierence to this, that they form three distinct divisions 

 of its area: one to the west of the higher sandstone range ; 

 another lo the east of this, and south of the lower range J 

 ami a third lying north of the latter, and including the 

 southern pans of Lancashire. With the exception of a 

 very few instances only, the existence of the rock -salt ap- 

 pears to be exclusively confined to the southern or central 

 plain. 



3 The 



