242 NEW RED SANDSTONE. 



alabaster is known as Potter's Stone. The very coarse kinds are used as top- 

 dressing for soils. 1 



Celestine, or ' Salt-stone' (Sulphate of Strontian), is found in some abundance 

 in the Red Marl, and occasionally in the Dolomilic Conglomerate, of Gloucester- 

 shire and Somersetshire. Manganese-ores occur in some localities, in the red 

 rocks of Devonshire. 



The Red marl is not a watei--bearing stratum. It is necessary to penetrate 

 it before a suitable supply of water is reached ; and this is generally met with in 

 imderlying sandstones. The town of Burton-on-Trent derives its commercial 

 prosperity from the manufacture of ale, and the superior quality of this beverage is 

 due to the character of the waters, which contain variable proportions of sulphate 

 of lime, derived from the gypseous marls of the Keuper. Mr. Molyneux has 

 calculated that (in various parts of the world) about 350,000 lbs. of gypsum are 

 annually imbibed in potations of Burton beer.- 



Eullers' earth has been raised from the marl beds at Raddle Pits near Braithweel, 

 north-east of Rotherham, also at Renton in Yorkshire ; and at Taschbrook, one 

 mile from Warwick, a substance probably of the same nature, as it was intended. 

 as a substitute for soap, was raised in former years. ^ 



Red marls belonging to the Keuper Beds are largely worked for brick-making 

 near Nottingham, and at Everton near East Retford. The ' Red Clay of 

 Tuxford ' belongs to the series. Red marl is also worked for brick-making in 

 Derbyshire and Leicestershire, at Stapenhill, near Burton-on-Trent, at Great 

 Crosby between Southport and Liverpool, at Bristol, and other places. 



The " Red ground " forms fine rich meadow- and pasture-land ; and the 

 Cheshire cheese may be said to be a product of the latter. The soil on the 

 Marls is well suited for orchards, and also for teazels, which have been much 

 cultivated for use in the cloth-mills. The Keuper Marl was formerly largely 

 used for marling ground ; hence the number of old marl pits. Marl has been 

 used in agriculture since Saxon times.* 



Rhsetic or Penarth Beds. 



The Rhoetic Beds were so named by Dr. C. W. Giimbel, from 

 the Rhastian Alps of Lombardy, the Grisons, and Tyrol, where the 

 strata are well developed. Their determination in this country was 

 due mainly to the researches of Mr. Charles INIoore, Dr. T. Wright, 

 and the Rev. P. B. Brodie. Considering it desirable that a 

 distinctive name should be given to the English and Welsh 

 representatives of the series, which were formerly grouped with the 

 Lias, I\Ir. H. W. Bristow, in 1864, proposed the term Penarth Beds, 

 because the strata are clearly and prominently exhibited in the 

 cliffs of Penarth, south of Cardiff.* 



^ Keene's cement and Parian cement are made from plaster of Paris. R. Hunt 

 and F. W. Rudler, Descriptive Guide to the Museum of Practical Geology, edit. 



4, PP- 34, 43- 



^ Burton-on-Trent : its History, etc. p. 20S. 



^ Conybeare and Phillips, Outlines of the Geol. England and Wales, 

 p. 280. 



^ F. Seebohm, The English Village Community, 1883, p. 247- 



^ G. Mag. 1864, p. 238 ; and Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1S64, Sections, p. 50. 



