A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



it is not so easy to name. Two suggestions have been brought forward : 

 (i) that they were brought by a large river from the Highlands ; ' (2) that 

 they are derived from some of the old rocks which border the Pebble 

 Beds as a whole on the west or which are hidden by newer strata. 8 

 To the former suggestion there are apparently the following objec- 

 tions : (i) the fossils in the pebbles do not at all indicate the direction 

 suggested ; (2) there are no signs of any such river till the Midlands 

 are reached; (3) it is contrary to the laws of river deposits that the 

 finer sediments should be deposited nearer the source ; (4) it is impossible 

 to account for the Pebble Beds extending up the east side of the Pennine 

 axis. The only positive argument brought forward in its favour is the 

 remarkable similarity in some respects of some of the pebbles to some 

 part of the Torridon sandstones and quartzites of the north-west High- 

 lands, and to some of the igneous rocks in south Scotland. The latter 

 suggestion has everything in its favour except the very serious difficulty 

 that so far as the known rocks are concerned an adequate source of sup- 

 ply for the pebbles cannot yet be named, and the existence of such under 

 cover of newer rocks is purely hypothetical. It is possible that this 

 difficulty may be removed by further researches. 



With regard to the means of transport it should be noted that the 

 Bunter is an exceptional deposit, yet it is extremely widespread ; some- 

 thing of the same kind being found in Germany, the south of England, 

 the north of Scotland and America ; all belong to a period during which 

 old forms of life, in the regions where it occurs, were changing into new. 

 Perhaps we ought not to look to the action of an ordinary river or of the 

 sea in its ordinary condition as the efficient cause of transport. 



The Upper Red Sandstone. In the neighbourhood of Nottingham 

 itself there are no beds that have been assigned to this division. But 

 towards the east of the county the borings record massive beds of red 

 sandstone, in which no pebbles are noted, overlying characteristic repre- 

 sentatives of the Pebble Beds. At East Retford 123 feet of such occur, 

 and some is even exposed there at the surface according to Mr. Metcalfe. 3 

 In the boring at Scarle 206 feet of the strata have been definitely referred 

 to this group by Mr. De Ranee, 4 and at Southcar 75 feet of red sandstone 

 occur immediately above the beds with pebbles. In both these cases the 

 inclusion of the red sandstone with the Pebble Beds would make the 

 latter abnormally thick. 



The 'Hemlock Stone' This remarkable outstanding rock and its 

 neighbours the Bramcote and Stapleford Hills have given rise to much 

 discussion as to the age of the rocks composing them. Their prominence, 

 and in the case of the ' stone ' the shape is primarily due to the infiltra- 

 tion of the sand by an ordinarily insoluble substance barium sulphate. 8 

 This has been irregularly distributed, and where it has been wanting the 



1 T. G. Bonney, Geol. Mag. 1880 ; Brit. Assoc. 1886 ; Quart. Journ. Geol. SK. vol. Ivi. 

 8 W. J. Harrison, Proc. Birm. Phil. Sue. vol. iii. 1882. 

 8 ' Geology of Nottinghamshire ' in White's Nottinghamshire, 1 894. 

 * Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1891. 5 Clowes, Brit. Aaoc. 1885 ; Proc. Roy Soc. 1889. 



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