SCARBOROUGH. 133 



tain the carbonaceous sandstones and shales, with many layers 

 of fossil plants, seldom in good condition; and at Wheatcroft 

 Farm the Kelloways rock and Cornbrash overtop the series. 

 ' Diluvial ' clays, full of fragments of far-travelled rocks, become 

 very abundant in the cliffs above the Spaw, which are now occu- 

 pied by a conspicuous row of elegant houses. The chalybeate 

 water of the Spaw probably derives its quality from the imme- 

 diately adjacent cliff of clays and pebbles. From the appear- 

 ances here presented, and from the cuttings on the railway, it 

 may be concluded that the little valley which gives passage to 

 the stream under the bridge is formed in a hollow of the strata 

 which was excavated in early geological times, and afterwards 

 filled up with the boulder-clay deposit. This indeed is the 

 general history of the valleys on the Yorkshire coast. 



SCARBOROUGH. 



SCARBOROUGH is readily admitted to be supreme among 

 northern watering-places. No situation on the Yorkshire coast 

 offers the same combination of picturesque cliffs, convenient 

 access, comfortable dwellings, amusements for invalids, and 

 motives for exercise to the more robust, along pleasant sands, 

 among ancient fortifications, over prominent hills, or through 

 woody valleys. Since the Bridge and Cliff walks have been 

 constructed, the somewhat toilsome ascent from the chalybeate 

 springs and the sands to the town is changed to an easy and 

 healthful promenade; and the tediousness of slow drives to 

 Filey, or Flamborough, or Ayton, or Whitby, is replaced by 

 something like the flight of an arrow, on a railway. Want of 

 woods in the immediate vicinity of the sea is a misfortune felt 

 on all parts of the Yorkshire coast, except in the secluded valleys 

 of Haiburn, Eskdale, and the glens about Mulgrave, nor can 

 this be wholly remedied at Scarborough. But the desire of 

 improvement will in many ways augment the agreeable features 

 of the place, and amongst other evidence of this, a better appre- 

 ciation of the picturesque north sands may be mentioned. 



