102 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



superposition arc Headon Hill, Alum Bay, and 

 Whitecliff Bay. 



Binstead quarries.- — The limestones in the 

 vicinity of Hyde have been quarried for many 

 centuries ; the shelly, as well as the compact 

 varieties, having been in great demand during the 

 middle ages for building.* Though the sections 

 exposed in the quarries now open are inconside- 

 rable, they will suffice to illustrate the characters 

 of the strata and the nature of their fossils, and 

 render the interpretation of the phenomena here- 

 after to be examined more easy of comprehension. 

 I would, therefore, first conduct the reader to 

 Binstead, which lies about a mile to the west of 

 Ryde. There are several quarries on both sides 

 of the turnpike road to Newport, and others in a 

 field which lies on the left of the footpath that 

 turns oil" from the main road just beyond a Doric 

 lodge, and leads by copses and hedge-rows to the 

 picturesque hamlet of Binstead, affording here 

 and there glimpses of the most charming rural 

 scenery. The quarries for the extraction of the 

 stone vary in depth from ten to twenty feet, and 



* A great part of Winchester Cathedra] is built of stone from the old 

 quarries at Binstead. Some- of tin- walls of Lewes Priory were faced with 

 this -lone; and several ancient Sussex churches an- in part constructed of it. 

 ii tj composed of comminuted shells, held together by a sparry calca- 

 reous cement, was extensivel] used; it has been frequently mistaken for 

 Caen stone by our antiquaries. 



