GEOLOGY 



more detailed work has been accomplished which gives us a fuller insight 

 into its geological structure and history. 



During the eighteenth century several notices occur as to the minerals, 

 fossils, soil, &c., but these early writers had no connected view of the 

 structure of the country, or of the nature of the rocks. The first to acquire 

 a knowledge of the stratification of England was William Smith, who in 1815 

 published his ' Map of the Strata of England and Wales,' followed in 1821 by 

 a ' New Map of Leicestershire,' coloured geologically. In the following year 

 the Rev. W. D. Conybeare and W. Phillips published the Outlines of the 

 Geology of England and Wales, which contains some valuable notes on the 

 Ashby Coalfield. This coalfield was further described in 1834 in the 

 elaborate work of E. Mammatt, which, although giving many interest- 

 ting facts and observations, is somewhat marred by the crude theories 

 propounded. In 1838 Professor J. B. Jukes gave a Popular Sketch of the 

 Geology of the County of Leicester, which is the earliest general description of 

 the geology of the county. In 1846 another 'Sketch of the Geology of 

 Leicestershire,' by the Rev. W. Ccleman, appeared in White's History of 

 Leicestershire and Rutland, a second edition of which was published in 1863 ; 

 this latter is one of the best accounts of the general geology of the county 

 that we possess. Previous to this, however, more minute details had been 

 given in two of the memoirs of the Geological Survey relating to this 

 district which were published in i860. 1 In 1866 Professor Ansted gave an 

 account of the Physical Geography and Geology of the County of Leicester. In 

 1869 two important descriptions of the district were written. One, a 

 Geological Survey memoir by E. Hull, on 'The Triassic and Permian Rocks 

 of the Midland Counties of 'England ; the other by W. Molyneux, on Burton-on- 

 T'rent, its History, its Waters, and its Breweries. In later years many papers 

 relating to the rocks in different parts of the district were published ; but, 

 except the very detailed Sketch of the Geology of Leicestershire and Rutland, 

 given by W. J. Harrison in 1877, no general account of its geology 

 appeared. In 1889 the resurvey of the district was commenced by the 

 Geological Survey, and all the maps, with the exception of the southern 

 and north-eastern portions of the county, have been issued, together with a 

 series of memoirs, giving a detailed account of its geology. 



PRE-CAMBRIAN OR ARCHAEAN 



The geology of Charnwood Forest has been studied for many years, 

 but owing to the obscurity of its strata and the paucity of exposures, it has 

 not attracted the attention of geologists to the same extent as many other 

 areas. Among the earliest writers on these rocks were Professor Sedgwick 

 (1834),* Professor Jukes (1842)," Professor Ansted (1863)," Rev. W. H. 

 Coleman (i863), 6 and others; but it was not until 1877 that the first 



1 W. T. Aveline and H. H. Howell, The Geology of Part of Leicestershire, Expl. of Sheet 63 ; E. Hull, 

 The Geology of the Leicestershire Coalfield and the Country around j4shby-de-la-Zouch. 



' Phil. Mag. (Ser. 3), iv, 68, 69. 



1 Appendix to the Geology, Botany, and Ornithology of the District, in Potter's Hist, and Antiq. of 

 Charnwood Forest. 



4 Geologist, vi, 371. 



5 ' Geology of Leicestershire ' ; in White's Hist. Gaz. and Direct, of the Counties of Leic. and Rut. 



