FOSSIL SHELLS FREESTONE. 7 



Cornua ammonis are very common about this village. As we 

 were cutting an inclining path up the Hanger, the labourers found 

 them frequently on that steep, just under the soil, in the chalk, 

 and of a considerable size. In the lane above Well-head, in the 

 way to Emshot, they abound in the bank, in a darkish sort of 

 marl, and are usually very small and soft : but in Clay's Pond, a 

 little further on, at the end of the pit, where the soil is dug out 

 for manure, I have occasionally observed them of large dimen- 

 sions, perhaps fourteen or sixteen inches in diameter. But as 

 these did not consist of firm stone, but were formed of a kind of 

 terra lapidosa, or hardened clay, as soon as they were exposed to 

 the rains and frost they mouldered away. These seemed as if 

 they were a very recent production. In the chalk-pit, at the north- 

 west end of the Hanger, large nautili are sometimes observed. 



In the very thickest strata of our freestone, and at consider- 

 able depths, well-diggers often find large scallops or pectines, 

 having both shells deeply striated, and ridged and furrowed alter- 

 nately. They are highly impregnated with, if not wholly com- 

 posed of, the stone of the quarry. 



LETTER IV. To T. PENNANT, ESQ. 



As in a former letter the freestone of this place has been only 

 mentioned incidentally, I shall here become more particular. 



This stone is in great request for hearth-stones, and the beds 

 of ovens : and in lining of lime-kilns it turns to good accountj 

 for the workmen use sandy loam instead of mortar ; the sand of 

 which fluxes,* and runs by the intense heat, and so cases over 

 the whole face of the kiln with a strong vitrified coat like glass, 

 that it is well preserved from injuries of weather, and endures 

 thirty or forty years. When chiseled smooth, it makes elegant 

 fronts for houses, equal in colour and grain to the Bath stone ; 

 and superior in one respect, that, when seasoned, it does not 

 scale. Decent chimney-pieces are worked from it of much closer 

 and finer grain than Portland ; and rooms are floored with it, but 

 it proves rather too soft for this purpose. It is a freestone, 

 cutting in all directions, yet has something of a grain parallel 



so that it can hardly be expected that any sort of animal, the exuviae of which occur in the 

 (secondary) chalk, can be still found in existence at the present time. ED. 



* There may probably be also in the chalk itself that is burnt for lime a proportion of sand, 

 for few chalks are so pure as to have none. 



