THE GEOLOGY OF BRIDPORT. 113 



green tint of the calc-spar which fills the chambers of the 

 characteristic Ammonite, Am. Latwcosta, fragments of which are 

 extremely common. This bed forms the base of the cliff all the 

 way from Stanton St. Gabriel to Seatown. 



Next comes (6) the lowest bed of the Middle Lias, or Marl-stone 

 as it is called in the Geological Survey Maps and elsewhere. This 

 lowest bed, 200ft. thick, is indistinguishable in appearance from 

 No 5; but the diversion is clearly marked in many places by those 

 massive bands of rock, called the Three Tiers, which form the base 

 of the Middle Lias, and which frequently stand out conspicuously 

 when the softer Clay has been weathered away. Great blocks 

 of these stone beds strew the shore all along the base of Golden 

 Cap and form the natural breakwater which has preserved 

 for us this splendid hill. The characteristic fossil of the 

 Clay above the Three Tiers is Ammonites Margaritatus, which is 

 found in great abundance. The bed is capped by the Starfish Bed, 

 5ft. thick, a greenish-gray sandstone with remarkably smooth 

 surface. Still looking up the cliff of Golden Cap we come upon 

 some 80 feet of (7) Laminated Sands and Clays with a little 

 Bluish Grey Marl. Above this very extensive denudation 

 must have taken place, for the Yellow Sands (14) which 

 constitute the summit of Golden Cap belong to the Cretaceous 

 System, and consist of Chert, Gravel, and Upper Greensand, 

 which, at one time, no doubt, lay just below the large sheet 

 of Chalk which then stretched over almost the whole of 

 Southern England. 



At Seatown there is a Fault which throws the Green Ammonite 

 Beds below sea level, and brings the clay with A. Margaritatus 

 (6) down to the top of the beach. The walk along here under 

 Down Cliff is particularly instructive. The shore is strewn with 

 fallen masses from the harder rocks above, including numerous 

 slabs from the Starfish Bed, in which it is easy to recognise the 

 places where the fossil starfish once were, but whence they seem 

 all to have been removed by the too industrious collectors. The 

 position of this Starfish Bed in the cliffs may generally be 



