THE GEOLOGY OF MOW COP, ETC. 143 



Mow Cop along Congleton Edge northwards there runs a 

 thin belt of them, about six miles in length, which terminates 

 at Cloud Hill ; and this is the northern boundary of the 

 North Staffordshire coalfield. The country below Mow 

 Cop is pretty well covered by the glacial drift, and a few 

 patches of it are to be seen about the Brook Houses, leading 

 up to the Edge, which contain marine shells at an elevation 

 of 600 or 700 feet above the sea. In the forest of Maccles- 

 field, 1,200 feet above the sea, we have some rather large 

 spreads of the drift, in which are found about 20 species 

 of marine shells. In the Cemetery ground, which is 500 

 feet above the sea, nearly sixty species have been picked out 

 of the drift beds. I have pointed out the seam of coal 

 lying between the first and third grits on Congleton Edge, 

 which is four feet in thickness, of an inferior quality, and 

 is used for the burning of lime, &c. The second bed of 

 grit is absent in this district. At Macclesfield it exists 

 near the One House, &c., in great force, with a small bed 

 of coal lying below it. This grit is traceable as far as the 

 back of Svvithamley Park, where it dies out. The third 

 bed of grit is at Macclesfield, about 200 feet in thickness, 

 with a bed of coal lying on the top of it, as Tegsnose, c. 

 The first bed of grit is 100 feet in thickness, with coal 

 lying towards the bottom. It thins out beyond Wetley. 

 The thickness of the two grits, with the shales and coal 

 seam on this edge, will be near upon 300 feet. The fourth 

 grit is 100 feet thick at Macclesfield, and it is seen no 

 more beyond Biddulph Moor. It forms the table land of 

 Kinderscout, North Derbyshire, and is there verging upon 

 1,000 feet in thickness. Of the fifth bed there is 60 

 feefc at Macclesfield, and it terminates at a point near 

 Rushton. In Lancashire these millstone grit beds are 

 largely developed, having a total thickness of 2,500 feet. 

 The whole of them, as you will have heard, gradually 



