GEOLOGY 



movements, whereby the whole group has been modified. Hence in one 

 sense these Archaean rocks are a complex of many ages. 



The Malvern rocks are notably dislocated and shattered. As Phillips 

 remarked in 1848, ' Brecciated rocks are abundant on the eastern face 

 of the Malvern Chain, as at North End, in the Wych road, on the east 

 side of the Raggedstone Hill, and round the east and north of Key's-end 

 [Chase End] Hill. They consist of slightly displaced portions of the 

 adjoining masses, or else appear to be only crushed parts of these masses, 

 crushed in situ by the force which displaced and broke the chain, as it is 

 on the line of the great fault, and in places where much movement may 

 be believed to have happened, that these rocks appear.' ^ 



Further attention was drawn to these brecciated rocks by Prof. 

 Hughes in 1887, and he then pointed out ' that we may in certain cases 

 have a conglomeratic-looking mass composed of rounded pieces of rock 

 differing in lithological character both from the matrix and from one 

 another, occurring along what looks like the strike of the rocks, and yet 

 may be able to make out that it is entirely a superinduced structure due 

 to brecciation in place and subsequent decomposition of the broken 

 rock.'^ 



Noteworthy springs occur at various points along the hill range, for 

 v/hile, as pointed out by Phillips, the surface of the hills is exceedingly 

 dry, and the rain sinks into the many fissures, it reappears 'in many springs 

 at or about the level where the steep slopes of the hills end and the 

 Malvern rocks are covered by the strata of the lower ground.' ^ Thus we 

 find St. Ann's Well on the eastern side of the Worcestershire Beacon, also 

 the Holy Well (Malvern Wells), between Great and Little Malvern. 

 Again, Walms Well issues on the western side of the Herefordshire 

 Beacon. 



The hill-range is one of mixed woodland and pasture, the thin soil 

 varying much according to the nature of the rocks. The gneissic tracts 

 are for the most part grassy, and the steep slopes of the Worcestershire 

 Beacon are slippery indeed in hot, dry weather. The more prominent of 

 the heights naturally formed strongholds in ancient times, and we find 

 encampments that were used by Britons, Romans and Danes. Some of 

 the hills too have at various times proved useful as beacons. PhilHps 

 mentions that across the ridge between the Worcestershire Beacon, and 

 the Wych ' runs a sort of vein of mica, giving origin to the only even 

 supposed mine in the Malverns — but a gold mine ! ' Many years ago, 

 indeed, a shaft was sunk to raise the gold, which was thought to be present, 

 but no traces of the precious metal were found.* 



The occurrence of Archsean rock near Martley has for some time 

 been recognized. The structure of the region is a complicated one, and 

 according to the observations of Prof Groom, the old rocks have appar- 



' Mem. Geol. Survey, vol. ii., pt. i, p. 44. 



^ Geol. Mag. for 1887, p. 502 ; see also Groom, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. Iv. p. 151. 

 ' Mem. Geol. Survey, vol. ii., pt. I, p. 16. 

 * C. Hastings, Nat. Hist. IVorcestershire, 1834, p. 89. 

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