A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



Phillips, in describing the Malvern and Abberley region, gave to 

 the breccia the name Haffield Conglomerate, from the locaHty west of 

 Bromesberrow and south of Ledbury, where the rock is well exposed. 

 It occurs at Warshill Camp, west of Kidderminster, Stagbury Hill, west 

 of Stourport, at Abberley Hill, Woodbury Hill, near Knightsford 

 Bridge, at Alfrick and Howlers Heath at the southern end of the Mal- 

 vern range. In this region it rests partly against Silurian and older rocks, 

 partly on Coal Measures, but everywhere unconformably. Elsewhere in 

 places it is underlain by red marls and sandstones, and overlain with 

 apparent conformity by the upper Permian Marls and the Bunter Sand- 

 stone and pebble-beds. 



Geologically, the greatest interest attaches to the breccia. It was 

 originally termed ' Trappoid Breccia,' because the included fragments 

 are mostly igneous rocks. It comprises a red and purplish marly matrix 

 with angular and sub-angular blocks up to 2 feet in diameter, mainly 

 of volcanic grits and lavas, with also quartzite, sandstone and hmestone. 



Ramsay in 1855 expressed the opinion that the Permian breccias 

 of the Bromsgrove Lickey and Clent Hills were the morainic matter of 

 glaciers scattered in the Permian sea by icebergs.^ 



Jukes at the time hesitated to accept this view, believing that the 

 fragments might have been derived from adjacent rocks now concealed 

 under the red rocks of the neighbourhood ^ ; so likewise did the Rev, 

 W. S. Symonds.^ Their views are supported nowadays. By Mr. W. 

 Wickham King and Mr. R. D. Oldham* the breccias are considered to 

 have been derived from scree-material and the stones to have been more 

 or less rolled by streams and torrents which bore them away from the hill 

 slopes. Whether part of the talus was of glacial origin, or whether the 

 striae found on the stones were produced during the slipping of scree- 

 material, or were derived from ancient slickensided surfaces may be 

 questioned. We need not, however, restrict our explanations to one 

 mode of action. 



It is held by Prof Groom and others that the fragments were not 

 mainly derived from the old rocks of Malvern and Abberley, nor were 

 the strata deposited against a shore line of those hills. Land may have 

 existed east of the Malverns and the talus may thence have been derived. 

 Prof. Lapworth states that the prevalent rock-fragments resemble the old 

 Uriconian volcanic series, representatives of which occur at Barnt Green 

 and on the Herefordshire Beacon.^ Other fragments may have come from 

 the Lickey quartzite and the May Hill Sandstone. 



In the calcareous conglomerates, which were formed somewhat 

 earlier than the breccias, there are many limestone pebbles derived from 

 Carboniferous and Silurian rocks. 



* Quart. "Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xi. p. 186. 



* 'The South Staffordshire Coal-field,' Mem. Geol. Survey, ed. 2, 1859, p. 15. 

 ^ Records of the Rods, p. 409. 



* King, Midland Nat., vol. xvi. p. 25 ; Quart. 'Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. Iv. p. 97 ; and 

 R. D. Oldham, ibid. vol. 1. p. 470. 



^ Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xv. p. 373. 



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