A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



The Lower Lias Clay extends over the vale of Evesham, around 

 Pershore and Great Comberton, to the foot of Bredon Hill, and the 

 northern end of the Cotteswolds. Here fertile meadows and pastures 

 characterize the land, but the stiffness of the calcareous clay is much 

 ameliorated by superficial coverings of sand and gravel ; hence the rich 

 fruit grounds and market gardens near Evesham and Pershore. 



Judging by a deep boring at Mickleton in Gloucestershire the full 

 thickness of the Lower Lias is over 950 feet/ The several beds are 

 distinguished by successive groups of fossils, as noted in 1840 by Strick- 

 land.^ These groups are characterized by species of Ammonites, and 

 although there is nowhere any definite plane of division in the strata, 

 yet it is convenient to subdivide them into zones, because the relative 

 order of succession of the fossils is maintained over wide areas while 

 the lithological characters and the thicknesses of the strata are subject to 

 change. 



Thus above the limestones before-mentioned, which are character- 

 ized by Ammonites planorbis (or A. johnstoni), we have beds characterized 

 by Ammonites angulatus, A. bucklandi^ and A. semicostatus. These occur 

 further east of the scarp as at Bredon, Defford, and Besford, and again at 

 Evesham and Hampton, at Chadbury, and east of the Littletons. Higher 

 stages yield Ammonites obtusus, A. oxynotus, and A. jameso?ii, as near 

 Pershore, Honeybourne, and Aston Magna ; and again A. capricornus 

 should be found along the northern base of Bredon Hill. 



A fine series of Lower Lias fossils many of which are now in 

 the British Museum was locally obtained by the late T. J. Slatter, of 

 Evesham.^ Among the more noteworthy of the Worcestershire fossils 

 are Lima gigantea, Gryphcea arcuata, fine examples of Cardinia, and the 

 rugged bivalve Hippopodium ponderosum, also corals of the genus Heter- 

 astrcea. 



Saline waters have been encountered in shallow wells at Evesham 

 and Hampton Spa. The villages in most cases are supplied from water 

 held in gravel which occurs in patches over the Lias clay, so that the 

 supplies are not always safe from surface pollution. 



The Middle Lias occupies but small areas in Worcestershire, on the 

 northern and eastern slopes of Bredon Hill, and on the slopes of the Cottes- 

 wolds near Broadway and Blockley. In these situations it is much obscured 

 by debris from the heights above. It is a somewhat variable formation, 

 250 feet thick, or more, the lower part comprising micaceous loams, 

 clays and sands, while the upper part is a rock bed of ferruginous and 

 sandy limestone, sometimes termed the Marlstone. 



The clays and loams are characterized by Ammonites margaritatus, 

 and the rock bed by A. spinatus. In this upper bed, which is 8 or 



' H. B. Woodward, * Lias of England and Wales,' Mem. Geol. Survey, p. 156. 



* Proc. Geol. Soc, vol. iii. p. 314 ; see also Murchison, Geo/. Cheltenham, edit. 2, by 

 J. Buckman and H. E. Strickland, 1845. 



2 See also Wright, ' Lias Ammonites ' {Palaontographical Soc), p. 375; and R. Tate, 

 Quart. Jouin. Geol. Soc., vol. xxvi. p. 396. 



