BEMBRIDGE LIMESTONE. 163 



The depth of the old channel of the Yar prevents the Lime- 

 stone from being traced continuously to the east side. But near 

 Yarmouth Gas Works it reappears on the foreshore, and was also 

 well seen in the railway cutting close by. Crossing Thorley 

 Brook it gradually spreads out, so as to occupy an extensive 

 dip slope, such as one scarcely expects from so thin and soft a 

 bed. 



In the neighbourhood of Wellow, Shalcombc, and Newbridge 

 an area of nearly 3 square miles is covered by the Limestone, 

 which forms a bold escarpment rising to a height of about 270 

 feet near Shalcombe. A dip of about 2" to the north-north- 

 east causes the Limestone to pass beneath the Bembridge Marls 

 near the Yarmouth and Newbridge high road. 



Notwithstanding this large spread not many sections are now 

 open, for brick has taken the place of limestone as a buildino- 

 material, and chalk is preferred for agricultural purposes. One 

 would have thought, however, that this limestone, with its greater 

 quantity of phosphoric acid, would have made a better manure ; 

 we have not been able to learn the reason for the substitution 

 of chalk, even on farms where the Bembridge Limestone would 

 be cheaper. The stone was formerly extensively dug in pits near 

 the escarpment, but these are all overgrown, the only remaining 

 sections being near Newclose Farm, in Thorley Street, near 

 Marshfield, in Wellow, and near Bank Cottage, Newbridge, where 

 the outcrop becomes more narrow. None of these pits are of 

 much interest, or show the upper or lower surface of the stone. 



Other sections are seen in the old pits between Newbridge and 

 Fullholding, and for nearly a mile the road runs along a ridge 

 formed by the Limestone. From Fullholding eastward the bed 

 ding becomes vertical. The limestone, therefore, occupies a very 

 small area at the surface. There seems also to be a tendency 

 for it, like other thin limestones, entirely to disappear for a depth 

 of several feet from the surface, where exposed to the solvent 

 action of rain water. For these reasons it is often difficult to 

 follow the outcrop ; but limestone has been seen south o£ North 

 Park Farm ; north of Swainstone ; at Great Pai'k ; for nearly 

 three-quarters of a mile west of Gunville ; and in an old quarry 

 half-a-mile east of Gunville, 



Returning to the coast, we find the Bembridge Limestone to 

 sink beneath the sea at Yarmouth,* to reappear on the northern 

 side of the syncline with a west-north-west strike. The limestone 

 of Hamstead Ledge consists of three beds, with other softer 

 bands between, and contains numerous specimens of LimiKBii 

 Imif/iscata, PlanorhiSj Charay &c. It can be traced nearly as far 

 as the Newtown river, making a conspicuous feature, though the 

 old cliff is now much overgrown. 



In ancient charters it is called Eremuth (Worslcy). 



L 2 



