ON THE CIRCULATION OF UNDERGROUND WATERS. 159 



Appendix B. 



Report on the Water in the Triassic Sandstones at West Kirby, Cheshire. 



By Isaac Roberts. 



Tn the year 1877 I was requested by the Hoylake Waterworks Com- 

 pany (then just formed) to report upon the advisability of sinking a well 

 on Grange Hill at West Kirby, which is distant about 1^ miles to the 

 south of Hoylake, with the object of obtaining a supply of water for the 

 inhabitants of Hoylake and West Kirby. 



On making a- careful survey of the private wells in the neighbourhood 

 of the proposed well, I determined the surface of the water plane in the 

 rock to be 30 feet above the Ordnance datum at the highest part of 

 Grange Hill, and 22 feet above the datum near the plain, at the foot of 

 the hill, and I reported that if a well were sunk at the point indicated by 

 the company's engineer, a point 219 feet above Ordnance datum, the 

 surface of the water plane would be reached about 195 feet below the 

 summit of Grange Hill. 



The sinking of the well was commenced about twelve months ago, and 

 on visiting the site on the 11th of this month (July 1879), I found the 

 well sunk 205 feet in depth, and the surface of the water plane 186 feet 

 5 inches below the point on the Grange Hill which I have already re- 

 ferred to, thus agreeing very closely with my calculations made in the 

 year 1877. 



The well on Grange Hill is distant about a mile from the river Dee, 

 which is the nearest outlet for the discharge of the rainfall upon the hill and 

 which passes through its mass into the sea. Itis therefore demonstrated that 

 the inclination of the water plane within the Triassic rocks of this district 

 does not in any case exceed 30 feet in altitude to one mile in horizontal 

 distance, and as the natural water level in the rocks of this district has 

 not hitherto been materially disturbed by pumping, the inclination of the 

 water plane given above will probably be, within narrow limits, the normal 

 in all similar rocks. 



The rock which forms Grange Hill is marked ' Pebble Beds ' of the 

 Bunter on the maps of the Geological Survey, but in examining the well 

 which is now being sunk it appears probable that an error has been made 

 in so naming them, for the lithological characteristics of the rocks agree 

 better with the base of the Keuper forming the surface of the hill, and 

 ' upper soft red ' or ' mottled ' sandstone beneath, than with ' pebble 

 beds ' as marked on the maps. 1 



Appendix C. — Jurassic Wells, 8fc. 



Name of Member of Committee asking for information, W. Whitaker. 

 Name of Individual or Company applied to : — 



Messrs. S. F. Baker & Sons. 



1. Farringdon, Berks, la. 1871. No. 3. From surface to bottom of boring, 

 114 ft. 6 in. ; upper portion, 5i ft. ; and lower portion, 4i ft. diameter. 5. Should 

 say about 70 gallons per minute. 



1 The error Mr. Eoberts refers to is rectified in the new edition of the Geological 

 Survey Map of the district.— C. E. De R. 



