88 EEPORT— 1880. 



depth of ]000 feet, and 20 inches beneath that limit. The watei*-level 

 stood at 50 feet from the surface in the bore-hole before pumping com- 

 menced. This level is about that at which water stood in the adjacent 

 Bootle well, when not pumped some years ago. The character of the 

 Pebble Beds is well seen in the quarry in which the old well is sunk, and 

 in the large quarry higher up the hill, from which it is evident that the 

 thickness of this division of the Bunter is not less than 1200 feet, instead 

 of 600 to 800, as anticipated ; the base of the Pebble Beds was found in 

 the boring at 1039 feet, where the Lower Mottled Sandstone was first 

 penetrated, the rounded ' millet seed grain ' being specially charac- 

 teristic. This structure is well seen in the Lower Mottled Sandstone of 

 the Vale of Clywd. The Lower Mottled Sandstone in the Bootle boring 

 becomes very hard and compact at 1228 feet from the surface, being 

 cemented together by lime ; but the grain, when the rock is broken up, is 

 seen to be the same. For details of this boring and for facilities to inspect 

 the cores I have to thank Messrs. Mather and Piatt, of Salford Iron 

 Works. 



Last year I stated the hai'd compact sandstone met with in the 

 Bootle boring at a depth of 1228 feet from the surface probably belonged 

 to the Lower Mottled Sandstone. I also called attention to the rounded 

 character of the fragments of the soft sandstones lying between the base 

 of the Pebble Beds, which occurred at 1039 feet, and the top of the hard 

 bed just described, and I further attempted to show that this rounded, or 

 ' millet seed grain,' was present in the hard rock beneath, which is simply 

 the softer sandstone cemented together by lime. The boring having 

 failed to penetrate the hard rock, though carried to a total depth of 1304 

 feet, left a certain amount of doubt as to the correctness of my identifica- 

 tion. 



In February, 1879, I was unacquainted with any rock resembling the 

 hard compact sandstone of Bootle ; in May of the same year I was much 

 interested to recognise it in a series of samples of cores shown me by Mr. 

 Timmins of Runcorn (the contractor for the well-borings and other works 

 now being put down at Winwick near Warrington). On going through 

 the series of specimens occurring beneath the hard band, I had the satis- 

 faction of finding that the hard band at Winwick is underlaid as well as 

 overlaid by soft running-sand, with a millet seed grain, the whole series 

 most certainly belonging to the Lower Mottled Sandstone. Beneath them 

 are 49 feet of indurated mottled grey and dark marls, and calcareous 

 bands, overlying good limestone, which appears to precisely correspond to 

 the Upper Coal-measure limestones near Manchester, and the limestones 

 proved in the Clayton Vale Boring described in the ' Trans. Manchester 

 Geol. Soc' 1879 by Mr. Atherton,the cores from which I had an opportunity 

 of examining through the courtesy of Mr. Vivian, of the North of England 

 Rock-boring Company. These coal-measure deposits occurring at a 

 depth of only 340 feet or 113 yards from the surface, cannot but be re- 

 garded as a discovery of the highest commercial importance, as well as of 

 scientific interest; for, looking to the westei'ly attenuation of thickness of 

 the Coal-measures of South Lancashire, there can be little doubt but that 

 the Manchester coalfield will occur at a less depth beneath the limestones 

 than at Manchester, in which case a valuable and workable coalfield may 

 lie under the London and North- Westex'u Railway at Parkside, where a 

 boring has also recently been can-ied out, and where the coal-measures 

 have probably been reached at even a still smaller depth, but the par- 



