382 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



RED and VARIEGATED MARBLES. 



[Eed and variegated stones are recorded, and have been worked more or less in 

 the Cos. of Armagh, Clare, Cork, Dublin, Kerry, Kildare, Limerick, Longford, and 

 Tipperary, tbose that have been principally worked occurring .in the Cos. Armagh, 

 Cork, and Limerick.] 



Armagh. 



The marble quarry at Armagh was at one time very extensively 

 worked both for building stones and marble. In the principal bed 

 the colour was a pinkish-grey, which, when polished, was of a 

 warm yellow colour. From this bed large blocks suitable for 

 columns were procured ; and associated with it were reddish beds, 

 alternating with whitish. These were quarried for the purpose of 

 being wrought into chimney-pieces and other ornamental work. 

 The rocks formerly raised seem to have been better than those at 

 present obtained ; or else tastes may have changed, as now the 

 rocks are considered light in colour and unsatisfactory, and their 

 place has been taken by the Cork and Belgian " reds." 



At the present time (Geol. Sur. Mem.) there are four separate 

 series of marble — (1) Uppermost are ten feet in thickness of vari- 

 egated bluish-red stone, in beds from one to three feet thick ; 

 (2) A little below these is the white marble, a pale, crystalline rock, 

 forming a bed three feet thick ; (3) Two feet under the latter is 

 the shell marble, a fossiliferous bed, of about one foot in thickness, 

 of a purplish-brown colour, variegated with green and yellow, while 

 nine inches lower is — (4) the thrush marble, consisting of ten feet in 

 thickness of a mottled-purplish rock, marked somewhat like the 

 breast of a thrush. 



Clare. 



To the south of the Co. Clare, a little east of the Fergus 

 between Newmarket and the Shannon, there are beds in the 

 Fenestella limestone which have been worked as marble, and were 

 used for ornamental purposes in Adare Manor, Co. Limerick, and 

 elsewhere. The stones are red, red clouded with grey, and 

 grey clouded with red. They do not rise in well-shaped blocks, 

 but good-sized stones may be raised which can be scabbled into 

 blocks of fair dimensions. 



