T. V. Holmes — The Whitehaven Sandstone. 407 



" In the cliffs along the coast near Whitehaven, occurring 

 interruptedly over the prolific Coal-measures, there is a purple-grey 

 arenaceous rock known to geologists as the Whitehaven Sandstone. 

 It is there, at least, 170 feet thick. The same rock, or rock of the 

 same general character, also occurs over other parts of the coalfield, 

 being sometimes interbedded to a considerable extent with shale, 

 and attaining then an aggregate thickness of 500 or 600 ft. It is 

 therefore convenient to include the whole of these rocks under the 

 name of the ' Whitehaven Sandstone Series.'" 



A little farther on are the following additional remarks on its 

 composition : — 



" It will be seen from these sections (Appendix A) that the 

 Whitehaven Sandstone Series consists almost entirely of sandstone 

 and shale, of a red, grey, or brown colour, as described in the sections, 

 but the writer prefers to call it purple-grey. With these beds are 

 intercalated, in the lower part of the series, rocks of the ordinary 

 Coal-measure colour and a few thin coal-seams. Two thin beds of 

 Spirorbis limestone have been met with in the series at Frizington Hall, 

 and occasionally, in different parts of the district, inconstant beds 

 of conglomerate appear, as in section No. 3. In the neighbourhood 

 of Flimby and Maryport, the base of the series is formed by a thick 

 sandstone, as seen in section No. 6. At Whitehaven, Cleator Moor, 

 and Frizington, the base-rock is variable, being in some places 

 argillaceous, in others arenaceous." 



Mr. Kendall remarks that in 1883 he published a paper on " The 

 Structure of the Cumberland Coalfield," which " for the first time 

 dealt with the Whitehaven Sandstone Series over the whole field, 

 showing it to be unconformable Upper Coal-measures." His object 

 in his paper of last year is to reply to the objections of critics of 

 his views with regard to the Whitehaven Sandstone, as expressed 

 in his paper of 1883, and to reassert them with additional details. 

 Incidentally, he considers the hypothesis that the purple-grey 

 Carboniferous rocks owe their colour to Permian staining, and thinks 

 that the evidence is against it, and that the colour is pre-Permian. 



It is obvious that a formation so variable in thickness and com- 

 position as this " Whitehaven Sandstone Series " is (according to 

 Mr. Kendall) very difficult to identify far from Whitehaven, 

 unless its colour is almost unique, and its outcrop traceable across 

 the country so that its unconformity to the other Carboniferous 

 strata is thereby made manifest. But the unconformity would be 

 shown in colliery workings, should the unconformable beds cross 

 a coalfield in which they cannot be traced, because the surface beds 

 consist of Glacial Drift, as in the present case. 



In my paper, lately referred to, on the distinctive colours of the 

 Carboniferous and Permian formations of Cumberland, I mentioned 

 the Whitehaven Sandstone as occupying a position in West Cumber- 

 land analogous to that of the Red Rock of Rotherham in the Coalfield 

 of Yorkshire. Having worked a good deal in the district about 

 Rotherham when engaged on the Geological Survey in that Coal- 

 field, I am enabled to give the following particulars about the Red 



