408 T. Y. Holmes— The Whitehaven Sandstone. 



Bock. It was found to occupy an area of about ten miles in length 

 and usually from one to two miles in breadth. It could be traced 

 from place to place, and its relations to the ordinary conformable 

 measures be thereby demonstrated. Its red colour made it almost 

 unique in the district in that respect, and its lithological variations 

 from place to place were slight and unimportant. 



In Cumberland, as I have already stated, the outcrops of the 

 harder rocks of the Coal-measures are not traceable, owing to the 

 thick surface-covering of Glacial Drift. On the other hand, no aid 

 from colliery workings was obtainable in the case of the Ked Rock 

 of Eotherham, which throughout its course remained geologically 

 far above the horizons in which collieries then existed. But the 

 "Whitehaven Sandstone— according to Mr. Kendall — has an uncon- 

 formity of much greater magnitude, and may be recognized from 

 Whitehaven, at the south-west, across the whole area of the 

 Coalfield to and beyond its north-eastern boundary. For on Lower 

 Carboniferous ground, about 30 miles north-east from Whitehaven, 

 the Whitehaven Sandstone is still recognized by Mr. Kendall in the 

 700 or 800 ft. of reddish or purple-grey sandstone and shale seen in 

 Shalk 1 Beck at and near Nine Gills ! 



It is obvious that the only evidence which could demonstrate 

 the truth of this view, that the Whitehaven Sandstone is to be 

 recognized at various spots from Whitehaven to Shalk Beck, is that 

 which might be obtainable from colliery workings. Fortunately the 

 course taken by the Whitehaven Sandstone is — according to Mr. 

 Kendall — along the whole length of the Coalfield. This would be 

 a singular and somewhat improbable thing in itself, for, from 

 Maryport eastward, the uppermost beds of the Coal-measures must 

 have been very largely cut off by the long lines of fault which bring 

 in the St. Bees Sandstone. Still, the evidence of a long chain of 

 collieries, each showing unconformable masses of purple-grey rocks, 

 might enable us to trace the Whitehaven Sandstone from one end 

 of the Coalfield to the other, and show that, though lithologically 

 variable, it yet formed a real unconformable series. But Mr. 

 Kendall never appeals to evidence of unconformity at the base of 

 the purple-grey rocks which he recognizes as Whitehaven Sandstone 

 in colliery sections. And any other evidence for the purpose of 

 showing that certain purple-grey rocks belong to the unconformable 

 Whitehaven Sandstone series is manifestly worthless, unless it can 

 be shown that both in lithological character and in colour the 

 Whitehaven Sandstone series is unique. But where it can be seen 

 at Whitehaven it presents no special and distinguishing lithological 

 peculiarities, nor has it any fossils of a special kind. The interest 

 attaching to it arises solely from its apparent unconformity to ihe 

 beds on which it rests. As to its colour — rocks of a reddish or 

 purple-grey tint may be seen in North Cumberland on Carboniferous 

 horizons of every age, on the Esk, Line, Carwinley Burn, Hether 

 Burn, and other Border streams, as well as in the Caldew, Shalk 



1 Shalk is sometimes "written Chalk or Shawk. 



