410 



T. V. Holmes— The Whitehaven Sandstone. 



West. Assoc. 1884-5, and a rejoinder by myself in Trans. Cunin. 

 and West Assoc. 1885-6. 



In 1891, a paper by Mr. William Brockbank, F.G.S., " On the 

 Occurrence of the Permian?, Spirorbis Limestones, and Upper Coal- 

 measures at Frizington Hall, in the Whitehaven District," was read, 

 and has since been published in vol. iv (fourth series), Mem. and 

 Proc. Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc. Frizington Hall is about three 

 miles east of Whitehaven. The paper consists of the details of 

 a boring made at Frizington Hall by the Vivian Boring Company 

 in 1890-1. The Whitehaven Sandstone was pierced in this boring, 

 and its details are of so much interest that 1 here give an abstract 

 of it from Mr. Brockbank's paper. 



Abstract of the Frizlxgton Hall Section. 



Surface clays 

 Permian breccia 



Shales, chiefly red, with purple sandstone 



Spirorbis limestone (reddish) 



Purple sandy shales 



Conglomerate 



Grey and pink mottled shaly sandstones ... 



Shaly conglomerate 



Eed and grey sandstone and shale 



Spirorb is limestone 



Shales and marls, variously coloured (sandstone 1ft. 6 in.) 



Brassey coal 



Blue metal, with sandstone, 1 ft.... 



Coal 



Metal, chiefly blue, marl and fireclay 



Coal 



Blue metal... 



Eed or reddish sandstone and shale 



Eed and purple sandstone and shale 



Conglomerate 



Eeddish-grey sandstone and shale 



Boring ended. 



Mr. Brockbank remarks that the three coals are in true Upper 

 Coal-measures, and that he considers the rocks from a depth of 

 460 ft. 8 in. to the bottom of the boring to be the sandstones seen 

 on the coast at Whitehaven, which they strongly resemble. He 

 adds, that if he be correct in his identification, " they thus become 

 Middle Coal-measure sandstones beyond doubt, as they are 214 feet 

 under the lowest Spirorbis limestone." And he also states tha 

 though the Whitehaven Sandstone is to be seen for a considerable 

 distance on the coast where the strata above it have been denuded 

 away, he believes this is the first time it has been recorded where 

 its true position in the Coal-measures is shown. Mr. Kendall, on 

 the other hand, claims the whole of the beds below the Permian as 

 belonging to the "Whitehaven Sandstone Series." And to Mr. 

 Brockbank's remark that the Whitehaven sandstones " thus become 

 Middle Coal-measure sandstones beyond doubt, as they are 214 feet 



