T. C. Cantrill — Coal-boring at Presteign, Radnorshire. 485 



emerges from the flats of the Lugg near Corton, and trends south- 

 westward under Folly Farm and through Nash "Wood toward Nash 

 Scar, where a second outcrop of Woolhope Limestone dips off its 

 southern flank and has till quite recently been quarried and burnt 

 for lime. 



From these particulars, which for over half a century have been 

 accessible in the works quoted, it will be seen that a more hopeless 

 district in which to sink for coal could hardly have been found if 

 deliberately sought for. This is not the place to criticize the 

 pseudo-geological statements put forward in support of the scheme ; 

 it is sufficient to remark that one of the leading promoters regarded 

 the line of old excavations on the course of the Woolhope Limestone, 

 together with the presence of small pieces of unburnt coal in the 

 soil, as positive proof that the outcrop of a coal-seam had been at 

 some time worked there by opencast. 



My hasty visit in July, 1912, and a brief examination made in 

 September, 1915, confirm in all their main features the views 

 expressed by previous observers ; but the record of the boring shows 

 that the structure of the ground is not so simple as appears at 

 first sight. 



The Corton Grit, consisting of hard and relatively durable 

 conglomerates, grits, and sandstones, forms the dominant feature of 

 the landscape. The rock has been extensively quarried at the 

 eastern end of the ridge, where a large excavation, 100 yards 

 north of Corton House, shows 30 or 40 feet of massive grits and 

 coarse grey sandstones. Quartz and quartzite pebbles are present, 

 and in some cases are claret-coloured. The dip(E.S.E. at 15°) shows 

 clearly the pitch of the anticline. A rotten fossiliferous band about 

 half-way up the western face yielded ' Petraia ' elongata (Phill.). 

 In the lane that ascends the Folly Bank, past the boring, to the 

 Folly Farm, excellent exposures show a northward dip of 55° ; 

 others, a few yards farther south, and within 70 yards of the site 

 selected for the boring, yielded specimens of ' Petraia ' elongata and 

 casts of Pentamems oblongus, J. de C. Sow. On the southern side of 

 the ridge the same lane again shows the grits with Pentamerus, 

 dipping first eastward, and then south-eastward, at 20° to 30°. 



The Woolhope Limestone has been at some time extensively 

 quarried and burnt for lime along the northern foot of the ridge. 

 The works had evidently been abandoned before the appearance of 

 J. E. Davis's paper in 1850; but the quarries are clearly marked on 

 the Ordnance Map of 1833. As traces of several small earthen kilns 

 of horse-shoe shape can still be detected among the excavations, the 

 presence of pieces of coal in the soil is not to be wondered at. 

 Though little of the limestone is now visible, the old openworks 

 west of the lane show that the bed cannot exceed, if it attains, 

 12 feet in thickness, that it follows close upon the Corton Grit, and is 

 succeeded bymudstones referable, apparently, to the Wenlock Shales. 

 The high southern side of the excavation affords a fine view of the 

 grit, with large bare bedding-planes, dipping northward at 40° to 

 45°, and studded with quartz-pebbles of the size of peas. A specimen 

 of Favosites was extracted from one of these beds. 



