476 



Correspondence. 



directions. At this point the valley is 475 feet in depth, measuring 

 from its steepest portions, but is much deeper if measured from a 

 line joining the tops of the moorlands on opposite sides. It should 

 also be remarked that the relative steepness of the sides have an 

 evident connection with their geological constitution. The valley is 

 in the line of a large faidt, along which the Millstone-grit is up- 

 heaved on the south-west side, and forms, in some places, a wall of 

 precipitous rock. 



Fig. 3. — "Whitworth Valley, South of Bacup. 



3. The third instance (Fig. 3) is that of Whitworth Valley, 

 between Eochdale and Bacup. Almost two miles south of the 

 latter town it crosses the watershed. It is less striking than the other 

 two cases just cited, but is worthy of notice from the fact that, at 

 the point where there is no brook, the sides of the valley are very 

 sharply cut. The hills on either side rise much higher than is shown 

 in the figure. 



4. The last example to which I shall especially refer is the Valley 

 of Sabden — at the eastern base of Pendle Hill. This is a truly 

 remarkable channel from its evident connection with the strike (or 

 direction) of the beds of Millstone-grit. It commences at the valley 

 of the Calder, near "Whalley, and thence ranges in a nearly straight 

 line for a distance of seven miles in a north-easterly direction. The 

 ridge which bounds it on the south-east side is composed of hard 

 grit, and is sharply defined — that on the opposite side is more broken, 

 but is in some parts very steep. Not having the six-inch Ordnance 

 Maps at hand, I cannot give the exact depth of this valley where the 

 brooks rise; but, judging by the eye, it seems not less than 400 feet, 

 and is probably more. The watershed crosses near the village of 

 Newchurch, in Pendle, about two-thirds of the distance from the 

 south-western entrance to the valley ; and it is a curious fact that a 

 branch of the river Calder crosses the opposite entrance on the north- 

 east. 



There are, doubtless, many other illustrations of the same kind 

 throughout the Northern uplands ; but the cases I have cited are 

 sufficient for my purpose, which is to show that there are valleys — ■ 

 with all the appearances of " river valleys " — which have no con- 

 nection whatever with, at least, the present streams. It may be 

 replied that these were once river-vaUeys, but that in conse- 

 quence of the changes in the relative levels of the different parts of 

 the country, the streams have been diverted. This may be so, but I 

 should like to have some evidence of it in the presence, for example. 



