54 C. Fox- 8trang ways — Geology of the 



the granite ; but on the western side the Eed Marl is seen abutting 

 against the granite, large blocks of the latter being included in the 

 marl as if they had fallen from a cliff during its deposition. The 

 main railway also just touches the granite of Bi'azil Wood, but there 

 is no section of the rock ; ^ the piers of the viaduct, however, are 

 vsunk in Keuper Marl, showing again how steep the junction is 

 between these two formations. 



After crossing the road to Swithland, the line enters some thick 

 beds of gravel and sand, which underlie the great spread of Chalky 

 Boulder-clay forming Eothley Plain. This sand, which is stratified, 

 contains numerous isolated boulders of granite, many of which are of 

 considerable size, but there do not appear to be any other stones in 

 the main mass of the sand, nor any clay. The appearance of these 

 great boulders sticking out in the sand is most remarkable, and how 

 they got there is a curious problem. Possibly they are evidence of 

 a granite cliff in the immediate neighbourhood ; the absence of any 

 clay seems to preclude them from being due to glacial action. At 

 the summit of the hill these sands pass beneath a thin covering of 

 Boulder-clay, and at the bridge under the road to Rothley terminate 

 very abruptly against a bank of Keuper Marl, another instance 

 showing how these drifts seem to be banked against the northern 

 sides of the hills.- 



On the opposite side of the Eothley valley the line passes through 

 a deep cutting in Boulder-clay, which is mainly composed of Lias 

 with quartzite pebbles and some chalk fragments. It also contains 

 irregular patches of sand and gravel, but no beds of any thickness. 

 This same Boulder-clay, which, however, becomes more chalky, 

 continues for about two miles to the neighbourhood of Birstall. 

 Here at the back of Cliff Lodge the Boulder-clay contains masses of 

 very coarse gravel composed mostly of Lias and Oolite, which has 

 been pushed into a series of undulations between masses of Boulder- 

 clay, evidently showing some disturbing force subsequent to its 

 deposition. At Birstall Hill Park a thick bed of sand and gravel 

 comes out from beneath the Boulder-clay, and, rising to the south, 

 soon occupies the whole of the cutting, forming one of the finest 

 sections of false-bedded sands and gravel to be seen along this part 

 of the railway. There is not much doubt that this sand is part of 

 the bed which occurs at the base of the Boulder-clay in this country, 

 and which has been traced almost uninterruptedly along this side of 

 the Soar valley ; but its position here is rather abnormal, being 

 considerably above the usual level of these sands. Before the 

 cutting was made there was very little evidence at the surface of so 

 large a deposit of sand and gravel.^ 



' A short account of the rocks near here is given by Mr. "W. W. Watts : Trans. 

 Leicester Lit. and Phil. Soc, vol. iv, p. 12, 1895 ; and Proc. Geol. Assoc, Tol. xiv, 

 p. 432. 



2 At this spot some supposed British remains have been found by Mr. W. T. 

 Tucker, who gives a beautifully illustrated account of them in the Trans. Leicester 

 Lit. and Phil. Soc, vol. iv, p. 212, 1896. 



3 Mr. Montagu Browne, F.G.S., has some fine photogi-aphs of these gravels. 



