Manchester, 8., and L. Railway Extension. 101 



clay or loam on top. The gravel here consisted of flint, quartz, 

 ironstone, Chalk, and Jurassic fossils. 



South-west of Moreton Pinkney, the Chalky Boulder-clay covers 

 a considerable tract, and is exposed in the railway-cuttings, resting, 

 on the north, near Foxhall Farm, on blue clay (Upper Lias). At 

 Banbury Lane, in the Bari-owhill cutting, the Upper Lias was well 

 exposed to a depth of 30 feet. It comprised stiff blue clay, yellow 

 on top, with cement-stones, and it yielded few fossils except 

 Ammonites serpentinus (falcifer) and Belemnites. In two cuttings 

 further south, to the north-east and east of Sulgrave, sands and clays 

 belonging to the Estuarine Series beneath the Great Oolite Limestone 

 had been exposed, but the banks had been sloped. The strata were, 

 however, clearly to be seen west of Peter's Farm, north-west of 

 Helmdon, where the following section was noted : — 



Clialky Boulder-clay (ou the M^^lier ground). 



Great Oolite Limestone and Estuarine Beds. feet. 



Sandy marl with j5A//wcAo>>e//« ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 



Sandy and shelly limestone with Ostrea Sowerbiji, Modiola, and 



, Rhynchonella ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 



Sandy and marly clay with 0. Sowerbyi, Strophodus ... ... ,.. 7 



Bluish-black carbonaceous clay, merging into greenish clay ... ... 6 



Stiff grey and white clay with rootlets and sandy seams ... ... 8 



The stiff grey clay, which was well shown to the south-west of the 

 Helmdon and Sulgrave road, might furnish a useful tile-earth or 

 potter's clay. The beds overlying the black clay vary much in 

 character, as the oyster-beds become in places solidified into stony 

 layers. The strata beneath the Boulder-clay dip to the SSE., and 

 nearer to Helmdon are overlain by a rabble of Great Oolite Lime- 

 stone. The stone was worked at one time in quarries to the east of 

 the railway. 



South of Helmdon the Great Oolite Limestone was formerly 

 quarried east of Grange Farm. To the south of this there is 

 a cutting in the Great Oolite Series and overlying Chalky Boulder- 

 clay. The strata were as follows : — 



Chalky Boulder-clay (25 ft. thick by the bridge north of 



Glebe Farm). 



Great Oolite Limestone and Estuarine Beds. ft. in. 



Marls and thin clay-bands with Ostrea Sowerbiji, and marly 



limestone with many examples of Fholadomya deltoidea ; 



sandy limestone at base ... ... ... ...20 to 25 



Brown sand with lignite and tender shells of Ostrea ... ... 1 



Irregular clay-seam ... ... ... ... ... ... I 18 



Brown sand and clay with Ostrea ... ... ... ... J 



Dark-grey clay passing down, into greenish-grey clay ... ... 4 to 5 



Yellowish clay with rootlets ... ... ... ... ... 12 



I mark no division between the Great Oolite Limestone and 

 Estuarine Beds, as there is no constant horizon by which to define 

 it. The yellowish clay with rootlets is evidently the same as the 

 lowest bed noted in the section north-west of Helmdon; but beneath 

 it, in the foundations for a bridge, nine feet of blue limestone with 

 Modiola and Trigonia were proved. I was unable to devote time to 



