30 A. R. Horwood — Upper Trias of Leicestershire. 



brickyard to the south it is seen to consist of fine-grained white 

 argiUaceous sandstone about a foot thick, with greenish-hlue marly 

 beds, containing ripple-raarks and pseiidomorphs of salt crystals. 



South-west of Kegworth the same sandstone, which is here fairly 

 tliick, is exposed in the valley of the Long Whatton brook south of 

 Diseworth, and is an inlier, brought to the surface by the cutting 

 back of the Red Marl and possibly as a result of some fold in the 

 Red Marl which has brought it up to a higher level. A flexure 

 is noticeable in its outcrop near Lockington Grange which may be 

 connected with this. 



East of the River Soar the Red Marl forms high ground east of the 

 Soar Valley. Erom Red Hill on the Midland Railway to Thrumpton 

 gypsum crops out continuouslj-, and is found at the base of the two 

 outliers of Khsetics and Lower Lias north of West Leake and about 

 Gotham. At the last place the gypsum beds form an important 

 feature and are worked by tunnels driven into the sides of the hills. 

 They are generally continuous, but are dissolved in places by water 

 which accumulates at this horizon, and marl fills the intervening 

 spaces and is left as pillars in the workings. The Tea-green Mai'ls 

 crop out at Winking Hill close to the road at the south end of the 

 northern outlier. 



At the Gotham Plaster Company's works the gypsum' is 8 feet 

 thick, sound and clear white, and is overlain by Red Marl, but 

 a little grey or green marl is mixed with the less pure parts. The 

 gallery is driven in a southerly direction for half a mile. It is ground 

 for plaster here, as at the other pits in this district. At Shepherd's 

 Pit to the north a similar tunnel is driven for half a mile into the 

 hill. The gypsum is more or less horizontal, and is 8 feet thick, 

 thinning out in places and becoming useless, as at Thurraaston. 



At West Leake the Red Marl forms an outlier as in the north. To 

 the west it is covered by river-gravels, and forms low ground, to the 

 east by lacustrine clay at (jotham Moor, beneath Avhich the gypsum 

 crops out. Except along the escarpment, where sections have been 

 cut for gypsum, there are few exposures. At Sharpley Hill the 

 gypsum is at a lower level, ^ that at Gotham being below the Newark 

 gypsum beds also. The Tea-green Marls crop out in the Great 

 Central Railway at Crow Wood, and are seen again in the cuttings 

 at Wliite Hill, *East Leake. 



There is a pit west of Hutchley's ^Mills which shows 41 ft. 4 in. of 

 Red Marl with two bands of ball gypsum 8 inches thick and green 

 marl 5 feet thick as at Gipsy Lane, just below Tea-green Marls. 

 There is no exposure at Hutchley's Mills, but the gypsum is worked 

 \)j a tunnel driven more or less east into the hill. The track descends 

 at first abruptly, but the workings, which continue for nearly half 

 a mile into the hillside, are ultimately horizontal. The gypsum is 

 similar to the ball gypsum of Knighton, and is ground for plaster. 

 Pseudomorphs of salt crystals occur on the green marl. 



The band of skerry which may be traced along the east side of the 

 Midland Railway for a long distance is higher up than the Kegworth 



' It is practically pure alabaster. 



^ 180 feet below the Ehstics at East Leake. 



