90 DESCRIPTION OF THE STRATA. 



pillars. The Bride Stones are the highest rocks in the spot which 

 tiiey occupy, which however is lower than the adjacent Saltergate 

 moor. They are rendered conspicuous by their frequently protruding- 

 above the alluvium ; and some portions of them are found insulated, 

 in various fantastic forms. The most singular of the whole group is 

 that represented in the centre of the annexed sketch, in the form of 

 a mushroom, with a slender stalk. It is about 30 feet high, and 20 

 broad near the top, in one direction; while the stalk or pillar, that 

 supports it, is only 3 feet across in one direction, and about 7 in 

 the other. 



We have had occasion to notice, that the second shale, in a few 

 places, alternates with the lower beds of the series above it; and we 

 have also to remark, that, in some instances, it interferes in a similar 

 way with the beds that succeed it. — These beds consist of 



IRONSTONE AND SANDSTONE. 



Under this head are comprehended some strata, which, like 

 those succeeding the oolite, cannot be very easily defined ; they differ 

 so greatly in different places. At the foot of Gristhorp cliffs, where 

 they first make their appearance, they form a large series, to which 

 there is nothing exactly corresponding, in any other place where their 

 progress has been investigated. The whole beds occurring there, 

 including the shale and sandstone in the cliffs, belonging to the fore- 

 going member of the strata, as observed at low Avater in a small bay 

 or indentation of the shore, are as follows: 



1. A lofty bed of shale, rising towards the top of the cliff, and 

 there meeting the alluvium. 



2. A bed of grey sandstone, nearly of the colour of the shale. 



3. A thick bed of shale, occupying the lower part of the cliff. 



4. Whitish sandstone, of considerable thickness, appearing at 

 t)ie very foot of the cliff. 



