RED SANDSTONE WITH GYPSUM. 163 



these places, runs between high alluvial banks. At the whinstone 

 quarry of Preston, on the north-west bank of the Tees, opposite 

 Barwick, a little below the junction of the Leven with the Tees, the 

 sandstone is found of a white colour, or yellowish white; and is 

 more hard and siliceous than in the places now mentioned. 



We have not found the red sandstone itself in the eastern part of 

 tlie plain of Cleveland ; but an interesting portion of this member of 

 the strata is exposed at the mouth of the Tees, at the foot of Lazen- 

 by fields, about two miles from Lazenby, and the same distance 

 from Kirkleatham. It is a considerable bed of what may be called 

 argillaceous limestone, or calcareous claystone ; generally of a fine 

 grain, and of a light olive or greenish colour, with reddish streaks or 

 patches. The stone is much cracked, and is easily broken into irre- 

 gular fragments ; and being moderately hard, it might be termed 

 indurated clay mart. 



It is in this stratum that we find the gypsum, known to have 

 been procured in this spot above two centuries ago, under the name 

 of plaster or alabaster.* The stratum occupies the lower part of the 

 bank of the river, the upper part being alluvial ; the height of the 

 whole bank scarcely exceeding 15 or 20 feet. In tracing the bank 

 from its north-eastern extremity, where it partly sinks, and partly 

 retires backward, we find the argillo-calcareous bed gradually rising 

 towards the south-west. At first we discern in it only a few thin 

 strings of gypsum; but after proceeding 50 or 60 yards, we find it in 

 the lower part of the bed, appearing in large branching veins. These 

 veins are often found in large bundles, curiously ramified and inter- 

 laced ; and as the interstices are filled up by the olive coloured stone, 

 the rock has a singularly striped and mottled appearance. Some of 

 the veins are two or three inches in thickness ; and, in several of the 



* M. S. quoted ill Graves's Hist, of Clevelanil, p. 400. 



