CiRC. No. 64. 



parting to the corresponding northern dales. The rain which falls 

 on Fen Bog flows off partly to the EUer Beck and Esk on the north, 

 and partly to the Pickering Beck and Derwent on the south. 

 Pickering Beck has excavated the beautiful valley of Newton dale, 

 which may be divided for our purpose into two portions ; the lower 

 portion extending from the town of Pickering to Levisham station, a 

 distance of six miles ; the upper reaching from Levisham to Cragstone 

 Rigg, a distance of five miles. The lower portion cuts through the 

 beds of the Middle Oolites which dip to the south at a greater angle 

 than the bed of the stream, and consequently are exposed in regular 

 order. At the mouth of the Dale there is a fault, running east and 

 west, which throws down the Middle Oolites and brings them into 

 juxtaposition with the Kimmeridge Clay of the Vale of Pickering. 

 Along this line are numerous springs of water. On both sides of the 

 valley, immediately beyond the town of Pickering, there are extensive 

 quarries. At the top is the Upper Calc. Grit, with curious branching 

 forms like fucoid stems. This is succeeded by some sandy shales, 

 resting on a bed of Hmestone called " throstler," similar to the cement- 

 stone of the supra-coralline beds of North Grimston. Lower down is 

 a narrow band of Coral Rag, and then some forty feet of Coralline 

 Oolite, full of Chemnitzia. Lower still is a fine development of the 

 Middle Calc. Grit, which appears in an attenuated form at Filey Brigg. 

 It contains the well-known Trigonia beds. Below this again are the 

 Lower Limestones and Lower Calc. Grit resting on the Oxford Clay 

 of the valley bottom. Some of the Oolitic grains in places attain the 

 size of pisolites. 



On ascending Newton dale these various beds are passed through 

 in the order given, till at Levisham station the Lower Calc. Grit has 

 risen from the valley bottom to the top of the hills on either side, and 

 forms the bold escarpment of the Tabular Hills facing the north. 



The second portion of the Dale is now reached. Its conspicuous 

 feature is the grand display of Kelloway sandrock which, whilst form- 

 ing the vast flat platform on which the Tabular Hills rest, presents in 

 section, on either side of the valley, a precipitous wall of rock, resting 

 on a well-marked line of Cornbrash limestone, supported by the 

 sloping sides of the Upper Sandstones of the Lower Oolites. The 

 whole valley is beautifully wooded, and the beck meanders at its sweet 

 will, leaving many traces behind of previous wanderings. No boulder 

 clay is met with anywhere. The rocks are just as the rain and floods, 

 and subaerial denudation generally have left them. One thing is clear. 

 The northern escarpment of the Tabular Hills is slowly retreating, and 

 must once have extended to the summit of the anticlinal, for all the 

 streams running southw^ards cut it at right angles, not unlike the rivers 

 flowing from the Weald through the chalk downs. Some day the 

 Hole of Horcum will be open to the north. At present it is shut in 

 by a thin wall of rock on that side, whilst the interior, half a-mile across, 

 is excavated after the appearance of a vast amphitheatre, through the 

 Lower Calc. Grit and Oxford Clay, down to the Kelloway, which 

 forms its bottom. The Lower Calc. Grit itself presents also fine 

 examples of the cutting action of sand and water, in many precipitous 

 ravines which resemble on a small scale the canons of Colorado. 



Above the Hole of Horcum is a promontory, 950 feet above sea- 

 level, called Winny Neb. From this a grand view of the Wolds, 



