CiRC. No. 80. 



Hookstones, about midway between Harrogate and Plumpton, the lower 

 bed has been extensively quarried for building purposes. Here the 

 stone was got for the construction of the Crimple Viaduct close by. Over 

 all this district (except the limestones) in the regular order of geological 

 formation, the coal measures ought to be found, as they are at some 

 distance both on the north and south — but they are not. Instead of 

 the coal-bearing strata, we have nothing but the millstone grit and its 

 attendant shales. Why is it so? Have the coal-bearing beds of 

 rock never existed, or have they been upheaved after their deposition 

 above the surrounding district, and swept away by the action of water? 

 The whole country round about bears marks of violent disruption 

 and breakage ; the dislocation of the strata near the Harrogate Bogs 

 has been already mentioned, the grand fracture forming the valley of 

 the Nidd is owing to a similar cause ; besides these, a grand anticlinal 

 axis extends from the Nidd, near Bilton Hall, westward, crosses the 

 railway a short distance north of Starbeck, passes to the south of 

 Harrogate, thence by way of Harlow Car, Little Almes Cliff, and Fox 

 Crag, to the Washburn. The central ridge being elevated like the roof of 

 a house, the strata dipping north and south on each side of it; the thick 

 bed of gritstone has been broken, and the edges thrown at least two miles 

 apart, where they are left standing half on edge. The north side is 

 well developed at Birk Crag, a mile and a half north-west of Harro- 

 gate, and the south side at Hookstones, which is close to the Crimple 

 Viaduct. This broken and rugged surface has been scoured or 

 planed down by immense floods of water, at first in rapid motion, 

 and afterwards a mass of clayey shale has been deposited in still 

 water. After this period of repose, violent currents have rushed 

 across the latter deposits, cutting through them in many places, and 

 leaving their traces in gulleys and shallow valleys. A little to the 

 south of the Crimple Viaduct, where the railway cuts deep into the 

 hill, is a rock of gritstone of firm compact structure, rich in fossil 

 stigmaria, which has much the appearance of a rock belonging to the 

 coal measures. At Plumpton the rocks form part of the eastern edge 

 of the Brimham or upper Millstone grit bed, which has been thrown 

 up by the upheaval of the great anticlinal axis, which runs east and 

 west from the setting on of the magnesian, to the mountain limestones. 

 The broken edge of the gritstone shows most prominently from 

 Plumpton, passing south-eastwardly byway of Brame Hall to Spofforth, 

 where it is broken through and disappears for a short distance, to 

 reappear at Stockeld, where it again forms the surface rock, and then 

 finally disappears beneath the superincumbent magnesian limestone. 

 This latter rock forms a bold and rugged escarpment on the south 

 bank of the Nidd, called Grimbald Grag, about a mile from Plumpton 

 in a north-easterly direction. 



The rocks at Plumpton form an interesting study for the geologist 

 and antiquary alike. They are worn into most fantastic shapes by 

 tidal action, whilst the numerous cups and channels which are spread 

 over their uneven surfaces, are unmistakable evidence that they have 

 been devoted to the use of the fire-worshipper. Another very singular 

 rock called the ' Hell Plole Rock,' is situate near the farm house 

 called Crosper, which is not far from Brame Hall. The lake at 



