H. A. Nicholson — On the Lake District. 169 



Slates are found occupying a broad tract of flat moorland ground, 

 ■whicli forms the southern half of Torpenhow Common, and which is 

 cut through by several small streams which constitute the head- waters 

 of Isell Beck, a tributary of the Derwent. The strata which occupy 

 the whole of this region are soft, black, earthy shales, and they con- 

 stitute the u-pper beds of the Skiddaw Slates. Such sections, how- 

 ever, as there are, are very small, and the exact relations of the strata 

 can vnth difficulty be made out. That their general dip must be 

 northwards is tolerably certain, since the lower beds of the Skiddaw 

 Slates, as seen in the Embleton Valley and in the ridge of hills which 

 separates this from the valley of the Derwent, invariably have a 

 N.N.W. inclination. And this, on the whole, seems to be the dip of 

 the upper beds, which, though greatly contorted, appear to dip at 

 points between N.E. and N.N.W. at very high angles, as is seen in 

 Scale Gill and Black Beck, and near Bewaldeth Tile- works. The 

 Skiddaw Slates of this moory tract are overlaid on the N.E. by a 

 series of bedded traps, which form the northern half of ToqDenhow 

 Common and the whole of Binsey Crag. At one point, near Black 

 Beck, where some slaty beds are seen, the dip of these is N. at 35°. 

 The general strike, however, of these trappean masses is W.IST.W. 

 and E.S.E., whereas that of the Skiddaw Slates is E.N.E. and W.S.W., 

 so that a considerable discordance appears here in the strike of the 

 two sets of beds. Between Bewaldeth and Overwater the country is 

 thickly covered with drift, and no sections are obtainable, though 

 there can be little doubt but that this region is still occupied by the 

 upper beds of the Skiddaw Slates. 



To the west of Overwater, in a stream called Ellengill Beck, the 

 Skiddaw Slates are very well exhibited. The beds in the ravines at 

 the head of Ellengill, forming the flanks of Great Scaw Fell, are 

 tolerably hard and flaggy, and dip S.S.E. at 40°, In the lower part 

 of Ellengill the strata are very pencilly, and the dip varies from 

 S.S.E. to S. or S.S.W. at angles of from 45° to 60o. These dips con- 

 tinue without alteration, till the Slates are overlaid, about a quarter 

 of a mile above Stockdale, by a fine green trap, which forms the base 

 of the Green Slates. As this trap comes on to the nortli of the 

 Skiddaw Slates, it is evident that in this locality the dip of the 

 Skiddaw Slates is diametrically opposed to that of the Green Slates 

 and Porphyries. From Great Scaw Fell, at the head of Ellengill, the 

 line of junction between the two formations is continued by Great 

 Lingy to the head of Grainsgill Beck (Brandy Gill), the coimtry 

 being very peaty and exhibiting no sections. The southern bank of 

 Grainsgill Beck is composed of metamorphosed gneissic Skiddaw Slates, 

 apparently striking N.E. and S.W., whilst the northern bank of the 

 stream is composed of felspathic trap, which is sometimes highly 

 crystalline, and which forms here the base of the Green Slates, In 

 the lower half of Grainsgill Beck a mass of fine-grained granite 

 comes on, but at the junction of this stream with the Caldew the 

 previous relations are again resumed. Thus the ridge, which here 

 bounds the Caldew on the north and which forms the southern end 

 of Carrock FeU, is composed in its lower part of highly meta- 



