272 8. B. Pattison — Lake-basins in Westmoreland. 



T 



VI. — ^NoTB ON Post-glacial Lake-basins in Westmobeland. 



By S. E. Pattison, F.G-.S. 

 HE little village of Crossby-Garrett, near Brough, appears to 



occupy the site of a Post-glacial lake. Lower Carboniferous 

 strata compose the fell to the south, the lowest beds being yellow 

 earthy limestones. Below this, in all the gorges, are deep red 

 shales of the uppermost Old Eed. and on the summits of some of the 

 hills to the south are outliers of the New Eed ; the Drift lies in patches 

 and contains mud, sandstone, and numerous blocks of Shap granite. 

 The gullies coming down from Crossby fell converge at the gate of 

 the village, and show excavation in Boulder drift. The bed of the 

 torrent is dry during the greater part of the year, it receives only 

 the surface water, which, as it falls swiftly down the valley through 

 the Drift, makes rough work of its sides every freshet. Underneath 

 the church hill, at the lower end of the village, the remains are visible 

 of the dam which once enlaked the little valley. It has been clean 

 cut through by the bursting of the Lake, and the banks of the exca- 

 vation, and bottom of the old lake are now occupied by cottages 

 and gardens. Another small lake existed near the village, in fields 

 still called the tarn-fields, but whilst the former must have been 

 drained, jorobably in pre-historic times (judging from the subsequent 

 work of the torrent) , the latter has disappeared by artificial drainage 

 into the Smardale beck within a century. 



The lower limestones where they are exposed in the ravines, are 

 more than usually holed into pots and pans ; a notable instance occurs 

 at Great Asby, where the principal pothole in the present course of 

 the stream is 14 feet deep, worked smooth, in the shape of an old 

 oil jar. Close to this are some caves in the limestone, one extending 

 for two miles, which deserves thorough exploration. I saw no trace 

 of cave earth or remains near the entrance. The caves form the 

 outlet for water during much of the year, but there may be remains 

 preserved under some of the upright fissures, in the cheeks of the 

 cavern. 



I endeavoured to ascertain the rate of progress in the boring of 

 the pots and pans, but beyond the fact that the breaking in and 

 breaking down of some, had changed the course of the stream within 

 living memory, and that those now receiving the water had 

 sensibly increased within recollection, I could get no fact worth 

 recording. The aspect of these valleys so pitted with bench marks 

 made by the torrents, during many thousand years at least, is worthy 

 of note. 



isTooriozES oip nvLEDVCoiE/S. 



I. — LeONHAKD UND GeINITZ's NeuES JaHRBTJCH EUR MiNERALOGIB, 



Geologie, UND Pal^ontologie. Jahrgang, 1868; Hefte 6 und 

 7. Jahrgang, 1869 ; Erstes Heft. 



BAEEANDE, on the Silurian Fossils of Hof, in Bavaria ; Zirkel, 

 on the Distribution of Microscopic Nepheline ; Zaddach and 



