502 



H. W. Bristow and H. B. Woodivard — 



posed to exist at the present day on the part of persons likely to 

 embark in a search for coal within five miles of a Cathedral City.^ 



In addition to these new traces of Millstone Grit, Lower Lime- 

 stone Shale, and Old Red Sandstone, another small mass of Millstone 

 Grit, not previously noticed, has been detected east of Wells, near 

 Dinder,^ while between Cheddar and Draycot a trace of Old Eed 

 Sandstone has been mapped by Mr. J. H. Blake, F.G.S. 



These new additions to the geology of the district have little bear- 

 ing on the question of the occurrence of coal on the south side of the 

 Mendips ; the appearance of the Old Eed Sandstone near Draycot 

 seems to be due rather to local disturbance than to anything affecting 

 the general anticlinal structure of this range of hills, upon which 

 many years ago Professor Eamsay based his opinion as to the pre- 

 sence of coal in the district to the south of it.^ 



Seetion across rayine, West of Ebber Eocks. Limestone. 



Lower Limestone Shales. 



The abortive search for coal mentioned by Mr. Prestwich,* as 

 having been made at Witham Hole, about four miles south of Frome, 

 in 1867 and 1868, is of an altogether different kind from the attempt 

 at winning coal near Wells, for the borings were commenced in 

 Secondary strata, far above the place occupied by the Coal-measures 

 in the geological scale. This last boring was carried to a total depth 

 of 600 feet without coming upon any sign of Coal-measures. There 

 seems to be some confusion in the details of this as given by Mr. 

 Prestwich. The strata comprised under the head of Cornbrash (?) in 

 the printed section seem to be referable rather to* the underlying 

 Forest Marble, while the lower 36 feet assigned to the Oxford Clay 

 might be placed with the Cornbrash. As regards the uppermost 

 beds of the section, the footnote to the effect that " it is a question 

 with some whether it is not Lias," is apparently an oversight ; for 

 the published maps of the Geological Survey prove beyond the 

 possibility of a doubt that Oxford Clay, and not Lias, is the rock at 

 the surface. 



1 "When surveying Black Down (Mendip), Mr. J. H. Blake came across an old 

 Shaft, with machinery and building, now abandoned, which had been sunk in the 

 Lower Limestone Shales to a considerable depth in search of coal. — H. B. W. 



2 By fl. B. W. 



3 Mem. Geol. Survey, vol i. * Eeport of Coal Commission, p. 163. 



