Miss E. Hodgson — The Granite-drift of Furness. 333 



years. Alluding to the inland dispersion of granite, he says, " Fur- 

 ther down the valley "(Ennerdale) "boulders of grey granite are 

 found distributed over a wide range, (but I think not on the elevated 

 parts,) of Kelton, Kinniside, Salter and Eskett, Frizington, Cleator, 

 Hensingham, and over great part of the townships abutting on the 

 sea. Indeed, the distribution is very general from the base of the 

 mountains westward to the coast ; but least on the limestone ridges 

 where raised above the ordinary level of the country. In a western 

 direction from the base of Skiddaw, boulders and also irregular 

 shaped fragments of granite are found spread over a large district to 

 the sea ; and the angular masses are not so widely spread, but are 

 more in a broad line towards the neighbourhood of Allonby. Except 

 where the shore is of sand, the whole line of the Cumberland coast 

 is strewn with granite, mostly the grey, intermixed with a few small 

 bits of a beautiful red kind, resembling or even more beautiful than 

 the Aberdeen red granite. The heaps of broken stone on the highway 

 sides give a good idea of the hard produce, when the collections have 

 been taken from the fields. In these I have noticed the grey granite as 

 very general, but I have nowhere found the red inland. Wherever 

 the plough has been at work, or drains have been cut, granite boul- 

 ders have almost invariably been turned out."^ 



The Eev. T. Ellwood, Eector of Torver, obliges me with a short 

 descriptive sketch of the north shore of the county, with which he 

 is well acquainted. "The coast from near Allonby to Silloth, a 

 distance of six or seven miles, consists beyond the sea-line of hills of 

 sand, many of them of a considerable height. At the base of these, 

 in some places half a mile and even more from high- water mark, are 

 large beds of pebbles. Layers of pebbles crop out also at various 

 altitudes in the hills themselves. Proceeding to the north-east of 

 Silloth, the aspect of the coast changes. Almost immediately after 

 leaving the town, we have a level bed of sand, overgrown with bent ; 

 and although isolated swells of the former character occur here and 

 there, yet to Skinbumess, a further distance of two miles, it is 

 chiefly flat sand, in which, however, pebbles are to be found. From 

 Skinbumess to the Grune Point, about a mile and a half, it becomes 

 more marshy, though there is still abundance of shingle on the 

 beach. 



" The Grune has many pebbles. It forms the western point of that 

 estuary by which the rivers Wampool and Waver join the Sol way. 

 I never found deposits of pebbles in this estuary. The Solway 

 itself, from Bowness, has extensive marshes spreading along its 

 southern shores."^ 



Through the kindness of Mr. Ellwood and his friend, Mr. Smith, 

 of Abbey Town, near Silloth, I am favoured with a collection of 

 the beach granite. That is not however the preponderating rock 

 debris there, as it is furtlier south. According to Mr. Smith, the 

 most abundant is, — 1st. A dark blue-grey stone used for paving ; 

 2nd. Granite ; 3rd. White flint ; 4th. Dark red or brown sandstone ; 



1 Mr. W. Dickinson, MS. 2 Eev. T. Ellwood, MS. 



VOL. VII. NO. LXXIII. . • • . 22 



