66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 20, 



is certainly the remnant of a shingle-beach, formed at the base 

 of the Carboniferous Limestone ridge at the southern termination 

 of the Denbighshire Coal-field; and the limestone-conglomerates 

 which we find at intervals (in a zone lower than the trappoid breccia) 

 over the whole of the Midland Counties are representatives of this 

 shingle-beach. It is also to be noticed, that there is a strong litho- 

 logical resemblance between the Old Red Sandstone of Herefordshire 

 and Salop and the neighbouring Permian rocks ; and I have long 

 entertained the idea that the Lower Permian of the western districts 

 is to a great extent a re-formation of the Old Red Sandstone, which 

 once had a more extended range than at present, as is testified 

 by the outlying masses capping the Ludlow rocks of Salop and 

 Radnor. It would, therefore, seem that at the commencement of 

 the Permian age the coast-line extended from the Abberley range 

 northwards along a line nearly corresponding to the present limits 

 of the Lower Carboniferous and Silurian rocks of Wales and Salop. 

 From the Flintshire Coal-field eastward to that of North Stafford- 

 shire, there probably existed a channel deepening towards the centre, 

 and forming a basin for the Permian deposits in the direction of 

 Lancashire. The axis of elevation of the Carboniferous range of the 

 Penine chain continued along the borders of Charnwood Forest ; 

 and, considerably east of the present edge of the Warwickshire Coal- 

 field, formed the land towards the north-east ; and upon the pro- 

 longation of this barrier, which seems to stretch in a E.S.E. direction, 

 depends the existence of the Lower Permian rocks under Northamp- 

 tonshire*. 



Considering the great thickness of the Permian rocks in War- 

 wickshire, it is improbable that they have been formed altogether 

 of the Older Palaeozoic rocks of Wales and Salop. The bed of cal- 

 careous conglomerate, which occupies a nearly central position, is 

 composed of pebbles of Carboniferous Limestone and Silurian rocks, 

 and indicates the proximity of land. The rocks of Charnwood 

 Forest may possibly be a portion of the western prolongation of that 

 Palseozoic dry land which, according to Mr. Godwin- Austen, occupied 

 the German Ocean at this period. If so, the Lower Permian strata 

 would appear to have been accumulated within a comparatively 

 narrow channel or longitudinal basin, the axis of which stretched 

 from the valley of the Eden towards the south-east, in which 

 direction the channel became wider. The western border trended 

 due south towards the Bristol Channel ; and the eastern probably 

 curved round towards the German Ocean f. We cannot with cer- 



* It should be here stated that, as the Warwickshire Coal-field has been thrown 

 up along its north-east edge by a fault of considerable magnitude, there is every 

 probability that both Permian rocks and Coal-measures exist to the N.E. of this 

 fault, extending to the barrier, which may be considered as indicated by the 

 trappean bosses of Stoney Stanton. 



•f Both Mr. Godwin-Austen and Mr. Sorby, from independent data, have shown 

 the probability of land having existed during a portion of the Upper Palaeozoic 

 and Mesozoic periods over the area occupied by the German Ocean ; and in this 

 view the author concurs, from considerations connected with the distribution of the 

 Permian rocks. 



