I04 A RAMBLE UP BURNHOPE. 



eastward dip was 45 degrees ; a little higher, opposite the foot 

 of a small stream which comes in from the south, the dip is 

 about 37 degrees E.N.E. (as shown in the photograph of 

 " Sandstone Rocks below Springwells.") The lower beds 

 with thinner layers, directly beneath the gate, are of a 

 yellow-grey sandstone, very compact, the overlying broader 

 beds, those on the right, are of a dark blue sandstone, 

 also very compact and hard. Higher still the beds dip 

 at only 10 degrees E.N.E., having almost resumed their 

 normal angle, but it is a tangled piece of rock-work, 

 and I could not read the story. Numerous pieces of spar 

 lying about suggested the probability of a lead-bearing vein 

 in the neighbourhood, and an old hush on the opposite 

 hillside indicated its position. A "hush" is where the soil has 

 been washed away by the miners of former days to lay bare 

 the rock surface along the line of a lead-bearing vein. They 

 used to form a water-dam up on the side of the hill, and then 

 making a small channel downwards, were able to guide the 

 water in any desired direction. They then gradually increased 

 the flow, till a deep channel was worn down to the rock, 

 exposing the vein. After that the vein was dealt with, and its 

 surface loosened, while the water was collecting in the dam 

 above. Then the sluice was opened, and the loose pieces, 

 sometimes of great size, were washed down into the valley 

 below, whence they could be carted to the lead-mill. This 

 being repeated again and again, a great gash was worn in the 

 hillside, the slopes of which are now covered with short grass 

 and moss. 



But it was the burn referred to above, the Limekiln Syke, 

 in which the whinstone was said to show itself, so thither I 

 retraced my steps. A coarse limestone, given but not named 

 in the map, showed itself at the foot of the syke. Then sand- 

 stones and shales, and then another limestone, the Tyne- 

 bottom, apparently full of shells broken into small fragments, 

 and with signs of iron in the shape of glistening grains of 

 pyrites. Then more sandstone and shale, and then what 

 looked like what is locally called a " Pencil Bed," or " Whet- 



