RRECARBONI FERGUS ROCKS OF CHARNWOOD FOREST. 759 



knoll, on which there are many outcrops of rock. The highest of 

 these are banded slates. In the field in which the mill stands, one 

 bed shows a good deal of breccia. Its matrix is a green ash with 

 dark bluish stains or blotches, and small included fragments of fel- 

 spathic rock and slate. Close to the mill is a large thick greenish 

 ashy bed, with distinct included fragments ; below this are banded 

 slates, in which is at least one other bed of breccia with slaty frag- 

 ments. The strike of the bed on which the mill stands would sug- 

 gest its correspondence with the great central ash bed of the 

 Hanging Rocks ; but it does not quite resemble any of these, its 

 colour being paler, its matrix finer, but its fragments coarser and 

 apparently less crystalline. We think, however, it is probably one 

 of that series of ash beds. We have not been able to identify the 

 pebble beds. We have not, indeed, visited every one of the exposures 

 on Broombriggs ; but all that we have seen are banded slates, similar 

 to those on Beacon Hill, of which this ridge is the continuation. 

 Two of the coarser beds on the summit are somewhat peculiar in 

 structure : one is a hard, dark greenish grey rock, containing numer- 

 ous small rounded grains of quartz, of felspar crystals, and apparently 

 of a fine quartzite ; there is a good deal of minutely crystal- 

 line epidote in the matrix. The other is a thick grit-bed of similar 

 materials to the above, but much coarser. The matrix does not ap- 

 pear to have so much epidote. The general colour is greenish, 

 weathering brown. These beds are intercalated among finer grits 

 and banded slates, some apparently containing many fragments of 

 felspar crystals. Beyond the crest of Broombriggs no more rock 

 is exposed. 



A quarry in the village of Woodhouse Eaves, at the back of the 

 church and school, affords a fine section. The slate was good 

 enough to be worked, and a cave has been cut out to a depth of 

 some yards ; but the quarry has long since been abandoned. The 

 dip is well shown (60° to E. 30° N.). The rocks in the field above, 

 continuous with but below these, are ordinary banded slate. These 

 appear to be above the rocks by the mill ; however, any faulting or 

 curving might easily make them below. For the most part nothing 

 but banded slate is to be seen beyond these in the direction of the 

 section ; there are, however, at Maplewell some grit-beds resembling 

 those of Broombriggs, and on their line of strike. 



5. The region of Swithland, the Brande, and Roe cliff (fig. l,p. 762), 

 which comes next in order, is one of the most important in the whole 

 forest, on account both of its numerous exposures and of the infor- 

 mation to be derived from them. The highest rocks visible seem to 

 be those of the great quarry at the cross-roads, well known to all 

 who have visited the district. The cleavage is well developed ; and 

 the quarry is still, or was till very recently, worked, good roofing- 

 slate besides slabs for various purposes being obtained. The slates 

 are faintly banded, colours dark greenish grey to purple ; but the 

 strike is fairly distinct, the beds dipping about 30° to E.N.E. The 

 cleavage, which is nearly vertical, strikes about W.N.W., and so 

 makes an unusually large angle with the strike of the bedding. 



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