146 Dr. FiTTON on the Strata below the Chalk. 



surface^ and the hue and texture of the strata, that the subdivision into three, 

 which is conspicuous near Folkstone, and not much less distinct in Western 

 Sussex, exists also in this tract. But the precise boundaries of these groups 

 are by no means obvious, for there are not hereabouts those characteristic 

 beds of stone, which are found near the coast; their place being supplied, 

 in the uppermost group, by concretions of a coarse conglomerate, which 

 in the country bears the name of " Bargate Stone*;" and, in the lowest 

 group, by chert and indurated sandrock, like those of Leith and Tiiburstow 

 hills. This comparative scarcity of calcareous matter is one of the principal 

 differences between the eastern and western tracts of this formation. 



The more ferruginous concretions, (the " carstone" of Norfolk,) which are very abundant in the 

 upper part of the Lower green-sand of this neighbourhood, are often so compact as to ring under 

 the hammer, and are tlience called " clinkers " by the quarrymen ; sometimes forming plates or 

 flakes, a quarter of an inch and upwards in thickness, and curved so as to resemble portions of 

 concentric layers of petrified trees. This stone furnishes an excellent material for the roads, and 

 gives a remarkable reddish hue to some of those which are macadamised in this country. Frag- 

 ments of brown hematite also, like those of the Red-cliff near Culver in the Isle of Wight, are 

 found at many places in this vicinity ; as at Thursley, &c. 



(60.) Godalming. — The heights about Godalming afford excellent sections, 

 which may with some probability be assigned to the lowest part of the 

 Green-sand formation. The order in general was thus : — 



Holloway-Hill, Godalming. 



Feet. In. 



1. Green and variegated sand, abounding in large concretions of chert, and of cal- 



careous conglomerate, (" Bargate-stone ; ") which is hard and sparry, and in 



some places passes into chert. It contains traces of shells and of alcyonic )> i r n 



stems. False stratification is here remarkable ; the concretions also following 



the oblique or false lines 



Some of the larger masses of this rock are precisely like the concretions 

 on the shore near Folkstone (20.) ; — a very compact sparry variety of 

 " Kentish-rag." In the upper sands of Polstead, near Puttenham, irregular 

 concretions of this compound occur, imbedded in soft sandrock, and contain- 

 ing carbonate of lime in rhombs. 



2. Sand, of the same kind, without concretions; but including thin beds of a tough 1 about 



clay, like Fuller's-earth.f J 25 



The dip here is towards the south of east, and all the summits are flat and 

 uniform. 



* The origin of this term is somewhat doubtful. A place called " Burgh-gate," from whence 

 it may have been derived, occurs in the Ordnance Map, on the south of the escarpment be- 

 tween Hambleton and Hascombe. 



t The Fuller's-earth would refer these strata to the lowest division of the sands. Thin 

 beds of that mineral, however, are found throughout this formation. 



