386 Prof. Sedgwick on the New Red Sandstone Series in the 



appears to have been the ancient bed of the river. Within the memory of man 

 this cleft might be spanned by the human hand ; but it is now, by an act of 

 wanton mutilation, despoiled of a portion of its honours, so that the projecting 

 ledges of rock, at their nearest point of approach, are about two feet asunder. 



A little way below Kirkby Stephen the conglomerates are in a state of ex- 

 treme induration, and rise in large flat beds, sometimes used for coarse flag- 

 stones and coping-stones, a purpose to which the conglomerates of the new 

 red sandstone are also applied in the neighbourhood of the Mendip Hills. 



The relations of the overlying series are extremely obscure for several 

 miles below Brough and Kirkby Stephen, being much concealed by enormous 

 masses of transported materials. The new red sandstone is however seen, in 

 several places, in the channel of the Eden, and the line of demarcation passes, 

 on the whole, considerably to the south of its left bank*. In the rivulet which 

 descends to Little Ormside, and at Burrels, to the south of Appleby, the conglo- 

 merates are again exposed ; and (though the sections are obscure) appear, 

 from their position, to be at the base of the red sandstone series f. Near 

 Burrels they form a fine escarpment, parts of which contain large fragments 

 of mountain limestone (sometimes rounded but generally angular) and are 

 extensively burnt in the neighbouring kilns : other parts of the escarpment 

 are of a finer structure, rise in thick flaggy beds, and are used for building. 

 The imbedded pebbles and fragments of gritstone and limestone seem to be 

 derived exclusively from the neighbouring carboniferous formations ; and are 

 held together by a red, calcareo-ferruginous cement, more or less mixed with 

 siliceous sand, and in a very variable state of induration. Subordinate to the 

 cement (which does not, as in some parts of England, contain an excess of 

 magnesia) are a few concretionary nodules of red oxide of iron. 



The range of the demarcation through the remaining part of Westmore- 

 land, tin it crosses the Eamont below Eamont bridge, presents no phasnomena 

 of much interest. It, however, deserves remark, that in this district, especially 

 near Cliburn, the red sandstone is sufficiently hard and thin-bedded to be used 



* In this portion of the range, by far the greatest area of the red sandstone is expanded beyond 

 the right bank of the Eden. Partly in consequence of the great fault above noticed, all the older 

 formations, near the base of the Cross Fell chain, have a high angle of inclination, and must have 

 once formed a deep trough for the reception of the newer deposits. As a natural result of this 

 position, the red sandstone is often found abutting against the inclined strata close to the base of 

 the chain ; which throughout presents a steep escarpment towards the neighbouring plain. The 

 south-western boundary of the red sandstone rests (on the contrary) on slightly inclined beds of 

 the carboniferous series ; and is, consequently, thrown off to a great distance from the primary 

 central groups, and in one or two places approaches very near to the left bank of the Eden. 



t See Plate XXV. fig. 3. 



