Basin of the Eden and north-western Coasts of Cumberland, ^c. 393 



the carboniferous rocks within the area of the new red sandstone, occurs near 

 the village of Aketon, about four miles north of Wigton. Some of the neigh- 

 bouring- country is much covered by ancient turf bog and a peculiar sandy al- 

 luvion ; but to the north of the village some beds of limestone and shale are 

 laid bare on both sides of the road ; and if I have not been misinformed, a 

 bed of coal 16 inches thick was proved, by boring, to be associated with them, 

 at a place called Moor Dyke, on the west side of the road. I mention these 

 facts in the hopes of calling to them the attention of future observers ; for I 

 know of no place within the limits of the red sandstone, where a search for coal 

 could be commenced with the same prospect of success. My knowledge of 

 the central portions of that great area, within the basin of the Eden, which 

 is chiefly covered by the new red sandstone, is, however, extremely limited. 

 My examination of Cumberland was chiefly confined to the carboniferous 

 rocks and the central cluster of mountains ; and whenever, in making a tra- 

 verse, I was led to the edge of the new red sandstone, I generally considered 

 my immediate labours at an end. 



§ 3. On the successive Deposits lohich compose the New Red Sandstone 



Series, ^c. 



The preceding details give a general notion of the distribution of the new 

 red sandstone series within the basin of the Eden, and on a part of the coasts 

 of Cumberland and Lancashire ; but they give only a very inadequate indica- 

 tion of the structure and order of those great mineral masses of which it is 

 composed. This information is, however, conveyed in a much more perfect 

 manner by the coast section, from Parton to St. Bees Head, which I now pro- 

 ceed to describe*. 



The rich coal field of Whitehaven, constituting that part of the carboniferous 

 series which is superior to the millstone grit and mountain limestone, may be 

 separated into two divisions, the upper containing the great main and bannock 

 bands, the lower containing four or five workable beds, but of inferior quality. 

 The united thickness of these two divisions is, perhaps, not less than two 

 thousand feet ; and from this estimate the carboniferous limestone and its asso- 

 ciated beds are of course excluded. The upper beds are worked in a small 

 field on the coast, immediately south of Workington ; but in consequence of 

 an enormous upcast fault they are thrown out, and the lower division is 

 brought into the cliff, and occupies an extensive plateau stretching from Har- 

 rington to the hills north of Morresby, about two miles and a half from the har- 

 bour of Whitehaven. Near the crown of these hills (and about a mile from 



* See Plate XXV. fig. 1. 



