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VI. — Notes on the Geology of the Brown Clee Hill, in the County of 



Salop. 



By ROMLEY WRIGHT, Esq. 



Employed on the Ordnance Trigonometrical Survey of England. 



[Read Dec. 18, 1833.] 



IHE old red sandstone which forms the base of the Brown Clee Hill*^ gene- 

 rally dips from 5° to 10° to the east and south-east. Its lowest beds are re- 

 markably soft and clayey ; but through a large portion of the counties of 

 Hereford and Salop, it almost invariably contains one or two beds of lime- 

 stone^ provincially called cornstone, and much used for agricultural purposes. 



The old red sandstone, as it rises towards the Brown Clee Hill, instead of 

 continuing to dip towards the south-east, gradually assumes a basin-like form; 

 inclining on all sides towards the centre, at an angle of about seven degrees. 



A bed of cornstone, about twelve feet thick, ranges almost entirely around 

 the hill ; and a second bed, also much quarried, occurs above it. 



From the circumstance of these two beds reposing in the form of a basin ; 

 and from their proximity to the superincumbent coal deposit, they appear to 

 have been considered as representatives of the mountain limestone: but 150 

 feet of the old red sandstone lies between these cornstones and the coal mea- 

 sures, and passes on the western side of the hill into a regular conglomerate. 



Immediately upon this conglomerate, the coal formation reposes ; its greatest 

 thickness being about 150 feet; and the dip of the beds conforms to that of 

 the subjacent strata, or towards the centre, at angles varying from 3° to 5°. 

 The outburst of its lowest bed, locally termed the " Bottom Rock," is marked 

 by a soft white clay, which freely throws out springs of water. 



This " Bottom Rock" has but little quartz, and in grain resembles whitish 

 oolite. 



Coal has been discovered, to the amount of six feet in thickness, distributed 

 in three different veins, namely. 



The Three-quarters Vein ... 1 foot 7 inches. 



The Batty Vein 2 feet 6 inches. 



And the Bottom Vein 2 feet. 



When worked it is chiefly by means of a windlass ; but the beds are neg- 

 * Plate VII. 



