S4 Mr. Webster on the Strata of Hastings, in Sussex. 



with lignite and silicified wood. This has been well exposed at West Cliff in 

 an artificial section which has been made to afford space for new buildings (k). 

 In East Cliff this shale is very conspicuous (i, i) ; and as it here rises to the east, 

 it is found considerably above the sea^ at the east end^ being- there at about 

 one-third the height of the cliff. It frequently contains indistinct impressions 

 of plants, among which ferns may be distinguished, and bears upon the whole 

 a considerable resemblance to some coal-shales. It becomes very thin towards 

 Eaglesbourne, divides into several portions with partial beds of sandstone be- 

 tween, and is not distinctly traceable further in this direction. 



Under this shale is another bed of sandstone (Z, I), very different from that 

 above. It has no calciferous concretions, contains always more or less oxide 

 of iron, and has a tendency to separate into rhomboidal masses, being inter- 

 sected by numerous veins of argillaceous iron-ore. This bed is best seen at 

 East Cliff, in the west end of which it appears on the level of the beach. As 

 it rises to the east it attains a great thickness ; and in its lower parts are irre- 

 gular layers of clay, sometimes white and approaching to pipeclay. 

 i These interposed clays, increasing in thickness towards the east, occupy 

 almost the whole of Lover's Seat and the high cliff of Fairlee, and are there 

 sometimes stained with red. The lowest strata visible in this series consist of 

 a dark-coloured shale, which is seen at the Govers and Cliff End {m, m), and 

 contain small roundish masses of sandstone, together with several layers (two 

 of them from 2 to 3 inches thick) of rich argillaceous iron-ore : with these 

 are found abundant thin layers of lignite, and innumerable fragments of car- 

 bonized vegetables, among which ferns are recognisable. It is from these 

 beds that the rich iron-ores of Sussex, which were formerly much worked, 

 have in some instances been procured ; and it was from the abundance of the 

 iron, the beds of clay and shale with vegetable impressions, and the fragments 

 of charcoal in the sandstones, that expectations had been formed of finding coal 

 in this formation, before the difference between lignites and true coal was ge- 

 nerally understood. On the west of Eaglesbourne this last bed rises in an arch 

 to the height of about 12 feet, and then descends to the east; at Chff End it 

 re-appears, and may be traced at low water forming a ledge. 



Although the calciferous rock is the uppermost bed in these cliffs, yet in- 

 land, on ascending the high ground towards Fairlee Down, thick beds of clay 

 and yellowish sand are seen, which appear to be superior to it in geological 

 position ; and I believe a portion of the strata immediately behind the White 

 Rock, that is very highly inclined (w, w, Plate V.), belongs to this. 



The cliffs at Hastings are not rich in organic remains. In the calciferous 

 sandstone, the only indications of shells I have seen are the impressions and 



