288 MK. H. B. WOODWARD ON A WELL-SINKIN^G AT SWINDON. 



The influx of water put a stop to further sinking. For a time it 

 was pumped away, but since Christmas 1885 the pumping has been 

 discontinued, and the water, which had been kept at 253 feet from 

 the surface (or 483 feet from the bottom of the well), rose even- 

 tually, on February 4, 1886, to within 25 feet of the ground-level, 

 or about 304 feet above Ordnance datum. 



Early in 1885 the Great Western Railway Company sought advice 

 at the Geological Survey Office concerning the prospects of finding 

 fresh water by deepening their well, and in February of that year 

 Mr. Newton and myself paid a visit to Swindon to examine the rocks 

 and fossils which had been preserved. A large number of specimens 

 had been carefully arranged in a room, with the depths marked on 

 them, and a diagram had been drawn to show the nature of the 

 strata passed through. And these as well as note-books were most 

 kindly placed at our disposal by Captain William Dean, under whose 

 directions the works were conducted. Eventually a large number 

 of fossils, which Mr. Newton desired to examine more minutely, 

 were sent to the Museum in Jermyn Street. 



Particulars of the strata in the upper part of the well-sinking 

 were recorded by Mr. W. H. Stanier, and in the lower part (below 

 460 feet) by Mr. A. E. Elliott, to both of whom we are greatly in- 

 debted. The accompanying statement, however, while mainly based 

 on the information furnished by the Great Western Eailway Com- 

 pany, embodies all the notes made from a personal and independent 

 examination of the fossils and of the many samples of rock. 



Well at Gee at Western Railway Works, Swindon. 



[Prepared in great part from Notes furnished by Messrs. W. H. 

 Stanier and A. E. Elliott.] 



Thickness. Depth. 

 ft. " ' ■ 



Made ground 8 



/'Bluish-grey clay, with Ammonites, Belem- 

 I Qiites, &c. ; grey clay with shells, at depth 



I of 12 feet 42 



Kimeridge | Pale grey shelly limestone, Ostrea dcltoidea . 

 Clay. •{ Grrey and brown earthy limestone, with 



patches of iron- shot grains, lich in fossils 



Hard brown calcareous muddy clay 2 



Bluish-grey clay, with seam of grey shelly 



clay 2 feet from bottom 19 



/Alternate beds of hard, light-grey, compact, 

 marly limestone (shelly in places), and 



thin irregular seams of clay 10 



Dull grey marl 



Compact pale grey limestone, with shelly 



layers and bands of pale grey marl 



Clay 3 



Alternate beds of clay and grey gritty lime- 



Corallian stones, shelly in places, and irregular; 



beds j about six bands of rock and five of clay, 



("Coral ' from 6 inches to 1 foot in thickness 7 3 93 11 



Rag)." Clay, dark and sandy on top, with seara of 



stones (? nodules) about the middle 4 97 11 



in. 

 



ft. in. 

 8 





 1 



50 a 



50 1 



6 

 



50 7 

 52 7 



6 



72 1 



4 

 10 



82 5 



83 8 



5 

 



83 8 

 86 8 



