ON THE GLACIATION OF SOUTH LANCASHIRE, CHESHIRE, ETC. 



32. On the Glaciation of South Lancashire, Cheshire, and the 

 "Welsh Border. By Aubrey Strahan, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., 

 H.M. Geological Survey. (Read May 2Q, 1886.) 



(By permission of the Director General.) 



Part I. 



South Lancashire and Cheshire. 



The occurrence of glacial striae in the neighbourhood of Liverpool 

 was first recorded by Mr. G. H. Morton, F.G.S., in 1859 *, though 

 they had been previously noticed by Mr. J. Cunningham, F.G.S. t 

 In 1862± Mr. Morton described before this Society and the Liverpool 

 Geological Society strise on both sides of the river Mersey. Prof. 

 HuU. in 1864 § recorded the striae of Bidston Hill, pointed out 

 to him by Mr. Cunningham, remarking that they point in the same 

 direction as those of Liverpool. These had been previously noticed 

 by Mr. Morton as having the precise direction N. 30' W. 



In consequence of his discovery of striae on both sides of, but at 

 no great distance from, the Mersey, Mr. Morton in 1866 1| advocated 

 the hypothesis of a glacier having descended the valley of the river ; 

 but in 1870 ^, having discovered similar markings away from the 

 river, adopted the theory of an ice-sheet having passed over this part 

 of the country from S.E. to jN".W. 



In the same year Dr. Bicketts, P.G.S., recorded striae at Thatto 

 Heath **, and stated that the moving power which produced them 

 had taken a course from south-east to north-west, the evidence of 

 this being that grooves larger and deeper than others passed away 

 from small indentations, which may have been the impressions of 

 pebbles, in a north-west direction. 



In 1872 ft Mr. Mellard Eeade, C.E., E.G.S., described cross striae 

 at Bootle, running E.N.E. and IS". 22° W., and advocated the hypo- 

 thesis of ice-sheets moving from the mountains of Wales and Cumber- 

 land respectively. In the same year Jt striae at Great Crosby, bearing 

 N. 40° W., and in 1876 §§ others at Little Crosby, bearing N. 22° W., 

 were discovered by the same observer ; and in the following year striae 

 at Tranmere and Oxton, having the direction N. 40° W. and N'.N'.W., 

 were recorded by Dr. Ricketts, who, opposing the hypothesis of 

 the Irish Sea having been occupied by an ice-sheet, attributed the 



* Proc. Lit. & Phil. Soe. Liverpool, session 1859-60. 

 + Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. 288. 



I Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xviii. p. 377, and Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc. 

 sess. 3, 1861-62. 



§ Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc. sess. 3, 1861-62 (footnote). 



II Ibid. sess. 8, 1866-67. 



•jl ' Report of the British Association ' for 1870. 

 ** Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc. sess. 11, 1869-70. 

 ft Und. sess. 41, 1872-73. U Op. cit. §§ Ibid. sess. 18, 1876-77. 



