Vol.63.] OF THE BATH-DOULTING DISTKICT. 389 



whereas in this district the best building-stones come above the 

 Upper Trigonia-Gvit, in the hills around Stroud and Cheltenham they 

 come below. 



III. Local Details. 



For descriptive purposes the Bath-Doulting district may be divided 

 into four areas, namely (1) the Doulting Area, (2) the Frome Area, 

 (3) the Mells-Radstock Area, and (4) the Eadstock-Bath Area. 



In the first of these the principal section is in the railway-cutting 

 at Doulting ; in the second, in Vallis Vale ; in the third, in the 

 railway-cutting near M ells -Road Station : and in the fourth there 

 are two, at Midford and Timsbury Sleight. 



A special portion of this paper is devoted to a brief consideration 

 of the beds at Dundry Hill and their equivalents in the Bath- 

 Doulting district. 



(1) The Doulting Area. 



By the Doulting area is meant that tract which lies between the 

 Wanstrow Fault and the Palaeozoic rocks of the Mendip Hills, and 

 in which are situated the villages of Chesterblade, Doulting, and 

 the Cranmores. 



Among architects and builders Doulting is very well known for 

 the excellent freestone which is obtained from the Inferior Oolite 

 of the neighbourhood. The freestone-beds come above the 'Con- 

 glomerate-Bed' or Upper Trigonia-Grib, and are equivalent to 

 the lower portion of the Clypeus-Gvib of the Cheltenham district, 

 and to the Clyjoeus-Giit (of E. Witchell) of the neighbourhood of 

 Stroud. 



James Buckman thought that the Doulting Freestone was of 

 the same age as the Ham-Hill Stone and the Midford Sands of 

 Midford 1 ; but, as Mr. H. B. Woodward points out, the Doulting 

 Beds ' probably all belong to the upper division of the Inferior 

 Oolite,' and ' cannot in any case be grouped with the Ham-Hill 

 Stone, as suggested by Prof. Buckman ' 2 — a deposit probably of the 

 hemera Moorei. 3 



(A) Doulting Railway-Cutting. 



The chief section in the Doulting area is that in the railway- 

 cutting to the north of Doulting. The top-beds are difficult of 

 access ; but, fortunately, they can be easily examined in a quarry 

 close to the line. A detailed record of the beds seen in the railway- 

 cutting is tabulated on p. 390. 



The bottom-bed of the Inferior Oolite, the ' Conglomerate-Bed,' 

 is precisely similar, as regards lithological structure, to the ' Con- 

 glomerate-Bed ' of Wellow, Timsbury Sleight, and Maes Knoll, 



1 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxv (1879) p. 740. 



2 ' The Jurassic Rocks of Britain — The Lower Oolitic Rocks of England 

 Yorkshire excepted) ' Mem. Geol. Surv. vol. iv (1894) p. 88. 



3 S. S. Buckman, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xlv (1889) p. 449. 



