GEOLOGY. 



Rev. H. H. Winwood, M.A., F.G.S. 



"DESTRICTED in former times to narrow limits, and 

 nestling around the vent of its hot mineral waters, the 

 city of Bath has in subsequent times spread out in all direc- 

 tions, until the slopes of the surrounding hills are dotted 

 with its crescents, villas, and houses, rising tier upon tier to 

 their summits. One of the many English Avons, rising near 

 Didmarton, flows through its midst, and receiving back again 

 the waters of the Somerset Coal Canal, already united 

 with those of the Kennet and Avon at Dundas, is navigable 

 to the sister city of Bristol. Several small affluents contribute 

 their quota to swell the main volume before it passes through 

 the city. Four only of these are worthy of special mention as 

 the chief agents in forming the physical features of the district, 

 i.e., the Box, St. Catherine, and Swanswick brooks, and the 

 Frome river. The first, taking its source in the romantic 

 valley of Castle Combe, passes through Box and joins the 

 Avon at Bathford, the second and third, bursting forth from 

 the Oolitic plateau on the N. and N.W., flow into it at Bath- 

 easton and Lambridge respectively ; whilst the Frome, the 

 most important of the four, rises from the Greensand, near 

 Stourton, and after a winding course northwards over very 

 varied geological formations, and receiving several tributaries 

 on its way through Frome and Farley, debouches into the 

 Avon near Freshford, and so onwards through the celebrated 

 Warleigh Valley. 



