Yol. 69.] THE HALESOWEN SANDSTONE SERIES. 447' 



superior to, and conformable with, the argillaceous beds which form, 

 the base of the Illey Group. They appear, however, to have been 

 accumulated under local conditions similar to those which prevailed 

 more generally during the formation of the Hasbury Group : 

 namely, the occasional distribution in [the sediment of material 

 derived from the denudation of red Coal-Measure clays and of coals. 

 The bright-red coloration is evidently a subsequent feature, due to 

 staining from above. 



V. The Disposition of the Beds. 

 (1) Folding. 



At the southern end of the South Staffordshire Coalfield a deep 

 syncline appears, ranging about south-south-eastwards through 

 Halesowen and llley, while there is a tendency to anticlinal con- 

 ditions observable in the neighbourhood of the eastern and western 

 boundary-faults. The synclinal structure is indicated by the 

 following observations : — 



From Furnace Hill to Lower Illey the rocks dip persistently 

 south-eastwards, and the Thick Coal at Witley dips towards 

 Halesowen at 1 in 13. l From Coombeswood to Cooper's Wood a 

 high south-westward dip prevails, which is as much as 35° on 

 Mucklow Hill, while the Thick Coal dips westwards at Lin 6. 2 



The tendency to anticlinal conditions between the line last 

 indicated and the eastern boundary-fault was noted by Jukes/ 

 It is also apparent from the low east- south-eastward dip of the 

 strata at the Bellevue Potteries and thence southwards to Moor 

 Street. The beds of the Halesowen Coal and Clays, exposed in the 

 Leasowes Estate at over 600 feet O.D., are reached only in shallow 

 mines on the i *ver ground at Moor Street. 



The wester t anticline does not appear to have been recorded 

 hitherto, but is apparent from the fact that, whereas the highest 

 members of the Hasbury Group are found near the 500-foot con- 

 tour-line at Ham Dingle and at Hasbury, lower members of 1 he 

 same group appear 100 feet higher on Hodge Hill. The elevation, 

 however, is slight in comparison with the breadth, and the western 

 limb of the anticline is cut off by the boundary-fault of the coal- 

 field. 



An important flexure traverses the district from near Wassel 

 Grove to Hasbury and the southern parts of Halesowen (p. 444). 

 This feature does not appear to have been adequately recognized by 

 previous observers, and its neglect has resulted, in one instance at 

 least, in the fruitless endeavour to reach the Halesowen Coal-seam 

 by shallow mining in the Stour Glen near St. Margaret's Hill. 

 Jukes appears to have regarded the ' little coals ' of Unmoor Wood 



1 W. Mathews, 'The Halesowen District of the South Staffordshire Coalfield ' 

 Proc. Birin. Phil. Soc. vol. v (1887) p. 322. 



2 Id. ibid. 



3 ' The S. Stuffs. Coalfield ' Mem. Geol. Surv. 2nd ed. (1859) pp. 151-52. 



