THE WEST OF ENGLAND AND EAST OF WALES. 433 
4. Dispersion to Macclesfield Forest—furthest east and highest 
Boulders.—¥rom the neighbourhood of Manchester the east boun- 
dary of the Criffel dispersion crosses the western slopes of the 
Pennine hills to the interior of the very hilly and almost treeless 
region called Macclesfield Forest. At Macclesfield I took little 
notice of the transplanted boulders, so as to have more time to 
examine those in sitw, or nearly so, on the hill-sides further east. 
The larger boulders on or near to the Buxton road are chiefly Lake- 
district felstone and Eskdale granite, the smaller chiefly Lake-district 
felstone and Criffel granite. In front of and around the ‘Setter 
Dog’ inn there are many small Criffel boulders. The highest I 
could find was about half a mile from the ‘Setter Dog,’ on the side 
of the road called Dirty Gate or Chapel Lane, which leads from near 
the ‘Setter Dog’ to Forest Chapel. It was associated with three 
small felstone boulders close to an unroofed cowshed, at a height of 
about 1400 feet above the sea*. Boulders had previously been 
reported up to this height by the eminent geologist Mr. Binney, 
F.R.S., without, however, specifying Eskdale or Criffel granite. 
The approximate identity in altitude between the Dirty-Gate Criffel 
boulder and the Moel-y-Tryfaen Criffel pebbles seems to favour the 
idea of the uniform emergence of the land from the glacial sea. 
The spot where the sea-shells were found by Prof. Prestwich (1200 
feet above the sea) could be looked down upon from the site of the 
highest Criffel boulder; but as more or less rounded pebbles could 
be seen all the way between the two, it is possible that a diligent 
search might disclose gravel with shells at a higher level than 
1200 feet. From Macclefield Forest the Criffel boundary runs south 
along a line not further west than Stoke-on-Trent (where, in clay- 
pits, I found Criffel predominating over Eskdale granite), Stafford, 
and Bushbury. Further east than this line a little Criffel granite 
might be found; but I have not been able to see any as far east as 
Lichfield. Among the thousands of pebbles which have been brought 
from the neighbourhood to pave the streets of Lichfield I could 
detect no granite of any kind, though a coarse kind of Carboniferous 
grit, which at first sight somewhat resembled granite, might occa- 
sionally be seen, and I found a pebble of a dark kind of felspathic 
rock (probably from Charnwood Forest). In Stafford there are 
several large boulders of Criffel granite, and in the street pavements 
a considerable number of Criffel pebbles. At Ashflat clay-pits, south 
of Se Daly a few Criffel boulders and pebbles may be seen. 
. Dispersion over the Peninsula of Wirral, Cheshire Plain, §¢.— 
flr fee west and highest Boulders.—One of the main boulder-streams 
from Criffel would appear to have curved round the west border of 
the Cumberland mountains, and then gone §.8.E. along the present 
* The summit of the eminence on the side of which these boulders occur is 
1571 feet above the Ordnance-datum plane; but I could see no trace of rounded. 
gravel or boulders higher up than about 1400 feet. On the summit and decli- 
vities of Shining Tor, about six miles east of Macclesfield, I could see no 
boulders, This eminence is one of the highest of the Pennine range, being up- 
wards of 1700 feet. 
‘2H 2 
