4 March, The Superficial Geology of Manchester. 



North of Newton Heath, along the Rochdale Road, a- set of 

 sewer sections show that there is Boulder-clay overlying a sand-bed. 

 The rock below this sand-bed is not reached until the sewer is opposite 

 the Manchester General Cemetery. Here the sand-bed is reduced to 

 7 feet in thickness and lies between Boulder-clay and the solid rock 

 (Section, Fig. 2, PI. III.). To the east of the man-hole by the corner of 

 Westbourne Grove, in Rochdale Road, five sections are known, the 

 last being in the Moston Collieries. The first two are sewer sections 

 and show clay on sand ; the first proves 73 feet of sand under 82 feet 



6 inches of clay, the second 30 feet of sand under 44 feet of clay. In 

 neither case was the base of the Drift reached. The next section is 

 the well sinking in the old Crumpsall Workhouse, 150 yards from the 

 second man-hole ; this section reaches rock, and shows, in descending 

 order : clay, 5 feet ; sand, 42 feet ; clay, 58! feet ; gravel, g| feet ; 

 rock. The next sinking is a man-hole about 450 yards east of the 

 workhouse, which proves a sand-bed 24 feet thick, with ji\ feet of 

 clay above and another clay below. The solid rock is not reached. 



From the Moston Collieries, about three-quarters of a mile 

 farther east, there are two shaft sections which give details of the Drift. 

 One of these is the No. 3 Shaft of the present colliery, the other is 

 Moston Old Shaft, recorded by Binney in 1870 as Moston " New " 

 Pit Section. Both these shafts agree in having a gravel bed at the 

 base, but above this they show considerable variation. Moston Old 

 Pit has three sand-beds, the top one being 5 feet 9 inches thick, the 

 middle one 14 feet thick and the bottom one being 15 feet in thick- 

 ness. Moston No. 3 Pit has one sand-bed only and that is 30 feet 



7 inches in thickness and underlies 36 feet of clay. 



Between the Moston Collieries and Rochdale Road lies Boggart 

 Hole Clough, which is about 600 yards north of the old Crumpsall 

 Workhouse. In this clough the solid rock cannot be seen, the sides 

 of the ravine showing nothing but glacial sands. Near the top there 

 is a band of sandy clay about 5 feet in thickness. This sandy clay 

 is unfit for brick-making. 



East of Rochdale Road deposits similar to those of Boggart Hole 

 Clough are to be seen stretching from above Blackley, westward 

 across Kersall Moor and southward to Alms Hill. Here, as in 

 Boggart Hole Clough, the superficial deposits are Glacial sands with- 

 out any covering of Boulder-clay. Near the top of these sands there 

 are occasional lenticular bands of sandy clay which hold up the 

 water. In places they have been cut through, and in these cuttings 

 they can be seen dying away in all directions. In none do they 

 attain a thickness of more than 10 to 15 feet. 



Although the base of the sands cannot be seen on Kersall Moor 

 or in Boggart Hole Clough, it is visible in the Irwell valley opposite 

 to Agecroft Bridge, and has been proved in the bore-holes at Messrs. 

 Levinstein's Crumpsall Vale Dye Works, and on the eastern edge 

 of the lake in Heaton Park. In the Irwell valley and the bore-hole 

 at Messrs. Levinstein's the sand comes down on to the solid rock 

 without any intervening clay, but at Heaton Park there are 33 feet of 

 clay between the sands and the rock. 



