On the Palaeozoic Rocks beneath Northampton, 381 



ampton, in 1836, and also to a boring at the London and North- 

 Western Railway- Station abont ten years later. At these spots the 

 beds beneath the Liassic series consisted of sandstones and marls, 

 and were considered to be of Triassic age. 



Palaeozoic rocks were met with in two borings undertaken by 

 the Northampton Water Company, who attempted to reach the 

 Water-stones by piercing the upper beds of the Trias. The first 

 boring was situated between the sites of the two previous investiga- 

 tions, on the Kettering road, near the town. The Upper, Middle, and 

 Lower Lias here attain a thickness of 738 feet, and below them a 

 series of conglomerates, sandstones, and marls rested upon an eroded- 

 surface of a Carboniferous dolomite which passed into limestone 

 crowded with characteristic fossils. The beds above the dolomite 

 are not true Trias, but may represent local deposits of that age ; 

 46 feet of Carboniferous strata were drilled, and the boring was dis- 

 continued at 851 feet. 



The second boring was at Gayton, five miles south-west of 

 Northampton. The Middle and Lower Lias were 581 feet in thick- 

 ness, and were succeeded by the White Lias and Rhastic shales, the 

 latter containing the black shales and bone-bed. The Trias was 

 here discovered, but only 60 feet in thickness, the Water-stones 

 being absent. Then followed 20 feet of littoral beds containing 

 fragments of Carboniferous Limestone (from which more than 20 

 species of fossils were named by Mr. R. Etheridge, F.R.S.), resting, 

 at 699 feet, upon an eroded surface of Carboniferous Limestone, 

 dipping at an angle of 45°, but in what direction was not ascer- 

 tained. The beds between this point and 889 feet consisted of a 

 series of limestones and dark shales 79 feet, grey sandstones and 

 grits 40 feet, red marls and sandstones 71 feet. The last fossils 

 were observed at 889 feet. The boring was continued to a depth 

 of 944 feet. The last 105 feet was composed of coarse red sand- 

 stones and marls with several bands of hard grits. These grits had 

 been examined microscopically by Prof. Bonney, whose notes were 

 given. The above series may represent the Old Red Sandstone, or 

 may be only a local development of the lower beds of the Carboni- 

 ferous ; however their materials have probably been derived from a 

 mass of granitoid rocks belonging to some of the most ancient in 

 the Archaean series. Saline water was met with in both borings. 



A description was also given of an unsuccessful boring for coal 

 at Orton, near Kettering. Beneath the Lias clays, 666 feet in thick- 

 ness, the White Lias and Rhaetic were discovered, followed by a sand- 

 stone and breccia resting upon an eroded surface of a quartz-felsite 

 at 715 feet. The boring was discontinued at a depth of 789 feet in 

 this rock. The quartz-felsite had been examined by Prof. Bonney, 

 who expressed an opinion that it was similar to rocks of the volcanic 

 group of Charnwood Forest, 25 miles to the north-east. The old 

 land surface had thus been proved at the three borings, at Gayton 

 dipping rapidly, and probably being the edge of a syncline, in which 

 coal may yet be discovered to the south or south-west, beneath the 

 overlying Mesozoic formations. 



