354 



A Ramble in West Shropshire. 



flags were formed ; after which, possibly, that great upheaval 

 took place, during which a mighty fault along the Stretton 

 Valley, estimated by Professor Ramsay at 2000 feet, was 

 effected, and the strata of the Longmynd reared up into an 

 almost perpendicular position, as may be seen around Church 

 Stretton. Then came a long period of denudation, such as is 

 at this moment going on over the whole surface of the country, 

 by which the frost, the rain, and other atmospheric agencies 

 are incessantly wearing down the whole surface, and carrying 

 it off in rivers to the sea. Then, and not till then, were the 

 Llandovery conglomerates deposited on the denuded edges 

 of the previous rocks, since which there has been a further 

 upheaval, an interval of time measured by the more recent 

 formations, nearly thirteen miles thick altogether, which are 

 met with in succession as we cross England in an easterly 

 direction, and the inconceivably slow process by which the 

 whole surface of the country has been moulded into its present 

 aspect, under atmospheric influences. 



Let us now turn our attention, though it must be more 

 briefly than the subject deserves, to the objects of antiquity 

 which abound in this district. They are, for the most part, 

 closely connected with the working of the lead mines, which in 

 very early ages attracted to them the industry of the Romans. 



An interesting testimony to this 

 fact is extant in a large ingot 

 of lead which is in the possession 

 of Rev. F. More, of Linley Hall, 

 and of which a sketch is here 

 presented. This ingot is stamped 

 with the words i. ai. p. Hadriani 

 Aug,, executed in well cut 

 letters ; its weight is just 

 Ingot of Lead from Linley. 190 lbs., and it is the exact 



duplicate, I am informed, of another that was discovered in a 

 different place, but in the same neighbourhood. On each side 

 it is possible to trace the grain of oak wood, stamped, as it 

 were, upon the lead, from which it is inferred that the mould 

 in which it was cast was made of that timber ; but a more 

 curious and interesting fact is the occurrence likewise on each 

 side of the impression of a fern leaf, so distinct, that the 

 species, Bleclinum boreale, can be determined. How did this 

 come here ? Could that frail organism have permanence enough 

 to impress its form on the molten mass as it was poured into 

 the mould ? Why one fern leaf on each side ? Was it acci- 

 dental or intentional, a kind of trade mark or private stamp ? 

 Together with this relic of Roman industry, Mr. More, whose 

 diligence in collecting and preserving these curious remains 



