GUERNSEY CLAYS. 213 



at Vazon and Cobo Bays, but also at St. Sampson's and the 

 Town Harbour, at trie back of the Kohais and lower Foulon 

 Yalley, it probably occurs in many parts of the low-lying lands 

 of the north-west, and a bed of it was pierced in sinking the 

 well for the Waterworks Company at St. Saviour's. 



The subject to which I wish more particularly to draw 

 attention this evening is the Guernsey Clays. 



The term " Clay " is applied locally to any material which 

 can be used for brick-making. This employment of the term 

 is quite justified by the scientific dictionary, which says : 

 "Economically the term is applied to any finely divided 

 mineral matter, which becomes plastic on being wetted, and 

 retains its shape when moulded or pressed into any particular 

 form." 



Its occurrence in Guernsey has long been known and 

 turned to profitable account. Formerly, bricks were made 

 here in such quantities as to be exported, beside supplying 

 the local demand, and pottery (red ware) was made at the 

 Millbrook Brickfield. Latterly, however, the local demand 

 has been greater, some kilns have been demolished, and bricks 

 have been imported from England. The clay is very widely 

 distributed ; it is found almost all over the table-land, spread- 

 ing from Saumarez Manor, in St. Martin's, on the east, to the 

 Forest Church, or even further west, and from that southern 

 line throughout St. Martin's, St. Andrew's, and the Town 

 Parish, to the edge of the high land. It is found in widely 

 scattered localities in the low land, at St. John's, Cobo, Delancey 

 Hill, &c, and it has been worked at the Salt Pans. 



The character of the material varies greatly. I shall 

 divide the Guernsey clays into two sections : — 

 1st — Those found in veins. 

 2nd — Those forming true superficial deposits. 



To the first sec.tion belongs Kaolin clay ; to the second 

 those clays which have been used for brick-making. 



Kaolin clay is not a superficial deposit in Guernsey. The 

 most conspicuous example of it in the bailiwick is at the 

 Coupee, in Sark, where the constant action of the rainfall has 

 carried it down the slope of the cliff and formed a true 

 superficial deposit. 



This clay is a direct produce of the disintegration of 

 certain veins in granitic and gneissic rock, and is formed from 

 the felspar which those rocks contain. 



In Guernsey it occurs in numerous directions in veins : — 

 It may be seen in considerable quantities in the old clay pit 

 on the north of the Rohais Road. The mass is very impure, 



