Rood Ashton, 8fc. 



319 



j little about the subterranean structure of the soil, the surface of 

 j which afterwards became the Manor of Ashton. 



Everybody has read in their school-books about the coral-reefs in 

 i the ocean at the other side of the world, banks of rock extending 

 hundreds of miles, whole islands by hundreds ; all built by the little 

 1 coral insect, who lays his foundation at the bottom of the sea, and 

 j goes on, generation after generation, piling up, tier upon tier, storey 

 * upon storey, till he comes to the surface of the water, when he stops; 

 j and, by so stopping, makes navigation in those parts very dangerous. 



It is perfectly marvellous what an immense addition has been made 

 , to the solid material of the globe, by so minute and apparently 

 , insignificant a creature. Strange as it may sound to those who are 

 J not acquainted with the geology of this district, there is one of 

 these old coral-reefs within three miles of Trowbridge. It was a 

 comparatively narrow strip of land commencing near Oxford. In 

 Wiltshire it passes by High worth, Wootton Bassett,Calne,Bromham, 

 and Steeple Ashton — dissappears by and by, but reappears on the 

 sea-shore at Weymouth. From the ragged nature of the stone, it 

 is called the " Coral Rag." The corals or madrepores found in it, 

 have, of course, lost all their original whiteness, and are now simply 

 of the colour of the soil : but with that exception, the specimens 

 are often perfectly beautiful, and when laid by the side of recent 

 specimens from Indian seas, the old one (barring colour) is often as 

 keen and fresh as the other. Steeple Ashton fossils are well-known 

 in all geological museums. There are about fifty varieties of madre- 

 pores, marine shells, wood, reptiles, &c. The structure of these 

 corals, examined under a magnifying glass, is beautifully engraved 

 in one of the volumes of the Palseontological Society's publications, 

 and nothing can be more wonderful. 



With this slight reference to the original occupiers, or rather the 

 very architects — the humble coral insects — we will take leave of 

 geology, and make a very long skip indeed, to the time when the 

 first animal of our own species occupied the surface of this coral 

 reef, I pass over our old friends, the Ancient Britons and their 

 successors the Romans, for they have not left, so far as I remember, 

 any particular traces of themselves in tin's district. The first 



