Farming of LincolnsJdre. 



265 



Name of Formation. 



By what Groups represented. 



Nature of the Beds. 



Upper oolite . 

 Middle oolite . . | 



Lower oolite , .< 



Kimmeridge clay . 

 Oxford clay .... 



Kelloway rock. 



Inferior oolite .... 



Calcareous and ferruginous 

 sand. 



Blue clay with sliales. 



Blue clay with sands, shale, 

 and coal. 



Calcareous sandstone and grit- 

 stone. 



Coarse limestone. 



Limestone, compact or sandy. 



Yellow limestone with veins of 

 ironstone. 



White and red sand and sand-- 

 stone. 



The hill range is composed chiefly of the five latter beds, which, 

 running in parallel strips, cause frequent and sudden variations of 

 soil in the upland parishes. In the neighbourhood of Winterton 

 and Roxby is a rich yellowish soil resting upon grey and yellow 

 limestone, apparently of the inferior oolite, and extending to High 

 and Low Risby and to Appleby ; it is impregnated with iron, and 

 forms a good friable loam, adapted to almost every kind of crop. 

 Eastward of this, and lying between the limestone and the allu- 

 vium of the Anchoime flat, is a narrow band of grey sand upon 

 sandstone, being (it is believed) the Kelloway rock, which dips 

 eastward under the Oxford clay and incumbent marshes. The 

 sand which probably forms the lowest of the oolite beds appears 

 on the west side of the hill, in the valley between the two ridges 

 before mentioned. It commences at Normanby, and stretches 

 eastward over the hill to Appleby, Broughton, and Twigmoor, 

 and southward to Flixborough and the eastern parts of Crosby, 

 Frodingham, Ashby, and as far as Kirton. This sand seems 

 to join the Kelloway sandstone south of Appleby, forming a 

 broad tract of light blowing sand, of various degrees of in- 

 feriority ; in some parts so sterile as to be incapable of growing 

 anything except a white moss, and in other places covered with 

 plantations. At Whitton, and on the hills between Winterton 

 and Kirton, occurs also the gritstone, and shale abounding 

 with ammonites and other fossils. About 3 miles north of 

 Kirton the great oolite arises, and runs due south to Lincoln, 

 acquiring from its steep western face the name of " Cliff." 

 The rock consists of thick beds of limestone with perpendicu- 

 lar partings, and is covered with a soil of sandy loam. The 

 east side of this range has a brown sandy limestone, and the 

 soil is thin and light ; but between the Lincoln and Brigg road 

 and the brow of the hill the rock is a blue limestone (yielding 

 96 per cent, of lime), and the land is deeper and better by many 

 shillings per acre rental. It is a good turnip and barley soil. 



