BASE OF NEW RED SYSTEM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 



51 



red formations and the older rocks on which they rest, from Chepstow to Denbighshire, 

 I commence by pointing out the manner in which, from small beginnings in the south, 

 their successive development is accomplished as we proceed northwards. 



In the tract between Chepstow and May Hill, the whole of the space coloured on the map as be- 

 longing to the New Red System, is exclusively occupied by the upper red and green marls, (not 

 saliferous in that tract,) which are seen at many points in contact with Old Red Sandstone, and at 

 Flaxley with Silurian Rocks. (PI. 36. fig. 13.) At Huntley on the eastern side of May Hill, soft 

 red sandstones first appear, rising from beneath the marls and separating them from the Silurian 

 rocks ; and between that place and Newent, where the sandstone attains a considerable thickness, 

 there are traces of quartzose conglomerates occasionally cemented by calcareous matter. These re- 

 lations prevail for some miles to the north of Newent, the lower beds of the system overlying a thin 

 zone of coal measure ; but in approaching the Malvern Hills, the sandstones are much more ex- 

 panded, and the conglomerate near their base is of greater importance, and of different lithological 

 composition. 



In the absence of natural sections, the presence of the sandstone above the conglomerate 

 (Gres bigarre), is clearly indicated by the "Rye Land" or sandy loams, which uniformly give a 

 dry agricultural character to the surface of all the tracts occupied by that member of the system. 

 Between Huntley and Lyne's Place are good sections of the sandstone, arranged in fine-grained, 

 friable, thickish beds, of deep red colours, and containing subordinate, irregular courses of a small 

 conglomerate, in which are fragments of the old red sandstone and inferior rocks. Some of these 

 conglomerates are slightly calcareous, others pass into mere grits, the whole resting upon and 

 thinning out, in light-coloured, incoherent sand. Low Hill, west of Lyne's Place, affords a clear 

 section of these beds dipping 25° to 30° to the east, a high degree of inclination for the New Red 

 Sandstone, though similar examples will be mentioned in following the lower beds of the system. 

 From May Hill to Haffield Camp, near Ledbury, these rocks, with the exception of the tract near 

 Newent, are in contact with the Old Red Sandstone; and the line of separation is defined by the 

 nature of the surface. In some spots near Newent, the demarcation is pointed out by actual sec- 

 tions, exhibiting thin patches of coal-measures, interpolated between the New and Old Red Sand- 

 stones. At Pitleases, Weatherlocks, and Oxenhall, the sandy rye lands rise into eminences based 

 upon red conglomerate and sandstone ; and at the escarpment is a thin profitless zone of coal, 

 resting upon the stiff clays of the Old Red System. In one instance, however, the new red conglo- 

 merate dipping 15° to the south-east, lies at once upon the edges of micaceous flagstones of the Old 

 Red, which are thrown up at an angle of 70°. (PI. 30. fig. 10.) 



Clear junctions of the New and Old Red Systems are exhibited at Broom's Green and 

 at Haffield Camp. (PL 29. fig. I. 1 ) At the latter place, the upper beds of the New Red 

 consist of soft, red sandstone, and the lower of brecciated conglomerate, of a deep red 

 colour, containing fragments of syenite, varieties of Silurian rocks, quartz rock, and 

 Old Red Sandstone. The syenite derived from the adjacent ridge of Malvern is in much 



1 The section displaying these beds of new red conglomerate was laid open only two years ago at Haffield 

 Camp, the quarries being south of the high road from Gloucester to Ledbury. Some of the fragments oi 

 syenite are of the size of turkey eggs, varying from that to the size of almonds. The stone is extracted for 

 walling, and to use the expression of the workmen, " it hugs the mortar well." 



