DISLOCATIONS OF THE SILURIAN ROCKS. 



239 



and dips to the north-east. The small outlying ridge of Ludlow rock and Aymestry 

 limestone which occupies Caynham Camp and Tinker's Hill, has been upcast on a 

 line precisely parallel to the axis of the Ludlow promontory, and like all the adjacent 

 ridges it has been broken by a transverse fissure, now occupied by the Lutwiche 

 Brook, (see p. 241.) 



The last of the transverse gorges we have to notice in the Ludlow district, is that by 

 which the Lugg escapes from the Silurian rocks at Aymestry into the low country of 

 Old Red Sandstone near Leominster. Hence, as in every case cited, the river flows 

 in a fissure caused by dislocation ; for the limestone on the left bank is thrown up into 

 the Poor-house wood, dipping slightly to the south-east, and passing beneath the Old 

 Red of Lucton, whilst the same beds at the village of Aymestry on the right bank of 

 the river dip to the south. Similar instances of transverse fracture are found in all the 

 strata traversed by the above-mentioned rivers when we ascend any of them towards 

 their sources. Thus the strata on the opposite banks of the Teme, west of Leintwar- 

 dine, are tilted in divergent directions. He who, combining antiquarian with geolo- 

 gical research, seeks to determine the spot, where Caractacus and his Silures made 

 their last struggle against the Romans, may mark the line of dislocation in which the 

 Teme flows, by crossing from Brampton Bryan to Coxwall-knoll 1 . The strata on the 

 south bank dip 60° to the south-south-west, and those on the north, which support 

 the supposed camp of the British chief, are inclined northwards 40°, as represented in 

 this wood-cut. 



31. 



Other similar powerful dislocations are again seen between this site and the town of 

 Knighton, and the whole of the course of the Teme, if followed to its sources, equally 

 abounds in them. Again, there is no finer example of this phenomena than where the 

 Onny escapes from the upland and mountainous tract of Shelve and Linley. (See vignette, 

 chapter 22.) 



The principal derangements of the Silurian rocks in one district have alone been 

 explained ; and from these statements, it appears, that every river course transverse 

 to the direction of the strata, has been determined by the fracturing of solid masses, 

 which have been once continuous. Although the description from p. 237 applies to a 

 district in which no trap is visible at the surface, we cannot view the ridges of Ludlow 

 and Wenlock as placed between two great fissures of volcanic outburst, the Clee Hills 



1 This historical point is illustrated in. the Appendix, where it is shown that Coxwall-knoll could not have 

 been the scene of the last battle of Caractacus. 



2 g2 



