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CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE — STACKPOLE CLIFFS. 



Stackpole range of Limestone. 



t 



76. 



Coast Cliffs near Bullslaughter Bay, from a drawing by Mrs. Murchison. 



In this tract the limestone occupies a greater space than in any other part of the 

 county, having an average width of three miles, from Castle Martin on the north, to the 

 precipitous coast cliffs on the south. Being flanked on three sides by the sea, the rock 

 is exposed continuously in these cliffs for about eleven miles, and at each extremity it is 

 in contact with the Old Red Sandstone. 



There is no part of the coast of Great Britain where a longer continuous zone of the 

 carboniferous limestone is laid open, nor is it any where so much contorted as in this 

 promontory. The above vignette, and that at the head of the chapter, will serve to 

 convey some notion of the contortions and fractures 1 . 



Though the cliffs seldom exceed a height of about 1 50 feet, yet as they are almost 

 everywhere abrupt, and as their base can be visited only by a very few rude paths, they 

 present a barrier as rugged and wild as any lover of bold scenery can wish to contem- 

 plate. 



Some of the largest fissures by which the mass is broken up, run inland in parallel 

 directions from 15° east of south to 15° west of north, and consequently transverse to 

 the strike. They are seen in succession between the Saddle Head and other projec- 

 tions near St. Goven's Chapel, a hermit's cell, excavated in the face of the cliff, and 

 accessible only by flights of steps 2 . 



1 The Countess of Cawdor was so obliging as to contribute a sketch of the cliffs near the Eligug Stack, a 

 remarkable insulated rock occupied by myriads of sea fowl, chiefly the Alca torda (Linn.), provincially termed 

 " Eligug." This sketch was missent, and I can now merely refer the reader to a coloured drawing of the same 

 scene in Ayton and Daniell's tour round the coasts of Great Britain. This drawing has been recently copied 

 by Leonhard in his work, Naturgeschichte der Erde, tab. 9. Stuttgart, 1836. 



2 Saint Goven (or St. Gawin) inhabited a cell cut in the face of this steep and picturesque cliff. Among 

 his good deeds there is one which seems to connect his name with the geologist. His blessing conferred a 

 healing virtue on the red clay or shale, derived from the decomposition of the limestone, which forms a talus 



