428 



FORM OF THE VALLEY OF WOOLHOPE. 



theorists, that their opposite views may equally be sustained by physical evidences ; 

 for on the one hand cases may be cited, where stratiform masses, once horizontal, have 

 been heaved up into dome-shaped forms, dipping away from a common nucleus, like 

 the valley I am about to describe \ while on the other, there must, according to modern 

 analogies be instances, where accumulations of indisputable volcanic origin have been 

 actually placed in their present relative positions, by ejections from the mouths of 

 craters, both under the sea and under the atmosphere. 



Whether the stratified masses so arranged, be purely sedimentary, or of mixed aqueous 

 and igneous origin, does not much affect the question. It is not fair to contend that 

 every rock, the structure of which bespeaks a volcanic origin, and which has a qua-qua 

 versal dip, was originally arranged in that position. The surface of the globe abounds 

 in large stratiform and horizontal " coulees " of volcanic rock, which if upheaved by in- 

 ternal forces, might appear domes of elevation like this of Woolhope ; and in the pre- 

 ceding pages I have already cited many examples of stratified masses of igneous origin, 

 (volcanic grit) &c, some of which form amphitheatres of elevation. Now if such 

 masses were purely of volcanic origin, it might be contended that they owed their qua- 

 qua versal dip to crateriform action : but as they are interlaminated with sedimentary 

 matter containing organic remains, there is no doubt that they have been accumulated 

 under the sea, in undulating or slightly inclined strata, and have since been thrown into 

 their present positions. 



After this preamble, I proceed to direct attention to a most remarkable and symme- 

 trical example of these phenomena which occurs within the Silurian region 1 . Though 

 not known in Herefordshire by any distinguishing name, I have called it the valley of 

 Woolhope, because that village stands near its centre. The surrounding villages are 

 Dormington, Stoke Edith, Putley, Much Marcle, Sollers Hope and Fownhope, all of 

 them situated upon the Old Red Sandstone (a of this wood-cut) near its junction with 

 the Ludlow Rock b. 



Holme Lacey. 



Fownhope Park. 



Gravel. 



Woolhope Valley. 

 Haugh Wood. 



Seager Hill. 



A. Old Red Sandstone. 



Lower part only seen. 



B. Ludlow Formation. 

 b. Upper Ludlow. 

 b 1 . Aymestry Limestone. 

 6 2 . Lower Ludlow. 



C. Wenlock Formation. 

 c. Wenlock Limestone. 

 c 1 . Wenlock Shale. 



95. 



&i b 



D. Caradoc Formation. 



d. Caradoc or Woolhope Limestone. 



d 1 . Caradoc Sandstone. 



» For other examples of similar phenomena, see accounts of the valley of elevation of Wigmore Lake (the 

 Ludlow promontory), p. 238 ; and of Usk, p. 438. 



