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SILURIAN ROCKS OF MAY HILL, ETC. 



May Hill. 



Prolongation of the axis of Woolhope by May Hill, to Purton and Tortworth in 



Gloucestershire. 



The Silurian ridge which forms the south-eastern termination of the valley of Wool- 

 hope, ranges by Oldbury Hill to the eastern side of Upton Bishop, exposing grey, inco- 

 herent and naglike strata of Ludlow Rocks, flanked by Old Red Sandstone. 



At Yeaton the beds dip 35° to the W.S.W., but to the south the line of elevation becoming 

 less distinct, at Chibler's Hill they are inclined only 8° or 10° to E.N.E. Beyond Upper Tedge- 

 wood they are no longer traceable 5. for between Linton Wood and Queen's Wood, these Upper 

 Silurian Rocks rise in dome-shaped masses from beneath the clays of the Old Red Sandstone. 

 In Linton Wood, ferruginous sandstone overlies beds of earthy grey limestone, some of which 

 are burnt for lime, and from their position and fossils are presumed to be the equivalent of the 

 Aymestry Limestone. Light coloured sandstone, sometimes almost white and occasionally mica- 

 ceous, generally constitutes the upper ledge of these rocks. Such beds are well seen at Clifford's 

 Mine, in contact with the Old Red Sandstone. On Gorstey Common, one of the domes alluded 

 to, are very extensive quarries, which show this sandstone passing down into a dark grey, sandy, 

 argillaceous rock, with casts of some of the Ludlow shells, underlaid by two remarkably hard 

 beds of calcareous grit, nearly one foot thick each, called "pitching stone" and "hone stone," 

 which again are succeeded by fifteen or twenty feet of beds, sufficiently calcareous to have been for- 

 merly burnt for lime. Other quarries, north of the great road from Ross to Newent, expose grey, 

 flaglike beds of genuine mudstone, with concretions of argillaceous limestone. Up to this point 

 the Ludlow Rocks only are apparent, but in approaching May Hill we meet with two broken 

 lines, along each of which masses of the Wenlock limestone have been thrown up ; the one ranging 

 by Aston Ingham being a simple band, the beds of which are in a vertical position, striking 

 15° east of south, and containing many characteristic shells and corals. The other, in Ristley 

 Wood, includes several masses of the same rock thrown about with discordant strikes and in- 

 clinations, in one part dipping 45° east, in another 65° W.N.W. Some of these masses on the 

 sides of Ristley Wood, are of the same red colour as the Wenlock limestone of Clencher's Mill 

 near Ledbury, and are subordinate to shale, containing many small concretions of impure limestone. 

 Near a spot called the New House Farm, where the strata are much contorted, and thrown into 

 a south-easterly direction, it is a fine, crystalline, light grey limestone, highly charged with encrinites, 

 corals and shells. 



Advancing to the south-east, and ascending the arid elevation of May Hill 1 , 965 

 feet above the sea, we find ourselves upon red-coloured Caradoc sandstone, filled with 



1 I recommend every traveller who may be near it to ascend May Hill, from the summit of which he will 

 enjoy a panoramic view not inferior to any in Great Britain. The Severn, meandering through rich plains, is 

 seen to expand into its magnificent estuary, landlocked by the Cotteswold, Mendip, Quantock and Devonian 

 Hills ; while to the N.E. and N.W., the rich and undulating expanse of the central counties, is beautifully con- 

 trasted with the sharp outline of the Malverns, and the sombre distant masses of the Welsh Mountains. 



