90 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
intellectual gratification^ the mere desire of thrift 
should prompt us to become acquainted with the 
geological peculiarities of our county. 
The vale of Worcestershire in a geological point 
of view is a part of the great plain of red marl, or 
new red sandstone formation, that prevails so gene- 
rally in the centre of England. Several, however, 
of the older rocks, particularly the transition lime- 
stone, protrude in various situations through it ; and 
these I shall briefly notice in succession,^ when I have 
glanced at the phenomena presented by the new red 
sandstone itself. Immense beds of diluvial gravel 
are accumulated in its valleys and upon its sandy 
ridges, and these gravel beds are composed of a great 
variety of materials. In general, however, the com- 
mon quartzose and granitic pebbles in innumerable 
varieties predominate, but black and variegated jasper, 
flinty and chloritic slate, many varieties of porphyry, 
and of variegated compact and granular sandstone 
also occur, and on the declivities of the upper 
Bromsgrove Lickey, where this formation attains an 
^ The principal eminences of the county, when viewed from the city of Worces- 
ter, may be thus enumerated. To the west, at the distance of eight miles, the 
primitive chain of the Malvern Hills is seen beautifully stretching from north to 
south upwards of nine miles in length. From the termination of these in the north- 
west, a chain of hills of transition limestone or connected with that formation, 
extends, with a very picturesque outline, to the Abberley Hills in the north. In 
the north-east the Hagley and Clent Hills are seen in connection with Broms- 
grove Lickey, whose bold fir-crowned height gradually declines in the eastern 
horizon till it meets the vale. In the south-east, the lias hills of Cracombe, and 
the Broadway Hills of the oolitic series, rising to 1086 feet, appear, with the noble 
outlyer of Bredon in advance ; while the distant chain of the Cotswolds fills up the 
southern view, apparently uniting with May Hill and the lesser protuberances 
of the grand Malvern chain. 
