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ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
less decomposed^ the solid rock not being visible, and 
the soil to the depth of two or three feet^ as well as at 
the surface^ abounding in angular fragments of this 
substance/ Dr. Buckland, however^ refers them to 
the old red sandstone series^ and they afford quarries 
of calcareous breccia or cornstone^ at various places 
in their line. He observes that " beyond the north 
extremity of the Lower Lickey to the base of the 
Clent and Hagley Hills^ the country is composed 
of a fundamental rock of old red sandstone, having 
the new red sandstone irregularly and unconformably 
strewed over it, but from the similarity of colour and 
substance in the beds composing these two forma- 
tions, it is impossible to trace accurately the precise 
limits of each, the only sections being at a few 
quarries where the cornstone is extracted from the 
old red sandstone to be burnt into lime." 
Before closing the geological description of this 
part of the county, it may be necessary to advert to 
the celebrated Stourbridge clay, so well known for its 
employment in the manufacture of crucibles. The 
floor or stratum on which coal rests consists of clay 
in an indurated state, and generally possessing the 
qualities of fire clay. The Stourbridge clay forms a 
small oval tract in the parishes of King's Swinford and 
Old Swinford, about a mile and half in length, and 
one mile in breadth, three strata of coal being super- 
imposed between it and the surface of the earth. 
The fire clay thus lies 150 yards below the surface, 
and 45 yards below the coal. The Stourbridge clay 
^ Revr James Yates, quoted in Scott's Stourbridge. 
