88 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
Standing on the top of Leckhampton hill, every one must be struck 
with the extensive panoramic view, probably unequalled in England, 
which it commands. The Liassic plain, though flat, is here and 
there relieved by gentle undulations, and bounded on the west by the 
fine range of the Malverns, the rounded dome of May Hill, and the 
hills of the Forest of Dean ; while on a clear day a view is obtained of 
the still more distant mountains of Wales. 
There is also another peculiar feature in the physical geography of 
this district in those outliers or smaller hills which stand out at variable 
distances from the main chain. These are Eobinswood Hill, Church- 
down, Battledown, Bredon, and others not distinctly visible from Leck- 
hampton. Though often partially denuded of the oolite, there can be no 
doubt these isolated spots were formerly united to the Cotswolds, 
which most probably extended further outwards than they do now. 
In addition to Mr. Hull's " Geology of the Country around Chelten- 
ham,"* and Mr. Lycett's " Cotswold Hills," we recommend the perusal 
of Sir R. I. Murchison's "Geology of Cheltenham," above referred to. 
Many of the characteristic fossils may be purchased at a moderate rate 
of Jenkins, a nurseryman, on the right-hand side of the road leading 
to Leckhampton. 
We have necessarily confined our remarks to a limited portion 
of the geology of a part only of the county of Gloucester ; but this must 
lead us to wider and more general views of the whole subject — local 
details and discoveries have their chief value in reference to this end— 
for which reason we would suggest a comparison of the Oolites in their 
extension into Somersetshire and Dorsetshire on the one hand, and into 
Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire on the other. Geology, 
in the subjects of which it treats, requires a liberal and comprehensive 
view to be taken ; and valuable undoubtedly as all local knowledge is, 
we must not rest satisfied with such a limitation, but carry our 
investigations into surrounding or into distant regions, and study 
nature on a grand scale, suitable to the wide fields of observation 
before us. 
See also Mr. E. Hull's elaborate memoir on the Physical Geography of the 
Cotteswold Hills, in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, vol. xi., 
p. 477. — Ed. of Geologist. 
