GEOLOGY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE. 
229 
of Gloucester. The course of the Lias, like tliat of the Oolite, is from 
north-east to south-west. The lower Lias is the thickest, being 
estimated at 600 feet ia the district round Cheltenham ; whilst the 
middle Lias, or Marlstone series, docs not exceed 115 feet; but the 
upper averages from 230 to 270. These deposits thin off very much in 
their course towards the east, south-east, and south, as may be readily 
seen by an examination of the sections at Burford, on the east, and 
Wotton-under-edge on the south. As the upper Lias always forms either 
a portion of the outer Cotswolds or their outliers, it is there only that it is 
to be looked for. These lower slopes are, however, usually covered with a 
vast amount of Oolitic dehris, and overgrown with grass ; it is, therefore, 
very seldom, and only with great difliculty, that this portion of the 
Lias can be detected. The wet spongy soil, and the projecting plat- 
form of the hard Marlstone below, are often the only indications of this 
mass of shales and clay, from which the student will not be very suc- 
cessful in obtaining fossils near Cheltenham ; though possibly some 
may be procured from the few sections exposed at Colesbourn, Crickley, 
and Holcomb, near Painswick. Many years ago there was a good 
section beyond the turnpike-gate at Dowdeswell, but it is now scarcely 
visible. "We should, therefore, recommend a day or two spent at Al- 
derton and Dumbleton, two ver}- picturesque hills, eight miles nearly 
due north of Cheltenham. There the upper Lias and Marlstone are 
well exhibited, and in a comparatively short time a fair collection of the 
characteristic fossils may be made. There is a tolerable inn at Beck- 
ford, not far off, and from this point the student would be enabled to 
study the interesting outlier of Brcdon Hill, the highest of the Cotswold 
outliers, exhibiting, what few of the others do, a considerable thickness 
of Inferior Oolite, with the upper and middle Lias beneath. The 
scenery, too, of these hills is particularly striking, and adds to the 
interest of their geology. The views from them present many different 
aspects, and their varied features can only be duly appreciated by seeing 
them at many and different spots. Bredon Hill, for example, affords 
a fine view of the Syenitic range of the Malverns, the rich Liassic vale 
of Evesham, the Silurian hills of Abberlcy, beyond "Worcester, the 
Keuper ridge of Inkberrow, and the more distant plain of Gloucester, 
bounded by the hills of Cleeve, Leckhampton, and others, which, from 
their commanding height, more immediately catch the eye. 
Bredon has the advantage, too, of the Avon flowing at its base on 
