BRITISH ASSOCIATION MEETING. 
509 
of Burnley. After which the higher and lower members of the millstone-o^rit 
formation are developed in great thickness, passing down into the Yoredale 
Rocks, or limestone shale, and finally into the Carboniferous Limestone of 
CHtheroe. Of course, it is to be understood that the whole of the above enu- 
merated series of strata have not been sunk through at any one place, neither 
can we point out any particular locality where they are exhibited in section ; 
but the whole of them crop out between Burnley and the north end of Pendle 
Hill, and by taking advantage of the doughs and ravines which present them- 
selves on the way, nearly the whole of them may be noticed ; or, if a pit were 
sunk from the centre of the coal-field in Burnley, to a sufficient depth, the 
entire series would be found to overlie each otlier in the above stated order. 
In describing the rocks of the Burnley coal-field and their fossils, it will be 
found convenient to notice them in the ascending order, begiuuiug with the 
limestone shale, or Yoredale rocks. They consist of very dark and finely- 
laminated shales, replete with fossils of marine origin, such as shells of the 
genera Acicida pecten, Goniatites, Orthocemtites, Posodonia, &c., &c. ; they 
also contain fish remains of various genera, including that of Palceonisctcs. 
The Y'oredale series is well developed on the north-west, north, and north-east 
sides of Pendle Hill, skirting along its base from Pendleton Hall on the west 
to Burst Clough on the east, a deep ravine which takes its name from the pent- 
iip waters of the morass on Pendle Hill having twice burst forth in great force 
during the seventeenth century, laying bare the rocks to a height of at least 
two thousand feet. 
The higher and lower members of the Millstone-grit are the next rocks in 
the ascending series. 
They consist for the most part of coarse-grained sandstones intermixed with 
water- worn quariz pebbles ; being divided by thick beds of strong stony mica- 
ceous grey shale. 
There are many good sections of these rocks exposed to view in the vicinity 
of Pendle Hill, where they are dipping nearly south at angles of from twenty 
to forty degrees, the intensity of dip increasing in a southerly direction. 
The millstone-grit formation is poor in- fossils, with the exception of a bed 
of shale of about twelve yards thick, which occupies a middle position between 
the higher and lower portions. The outcrop of these shales is exposed in the 
brook at Roughlee and at Hanson's Scar, near Sabden ; at both of which places 
it contains fossils of the genera Thragmoceras, Goniatites^ Avicula pecten^ Posi- 
donia, and Orthocemtites. 
Near the top of the grit formation there occurs three thin seams of coal, 
known as the millstone -grit, or Brooksbottom series of coals, the outcrop of 
which may be seen in the road behind Height House. 
The roof of the lowest of them, which consists of a fine-grained, compact, 
light-coloured sandstone, has been extensively quarried along the line of its 
basset on Read Height for road materials, and has been thought by some per- 
sons to be identical with the gannister, or mountain uiine, but from Avhich it 
differs in the following important particulars : — 1st. It lies a considerable dis- 
tance below, while the true gannister is known to be above the " Rough Rock/* 
2nd. The hard stone which is found in connection with it forms the roof of the 
coal and not the seat, as in the case of the gannister ; and, 3rd. Possesses all 
the^characteristics of a roof rock as distinguished from that of a seat rock. 
The next ascending basset is that of the Rough Rock with the Boaredge 
and probably the Peatheredge coals. A good section of this rock, together 
with the coals usually found in connection with it, is exposed at Height Side, 
near Padiham. 
The outcrop of the Rough Rock is followed by that of the gannister, or the 
mountain mine series of coals. 
