8 
indicated by lines of dislocation and anticlinal axes, traversing 
those countries in various directions, as seen in the diagram : 
but these great axes seldom preserve the same course for many 
miles together : thus from Brampton, the great Penine fault 
comes to Brough in a S.E. direction, from Brough S.W. to 
Kirby Lonsdale, from which point the two Craven faults 
range S.E. From Kirby Lonsdale to Clitheroe the country 
has a system of anticlinal lines of convulsion of its own : 
these lines first run from N.E. to S.W., and elevate the 
Burnley Coal Field, Pendle Hill, &c., but in the Skipton 
valley they change their course to east and west, so as to 
cross the Wharf in a direction due east. From this last 
system of disturbances, the Derbyshire axis arises and pro- 
ceeds from Burnley to the Peak of Derby, running in a 
general direction of N.N.E. and S.S.W., and throws off the 
Yorkshire Coal Field on its east, and the Lancashire on the 
west side of its axis. This N.N.E. and S.S.W. direction is, 
however, not constant, but it changes its course opposite 
Mottram, and again opposite Stockport. Now, the general 
character of the declinations along, not only the Derbyshire 
axis, but also the great fault from Northumberland to Kirby 
Lonsdale, is a long and moderate slope of the strata from it 
to the east, and a violent and short dip from it to the west ; 
consequently, the Lancashire Coal Field being on the west, 
and nearer the centre of the axis, is not only more affected 
by it, — and hence the steep dips and numerous longitudinal 
faults, — but the direction of the dip of the strata in that Coal 
Field is also more affected by the minor changes in the direc- 
tion of the Derbyshire axis; hence at Ashton, the strata dip 
due west at an angle of 45°, at Stockport S.W., at an angle of 
75°; while the northern edge of the Lancashire Coal Field, 
being elevated by the Haslingden axis (which runs east and 
west, parallel, and probably related, to the Ribblesdale system) 
the strata from Bury and Bolton to Middleton dip south ; 
so that in fact the level of any single coal bed, as the " black 
