320 
STEANGWAYS: HAKKOGATE WELLS. 
understand my views, it will be necessary to include in this descrip- 
tion, the whole of the western part of Yorkshire lying- between the 
Pennine Chain and Harrog-ate. 
This district includes the mountainous reg-ion to the west of 
the Vale of York, in which the principal rivers of the county have 
their rise ; it is the water gathering area of this part of England, 
the average rainfall over the higher parts of this region being from 
30 to 100 inches in the year ; and it is my intention to show presently 
that it is from this district that the Harrogate springs derive their 
supply. 
The district under consideration, is bounded on the west b}^ the 
axis of the range of hills which is popularly called "the back-bone 
of England." This range, of which Great Whernside, Pennegent, 
Widdale Fell, the Great Shunner, and the Nine Standards are some 
of the highest points, rises to heights of between two and three 
thousand feet. 
The rocks of which this district is mainly composed, are the 
lower members of the carboniferous series which, for convenience, 
we divide into the separate groups, Millstone Grit, Yoredale rocks, 
and Mountain or Scar Limestone ; and these three principal divisions 
are further sub-divided into their separate beds of sandstone, shale, 
limestone, or chert, some of which have very distinctive characters 
which they retain throughout large areas. 
In the present instance, however, it will not be necessary to 
trace and describe the whole of these ; it will be sufficient for our 
present purpose, to take those only which occur in the immediate 
vicinity of Harrogate. These are the lower beds of the Millstone 
Grit, and the upper portion of the Yoredale rocks. 
The Millstone Grit of this district is, for the most part, a series 
of some half-dozen beds of coarse massive grits, separated from 
each other by thick beds of shale. A very good section of these 
rocks is exposed along the railway cutting from Harrogate to the 
south ; but the best idea of the nature of the grits themselves, is 
obtained from Plumpton rocks, Birk Crag, and Almes Cliff rocks. 
It is these rocks which, stretching over the moorlands to the west, 
form some of the grandest and wildest of the Yorkshire scenery. 
