TRAVEL FACILITIES. — The nearest station is Dent. As Head- 
quarters is situated some four miles distant from the station it is desirable 
to make arrangements with Mr. Winder for the transport of luggage. 
BOOKS AND MAPS. — i-inch Ordnance Survey Maps (Coloured Ed.), 
Nos. 19 and 20, cover the area to be investigated. Geol. Survey Maps, 1 in. to 
mile, Number 97 S.W. (97N.W., 98 N.E., 98 S.E. are also useful) ; Geol. 
Survey Memoir on Ingleborough ; ‘ Geology of Yorkshire,’ Kendall and 
Wroot ; ‘ West Yorkshire,’ Davis and Lees ; ‘ Flora of West Yorkshire,’ 
Arnold Lees. ‘ Dentdale and Garsdale ’ is the title of a very useful Guide 
to the district published by F. Riley, The Book Stores, Settle, 1 /-. Circulars 
Nos. 143, 183 and 292 should be consulted. A full account of the Excursion 
in 1921 will be found in The Naturalist, 1921, pp. 273-281. 
THE DISTRICT AND ITS GEOLOGY.— Mr. J. A. Butterfield, 
M.Sc., F.G.S., writes : — Dent has a claim to the interest of all geologists, 
for it was the birthplace of Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873). His father was 
Vicar of Dent. 
The village* lies in a beautiful valley drained by the River Dee, flowing 
westward to join the Rawthey and the Lune. The geological structure is 
simple but interesting. The valley is cut in the Great Scar Limestone, 
which extends almost the full length of the dale from Gawthrop to the 
source. Overlying this is a series of limestones with interbedded sandstones, 
shales, and impure limestones — the Yoredales. Sections of these are dis- 
played in Oliver Ghyll, Flinters Ghyll, Yellow Ghyll, Deepdale, Cowghyll 
and Scotherghyll. In the last named a good succession of rocks is exposed, 
including the Great Scar, Hardraw Scar, and Simonstone Limestones 
Further afield the surrounding hills carry the succession through the Scar, 
Undersett, and Main Limestones. Whernside (2414 ft.) to the south, 
Widdale Fell (2203 ft.) to the east, and Baugh Fell (2216 ft.) to the north, 
show outlier cappings of Millstone Grit. Throughout the area the beds lie 
roughly horizontal. The aspect of the country is therefore that of a series 
of terraces formed by the outcrops of the harder beds of limestones and 
sandstone, the top of each bed of limestone being generally marked by a 
row of potholes and the base by a line of springs. Thin coal seams occur 
between the Main and Undersett Limestones. This coal was originally 
mined and carried by pack-horse 17 miles for the use of the whitesmiths of 
Kendal. The Hardraw Scar and Simonstone Limestones have been quarried 
as ‘ black marble ’ at Dent Head and in Oliver Ghyll. 
West of Gawthrop the Carboniferous Limestone is cut out by the Dent 
Fault, which throws the Great Scar Limestone against beds of Silurian age, 
consisting of Coniston Flags and Limestone. This fault is displayed in the 
river bed 200 yards west of Barth Bridge, where the limestone, traversed by 
cracks infilled with barytes, stands almost vertically. Helmside lies to the 
west of the fault on these Silurian rocks. In Helmside Ghyll several mica- 
trap dykes (probable apophyses of the Shap Granite) are to be found. 
These are of post-Silurian, pre-Carboniferous age. 
Glacial drift covers much of the area, and glacial striae and roches mou- 
tonnees are to be found on the higher ground. 
Two miles east of Dent the river has cut picturesque features in Hell’s 
Cauldron and Black Dub. 
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