54 LIAS OF ENGLAND AND WALES : 
CHAPTEH III. 
LOWER LIAS. 
LOCAL DETAILS. 
Dorsetshire Coast. 
IN no other part of the country can the Lias 5 , as a whole, be 
so well seen as on the coast between Axmouth and Bridport. 
The connection with the Keuper Marls, through the Rluotic 
Beds, can be studied near Culverhole Point and Charton Bay ; 
while eastwards the several divisions can be traced in sequence 
until, near Bridport, we reach the Midford Sands that form the 
passage-beds between the Upper Lias and Inferior Oolite. 
From the base of the Lower Lias to the base of the Upper 
Lias all the beds can be examined and measured in detail, their 
continuity being only interrupted here and there by faults, the 
amount of whose displacement can be estimated with no great 
difficulty. Landslips, indeed, have masked the beds in many 
places, but not so as to interfere with the complete exposure of 
the series at one point or another. (See Fig. 42, p. 56.) 
With the Upper Lias the case is different. It is to be seen 
and its thickness can be estimated, but it is shown in an 
inaccessible portion of the cliffs below Thorncombe Beacon, and 
only its basement-bed can there be reached. 
The highest point along this coast is Golden Cap, which 
rises to 619 feet, and owes its name to the sands of Upper 
Greensand age that form its summit ; for these are " gilded " 
on a sunny day, and appear in marked contrast with the dark 
Liassic clays beneath. This is without doubt the grandest of 
the Lias cliffs in Dorsetshire. Its outlines are very varied, 
the precipices and slopes being scarred by deep channels and 
chines, separated by irregular peaks of Lias clay ; while the 
thick bands of calcareous sandstone, known as the " Three 
Tiers," which constitute the base of the Middle Lias, form 
great buttresses along the lower portions of the cliffs. 
Thorncombe Beacon, which rises to a height of 50U feet, 
presents the best view of the Middle and Upper Lias ; while 
Black Yen (about 400 feet), and the adjoining cliffs near Lyme 
liegis, afford the best sections of the Lower Lias. (See 
Fig. 41.) 
Notwithstanding the faults, which, having downthrows on 
the east, tend to carry the beds below the level sooner 
than would otherwise have been the ease, there are opportunities 
of measuring the larger divisions at different points. Com- 
paring results it will be found that the measurements of the 
