58 LIAS OF ENGLAND AND WALES : 
and removed by the hand of man, and among them portions of 
the " Table-rock " were formerly exposed near the eastern 
jetty.* 
I)r. Wright has spoken of Table Ledge as the same as the 
Broad Ledge, but the latter is certainly at a lower horizon, and 
is probably the lf Grey Ledge " that forms the top of the main 
mass of Stone-beds. Broad Ledge is the name applied to a 
platform of rocks exposed at low tide at some distance from the 
eastern jetty, south-east of the Church Cliffs. At the base of 
these cliffs, the artificial removal of the ledges has largely aided 
the natural destruction of the cliff's, and the foreshore bein" 1 
O 
full of muddy holes, affords a very treacherous route for the 
traveller. 
The thickness of the main mass of stone-beds, may be reckoned 
at 70 feet on the eastern side of Pinhay Bay, but detailed measure- 
ments made at different points on the coast to Black Ven, indicate 
that the thickness increases to 80 or 85 feet. Taking the beds up 
to the Table Ledge we have a full thickness of about 105 feet. 
It will be noticed from a general view of the beds that they 
may roughly be grouped as follows : 
FT. IN. 
E. Shales capped by the Hard Marl or Table Ledge - 1.9 
D. Limestones and clays (in about equal proportion) - 24 
C. Limestones with thin clay divisions - - 23 <> 
B. Limestones and clays (in about equal proportion) - 17 
A. Limestones with thin clay divisions - - 22 
Owing to the dip of the beds, the lower two divisions are 
exposed only in the cliffs immediately east of Pinhay Bay. They 
do not reappear further on in the West Cliffs, nor do they rise 
again in the Church Cliffs. The lowest zone in the Lias must 
thus be looked for as we pass eastwards from Pinhay Bay. Here, 
and indeed all along the coast to near Black Ven, the cliffs are 
mostly vertical, and they are more or less dangerous to those who 
walk along the beach, on account of the crumbling of the cliffs 
and the loose fragments of rock that occasionally fall. Attention 
must also be paid to the state of the tide, as the beds are otherwise 
inaccessible. 
At the base of the Lower Lias there are thin laminated shales 
or paper-shales, that are frequently present at this horizon. 
Where exposed on the foreshore during spring-tides, the beds are 
seen to be crowded with spines of Echinoderms, whose tests also 
are sometimes preserved. Among the species Dr. Wright re- 
cognized Cidaris Edwardsi, Pseudodiadema lobatum, Hemipedina 
Bechei, and H. Bowerbanki. A similar bed occurs in the same 
position at Church Lawford, near Rugby. 
The limestones above, yield Ostrca h'assica, Modiola minima, 
Area Lycetti, Gervillia, and PJeuromya crowcombeia. Some of 
these species I obtained in the beds above the White Lias at 
Charton Bay. Ammonites planorbis and A. Johnstoni have been 
found at Pinhay Bay, but as the beds are not worked for economic 
See G. Roberts, History and Antiquities of the Borough of Lyme Regis and 
1834. pp. 214, &<. 
