LOWER LIAS: BKOADFIELD DOWN. 133 
Vale of Wrington. 
The Lower Lias limestones are exposed here and there at 
Chewton Mendip, Stone Easton, near Hinton Blewet, Burledge 
Hill, and near Stowey and Glutton* ; but in this area the beds 
have not yielded the same number of organic remains that have 
been noticed further east. The quarries are not deep, seldom 
exposing more than 8 or 10 feet of limestones. 
Westwards, the Lower Lias extends on to the Carboniferous 
Limestone of Broadfield Down, overlapping the Rhsetic Beds in 
places. As remarked by De la Beche, in places the Lias becomes 
conglomeratic and partakes of the nature of the Sutton Stone 
of Glamorganshire.! The beds here were re-surveyed by 
Mr. Ussher. Moore noted the section as follows : 
FT. INS. 
Stone beds - ..... 10 4 
Ragstone and rubbly beds - ... 7 8 
Conglomerates. 
18 
He observed that " the abundance of Modiola minima and other 
remains shows clearly that this deposit belongs to the White Lins ; 
but its texture is so precisely like the Sutton stone that it might 
readily be mistaken for that rock. Like the Sutton stone it is 
very durable, arid may be raised in blocks of many tons weight. 
At the base of the quarry there are thick conglomerates with 
Ostrea intusstriata, the thicknesses of which are unknown, and in 
which galena is found, as at Sutton. A Thecosmilia in casts is 
rather plentiful at this place/'J 
During a visit to the district in 1888 in company with Mr. C. 
Reid, we saw a freestone quarry at Downside. It showed from 18 
to 20 feet of massive-bedded sparry lime-rock, evidently of 
detrital origin, and reminding me of the Doulting stone (Inferior 
Oolite). In both cases the rock may have been derived from the 
Carboniferous Limestone. The Downside rock may be described 
as a bastard freestone. The joints are smooth, and some beds are 
very shelly. Gasteropods, Modiola, Cardinia, and Ostrea were 
observed, but all poorly preserved. The weathering of the rock 
is cavernous, and on top there was about 1 foot of brown soil. The 
rock is somewhat porous in texture, but troughs, cornices, and 
building-stones are obtained from it. There can be little doubt 
that the beds are of the age of the Sutton Stone. 
Bath and Keynsham. 
The limestones, which represent so much of the Lower Lias 
around Radstock, become more restricted to the lower zones as 
we approach Bath and Keynsham. In the valleys east of Bath 
we have few sections of the strata, but the Blue Lias series is 
* A section of the Lower Lias at Glutton is given by Messrs. Bristow and 
Etheridge in Vertical Sections, Sheet 46, No. 16. 
f De la Beahe. Mem. Geol. Survey, vol. i. p. 276. See also Tawney, Quart. 
Journ. Geol. Soc.. vol. xxii. p. 79. 
J Quart. Jotirn. Geol. Soc., vol. xxiii. p. 504. 
