INFERIOR OOLITE SERIES ! CHELTENHAM. 123 
Traces of Gryphite Grit occur by Kimsbury Castle, and below 
this camp, on the western side, tough ferruginous oolite, a good 
weatherstone has been worked at the Jackdaw quarry. This 
stone (or set of rag-beds) has been used for road-metal, and also 
for the new reservoir near Gloucester. Ammonites have been 
found here. The beds overlie the Freestone ; but there are many 
faults in the neighbourhood, and without detailed mapping on 
on the 6-inch scale, it is difficult to make out the relations of the 
beds seen in different quarries. 
Passing to the north-east, we have fine sections at Birdlip, 
Crickley, and Leckhampton, near Cheltenham.* Birdlip is of 
especial historic interest, for at its " Black Horse " the Cotteswold 
Club was founded in 1846. The Pea Grit is well exposed in the 
lower part of the scarp by the Knap, and higher up come the 
Freestones and Ragstones : the latter are also exposed in the 
banks of the lane south of the Black Horse. The Clypeus Grit 
yields many specimens of Clypeus Ploti and Terebratula globata, 
including the variety known as T. globata, var. birdlipensis, which 
is found also in Dorsetshire. The Gryphite Grit has however not 
been noticed at this locality, and the relations of the several sub- 
divisions are not so clearly exhibited as at Leckhampton. 
A well-boring made south-east of Birdlip, showed that the 
Inferior Oolite, from the Clypeus Grit to the top of the Cepha- 
lopoda Bed, attains a thickness of 187 feet. The boring further 
penetrated sands and clay 116 feet.t 
The Pea Grit Series is well exposed along the southern scarp 
of Crickley Hill. It comprises thick beds of pisolite, alternating 
with marly pisolitic layers, the talus here and there being largely 
made up of loose pisolitic concretions. Beds of more or less 
pisolitic oolite occur here and there, especially in the upper part 
of the series, which is overlaid by a hard and ragged bed (the 
Polyzoa Bed), sometimes two layers of which are present. The 
beds are bored in places by Annelides ; and they contain 
Terebratula plicata, Ostrea, Ammonites Murchisonce, &c. 
The nature of the particular layers varies considerably as the 
beds are traced along the scarp. The following section gives their 
general characters : 
FT. L*. 
Lower f Pale oolitic freestones, with hard limestone at 
Freestone. \ base. 
"Rubbly pisolitic beds, merging into - - 2 6 
Hard shelly layer with Gasteropoda (Nerinasa), 
Rhynchonella, Polyzoa. [Coral Bed] 2 to 4 
More or less rubbly and shelly marl, oolitic and 
slightly pisolii ic ; Terebratula plicata - - 1 6 
Hard shelly oolites and pisolitic limestones, 
current-bedded in places ; Rhynchonetta -79 
Pea Grit 
Alternations of pisolitic limestone and marly 
Series. | pisolitic beds - - - - - 12 6 
* The term Cheltenham Beds has been used by Sir A. Geikie for the Inferior 
Oolite. Text Book of Geology, Ed. 2, 1885, p. 788. 
t "W. C. Lucy, Proc. Cotteswold Club, vol. viii. p. 161. 
