132 
LOWER OOLITIC ROCKS OF ENGLAND : 
The Oolite Marl may be estimated at from 28 to 38 feet in thickness, 
for it shades upwards into the Upper Freestone series. In the second 
cutting -west of Bourton (that by Aston Farm) the Oolite Marl passes into 
a pale fissile and false-bedded oolite, which is shown to a depth of about 
20 feet, beneath a series of sandy beds and oolite, as near Notgrove. 
Some of the lower fissile and shelly beds resemble the slaty beds of 
Hyatt's Pits (see p. 140). The junction with the overlying beds was as 
follows* : 
I" Shelly oolitic rag, with Myacites, 
Gryphite Grit - -I Ostrca, flabelloides, Pecten, &c., and 
I occasional pebbles of oolite, 
f Oolite, shelly in places and bored 
Yellow sand and bands of calcareous 
sandstone .... 
Loamy sand and fissile oolite marl 
Coarse-grained and false-bedded oolite, 
bored at different horizons ; pale, 
fissile, oolite, and oolite marl, with 
Natica, Ceromya, Terebratula fimbria, 
&c. .... about 
FT. IN. 
Harford Sands 
and Upper 
Freestone 
passing down 
into Oolite 
Marl. 
20 
Cuttings to thjp S.E. of Lower Harford showed the following succes- 
sion : 
FT. IN. 
Gryphite Grit, &c. 
"Oolite bored, and with marly fragments 
in upper portion - - - 2 4 
Harford Sands Oolite, merging downwards into blue- 
and Upper 1 hearted calcareous sandstone - 2 6 
Freestone. ] Yellow sand with fissile sandstone 4 
Hard, blue-hearted, calcareous sand- 
stone - - - - - 2 
_Calcareous sandy loam or clay - 2 6 
These sandy beds have been termed the Harford Sands by Mr. S. S. 
Buckman from their development in this neighbourhood. They form a 
variable sandy, calcareous, and argillaceous division, from 8 to 11 feet 
thick, that in great measure replaces the Upper Freestone, and connects 
the Oolite Marl with the Gryphite Grit. These beds have been exposed 
at Bourton Clump. 
Overlying this sandy and oolitic series, we find the Gryphite Grit and 
succeeding strata up to the Clypeus Grit. This succession is clearly 
shown in a cutting west of Lower Harford. At the base of the section, 
4 feet of oolite was seen, and above it from 1 to 2 feet of yellow mica- 
ceous and calcareous sands, and thin ironstone. Then comes the 
Gryphite Grit, which includes 15 feet of tough sandy and calcareous 
ragstones with sandy partings, and with, in places, flat bean-like pebbles 
or rolled concretions. Belemnites occur, but the chief fossils are the 
Lamellibranchs, Gryphcea siiblobata, Gresslya, Myacites, and Pholadomya. 
Above the Gryphite Grit is a bed of Oolite, termed by Mr. Buckman 
the " Notgrove Freestone." Here it attains a thickness of 10 feet. 
It comprises hard grey and brown limestones presenting a bartled 
appearance and with white oolitic grains (thus resembling beds in the 
Great Oolite, seen near Minchinhampton and Bisley). Annelide borings 
occur, and Ostrea is abundant on the upper surface. This bed may be 
represented in the Leckhampton section. (See p. 124.) 
The Trigonia Grit, 3 feet thick, comprising hard grey, and brown 
shelly, and oolitic limestone, is found above this Notgrove Oolite, and on 
top there is the Clypeus Grit. 
* See also Hudleston, Gasteropoda of Inf. Ool., p. 68. 
