INFERIOR OOLITE: KETTON. 
205 
" The ' Crash-bed' is a coarse oolite full of fragments of shells, which 
lie on its planes of bedding. When first dug this rock is very soft, but by 
exposure it acquires extreme hardness. It is of a purplish red colour, but 
varies greatly in the depth of the tints which it exhibits. It is only used 
locally for rough purposes, such as field-walls, &c. A very interesting 
circumstance in connexion with the ' Crash-bed ' is that its upper surface 
often exhibits the vertical burrows of Lithodomi, indicating the long pause 
which ensued between the deposition, and probably partial denudation of 
the Lincolnshire Oolite, and the formation of the Estuarine strata which 
lie immediately above it." 
" The celebrated Ketton freestone is a beautiful, oolitic limestone of good 
colour, combining great freedom of working with remarkable powers of 
resisting crushing force and wonderful durability. It is almost wholly 
made up of very uniform oolitic grains, exhibits scarcely any trace of 
bedding-planes, and can be placed indifferently in any position in build- 
ings without exhibiting any [special] tendency to weathering." 
The following species of fossils have been recorded from the 
Ketton quarries : 
Nerinaea pseudocylindrica. 
Cypricardia bathonica. 
Cyprina nuciformis. 
Lima pectiniformis. 
Lucina "Wrighti. 
Perna rugosa, var. quadrata. 
Pholadomya fidicula. 
Trigonia pullus. 
Unicardium. 
Terebratula maxillata. 
Isastraea Eichardsoni. 
The Upper Estuarine Series, and underlying Ketton Stone, 
were again shown in excavations at " the Deeps " on the southern 
side of the Ketton Stones ; but the junction was much obscured 
by a downwash of the clays. 
A good section of the junction was shown in a quarry near 
the Stamford brickyard, north-west of Stamford. The top beds 
of the Lincolnshire Limestone (or Stamford freestone), were in a 
crumbly state where exposed, sometimes even to a depth of 7 or 
8 feet, but solid blocks were obtained 2 or 3 feet down in most 
place?. The rock is a closely packed oolite, stained red irregularly, 
like the Hag of Ancaster. Galls and pockets of the Upper 
Estuarine clays occur in the upper layers of stone. (See Fig. 
115, p. 418.) 
The general section in this neighbourhood may be stated as 
follows : 
FT. IN. 
Upper Estuarine Beds. 
"Oolitic freestone, occasionally pisolitic 
10 or 12 
Softer beds of rubbly oolite and marl, 
with Corals - - - -80 
Grey oolite - 2 
Fissile marly and shelly limestone and 
(locally) layers of calcareous sand- 
stone - - - 2 to 3 
Hard, compact blue-hearted limestone, 
with scattered oolite grains (Stam- 
ford Marble) ; passing down into buff 
limestone, with brown oolite grains 
(including "Stamford Stone") about 12 
A well-section, noted by S. Sharp, showed a further thickness of about 
20 feet of coarse oolitic limestones, &c., down to the representative of 
the Collyweston Slate. He estimated the total thickness of the beds at 
Lincolnshire 
Limestone. 
