68 
DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST. 
the south side of Whitby harbour, a part of the cliff is composed of the 
upper alum shale, and this rock extends far into the sea, making broad 
level scars at low-water ; but on the north side of the water is a cliff of 
sandstone, and a beach of sand. The exact amount of the depression 
occasioned by this fault cannot, perhaps, be determined ; but I estimate 
it to be not less than one hundred and fifty feet. 
Between the cliff which supports Whitby Abbey, one hundred and 
eighty feet above high-water, and that where the Lyth alum works are 
established, one hundred and ninety feet, the strata are depressed by the 
before-mentioned fault, so that the lias shale is almost wholly below the 
level of high-water, and the cliffs are composed of sandstone and shale, 
covered by a very abundant deposit of diluvial clay and pebbles. The 
highest point between Upgang and Whitby, is about thirty feet below 
the abbey, but generally the altitude is less than one hundred feet. 
At Sandsend, the upper lias shale appears again in full character, 
about one hundred and fifty feet thick, under a covering of sandstone 
and shale beds, in the following order : 
Feet thick > 
Irony sandstone rock ... ... ... ... 30 
Shale ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 
Dogger beds, consisting of irony sandstone in blocks ... 2 
Parting of balls, or modules of ironstone ... ... 2 
Rounded irony blocks ... ... ... ... 2 
Where a small valley divides the cliff beyond the Lyth alum works, 
we observe rising from the water a portion of the shale, apparently more 
compact than the rest, and bearing much better the action of the sea. 
It is consequently much scooped into caves and fantastic projections, 
which are never seen in the softer shale above and below. On the cliff 
top, the sandstone cap ranges uninterruptedly to Kettleness alum works ; 
and in the highest point is not less than three hundred and seventy-one 
feet about high-water. Here the sandstone, shale, and dogger, above 
the lias, are together one hundred feet thick. 
