THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
298 
from the Lincolnshire limestone (inferior oolite) in the north¬ 
eastern parts of the county, and in the middle portion of the 
county some good work has been done with the more 
calcareous beds of the Northampton sand, which is also a 
member of the inferior oolite. In the west and sontli-western 
parts of the county the building material of the past was 
undoubtedly the Rock-bed of the Middle Lias. If we draw 
on a map of the county a line in a general north-easterly 
direction connecting Rothersthorpe, Bugbrook, Weedon, 
Dodford, and Daventry ; and another nearly at right angles 
to this through Badby, Byfield, Chipping Warden, Banbury, 
and then to King’s Sutton, it will indicate the general 
direction along which the Middle Lias occupies a superficial 
position, and consequently the neighbourhoods in which to 
look for it, and in which we shall find abundant evidence of the 
uses to which the Maidstone Rock-bed has been put. Many 
of the villages have been built almost entirely of it, including 
the churches, and from the general appearance of such 
villages, we can scarcely regard the use of bricks as a 
necessity, except perhaps from a pecuniary point of view. 
In these places the stone is also used for doorsteps, the 
floors of houses, gravestones, fences, and road-metal; indeed, 
the (now only occasional) roadside heaps, and old walls 
often afford good opportunities for studying the palaeontology 
of the bed. 
The Rock-bed is the only hard bed of the Middle Lias 
used for building purposes, but this, when carefully selected, 
and built up as it occurs in the bed, forms a very useful and 
durable stone, and certainly looks much nicer than the more 
modern red brick. 
In most quarries the stone is met with in two different 
conditions, the upper weathered portion of a rich brown 
colour, and lower down a more compact grey or greenish- 
blue stone ; the former is no doubt much the better for 
general use, although I have seen both kinds used. Several 
reasons may be urged for preference being given to the more 
weathered stone. (1.) The weathered stone is much more 
easily worked than the harder unweatliered. (2.) The stone 
should always be so placed in a building that the planes of 
lamination are horizontal, for the action of frost on a porous 
stone, such as the marlstone always is, would cause it to 
flake off if it were placed so that these planes were in any¬ 
thing approaching a vertical position, the pressure from above 
considerably aiding this action when so placed, whereas this 
same pressure would help to counteract it, and at all events 
tend to mask its effects when the stones were placed so that 
