58 
THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
could take place on it. Thus the waterstones would not be 
present. These observations seem to be consistent with the 
result of the boring; the Rhaetic shales were found, and some 
sixty feet of the Trias. They also seem necessary to explain 
the fact that further southwards at places where the 
Palaeozoic ridge comes nearest to the sea level, newer and 
newer Mesozoic rocks rest upon it, showing that the ridge 
itself prevented the deposition of the earlier Mesozoic beds. 
The anticipated thinning out of the Trias in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Northampton, which was looked upon as an 
inducement to make a trial to reach the Lower Iieuper 
waterstones, seems to offer no special advantages, but the 
reverse, because the thinning was only the result of an 
approach to a shore line of the early Trias sea. 
It has been suggested that the carboniferous limestone 
met with at Northampton is an extension of the Pennine 
chain,* and I must admit that the finding of sixty feet of 
Trias at Gay ton, five miles south-west of Northampton, and 
some 600 feetofKeuper marls at Rugby, some eighteen miles 
to the north-west, seem to favour the idea of a north and 
south extension of the carboniferous ridge, rather than an 
east and west one, in Northamptonshire. Still, the arguments 
made use of to account for the attenuation of the Trias, and 
the improbability of finding water, apply equally well; and 
the failure to reach the waterstones at Rugby constitutes a 
more powerful argument against success at Gayton. 
Rivers.— With regard to a supply of water from the Nene, 
the water is not over-abundant, and is so polluted near the 
town, and the interference with mills and navigation likely 
to lead to such difficulties, that it was never seriously thought 
of. 
Reservoirs.— At the present time a reservoir is being 
constructed in a valley near to the village of Ravensthorpe, 
for the supply of Northampton. It is situated about seven 
miles from the town, and is intended to hold 400,000,000 
gallons of water. Before the reservoir was commenced, I did 
all I could to oppose its construction, both on account of its 
great cost and of the other drawbacks to such a supply for a 
town. I will not here make any specific charges against this 
scheme, because they might be misconstrued. I may even go 
so far as to say that if a reservoir there must be, then, 
providing there is enough water, the site selected could not 
be improved upon. 
( To be continued.) 
* “ On the Range of the PalaBozoic Rocks beneath Northampton.” 
By H. J. Eunson, Esq., F.G.S. Quarterly Journal Geological Society, 
August, 1884. 
