AND LEICESTERSHIRE AND THEIR RELATIONS TO GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 99 
Owthorpe, Edwalton, and Ruddington, all about 12 or 15 miles towards the north¬ 
west of Melton Mowbray. The Coal Measures were found at only —467 feet O.D. 
at Ruddington, at —604 O.D. at Edwalton, and at —869 O.D. at Owthorpe. A 
comparison of the strata traversed shows that the prevailing easterly dip is still 
maintained. 
w. 
E. 
BRAND 
HILLS 
RUDOINGTON 
NEAR 
EDWALTON 
OWTHORPE 
Fig. 6. Section throngli southern portion of “ concealed ” coalfield of Nottinghamshire. 
Thus the Coal Measures extend at least as far south as Ruddington under a 
comparatively thin cover of Mesozoic Rocks. Further, the available evidence points 
to an extension of the same beds to Melton Mowbray. Dr. W. Gibson writes ;— 
“ From the estimated depth of the Alton coal at the three points (Ruddington, 
—'972 feet; Edwalton, —2200 feet; and Owthorpe, —3400 feet O.D.) we may deduce 
that the strike of the Carboniferous rocks is rouglily N. 30° W. If this direction is 
maintained to the south-east, the Coal Measures should be present over the whole 
area east of a line joining Ruddington and Melton Mowbray.” 
As regards the country some distance west of Melton Mowbray, it is known that 
the Coal Measures are absent in a part at least of the Soar Valley, where Triassic 
rocks rest directly on Pre-Cambrian rocks. But how far eastwards towards Melton 
these relations hold is not known. 
(e) Rocks Older than the Coal Measures. 
Below the Coal Measures come in normal sequence the Millstone Crit, a great 
thickness of massive sandstones, grits, and shales. Their presence witliin part of this 
district is proved liy the Ruddington boring which entered the beds at —1030 feet 
O.D., and penetrated them for 742 feet without reaching their base. 
In normal sequence the Millstone Grit is underlain by the Carboniferous Limestone, 
a thick series of limestones and dolomitic limestones and shales. How far this 
Formation is developed beneath the Melton Mowbray district is quite uncertain. 
On the north-west side of Charnwood Forest it crops out at Grace Dieu, near 
* “The Geology of the Melton Mowbray District,” ‘Mem. Geol. Survey,’ 1909, p. 10. 
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