LOWER CHALK—WEST DORSET. 
115 
Another good section of the Lower Chalk is exposed in a large 
quarry three quarters of a mile west of Maiden Newton. Com¬ 
bining measurements taken in several parts of the quarry, the sec¬ 
tion may be given as follows : — 
ft. in. 
Middle 
Chalk.' 
f 
Lower 
Chalk. 
Loose nodular clialk ----- - g 
Hard nodular chalk with Inoc. mytiloides passing 
down into chalk which is not nodular- 
Beds of firm but brittle white chalk, separated by 
thin layers of marl - - 5 
Firm grey marly chalk passing down into soft grey 
marl; Actinocamax plenum found near the top - C> 
Hard blocky greyish chalk, covered by talus for 
„about 30 feet ------- ?30 
Greyish white chalk with occasional nodules of 
Hint ; quarried and burnt for lime - -about 12 
0 
9 
0 
0 
0 
c 
Total, about - - 60 0 
No fossils except those above mentioned were found at this quarry. 
The lines drawn for the boundaries of the Lower and Middle Chalk 
near Maiden Newton, on the contoured six-inch maps, show that 
the thickness of the Lower Chalk is from 80 to 90 feet. 
From this point westward to Beaminster and Cheddington there 
are no good exposures of the Lower Chalk. There are many old 
quarries indicated on the six-inch Ordnance maps, but very few 
of them have been worked in recent years. Formerly chalk was 
largely burnt for lime, but either less is now required in country 
districts or lime made from the Jurassic limestones is found to be 
better. 
One quarry was worked in 1895 by Stintford Lane, north of 
Beaminster, and showed about 20 feet of the ordinary type of Lower 
Chalk in Dorset, blocky, white and mealy in the lower part, rather 
harder above, becoming greyish and marly near the top. There 
are a few white siliceous nodules or imperfect flints in the blocky 
part, but of those I broke only one or two had centres of grey flint. 
The base of the chalk was seen in the lane 50 or 60 feet below 
this section, and there was no sign of the Melbourn Rock above 
it, so the thickness of the Lower Chalk here must be at least 80 or 
may be nearly 100 feet. 
C. The Belemnite Marls, 
Returning to the western border of the district, Mr. Reid saw 
“ grey and yellow marl below the Melbourn Rock in the road 
across Nordon Hill, near Melcombe Horsey. The top of 
the Lower Chalk is also exposed in two places south of 
Bookham, (1) at the top of an old chalk-pit a third of a mile south- 
4219. h 2 
