BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Men in m. Sage 1891 ftMbm tiOTjk: 3777 Cornell University Library QE 262.B4G97 1900 The geology of Belford, Holy Island, and 3 1924 004 543 769 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924004543769 4. NEW SERIES. 110S.E. OLD SERIES. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. ENGLAND AND WALES. THE GEOLOGY OF BELFOftD, HOLY ISLAND, AMD THE FARNE ISLANDS, NORTHUMBERLAND. (EXPLANATION OF QUARTER-SHEET 110 S.E., NEW SERIES, '$- . SHEET 4.) • ,' W. Gunn, F.G.a PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS 07 HER MAJESTY'S TREASURY. 1 - , , LONDON : PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, By WYMAN AND SONS, Limited, Fetter Lane, E.C. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from v EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C.; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile 'Street, Glasgow ; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. , 1900. Price Two jmillmgs and LIST OF MAPS, SECTIONS, AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ENGLAND AND WALES. The Maps are those of the Ordnance Survey, geologically coloured by the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom, under the Superintendence of Sir Arch. Geikib, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., Director General. (For Maps, details of Sections, and Memoirs issued by the Geological Survey, see " Catalogue.") ENGLAND AND WALES.— (Scale 1 inch to a mile.) Maps marked * are also published as Drift Maps. Those marked t are published only as Drift Maps. Sheets 3*, 5, 6* 7*, 8*, 9, 11 to 22, 25, 26, 30, 31, 33 to 37, 40, 11, 44, 47*, 64* 65t, 69t, 70% 83* 86*, price 8S. Gd. each. Sheet 4, 5s. Sheets 2*, 23, 24, 27 to 29, 32, 38, 39, 58, 84t, 85t, 4s. each. Sheets divided into quarters ; all at 3s. each quarter-sheet, excepting those in brackets, which are Is. Gd. each. 1*, 42, 43, 45, 46, NW, SW, NE\ SE*, 48, NWt, SW*, NEt, (SE*), (49t), 50t, 51*, 52 to 57, (57 NW), 59 to 63, 66 SWt, NEt, FW', SEt, 67 Nt, (St), 68 Et, (NWt), SWt, 71 to 75, 76 (N), S, (77 N), 78, 79, NW*, SW, NE*, SE*, 80 NW* SW*, NE* SE*, 81 NW*, SW, NE, SE, 82, 83*, 87, 88, NW, SW*, NE, SE, 89 NW*, SW*, NE, SE*, 90 (NE*), (SE*), 91, (NW*), (SW*), NE*, SE*, 92 NW*, SW*, NE, SE, 93 NW, SW, NE*, SE*, 94 NWt, SWt, (NEt), SEt, 95 NW, NE*, (SE*), 96 NW*, SW* NE', SE*, 97 NW*, SW*, NE*, SE, 98 NW, SW, NE*, SE, 99 (NE*), (SE*), 100*, 101 SE, NE*, NW*, SW*, 102 NW* NE* SW*, SE', 103*, 104*, 105 NW* SW*, (NE*), SE*, 106 NW* SW*, NE*, SE*, 107 SWt, NE*, SE* 108 SW", NE*, SE*, 109 NW* SW", SE*, 110 (NW*), (NE*), SE*, SW*. New Series.— I. of Man*, 36, 45. 46, 56, 67, 8s. 6(2. 1. of Wight, with Mainland*, 330, 331, 344, 345, 8s. Gd. 155*, 232*. 248* 249*, 263* 267t, 268*, 282t, 283t, 284t, 299t, 300t, 315t, 325t, 323t, 329* 330*, 331*, (332*), (333*), 334*, 339t, (340t), (341ft 342t' i 343t, 349t, 350t, 355t, (356t). Price 3s. each, excepting those in brackets which are Is. Gd. each. GENERAL MAP :— (Scale 4 miles to 1 inch.) ENGLAND AND WALES.— Sheet 1 (Title), 2s. ; 2 (Northumberland, &c), 7s. ; 3 (Index of Colours), 3s. 6d. ; 4 (I. of Man). ■• 3s. Gd. ; 5 (Lake District), 12s. 6d. ; 6 (E. Yorkshire), 7s. Gd. ; 7 (N. Wales), 6s. Gd. ; 8 (Central England), 16s. ; 9 (Fistern i Counties), 12s. ; 10 (S. Wales and N. Devon), 4s. Gd. ; 11 (W. of England and S.E. Wales), 20s. ; 12 (London BasM and", i Weald), 10s. Bd. ; 13 (Cornwall, Ac), 7s. 6d. ; 14 (S. Coast, Torquay to I. of Wight), 9s. ; 15 (S. Coast, Havant to Ha* rags)W 4s. Gd. New Series, printed in colours, sheet 1, 2s. ; sheets 2 to 15, 2s. Gd. each. *^ HORIZONTAL SECTIONS. 1 to 140, 146 to 148, England, price 5s. each. VERTICAL SECTIONS. 1 to 82, England, price 3s. Gd. each. COMPLETED COUNTIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES, on a Scale of 1 inch to a mile Old Series. Sheets marked * have Descriptive Memoirs. NE, SWt, SEt, 52 NW, NE, AN&LESBYt— 77 N, 78. BEDFORDSHIRE,— 46 NW, SW, SE. BERKSHIRE,— 7*, 8t, 12*, 13* 34*, 45 SW*. BRECKNOCBJHIREt,— 36, 41, 42, 56 NW, SW, 57 NE, SE. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE— 7*, 13*, 45* NE, SE, 46 NW, SWt, 62 SW. CAERMARTHENSHIREt,— 37, 38, 40, 41, 42 NW, SW, 56 SW, 57 SW, SE. CAERNARVONSHIRE^— 74 NW, 75, 76, 77 N, 78, 79 NW, SW. CAMBRIDGESHIRE^— 46 NE, 47*, 51*, 52 SE, 64*. CARDIGANSHIREt,— 40, 41, 56 NW, 57, 58, 59 SE, 60 SW. CHESHIRE,— 73 NE, NW, 79 NE, SE, 80, 81 NW*, SW*, 88 SW. CORNWALLt— 24t, 25t, 26t, 29t, 30t, 31t, 32t, & 33t. CUMBERLAND— 98 NW, SW* 99, 101, 102, NE, NW, SW*, 106 SE, SW, NW, 107. DENBIGHt— 73 NW, 74, 75 NE, 78 NE, SE, 79 NW, SW, SE, 80 SW. DERBYSHIREt, -62 NE, 63 NW, 71 NW, SW, SE, 72 NE, 72 SE, 81, 82, 88 SW, SE. DEVONSHIREt,— 20t, 21t, 22t, 23t, 24t, 25t, 26t, & 27t.- DORSETSHIRE,— 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22. DURHAM,— 102 NE, SE, 103, 105 NE, SE, SW, 106 SE. ESSEX— 1*, 2*, 47* 48*. FLINTSHIREt— 74 NE, 79. GLAMORGANSHIRE^— 20, 36, 37, 41, & 42 SE, SW. SLOUCESTERSHIREt,— 19, 34*, 35, 43, NE, SW, SE, 44*. HAMPSHIRE— 8t, 9t, 10* lit, 12*, 14, 15, 16. HEREFORDSHIRE,— 42 NE, SE, 43, 55, 66 NE, SE. HERTFORDSHIRE,— It NW, 7*, 46, 47*. HUNTINGDON,— 51 NW, 52 NW, NE, SW, 64*, 65. KENTt— It SW & SE, 2t, 3t, 4*, 6*. LANCASHIRE,— 79 NE, 80 NW* NE, 81 NW, 88 NW, SWt, 89, 90, 91, 92 SW, 98. Sheets or Counties marked t are illustrated by General Memoirs. 62 NE, 63*, 64*, 70*, 71 SE : LEICESTERSHIRE— 53 NE, SW. LINCOLNSHIREt— 64*, 65*, 69, 70*, 83*, 84*, 85*, 86*. MERIONETHSHIRE^— 59 NE, SE, 60 NW, 74, 75 NE, SE. MIDDLESEXt— It NW, SW, 7*, 8t. MONMOUTHSHIRE,— 35, 36, 42 SE, NE, 43 SW. MONTGOMERYSHIRE^— 56 NW, 59 NE, SE, 60, 74 SW SE. NORFOLKt— 50 NW*, NE*, 64*, 65*, 66*, 67*, 68*, 69. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE-64* 45 NW, NE, 46 NW, 52 NW NE, SW, 53 NE, SW, & SE, 63 SE, 64. NORTHUMBERLAND,— 102 NW, NE, 105, 106, 107, 108* 109 j 110, NW*, SW*, NE*, SE. ' NOTTINGHAM-70-, 71* NE, SE, NW, 82 NE*, SE*, SW 83, 86, 87* SW. OXFORDSHIRE— 7*, 13*, 34*, 44*, 45*, 53 SE*, SW. PEMBROKESHIRE^— 38, 39, 40, 41, 58. RADNORSHIRE— 42 NW, NE, 56, 60 SW, SE. RUTLANDSHIRE,— this county is wholly included within, Sheet 64*. SHROPSHIRE— 55 NW, NE, 56 NE, 60 NE, SE, 61, 62 NW 1 73, 74 NE, SE. • ^ SOMERSETSHIRE^— 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 36. STAFFORDSHIRE*,— 54 NW, 55 NE, 61 NE, SE, 71 SW, 72, 73 NE, SE, 81 SE, SW. SUFFOLK— 47*, 48*, 49*, 50*, 51*, 66* SE*, 67*. SURREY— 1 SWt, 6t, 7*, 8t, 12t. SUSSEX,— T, 5t, 6t, 8t, 9t, lit. WARWICKSHIRE,— 44* 45 NW, 53* 63 NW, SW, SE. WESTMORLAND— 97 NW*, SW*, 98 SE*, 102. WILTSHIRE-12*, 13*, 14, 16, 18, 19f, 34", and 35t. WORCESTERSHIRE,— 43 NE, 44*, 84, 55, 62 SW, SE 61 2, 63 NW , 54, 62 NE, SW, SE, NW, NE*, SE*, 101. YORKSHIRES— 86-88, 91NE.SE 92-97* 98 NE* SE* SE, 103 SW, SE, 104*. 102 NB, See also New Series Maps. 4. NEW SERIES. 110 S.E. OLD SERIES. MEMOIRS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. ENGLAND AND WALES. THE GEOLOGY OF BELFORD, HOLY ISLAND, AND THE FARNE ISLANDS, NORTHUMBERLAND. (EXPLANATION OF QUARTER-SHEET 110 S.E., NEW SERIES, SHEET 4.) BY W. Gunn, F.G-.S. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OP THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OP HER MAJESTY'S TREASURY. LONDON : PRINTED FOR HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE, By WYMAN AND SONS, Limited, Fetter Lane, E.C. And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from EYRE & SPOTTISWOODE, East Harding Street, Fleet Street, E.C; or JOHN MENZIES & Co., 12, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, and 90, West Nile Street, Glasgow ; or HODGES, FIGGIS, & Co., Limited, 104, Grafton Street, Dublin. 1900. Price Two Shillings and Sixpence. E.V w Ill PREFACE. The district described in the present Memoir embraces that portion of the County of Northumberland, which extends along the coast from Newton Point to beyond Haggerstone Castle, and inland as far as a due north and south line passing through Wooler. It covers a land- area of about 150 square miles, and includes the group of the Fame Islands and Holy Island. The map of this district was surveyed by Mr. William Gunn, under the supervision of Mr. H. H. Howell, at the time when Mr. H. W. Bristow was Director of the Geological Survey of England and Wales. Mr. Gunn has likewise prepared the following account of the geology of the ground. It will be observed that the older sedimentary rocks of the district belong entirely to the lower portion of the Carboniferous system, and contain a fairly complete representation of the Carboniferous Limestone as this division is developed in the north of England. Each of its three groups is well displayed — the upper limestones, the middle coals, and the lower sandstones and cement-stones. There is a further feature of interest presented by the most northerly extension of the great Whin Sill, which can be conveniently examined in many excellent coast-sections. In the Appendix a number of Ttists of Fossils will be found. The first of these gives the localities from which fossils have been obtained by the Geological Survey, chiefly by the Fossil-Collector, Mr. John Ehodes ; it also gives the specific names of the fossils as these have been determined by the palaeontologists, Mr. George Sharman and Mr. E. T. Newton. The other lists show the palseontological results obtained from the district by previous observers. AECH. GEIKIE, Director-General. Geological Survey Office, 28, Jermyn Street, London, 25th November, 1899. 2312. Wt. 3091. 500.— 1/1900. Wy. & S. IV CONTENTS. PAGE Preface by the Directoe Geneeal m CHAPTER I. Introduction : Physical Features ; Table of Forma- tions ; General Geological Description, (fee 1 CHAPTER II. Caeboniferous : Cement Stone Group, or Tuedian Division ... « ... ... •• ••• ■•■ ••• 6 CHAPTER III. Carboniferous {continued) : Fell Sandstone Group, or Arenaceous Division 10 CHAPTER IV. Carboniferous {continued) : Scremerston Coal Group or Carbonaceous Division ... ... 17 CHAPTER V. Carboniferous {continued) : Limestone Group or Calcareous Division 31 CHAPTER VI. Caeboniferous {continued) : Palaeontology of the Limestone Group 81 CHAPTER VII. Inteusive Igneous Rocks 91 CHAPTER VIII. Faults 100 CHAPTER IX. Glacial Deposits - 105 CHAPTER X. Post-Glacial and Recent Deposits 112 CHAPTER XI. Economic Geology 116 APPENDIX I. Lists of Fossils 121 „ II. Vertical Sections of Strata 133 „ III. Glossary of Local and Mining Terms ... 141 „ IV. Bibliography 143 Index ... ... , 149 ILLUSTRATIONS. Fig. 1. Archanodon {Anodonta) Jukesi, Forbes 16 „ 2. Reverse Fault, Eel well Quarry ,35 „ 3. Contortions in Dryburn Quarry ... 38 „ 4. Fleetham Quarry in 1852 „ 5. Local erosion of Limestone near Sea Houses „ 6. Inclusions in Whin, Harkess Rocks 71 „ 7. Harkess Rocks, Sketch Plan 72 „ 8. Whin Dyke at Mount Hooly Dean 98 60 66 THE GEOLOGY OF BELFORD, HOLY ISLAND, AND TTTE FARNE ISLANDS, NORTHUMBERLAND. CHAPTER I.— INTRODUCTION. Physical Features. The Map to be described in the present Memoir embraces an area of about 150 square miles, and the whole of it now forms part of the county of Northumberland, though up till the year 1844 the northern portion, together with the Island of Lindisfame or Holy Island, were included in North Durham, which extended northwards to the River Tweed. The little stream which runs by Detchant park, between Detchant and Buckton, is still known as the County Burn. The greater part of the mainland is drained by several small streams which run directly into the North Sea on the east side. Of these may be mentioned Berrington Burn, the Low, near Lowick, Elwick Burn (one of whose branches is the County Burn), Waren Bum, which runs by Warenford, and Long Nanny, which rises in the district to the south of this. The smaller portion in the south-west is drained by the River Till (an affluent of the Tweed), and its branches, Wooler Water and Hetton Burn. The watershed between these two areas is for the most part formed by a sandstone ridge — nearly everywhere over 500 ft. above the sea — which runs from south to north somewhat west of the central part of the map. South of Lowick, however, the watershed turns to the north-west over ground comparatively low and tame (from 300 to 400 ft.), and it leaves the district at Bar- moor. The highest point is Ross Castle, 1,036 ft., at the south edge of the Map, south-east of Chillingham. To the north-east of this is Willie Law, 815ft. ; Kay Hill, Amersidelaw Moor, is 720 ft. Following the line of watershed northward we come to Chatton Park Hill, 603 ft. ; Lyham Hill, 637 ft. ; Dancing Green Hill, near Old Hazelrigg, 662 ft. ; Cockenheugh, 692 ft.; Greensheen Hill, 664 ft. ; Shepherd's Kirk Hill, 661 ft. (the highest point is not marked in the one-inch Map). The Kyloe Hills attain a height of about 520 ft., but this is not the highest point the Whin Sill reaches, for Fawcet Hill, north of Detchant Coal Houses, is 551 ft. Other conspicuous hills formed of whin are the Chapel Hill, Belford, 354 ft., and Spindleston Heugh, 244 ft. To the south of Belford there are not many conspicuous hills, but the following may be noticed — the Law Plantation, east of Warenton, 578 ft. ; Longstone Hill, Lucker Moor, 657 ft. ; and Isabella's Mount, soutb of Warenford, 462 ft. ; these are formed of sand- 2312. A 2 INTRODUCTION. stone. There is a high range at the western edge of the Map running northward parallel to the watershed ; it is broken through by the river Till between Wooler and Docldington. The highest points along this range are Weetwood Moor, 547 ft. and 543 ft. ; Dod Law, near Doddington, 654 ft. ; and Doddington North Moor, 552 ft. The alluvial Hat south of Doddington, which is a part of Millfield Plain, is not much more than 100 ft, above the sea. From the central moorland there is a general slope eastward to the arable ground bordering the railway, and ranging mostly between 50 and 300 ft. This part is undulatiDg and drift-covered with numerous peat bogs, which were once lakes. There is still the remains of one of these called Newham Lough, in Embleton's Bog, between Lucker and Newham. North of Budle Bay there is a considerable extent of bloAvn sand forming Ross Links, the highest point of which is 65 ft., and sand hills attain a height of 87 ft: near Greenhill, east of Bamburgh. Near Holy Island there is a large tract of foreshore laid dry at low water ; of this the part opposite Beal is sand, and the Fenham Flats are mostly mud. Of the islands off the coast, the largest, Holy Island, or Lindis- farne, is low, and much of it covered with sand and drift. The Castle only rises to 100 ft., and no other part of the island is above 69 ft. The Fame Islands are all rocky and none of them high. The Fame rises to 61 ft. and Staples Island to 46 ft. The principal places are Belford, Wooler, Lowick, Holy Island, Bamburgh, North Sunderland, Beadnell, Ellingham, Chillingham and Chatton. Table of Formations. Post-Glacial f Blown Sand. and -j Marine Alluvium, Eaised Beaches. Recent. (.Freshwater Alluvium. Glacial. Sand and Gravel, Boulder Clay, etc. 4. Limestone Group or Calcareous Division, clown to base of the Dun Limestone. Thickness about - 1 500 ft. Carboniferous Limestone 118 3 " Scremevston Coal Group or Carbonaceous o ™ ( Division. Thickness Series. (d 3 and d 2 ) 600 ".. Fell Sandstone Group or Arenaceous Division. Thickness - - 700 1. Cement Stone Group or Tuedian Division Thickness GOO „ Igneous (B.) Intrusive sheets and dykes of Basalt or Doleritc. 4. Limestone or Calcareous Division. — Sandstone and shales with many thin coals, some workable. Distinguishing characte- ristic, many thick marine limestones. Many fossils in the lime- htones. Thickness 1,500 feet. 3. Scremerston Coal or Carbonaceous Division, — Sandstones and grey or dark shales with comparatively thick coals, and a few thin whitish compact limestones with plant-remains. Fossils •_ GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 3 Plants and shells in limestones, fish-remains. Thickness 500 to 700 feet. 2. Fell Sandstone or Arenaceous Division. — Almost entirely sandstones ; whitish brown and red, thick-bedded and mostly rather coarse. No coals, or but very thin ones near the top. Archanodon Jwhesi is the only fossil except traces of plants.- Thickness 600 to 800 feet. 1. Cement Stone or Tuedian Division. — Shales, grey, green, and chocolate-coloured, with thin bands of limestone and cement stones. Thick beds of white and red sandstones. No coals and no fossils found in this district, except some plant-impressions. General Geological Description. Lie of tin' lleds and Conned ion Whwh the Form of the Ground and the Geological Structure. The Tuedian — the lowest division, but poorly seen — is found in the south-west corner of the map, west of the Wooler Water, and it probably underlies the alluvial flat north of Wooler. The dip is gently eastward, mainly like that of the overlying mass of the Fell Sandstone group which forms Weetwood Moor, Dod Law, and the moors to the northward. Eastward of the Fell Sand- stones comes a tract occupied by the beds of the Scremerston Coal Series and some of the Calcareous Group above. These lie in a much broken synclinal, the eastern edge of which ranges from The Low, opposite Lowick, southwards by Hetton Hall, and obscurely down Hetton Burn and along the Till Valley to Chilling- ham Castle. To the east of this and along a parallel line come the Tuedian Beds, brought up again between Chillingham Park and Holburn, in the centre of a marked anticline which ranges north- ward to Kentstone. This tract of Tuedian is bounded by a steeply-dipping or vertical band of Fell Sandstones on the west, and on the east by the same beds which have a somewhat gentle easterly dip, and occupy the central moorland from Ross Castle to Shepherd's Kirk. Several large faults ranging north- easterly, and mostly throwing down to the south, cross these beds, and also the overlying Scremerston Coal Series, which occupies a rather narrow band to the eastward. The ground bordering the railway and between it and the sea is occupied by the Limestone Group or Calcareous Series. North of Belford _ these beds generally dip seaward, but south of Belford they undulate a good deal in obscure ground, much broken by faults in the eastern part. Along the coast from Budle Bay southwards the strike is generally nearly east and west, or at right angles to that of the south-west part of the map, and there is an anticlinal line ranging through North Sunderland. In no part of the area is the dip high except along the west side of the Chillingham-Holburn anticline, where it is vertical in many places. In general the average dip is about 10°. ' 2312. A 2 4 IXTRODUCTTOX. The Tuedian beds make no prominent features ; most of these are formed by the Fell Sandstones in the two tracts of high ground formerly described, where the steep scarps are on the west side and the gentle slopes on the east side, mainly with the dip. Sometimes the sandstones in the Carbonaceous and Calcareous Groups form prominent features, as at Doddington North Moor, and near Wrangham, Warenton, &c. The limestones, though some are from 20 to 30 ft. in thickness, scarcely ever form crags or scars, except in banks of streams, and rarely stand out clearly at the surface; in fact they are almost universally either drift-covered or their outcrops are level with the general surface and scarcely noticeable, and there are no swallow holes by which the beds can be traced, as they can in some districts, so that over large areas the limestones cannot be mapped. It is possible that in some places where the rock has been quarried there may have been formerly small scars or crags like that now seen at Bellshill Quarry. The basaltic sheets of the Whin Sill form a pretty continuous belt of craggy ground from the Kyloe Hills to Belford, and eastward to Bam- burgh and the Fame Islands, the crag being almost always On the rise or outcrop side, i.e., on the west or south. Some of the more prominent features in the low ground about Lucker and Newham are formed by drift. Historical Sketch of Q. Tate's Classification of the Carboniferous Beds of Northumberland. In hisf address to the Berwickshire Naturalists' Field Club in 1853 (meeting at Cockburnspath), Mr. G. Tate, after describing the beds about the Pees Mouth and Cove Harbour, and saying " They synchronize with the lower Carboniferous beds which appear on the Whiteadder and on the Tweed," goes on to de- scribe them, and then adds : — " The rocks which I have attempted to describe form a distinct division in the Carboniferous forma- tion, lying far below the Productal and Encrinal limestones of Northumberland and East Lothian, and are well marked by the' abundance of fish remains, by the comparatively small amount of carbon, and by the slight indication of marine conditions."* In the year 1856, Mr. Tate proposed the term Tuedian for these beds. After describing beds about Coldstream, and observing that they " form part of an interesting series which is well seen from Carham to Norham," &c, he goes , on to say "These beds form the lowest portion of the Carboniferous forma- tion, lying below the Productal and Encrinal Mountain Limestone of Northumberland, and might properly be designated as the Tuedian Group. They are distinguished by the peculiarity of the shales, by the thin beds of magnesian limestone, by "the absence of Brachiopods and by the presence of Modiola, Ento- mostraca and Fish-,remains.+ * Proc. Berwick Nat. F. Club. Vol. iii., pp. 134-5. + Proc, Berwick Nat. F. Club. Vol. iii., pp. 218, 219, GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS. 5 In 1859 Mr. Tate divided the Carboniferous formation of Northumberland into four groups, viz. : — 1. The Coal Measures ; 2. The Millstone Grit; 3. The Mountain Limestone; 4. The Tuedian Group. He gives short descriptions of each of these groups, but does not define their exact limits.* In 1866| he divided the Mountain Limestone (with a total thickness of 2,600 feet) into two divisions : — The Upper division, including the beds from the base of the Millstone Grit to the base of the Dun Limestone, 1,700 ft. The Lower division, including the beds from the base of the Dun Limestone to the top of the Tuedian Group, and having a thickness of about 900 ft. For the Upper division, distinguished hy the number and thickness of its limestones, he proposes the term Calcareous. For the Lower division, especially marked by the number, thickness and quality of its coal-seams, he proposes the term Carbonaceous. This triple division of the Carboniferous rocks below the Millstone grit, viz., Calcareous Group, Carbonaceous Group, Tuedian Group — Tate adheres to in subsequent descriptions of Northumberland rocks.j * Proc. Berwick Nat. F. Club. Vol. iv., pp. 150, 151. t Ibid. Vol. v., p. 283. I Nat. Hist. Trans, of Northumberland and Durham. Vol. ii., p. 6 (1868) ; History of Alnioick. Vol. ii., p. 444 (1868-69). For further references to trie term " Tuedian," see Proc. Ber. Nat. F. Club. Vol. iv., p. 122 : and pp. 223-249. Vol. v., p. 187 ; and Vol. v., p. 365. CARBONIFEROUS. CHAPTER II.— CARBONIFEROUS. Cement Stone Group, ok Tuedian Division. As only a few hundred feet of these beds are found in this area, and they are somewhat imperfectly seen, the reader is referred for a fuller account of this group to the memoir on the adjoining quarter-sheet, 110 S.W., where will be found a description of it as seen in the typical district along the banks of the Tweed. The outcrop of the Tuedian in the south-west corner of the' area, west of Wooler Water, is nearly everywhere concealed under a great thickness of drift gravel and sand ; but in one place about a mile south of Wooler, sandstones of this group seem to occur at or near the surface, many angular pieces, apparently of these beds, being ploughed up in the fields. They occur just at the extreme edge of the map, opposite Haughhead. On the east side of Wooler Water, too, very little is to be seen of these beds : but probably they outcrop under clay at the bottom of the sandstone bank east of Wooler Brewery and also further north towards West Weetwood. To the southward the base of the overlying Fell Sandstones appears to quickly come close down to the alluvium, and as the Old Red Porphyrites of the Cheviots crop out just west of the edge of the map, there is only left for the Tuedians here -a width of outcrop not much over half a mile. It is not likely that this obscure tract is occupied by highly-dipping beds, and the explanation probably is that the beds are comparatively thin here and overlap the Porphyrites, and perhaps also are faulted against them. The northern boundary of the Porphyrites from Wooler westward is probably a fault, as described in the Explanation to Sheet 110 S.W., and it is likely enough that this fault is prolonged up the valley of the Wooler Water, throwing down higher beds on the east. -But there is no evidence that the fault is a large one, not by any means large enough to account for such an apparent diminution of the beds, from about 3,000 ft. along the Tweed to some 300 or 400 ft., which is all we can allow here, judging by the dip of the overlying sandstone of Weetwood Moor. Beds of this group probably underlie the low sandy tract south of Doddington between the road and the alluvium of the River Till. These beds come up again in the Chillingham-Holburn anticli- nal, hut there are few good sections, and we nowhere see the lowest beds, and probably only about 600 or 700 ft, at the most. They must occupy a large part of the area of Chillingham Park, but the streams run for the most part iu drift, and little is seen of the solid rock. There is, however, a section in a small stream at the south-east corner of the park — but just outside our area showing shales, thin sandstones and cement stones (or impure limestone), dipping eastward at 9° under the mass of the Fell TUEDIAN. / Sandstones forming Ross Castle. Under Chatton Park hill to the north-east of Chatton, pieces of green shale and clay and thin yellow sandstone are ploughed up at the top of some of the fields there, just west of the highest part of the hill. To the north of this the Allery or South Lyham Burn to the S.W. of South Lyham, gives some rather poor sections in greenish-grey and soft yellowish sandstones, some being thin, micaceous, and shaly, with shales and cement stones. The dip is mostly to the E.N.E. at about 10°, but the beds appear to undulate in places. Northward from this burn the ground is obscured by drift and we see nothing of these beds till we come to a little stream between South Hazelrigg and Old Hazelrigg, in which there is a small section in shale and sandstone dipping N.E. at 12°, below the Fell Sandstone. Immediately west of North Hazelrigg there is another small section in greenish shale, thin grey sandstone and cement stone, with shales and sandstones below, dipping N.E. about 10" North of this we arrive at the Hetton and the Horsedean Burns, which give fuller sections. The best is that shown in the Horsedean Burn and its continuation south of Holburn Grange. This stream runs nearby along the township boundary between North Hazelrigg and Holburn Grange and is not shown on the one-inch Map. There are also sections in Hetton Burn both above and below its junction with the Horse- dean Burn. The west side of the anticlinal is very steep, so that here in the Hetton Burn and in the lower part of the Horsedean Burn we find the beds dipping to the west at angles as high as from 50° to 70°. They consist of whitish and grey sandstones, purple and grey shaly sandstone, thick grey shales, and alter- nations of sandstones, shales and cement stones with thin impure limestone. In the Hetton Burn a little below the base of the Fell Sandstones is the following section : — Sandstone, rather thin bedded Shales and cements 12 — 15 feet, Sandstone, at least ... ... ... ... 20 „ Cements 2 — 3 „ Shales and cements The cement stones are compact impure limestones of a yellow- ish or cream colour ; they are generally very thin, a few inches at most, and frequently alternate with shales. Where the Horse- dean Burn (which in the lower part of its course trends to the north) takes a bend to the eastward, we find the dip changes, first to northwards at 10° and then to N.E. and to E.N.E. at angles of from 15° to 60°, but generally low, so that we pass over the axis of the anticlinal. There are beds of shale containing thin bands of hard grey sandstone, looking much like limestone. The section ends with the plantation, where the boundary and also main burn trend southwards, but we get small isolated sections in shales and sandstones dipping easterly at angles between 10° and 50° in the two northern branches of the burn. The best section, however, is in the branch not marked on the map, which follows the township boundary and runs through a plantation to the eastward. Towards the west side of the plantation the 8 CARBONIFEROUS. stream runs mainly through shales and cements with in one place a thin limestone, and thin bands of sandstone. The eastward dip varies from 7' to 20°, undulating a little in places* About the middie of the plantation comes a considerable thickness _ of sandstone, yellowish white and felspathic, which has been quarried close to where the footpath from Holburn Grange crosses the burn. Above this come shales and cements again, and then more sandstone, this time rather coarse, red and yellow ; then occurs a gap in the section till, just beyond the southern bend in the plantation, we find thin-bedcled hard fine grey sandstone with plant-remains, and then. one or two small sections in shale. Nearly half a mile E.S.E. of Holburn a stream gives small sections in the bods just below the Fell sandstones ; the dip is E.N.E. at 12° to 15° The highest beds seen are grey and red- dish shales with cements ; lower clown appears grey clay, and still lower comes thin sandstone. Little is seen of the steep western side of the anticline to the south of Hazelrigg Mill. There is a solitary section in the N. bank of the Till near West Lyhain showing about 20 feet of grey, greenish and reddish shale with thin bands of yellow sandstone dipping westward 80° to 90°, and sandstone is said to have once been quarried close by. There is a doubtful trace of coal, and this may be about the upper boundary-line of the group. The anticlinal band we have been describing is narrow in places, as at South Hazelrigg and near Chillingham ; in fact its breadth of outcrop is often changed by the large faults which cross it and which can be clearly traced along its eastern margin, but how far these faults extend in the drift-covered area to the westward is uncertain. As no fossils were collected from the Tuedian group in this area, it has been thought advisable, to give a list of those collected in the adjoining sheet to the west, 110 S.W. LOWEK CAliBONIFEEOUS OK TUEDIAN FOSSIL^. Planm;. Araucarioxylon Withami. Samaropsis (Oardiocarpon) nervosa. Triphyllopteris convoluta. Annelida. Spirorbis helioteres (also in Carbonaceous Division). Crustacea. Ostracoda, Leperclitia. BltACHIOPOSA, Khynchonella pleurodoh (ranges to Dryburn Limestone). MOLLTJSCA,. Lamellibranchiata. Modiola Macadami (also in Carbonaceous Division), „ subparallela. Myalina lamellosa (?) Sanguinolites. TUEDIAN. Murchisonia elongata. Natica. Naticopsis. Turbo. Orthoceras. (jijsterupoda. Cephalopoda. Pisces. Archichthys. Ctenodus. Ctenoptychiiis (Harpacodus) clavatus. Gyracanthus. „ obliquus. Khizodopsis. Khizodus Portlockii(J) PaUeoniscoid scale (? Cosmoptychius). Pristicladodus Goughii. Psammodip-. Strepsodiu . 10 CARBONIFEROUS. CHAPTER III.— CARBONIFEROUS— (continued). Fell-Sandstone Group ok Arenaceous Division. This great mass of sandstones does not seem to have been definitely recognised by Tate as a separate group, but was generally included by him in ' his Tuedian Series. In _ fact, sandstones of much the same character occur at various horizons in that series, though of course not nearly so thick as those we have classed separately and mapped as Fell Sandstones. The sandstones composing the group vary a good deal in colour and texture. There are some beds red or reddish, but more often the colours are brown, white, or yellowish. Some beds are coarse and pebbly, while others are very fine, but in general moderately coarse varieties prevail. In places, the sandstone is decomposed at the surface to a sand. Owing to the thick and massive character of the rock and its having laminre of false-bedding, it is often difficult to make out the amount of true dip, especially where it is at low angles. It is by no means certain that the lines we have drawn for the boundaries of this mass of sandstone are everywhere exactly the same ; the upper boundary, being that of the lowest workable coal-seam, is very uncertain in places, as on Sanclyford and Lyham Moors, where the coals have not been worked. The base of the group, too, is often obscured by drift, which covers the whole group for long distances in the " edge beds," as we may term them, which run in a nearly straight line from Black Heddon to Chillingham. As before mentioned, the Fell Sandstones form the ridge of high moorland stretching northwards from Ross Castle to Shepherd's Kirk Hill, and m all this part of their range the dip is easterly or north-easterly at comparatively low angles. Many large faults which will be noticed further on shift the outcrop. At Shepherd's Kirk the beds turn sharply round and dip at high angles of from 30° to 60° to westward, striking southward by Holburn, Holburn Mill, and down Hetton Burn, crossing even- tually on to the west side of it, then past Hetton Hall, where they cross to the east side of the burn, and thence along the ridge west of Spylaw and West Lyham, losing themselves in drift and alluvium. They come out again at Amersidelaw and run along the Avest side of Chillingham Park in a narrow band. West of the Till they rise again with a gentle easterly dip, forming the moors between the Till and the Wooler Water as well as those north of the Till from Weetwood Hill by Dod Law northward to Doddington North Moor. Beta [ltd Description. In the drift-covered country west of the Till no coals have been worked, and the upper limit of the Fell Sandstones is not clear. Roughly speaking, however, the road which runs southward from FELL SANDSTONE. 11 near Weetwood Hall past Fowberry Mains is the boundary of the thick drift, and all is certainly Fell Sandstone to the west of this. Sandstone is only seen east of the road in one or two places south west of Bleaklaw. The sandstone has been largely quarried south of Newtown Moor on the east side of the road leading north-westward by Coldmartin Loch. The dip is south- easterly, probably about 10°, but the rock is mostly so thick- bedded that the dip is not easy to make out. The rock visible varies in texture from rather fine to rather coarse sandstone, the colour being whitish-brown and speckled, but there is said to be finer sandstone below. There are marked joints ranging AV. 10° S. and clipping 75°-80° northward. It was in this quarry at the bend in the road that Archa notion Jwkesi was found in 1877* Mr. Howse also found remains of Ulocleiirtron orvn- tistsimum, branches of a Lepidodendroid plant, and stems of a Calamite. The quarry is in the parish of Chillingham Newtown. About half a mile to the westward in a hollow on the eastern side of a large plantation an unsuccessful boring for coal was made to a depth of 240 feet, according to report. There is a quarry at the north end of High Cairn Plantation in reddish-brown sandstone with some irregular bands a few inches thick of purple shaky breccia. Over a large part of the area under description the dip seems small, but is generally eastward. There is a good feature west of Tricklcy, and the sandstone probably dips eastward, but the beds seem nearly flat at the quarry to the northward, in Trickley "Wood. East of the wood also there is a quarry near the north end in fine thin-bedded sandstone which is nearly flat. Outside the north wall is another quarry in massive false-bedded sandstone, reddish- brown and whitish. There is good deal of drift along the southern edge of this sandstone area — the edge of the map — but the rock crops out at the border of the alluvial flat of the Wooler Water about Haugh Head. Between the tAvo places of that name is a hill of yellowish sandstone, and south of Haugh Head soft false-bedded red- and mottled sandstone is seen in one place to the thickness of 20 ft. The rock also crops out in many places about Cold- martin, and over the ground to the northward sandstone occurs almost everywhere at the surface, in many places glacially smoothed and striated, and in others artificially sculptured with cups and circles of very old date. There are large old quarries near the crest of the hill west of Coldmartin Loch and just south of the road, showing : — Ft. Coarse reddish sandstone, rubbly and irregular 10-12 Shaly sandstone parting - 0-2 Fine false-bedded sandstone, several feet. About a quarter of a-mile north of this section there is fine flaggy stone in which the false-bedding dips westward, and a little to the north-east of this the sandstone is coarse, red and * See papers by E. Howse and G. A. Lebour mentioned in the Biblio- graphy. 12 CARBONIFEROUS. brown, and very irregularly weathered, having veins of compara- tively modern gravel in the joints, one of which goes down 6 ft. below the surface. The cutting north of Coldmartin Loch is 10-12 ft. deep in massive false-bedded pinkish sandstone. To the north-east of this there is a rather deep quarry in a small plantation south- east of the Weetwood Bridge over the Till, showing :— Ft. Sandstone, mostly broken and rubbly 15-20 Soft purplish coarse shale or breccia 2-3 Yellowish massive sandstone 20 North of the Till there is a small quarry close to the Ordnance Station, Weetwood Hill, in massive pinkish sandstone. Westward from this quarry there is in the fields much sand, some of which seems derived from decomposed rock. In the hill above rise thick beds of sandstone dipping north-east in several banks or scarps, till the highest is reached running under Dod Law, all composed of massive false-bedded whitish and pinkish sand- stone. The dip now becomes more easterly and rock may be seen nearly all over the moor. There is a good feature of sand- stone running from Dod Law Camp northward for nearly a mile to the Redsteads road. At Cuddie's Well, Doddington, the rock is coarse and reddish. North of Doddington and west of the main road there is a quarry in thick-bedded whitish and pinkish stone dipping easterly at about 10°, and reddish massive irregular stone, some coarse and felspathic, is visible in a quarry to the eastward by the side of the road to Redsteads. There are many exposures east of the road from Doddington to Berwick about the sculptured rocks ; and sometimes the rock is pebbly and reddish. Further north, opposite Wrangham, and west of the main road, the rock is in many places soft and coarse, and there is a good section in a quarry where the dip is east at 15°. The section is variable. In the middle of the quarry are : — Ft. Fine rubbly sandstone - - 10-1 2 Coarse stone, quartzose and felspathic, with pebbles, about - - - - 15 Purple and yellow shale with quartz pebbles, looking like a breccia - 0-1 or more. Finer sandstone, seen for five feet. Further te the northward the beds turn round and dip nearly due north, so that several features are shown striking nearly east and west, which seem to be formed by alternations of whitish hard stone with soft rock, and near the house in Doddington North Moor the upper boundary of the Fell sandstones passes into the area to the westward. To the south west of Chillingham Castle these rocks form a narrow band dipping westward at 45°. The outcrop is shifted eastward by a large fault, and the rock appears in the steep bank behind Chillingham Church and in Church Wood, coarse in places, yellow and brown, dipping south of west at angles of 40° to 6Q°.. North of the wood another fault shifts it eastward, and it is exposed in a quarry south of Amersidelaw, soft red and FELL SANDSTONE. 13 j pink sandstone dipping south of west at 35" to 40". North of this there is much drift . and no trace of rock is seen till after passing the Till. The band seems to pass Avest of West Lyham and Spylaw, but may be crossed by several of the large faults seen on the moors to the eastward. Near South Hazelrigg the dip seems to be eastward at 35° to 50° in massive whitish stone, but there is some doubt if this is not jointing, and that the true. dip is westward at 45° to 50". There is a fairly continuous ridge of sandstone northward to Hazelrigg Mill, where the dip is clearly W.S.W, and S.W. at angles of 40° to 90". The sandstones then ctoss to the west side of the burn, but do not make much show till we arrive opposite the foot of Horse Dean Burn. There is a fine section of them in the Hetton Burn up to Holburn Mill; they are thick-bedded, reddish in places, and everywhere dipping steeply westward at 50°, 60°, 70°, or even 80° The thickness here seems about 800 ft. The same steep dip continues past Holburn to the large fault at that place. In the stream west of the road just where the footpath crosses, the rock is red and coarse, with pebbles reaching one inch in length. This band of rock turns round to the eastward under Holburn with a more gentle northerly dip, but the same steep Avesterly dip continues to the north of the large fault. Soft, very coarse pebbly stone and soft conglomerate are seen east of the road, though at first the dip is not noticeable. Further north coarse sandstone dips west at 50° to 90°, and this is seen to curve sharply round to the eastward and dip more gently northward under* Black Heddon Hill, the sandstone of which dips under Shepherd's Kirk Hill. The thickness about here seems quite as much as 750 ft. and may be nearly 1,000 ft. The upper limit is not easy to define, as the coals above have not been worked to the north and east. On Black Heddon the bedding is in places irregular and there is curved false-bedding, but the true northward dip is shown by the east and west features wuth dip slopes to the north. At Shepherd's Kirk, south of the Ordnance Station (604 ft.) marked on the map (but which is not the highest part of the hill), there is a crag and an interest- ing section, where the dip is north at 15°. It shows massive coarse pebbly grit, resting irregularly on fine sandstone.. The line of junction is honeycombed and shows the dip clearly. One block has a honeycombed surface below, with holes two to four inches wide and one to two inches deep. It is possible that the Dues Heugh sandstone belongs to the Coal Series. There is a pretty continuous feature here from the west side of Kyloe Plan- tation past Dues Heugh to near Lowick Forest House. All these beds are cut off on the east by the great fault which goes through Kyloe Plantation, and it seems there is a small patch of Tuedian west of the fault in the hollow south of Black Heddon. From Holburn to the south end of Cockenheugh there is an unbroken stretch of the Fell sandstones bending round from the steep westerly dip to that of E.N.E. at 12°-15°. To the north-east of Holburn they form several distinct features, probably from alternations of hard and soft stone, for there is no shale visible. 14 CARBONIFEROUS. The sandstones are variable in character, some coarse and red, and thick-bedded, others flaggy, and some false-bedded. The upper boundary is covered by Holburn Moss, but further south it is fixed by the old coal- workings on the west side of it. The thickness about here must be 700 feet or more. There is a good section in Cuddie's (or St. Cuthbert's) Cave, -which is 40 yards long and 8 yards broad, with a sloping roof which shows the dip clearly. South of the Ordnance Station, 692 ft., are many caves and stacks in massive reddish sandstone with irregular conglo- merate bands. Some of these caves, &c, seem to have had a marine origin. Eastward from these, on the other side of the hill, there is a quarry in laminated sandstone dipping E.N.E. at 20 \ The large Cockenheugh fault having a throw clown south of 700 to 800 ft. shifts the outcrop more than half a mile to the westward, so that the base of the sandstones is at Old Hazelrigg, where the dip — N.E. to E.N.E. — is 10° to 12°, increasing eastward to 20° or more at Girney Nick, where the Cooper Eye Coal has been worked. South of Dancing Green Hill, 662 ft., another fault throwing down south, though not so large as the preceding, shifts the outcrop westward again. The throw is perhaps 200 ft. The base is now obscured by drift, but the Cooper Eye seam above has been worked along to the next fault, which is a very large downthrow south, and shifts the outcrop of the beds far to the west. South of this fault the coals above have not been worked and the exact position of both base and top is uncertain, seeing that no shale is visible, and that there are thick sand- stones which form marked features in the coal series, added to which a good deal of drift comes on the southward. It would seem, however, that the coarse sandstone of Lyham Hill must be part of the Fell sandstone, and the rock in places coarse and yellow, appears to be at the surface, all down the road to Old Lyham, where the dip is at 20° to the E.N.E. Another large fault, throwing down south, probably 600 ft. or more, north of Chatton Park Hill shifts the outcrop again far to the west. The rock is seen nearly all over this hill, which has a steep scarp to the west, and the thickness is about 800 ft. The stone is sometimes coarse, and is generally too massive to show the dip well. There is a quarry near the base to the north of Parkhouses, in massive whitish and yellowish stone. South of Parkhouses a large fault throwing down north perhaps 600 ft. or more shifts the outcrop eastward. To the south of this there is a pretty good section in the Coalhouses Burn about Roughting Linn* opposite Shielhope, where the dip is ] 5°-20° between S".E. and S.S.E., and there are sections in coarse sandstone south of the new road to Chilling- ham. There is a quarry in the Whinny Knowe near the Camps, but it is doubtful if this is not in the Tuedian series. The section shows : — Ft Sandstone : thick bedded and irregular, with a kind of parting below and breccia in places 10-12 Sandstone : very massive, yellowish-white iO Shale, trace of, in the road to quarry — Dip S.E. at 1-2" -lit' Noisy fit '' FELL SANDSTONE. 15 East of Amersidelaw there seems to be another fault, throwing clown north, but not so great as that previously mentioned. The sandstone forms a deep scarp to the west down to the edge of Robin Hood's Bog, where a very large fault with a downthrow north probably 1000 ft. shifts the outcrop a long way to the east, so that the base of the Fell sandstone on the south side seems opposed to the outcrop of the Main Coal on the north side. From this point the sandstone rises up to form the high ground of Ross Castle, the highest in the district, where the beds seem nearly flat, though further eastward the dip is clearly N.E., but beyond this in the same direc- tion there is a good deal of drift, and as no coals have been Avorked the ground is very obscure. South of Ross Castle a large fault with a downthrow south of perhaps 1000 ft. shifts the outcrop westward again. Fossils of the Fell Sandstones, According to Air. B. Howso. Plant.*:. Ulodendron ornatissimum. Lepidodendroid plants (Brandies). Catamite Stems. Mollusca. Archanodon (Anodonta) Jukesi. These were found in the quarry of Chillingham New Town. In the Newcastle Museum Collection Cain mites serobicalatus is recorded from Newton near Chillingham. Mr. Howse has kindly given us permission to reproduce his drawing and description of the Arcltanodon as follows : — description of a specimen of Archanodon (Anodontu) Jukesi, Forbes, by Mr. R. Howse* On the accompanying illustration (Fig. 1) " a figure, a, is given of the largest specimen about [one-third] the natural size. The length when perfect would be about nine inches, and the breadth three inches and one-quarter. The anterior extremity is imperfect. The dorsal margin arcuated with slight indications of the umboues, before which there seems to have been a slight thickening of the shell. The hinge margin is slightly arched. The posterior margin slopes downward, and the ventral is slightly curved upwards under the umbones. The general form resembles the recent TJnio margari- tifer, Linn., of our northern streams. The hinge line shows no trace of teeth, and was, as far as the preservation of these specimens shows, quite straight. The shell appears to have been very thin, as indicated by fine concentric undulations on the surface of the cast. There are no traces of muscular impressions. The smaller specimen (Fig. b.) is more unioniform in shape, which has partly arisen from the circumstance that it was resting in a sloping direction, with the ventral margin uppermost against the free margin of the larger specimen at a, and thus the free margins are com- pressed together and the original contour of the shell destroyed. The ■"■Extracted by permission from a paper in JVat. Hist. Trans. Xorthumber- land, Durham, and Newcastle-on-Tyne, vol. 7, 1878, p. 4. 16 CARBONIFEROUS. hinge-margin is also more slightly arcuated, the umbones more distinct, and the thickening between them and the posterior margin more defined. I hope shortly to give a fuller account of the geological position of the bed in which these shells were found. The generic term A rcknnodon is pro • posed for this huge freshwater bivalve." Fin. 1. Archanodon (Anodonta) Jukesi. SCREMERSTON COAL. 17 CHAPTER IV.— CARBONIFEROUS— (nmth, ae,l), SCREMERSTON COAL, GROUP OR CARBONACEOUS DIVISION. This division includes all the beds from the base of the Dun Limestone* the lowest workable limestone down to and including the lowest we-rkable coal, generally called the Wester Coal, though the latter is a poor seam, or rather combination of seams, and little known in this district. Several of the coals have been worked in the neighbourhood of Biteabout, two miles south of Lowick, where the general section is : — >un Limestone — Ft. In Measures 60 Faivcet Coal 2-3 Measures 18 Little Coal 2 Measures, about - 165 Blackhill Coal, with bands 2 uleasures 72 Main Coal 2 2 Measures, about 150 Cooper Eye Coal, with band 2 Measures 60-70 Wester Coal ... (?) Of course there are several small seams besides those enumerated, but it is not possible to give a detailed section of them. The total thickness, about 550 ft, is considerably less than at Scremerston in the map to the north. The Eawcet Coal was formerly worked in pits on either side the road near Barmoor Red House, the deepest engine pit east of the road being 144 ft. In pits west of the road the Fawcet coal was 60 ft. below the Dun Limestone (4 ft.) ' and nearly all this thickness was sandstone. The coal was good, from two to three feet thick, and had a stone roof and a stone seat. The Little Coal worked on the west side of the road was from 24 to 26 ins. thick and was good at top. The outcrop of the coals makes a sharp bend round to the west and the Fawcet coal has been worked in Kemping Moss. It (or the Little Coal below) was also . worked south of the moss, at the outlet of which a level was driven to drain the mines to the westward, but whether the seam is unbroken all across the moss is uncertain. Some distance south-west of the outcrop of the Little Coal at Biteabout, a pit 192 ft. deep has been sunk to the Main Coal, which has been worked about here for a long time. The shaft, at a depth of 120 ft., passes through the Blackhill Seam, which varies from two to three feet with bands. At. a depth of 72 ft. lower comes the Main Coal, which is the principal coal worked at Biteabout. * One of the beds of Limestone at Lowick, the Acre, Limestone, is some- times also called the Hunstone. 2312 B 18 CARBONIFEROUS. It is 2 ft. 2 ins. thick, and good. These coals bend round both to the east and west so as to give their outcrops the form of a horseshoe. The westerly dip of 12° may be seen in the burn to the south, west of the crop of the Blackhill Seam, and the easterly dip has been proved in the workings where the coals are cut off by a large fault which runs parallel to the road on that side. The Cooper Eye Coal has beenproved in a trial pit 30 ft. deep, but it was too poor to work. The section was : — Freestone roof — Top Coal 11 in. Stone - 8-9 in. Bottom Coal 6 in. Fireclay 6 in. The Main Coal was proved on the south side of the burn in a shaft 30 ft. deep, but does not seem to have been worked there, and its outcrop to the west is uncertain* A coal in two parts, with a band between them, said to be the Main Coal, was worked near the Ordnance Station, 516 ft., and a coal seems to have been found in a trial at Doddington Moor House. This is now said to be the Blackhill seam, and the Main Coal was proved in a pit to the south, but there are said to be troubles which render the coal worthless. The Biteabout fault, throwing down on the east, shifts the outcrops of the Blackhill and Main Coals to the south of the Coal Burn, and the Main Coal has been worked from the road eastward to the Hetton Coal Law Fault. The Blackhill seam is here poor, being only 12 ins. thick, and lying among shale, so that it has been little" worked. The following is said to be the section of the beds above the Main Coal in some of the pits on Doddington Moor : it is a verbal account from memory : — t Ft. In, Jingling post Metal tills 6 3 Limestone 10 Metal - 10 Coal ; 3 Limestone - 6 Freestone bands 6 Black metal (swad) 6 Top Coal left on for roof 4 in. "i 2-3 in. 18 in. ) Main Coal, about 2 6 Chalk stone Coal Chalk stone about - 1 in. 1 3 in. J Smithy coal At Coal Burn Houses a deep pit was sunk, but no coal got. It was probably just west of the fault. The deepest coal-pits here seem to have been these— one 108 ft. deep near the houses, and another 102 ft. deep further eastward. A fault that ranges' about N.N.W. and throws down east 30 ft. was proved in the workings, and there is said to have been a "trouble" further east * The Main Coal has since been worked here in a pit 120 ft. deep and in shallower pits. " I I owe this and other information to Mr, John Brown of Biteabout SCREMERSTON COAL. 19 at the place marked Doddington Colliery on the six-inch map. The Cooper Eye seam has not been worked here. It lies probably below the sandstone of Hare Crags. The Fawcet seam has been worked from the Biteabout Fault round to Hotton Coal Law and a level was brought up from the Coal Burn. The crop may be traced like that of the Main seam by means of shallow workings and dayfalls. The deepest pit in which it was worked is 150 ft. It is situated in a field north of the burn, and is 200 yards west of the Lowick road. The following is a verbal account : — Ft. In. Sandstone mostly — Tills . - 3 Dun Limestone 7 Coal Sandstone Tills - 2-3 Fawcet Coal 2 There is a pit 108 ft. deep by the roadside 300 yards north of Hetton Coal Law, which was sunk to the Fawcet. A little coai is said to have been also worked at Hetton ; it was 18 inches thick and 18 ft. below the Fawcet. "*> The large fault throwing down south at Hetton Coal Law shifts the outcrop of the Fawcet westward about 1,100 yards, so that it is next found near Wrangham, where the coal has been a ' good deal worked. Here there are many old falls from surface workings, in some of which the coal could at one time be seen under red clay. North of the bog is a large pit, said to be 180 ft. deep, to which the following account probably relates : — Sinking account of the Doddington Engine Pit sunk by Andrew Scott* 1. Freestone 2. Black metal - - 3. Coal mixed with black metal- 4. Limestone 5. Grey freestone 6. Eoofstone : strong blue metal 7. Clean coal (Fawcet) sometimes only 20 in. 8. Grey freestone 9. Coal This is probably a verbal account and not quite correct. The limestone seems too thick for the Dun and there is almost always a coal below. I do not know if the coal at the bottom, 18 inches thick, was worked. The dip here must be north-eastward, and is probably from 15° to 20°, judging by the sandstone at Wrangham below the coal. There is said to be a fault with a throw of 42 ft. crossing the coal before reaching the moss ; it probably throws down on the north-west. Between the moss and Bedsteads is a large fault throwing down to the south-east probably 150 to 200 ft., * From book lent by Rev. Hugh Taylor of Humshaugh-on-Tyne, 2312. B 2 Ft, In. 108 3 2 10 51 3 •2 4 18 1 C 20 CARBONIFEROUS. and shifting the outcrop 300 yards to the west. TbMamaud Cooper Eyt Goals, &c, have not been worked near Wrangham but a coaf suppos^ to be the Main, and 2 ft thick, was sunk to south-west of L moss; and below, the wooded sandstone bank near the north-west end, a coal 16 inches Mx> 2 ft. thick ha, ;been proved, which may be the Cooper Eye Seam. Coal also seems to have been found in an old level near this. Between the upper end of the plantation and Wrangham a bore-hole was made 38 ft. deep, but no coal was found South of Bedsteads the Fawcet Coal has again been worked pretty continuously to nearly as far as Horton Moor House, but the lower coals have not been worked to the westward, though there are some trial-pits near the west side of the bog and just inside the Horton boundary. . To the northward of these is a quarry in yellow sandstone, false-bedded above, in which plants and shells are said to have been found* Some of the massive whitish and brown sand- stones to the west must belong to the Carbonaceous Series, but the lower boundary cannot be exactly fixed here. There are some small pits close to Horton Moor House, but what seam was worked is uncertain. The Fawcet Coal has been worked in another part of Horton Moor, to the west of the road and half-a mile south of Horton Moor House. Between this place and the last-mentioned workings there must be a large fault, the direction of which is not exacty known, but seems probably about north- east. The deepest pit, about 650 yards west of the road, is said to have been 90 ft., but a pit only 48 ft. deep was sunk in 1870 to a coal 2 ft. 1 inch. The dip is nearly due north at 1 in 3, or about 20°, and the crop turns away northward at each end of the workings. To the southward, sandstone is seen with a northward dip of 15° to 20°. Another pit sunk to the same seam 200 yards from the road, was 66 ft. deep, and there is said to be a " trouble " between the two sets of workings. t Some borings were made to the south-west for the Main Coal, but were unsuccessful. Between these workings and Horton there may be another fault. At Horton, the Main Coal is said to have been worked in a pit close beside the stream, but nothing is known of its condition or thickness, and the continuation southward of these coals is very uncertain. They would seem to strike eastward about Horton, but they ought to be lying under the drift on the west side of the Till southwards from Fowberry Tower to the edge of the map opposite Chillingham. The coals here must lie in a synclinal, the western side of which dips to the eastward. East of the Till, some of the lowest seams overlying the Fell Sandstones, crop out in the Dean at Chillingham Castle, but none of the coals seem to have been worked. They dip steeply to the west at angles of 50° to 60°, and are associated with shales and sandstones, and in one place west of the Castle is a limestone * According to Mr. Stevenson, architect, Berwick-on-Tweed. t For information about these Fawcet Coal workings on Horton Moor, I am indebted to J. Q- Hargreaves, Esq., Durham, SCREMERSTON COAL. 21 18 inches thick with a coal seam a little below 4£ inches thick. Coal is also said to have been got out in making a dam across the burn. The coals are not known in the obscure ground to the northward, but they probably occur west of the strip of Fell Sandstones, and have the same high westerly dip past Hetton Hall. Some of the beds of the series are exposed in a small burn that joins Hetton Burn on the west, to the north-east of Hettonlaw, but no coals were noticed. They are much obscured by drift north of Holburn Mill, and nothing more is known of them till Lowick Forest is reached, where some of the coals have been worked, e.g., the Fawcet Coal and the Scremerston Main Coal or Blackhill Seam. These seams have been worked on the east side of the Low, opposite Lowick Low Stead, from near the main road southward for about three-quarters of a mile. The following is the general section to the Fawcet Coal from the Dun Limestone downwards : — ..->-* Ft. In. Dun Limestone 2 6 Coal, about... Freestone bands, about Fawcet Coal (15 in. to 29 in.) average Stone seat 1 42 2 The thickness of the Blackhill seam could not be ascertained, but one pit sunk to it was 120 ft. deep. The coals dip westward at 45° to 50°, and the crop workings end off southward before reaching Nagup Dean, where an apparently lower coal than either has been worked southward for 250 yards. This may be the coal exposed in a small burn east of the road opposite Lowick Low Stead. At the north end of the workings, not far from the cross roads, a fault throwing down N.W. 42 ft. was proved. The lower coals have not been worked to the eastward, though between this and the Whin Sill escarpment coal was found in draining the large field more than 50 years ago, and there is no doubt the Whin Sill itself is here in the Carbonaceous Series, and that some of the coals exist in the hollow south-west of the Kyloe Crags, among the sandstones, perhaps, even down to that of Dues Heugh to the north-east of Shepherd's Kirk Hill. A soft coal, 1 foot or more thick, was observed in a branch stream, west of the crags, 250 yards to the north-east of Lowick Forest House, and again in the hollow and stream south-east of the house, coal, perhaps the same bed, may be seen in more than one place, accompanied by tine sandstone with plant-remains. The sandstone of Colour Heugh Crags, massive, fine, and whitish, 30 to 40 feet or more thick, and dipping E.N.E. about 15°, appears to overlie the 1 foot coal last mentioned. Near the edge of Kyloe Plantation are quarries at Fine Hill, in massive, rather fine, whitish, and yellowish sandstone, which sandstone when traced westward seems to join on to that of Dues Heugh. Just on the centre of the anticline, at Kentstones, the Fawcet Coal has been worked at a gin pit, and at other shallower pits, and there is also a coal below the Dun Limestone here, but I do not know if it has been worked. These coals are cut off south- 22 CARBONIFEROUS. ward by the large fault throwing down north, which runs through Mount Hooly Dean. By it the outcrop of the Fawcet Coal is shifted nearly half-a-mile eastward, and then it appears to have been worked from the Dean southward to West Kyloe. I was informed by Mr. Hogg of that place that a seam of coal 2 ft. 6 in. thick, probably the Fawcet, was repeatedly cut through in draining a field immediately west of the road leading from West Kyloe to Kyloe Cottage. There is a thin coal seen in the road near the cottages, the outcrop of which runs a little east of the small burn. Some distance below the Fawcet Seam comes a thick sandstone which crops out in the Mill Plantation, and has been quarried in several places. At the southern end are seen 25 to 30 ft. of massive, yellowish stone, pretty fine, the upper part passing to the north-west into shaly and rubbly irregular sandstone, and the whole capped unconformably* by shales with irregular sandstone bands. Joints run 35 W. of N. Further to the north the dip seems 15° to 25°. South of West Kyloe there is probably a fault throwing down south, and south of this the Dun Limestone and Fawcet Coal are not known, but they must lie between the Woodend Limestone of East Kyloe and the Whin Sill, approaching nearer to the latter as we proceed south. A thick sandstone with a gentle N.N.E. dip comes next to the Whin, to the south of East Kyloe. A coal was noticed in a field to the south-west of West Kyloe, just below the middle branch of the Whin Sill there. By the large Kyloe Plantation Fault, which throws down on the south-east, all the beds on the north side are shifted far away to the west, the Fawcet Coal being carried to the south end of the plantation, where it seems at one time to have been worked in small pits north-east of the whin quarry. The lower coals are not generally known here, and some of them may not exist, their places being occupied by great masses of sandstone forming Rabbit Hill, 556 feet, Little Rabbit Hill, and Ravens Crag to the westward, though, as each of these forms a separate feature with a dip-slope to the north-east, there may be coals lying in the hollows. There is an old shaft 100 yards S.S.W. of the whin quarry, but no coal seems to have been found in it; this is opposite the west end of Shiellow Crags. Beyond the eastern end of the crags a soft coal about 1 foot thick, with much underclav was noticed in the burn. ' The Fawcet Coal seems to have been worked in pits close to Holburn Wood House and to the northward, its thickness being it is said, 2 ft 6 in. Whether the workings were stopped north- ward by a fault or whether they came against the Whin Sill is not known but there is some evidence for a fault here as the workings of the lower coal at Holburn CoUiery do not extend beyond the west end of the moss, where it branches ; but the fault may be small, and there is every appearance that the coals or some of them die out or are much thinner in a mass of sandstone IS"tr abilitieS ° f this kind are not ^common in the Carboniferous Hocks. SCREMEESTON COAL. 23 The coals have been worked at Holburn Colliery of which the following is a section of the last pit sunk in 1860 : — Holbuen Colliery. Section of last Engine Pit sunk, August 1860. Freestone Metal, coal and sliale Hard sandstone in 3 beds Metal, coal and shale Hard limestone Metal Hard whin sandstone, bad to bore Metal and coal Dark limestone Metal Dark limestone, bad to blast Metal Hard white limestone Black and yellow shale (roof) Top coal, fine best stony coal,"! _ „ 1ft. 8 in. - . I Black Hill o: Hard metal, 5 in. - -f bcreniertstdk Bottom coal, 10 in. -J beam. Metal Black band Ft. In. 36 7 3 4 (i 2 3 4 ■2 6 2 3 2 6 1 6 4 2 11 10 4 78 7 Ft. In. 7 2 9 9 G 8 or U IBS. The above is from a written account furnished by Mr. Henry Beattie of Chathill, Nov. 25th 1882. The shaft was near the old windmill shaft, just within Holburn property. The " hang " or dip was 8 inches to a yard. The following account, continuing the section downwards to the Main Coal, is from the same authority, but is mostly from memory, no written account being forthcoming :- Hard sandstone Sandstone, band and metal Ten-inch coal Metal and coal) . Metal _ ./about The hones (kind of oil sliale) Measures, black metal, about 6 Tough roof - ■ — Bursting Dags Coal • - 10 Measures (including 4 limestone beds near bottom, with a 3 in. or 4 in. coal) about ' 12 Coal-parrot, 2 to 3 in. -"J Fallen (kind offireclay) 8 to 9in. I , r ■ , , . „ _ Coal, coarse, Sin. - \ Mam «** about 3 Coal, fire coal, fine, 1 ft. 4 in. -J Total about 7 fathoms or 42 feet, making with the preceding, nearly 120 ft. Mr. Boyd in his paper, " on a Part of the Carboniferous or Mountain Limestone series of North Northumberland," * gives a section of the strata at Holburn Colliery, amounting to 117 feet * Trans. N. of Eng. Inst. Min. Eng. Vol. IX. !24 CARBONIFEROUS. total— so that he probably refers to the same sinking. ' We give the lovrer part of his section : — Ft. In. Upper Scremmton Goal Seam 2 6 Measures '^ Bursting Bar/a Coal Seam 1 Measures I 8 5 Upper J fain Goal or Bui man Seam 2 Several of the thin coals. in the upper part of the pit-section are to be seen in the stream which runs out of the moss on the north side. The dip is to the north-east at about 15°. The principal workings are in the Main and Blackball Seams and these two coals have been worked southward for one and a-half miles or more down to the Cockenheugh Fault at Detchant Coal Houses. The small faults in the workings are given from the information of Mr. Beattie. The fault south of the burn ranges E.N.E. and throws down north 12 feet. Nearly half a mile south of the burn a group of nearly parallel faults crosses the outcrop of the coals. The most northerly of these throws down north 12 feet, the next and largest, which ranges nearly east and west, throws down north 42 feet, and the two most southerly throw down south 9 or 10 feet each. At the old Pit House on the map there was a pit 117 feet deep to the Blackhill Seam. The sandstone at the top of the pit-section given, may be well seen on the south side of the Holburn boundary, and it forms a feature or bank in which are several small quarries to the west of Fawcet Hill, the beds dipping E.N.E. West of the south end of the large moss two other coals have been worked — probably the Cooper Eye and the Wester Coals — for a length of 500 yards or more in shallow pits. There seems to be a limestone above the higher of the two seams, judging from the heaps at the line of pits by which the seam was worked. The lower coal, which is said to have been in several seams, was worked from an engine pit, sunk near the south end of the workings just about on the crop of the upper coal. The Cooper Eye coal may be estimated to be 120 feet below the Main Coal, and the Wester Coal 60 feet lower. A line of pits down to the burn on the east shows that a level was brought up from it to drain the seam. Mr. Boyd in his paper prefixes the term "upper" to the names of the coals worked here. He was under an erroneous impression that these were not the true Scremerston Coals, though called so by the miners, and he held the view that all these coals and the thick sandstones to the westward were high up in the Limestone series, coming above the Lickar coals and the principal limestones of Lowick. _ The following fossils were collected by the Survey from old pit-heaps north of Cockenheugh r-Entomostraca (?), Schizodus, BeUeroplum, and SirrpxuthiH. The coals are- shifted by the Cockenheugh fault more than half-a-mile to the westward, and on the south side of this fault only one coal is known to have been worked, viz., the Cooner Jiye, which was wrought near the south end of Girney Nick SCREMERSTON COAL. 25 Plantation, three-quarters of a mile E.N.E. of North Hazelrigg* The coal here is from 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 feet altogether : — Top coal, both good and bad 18 inches. Band - several „ Bottom coal 7 „ Fossils collected by the Survey were — Spirorbis kelicteres ; and Belleroplion (fragt.). The dip to the north-east near the fault seems as high as 30°. The coal probably overlies southward the thick sandstone of Colour Heugh, below which may lie the lowest or Wester coal. The Main and other coals must crop out to the eastward, but are not known to have been worked, though a shaft between the two mosses may have proved the main coal. The dip is seen in several sandstone features to be to the north-east from 15° to 20°. The fault with downthrow south on the north side of Hazelrigg Moss shifts the outcrops about a quarter of a-mile to westward and south of this the Cooper Eye Coal has been worked as far as to the Old Hazelrigg road for a length of three-quarters of a mile. The section of the coal near the west end of the workings is : — Roof, freestone bands. Top coal, with two thin chalkstones 18 inches. Denty coal (swad) 12-15 „ Pure good coal 12 „ Bottom, tilly freestone. The Wester Coal probably underlies the fine sandstone-crag called Bowden Doors, which has many pot holes on its surface. Another coal has been worked here to the south-east of Hazelrigg Moss, which is either the Main or the Blackhill Seam. The following is said to be the section of it : — Top coal 18 inches. Band - 20 „ Bottom coal 6-7 „ These coals are cut off before reaching the Lyham and Belford road by a large fault throwing down south, which brings against them on the south the Belford Moor coals which overlie the Woodend limestone, and the Scremerston coals must be shifted far to the west, but how far cannot be exactly stated as they have not been worked. In the upper part of the series here a sandstone has been a good deal quarried which would seem to lie between the Dim limestone and the Fawcet coal. The principal quarry is about 500 yards to the south-east of the main road, and west of the racecourse, and is called Kogue's Road Quarry. The dip is about 15° to the north-east but seems as high as 25° in places : — Thin rubbly sandstone 4-5 ft. Massive rather fine white .sandstone 20 ft. or more. There seems to be a coal below judging from fragments thrown out. This sandstone forms a pretty good feature for a long dis- tance. There must be coals west of the moss that lies to the westward of this, and probably as far as the west side of the # Information from Mr. Kobson, of Belford. 26 CARBONIFEROUS. Moss Ridge. There are several sandstone-features here which die out to the southward or are covered by boulder clay, but no coals have been worked till the large fault is crossed which throws down south at Chat ton Colliery. Here again, owing to the throw of the fault the Scremerston coals on the north side must abut against the Woodend limestone on the south side of the fault, and the coals are shifted to the westward of Red Houses, where they have been worked pretty continuously for a distance of a mile or so. The following is the general section here, the total thickness being about 630 feet : — Ft. In. Dun limestone . — Coal _ Measures - 90 Fawcet coal 2 o Measures 240 Limestone - 3-4 o. Blackhill seam Measures 50 o Limestone - - 3 Main coal, with bands 2 Q Measures 175 o Cooper Eye coal 3 o Measures, about - 60 Wester coal, in several thin seams. The Fawcet Seam has been worked north of the road across the Colliers Dean to the large fault, but has not been worked on the south side west of Linkeylaw Quarry. It is 2 feet thick and has shale above. The Blackhill Seam has a limestone above it 3 to 4 feet thick. The workings in this seam are old, and the thickness is unknown. The Main Coal was formerly a good deal worked, but mostly in shallow pits. The section of it as reported is :— v , Ft. In. freestones - - - 6 Beds of blue and freestone blue (shale and sandy shale) 6 Limestone - 3 ^ Coal, with two bands 2 q The Cooper Eye coal has been the most worked and some of the workings are comparatively recent. The deepest pit which is laO feet is nearly 200 yards due north of the bend in the road west oi Linkeylaw Plantation. Section about Cooper Eye Seam* :— Freestone bands. Dark limestone Q , n ■ r Freestone bands. 8-10 inches. Dark limestone - 810 Freestone bands, roof of coal /_= r'l Top coal, divided into three beds by thin chalk stones - - ,„ an . ' Swad or denty coal (will burn) 18 ~ 2 2 mcIles « Bottom coal, good - °, » Hardish seggar clay bottom. * __ ^aWSSLS? SSe.) ^ St ° ne Sh °- « * »^™ SCREMERSTON COAL. ' 27 , North of Hay hill Burn and to the south-east of the guide-post, Mr. Henderson, of Chatton Colliery, sank a new trial pit 30 feet deep to the Main Coal, which was 18 inches thick, with many chalkstone bands, and had a thin limestone above it. North of the Bellshill road another pit 18 feet deep was sunk to the same seam, and here it was also 18 inches thick but without chalkstones. Further to the eastward a trial pit for the Blackhill Seam was carried down about 15 feet but was stopped at a limestone 3 to 4 feet thick on account of water. The limestone is the roof of the coal seam. The Blackhill coal has been worked about this place and also to the north of Linkeylaw Plantation. The limestones which are associated with these coals are light coloured, sometimes nearly white, and contain plant-remains. Solemya primcevd (?) was collected here from the Blackhill pits. The dip is eastward about the centre of the workings, and is probably at about 10° to 12°, changing to a direction south of east at a higher angle near Hayhill Burn, and to north of east at the north end near the large fault, where the dip is as much as 20°. Some distance west of the crop of the Cooper Eye, borings for the Wester Coal proved only several seams each 4 or 5 inches thick, and further westward borings were all in sandstone. The large fault at the south end of these workings throws down to the north and shifts the outcrop of the coals far away to eastward beyond the moss north of Coalhouses. Here a coal said to be 3 feet thick, probably the Main Coal, was worked and drained by a level cut through the moss. Below Coalhouses two seams have been worked, the Main Coal and the Blackhill Seam, . the latter having a limestone above it which makes a green band among the heather. Fish-remains are to be found in the pit- heaps half a mile south of Coalhouses. Neither the Fawcet Seam nor the Cooper Eye appears to have been worked, and nothing is known of them. Borings just north of Coalhouses are said to have been all in sandstone, and were probably below the Cooper Eye. There are sections of some of the accompanying beds exposed in the burn south-east of Coalhouses : shale with sand- stone, thin coal, and underclay with plants. The dip is eastward and varies from 6° to 20°, but is vertical in one place. The workings extend southward for 1£ miles, when the coals are cut off by the Chillingham fault, which has a great downthrow north, and shifts the coals far to the eastward ; but they have not been worked south of the fault and their outcrop is unknown. Another large fault with downthrow south at Ross Castle shifts the coals' again a long way to the west, but out of this area, and there are probably other faults. The coals have been worked at Clattery, but before describing these workings it is as well to give a section* of the beds at Hough terslaw, which is some distance south of the edge of the Map. * From Miscellanea Geologica, by G. Tate in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club. Vol. V. p. 284. Ft. In. 30 4 6 15 24 3 4 2 3 6 1 3 2 5 89 8 28 CARBONIFEROUS. Strata at Houghterslaw, 2| miles north of Bannamoor, near Eglingham, Northumberland : — Clay thills, a thin limestone and shales Coal 15 in."| Crow Coal, variable in thickness"! Stone 24 in. V and poor in quality, not worked j- Coal 9 in. J here J Shale Sandstone, coarse at top but fine at bottom " Grey beds," or slaty sandstones White metal, with a coal called the Ten Inch Coal, from 6 in. to Hard sandstone " Black beds," or calcareous shales Limestone, bad Greenish shale Hard sandstone Mam Coal, viz., Top Coal 6 in. ; Metal Band 6 in. ; Bottom Coal 17 in. The beds are disturbed but the general dip is north-east. I obtained some information about the workings at Clattery from Mr. Cbristison of Houghterslaw. The uppermost coal of the above section is known as the Crow Coal, and it is said to have a limestone 4 feet thick above it. The section of this coal was: — Ft. In. Top Coal, best 1 6 Midstone - 8 Bottom Coal 1 This coal was found in the 13 fathom pits near Hangwell Law* but was in a very soft state there. It generally occurs about 8 fathoms above the Main Coal but was not found in the Clattery Pits. It seems probable that this seam is the same as that known further north as the Blackhill Seam or Scremerston Main Coal. At the Clattery Pits the Ten-inch Coal is found about 16 feet above the Main Coal, and the section of the Main Coal and the beds immediately above and below is as follows : — Ft. In. Dark stone, a kind of limestone in two beds 2 White metal 1 q Grey stone \ q Top Coal 7 in. ] Metal - 6 in. YMain Coal 2 6 Bottom Coal *- 17-18 in. J Freestone seat. The top part of the bottom coal is coarse. There is a chalk- stone 1 inch thick with an inch of coal between it and the stone „ This coal is now (1898) being worked in a pit 80 feet deep at Windylaw Colliery lust inside the area of the map to the south The Clattery workings m the Main Coal are nearly continuous with those of Commonnat, which were probably "in the same * Within the area of the Map to the south. SCREMERSTON COAL. 29 seam. The dip of the coal varies but seems mostly to the E.S.E. as seen by the dip of the sandstones and shales hi the Switcher Dean Burn. The Commonflat workings seem cut off by a fault which passes near Lanehead, and is probably a continuation of one proved in the area to the south. Just on the north side of this, south of Old Clattery, a seam of coal was at one time a little worked. It is said to dip steeply westward, and as a brown encnnital and coralline limestone was sunk through, the scam is probably the Fawcet Coal. The fault throws down on the north, and hence a coal worked to the south-west of Rosebrough may be the Main Coal repeated or a higher seam. The workings are very old and little is known of them. Where the crop of the coal approaches the stream in one place more than a foot of coal could be seen resting on shale, but this is probably only a part of the seam. The thin sandstones and shales below are seen in the stream westward of this, where the dip is E. at 10°. Pro- bably there is another fault with downthrow north, between the outcrop of this coal and the Rayheugh limestone quarry. A coal has been worked a little in the field close to and north of the cross roads at Lanehead, but nothing is known of it. It would seem probable that the sandstones and shales exposed in the Priestdean Burn to the eastward of Commonflat, and which dip at gentle angles to the east and north-east for a long distance, belong to the Carbonaceous Series. There are also some small areas of the upper portion of the series to the west and north-west of Twizell House. That west of Twizell House is nearly a mile long from east to west. At the west end of the Quarry Plantation the Fawcet Coal has been worked in a range of pits running S.S.W. inside the plantation. The dip must be rather steep to the W.S.W., it is as much as- 20° to 25° in the stream. On the east side of the area the same coal has been worked east of Brickyhirst, and northward between the South Dean and the Mill Dean, where the dip is eastward at angles of 5° to 10°. Between these two crops a considerable thickness of sandstones and shales lying below the coal is exposed in the main stream. The beds roll about a good deal, but on the whole form an anticline which is nearly flat about the centre of the Quarry-Plantation, where is a large quarry in massive white sandstone. To the west of this, 150 yards, a limestone about 2 feet thick is seen lying flat, though there are high-dipping beds between it and the large quarry. To the eastward, at the Wash- ing Pool, shale and a thin coal and 3 inches of impure limestone are seen below sandstone. A coal which is probably the Fawcet Coal has been worked at the North Wood, with a southward dip, but I cannot give its thickness. It is said to lie between two stones, and our informant stated that it came just below a blue limestone which was the roof of the seam, so that it may possibly be the Dun Limestone Coal. The Woodend Limestone is quarried to the southward, but the Dun Limestone is not exposed. To the eastward there are many old coal pits south of Hemphole Plantation and in the dean north of the Chuck Bridge, and the seam here worked is 30 CARBONIFEROUS. probably tbe Fawcet, having an easterly dip, and underlying the limestone of Hemphole Plantation, which is probably the Dun. It is uncertain if the coal has an outcrop to the south-west or not. The workings are said to have been stopped a little north of the Chuck Bridge by a " trouble." Fossils from the Carbonaceous Series. Annelida. ISpirorbis helicteres, id, T. Crustacea. Entomostraoa, 27. Beyrichia arcuata. Mollusca. Lamellibranchiata. Modiola Macadami, T. Leptodomus ? Schizodus, 27. Solemya primseva, 4 (ranges to No. 2 limestone). Gasteropoda. Bellerophon, 27. Pisces. Megalichthys. Strepsodus, 27. Fish remains, 5. As the fossils from the Carbonaceous Series in this district are very few in number, it was thought advisable to give also those found at Deputy Row, near Berwick, in the area to the north of this. These appear without numbers in the above list. = Those marked T. are also in the Tuedian. The numbers refer to locali- ties which are enumerated in the general list of fossils (Appendix, p. 121). LIMESTONE GROUP. 31 CHAPTER V.— CARBONIFEROUS— (continuerl). Limestone Group or Calcareous Division. This group includes all the rest of the Carboniferous strata in this area from the base of the Dun Limestone upwards, the total thickness being about 1,500 feet. It is characterised by the number and thickness of its marine limestones, of which there are from 15 to 20 beds varying in thickness from a foot or two up to 30 feet or more. The number of coals that have been worked is also very considerable, but they vary a good deal both in quality and thickness, as will appear from the detailed de- scription. The whole series as exposed in this district would appear in a section drawn from the dean north of Lickar in a S.S.W. direction, through Lowick to Barmoor Red House. The following section gives the thicknesses of the principal limestones of the series, together with an approximate estimate of the thick- nesses of the intermediate measures : — Geneeal Section of the Limestone Geoup. Ft. Measures with a thin limestone and the Lickar Coah 300 No. 1 or Drybum Limestone - 25 Measures with Drybum Coal and a thin limestone 120 No. 2 or Lowdean Limestone - 20 Measures - _ 50 No. 3 or Acre Limestone - - 20 , Measures with Acre Coals and a thin limestone 100 No. 4 or Eelwell Limestone - 25 Measures with Eelwell Coal and others, and five or six thin limestones - - - 300 to 400 No. 5 or Oxford Limestone - - 15 Measures with Greenses and Howgate Coals (several) ; also Woodend Coal and two or more thin limestones - 300 to 400 No. 6 or Woodend Limestone 12 Measures 120 Dun Limestone - 5 All the principal limestones, except the Dun Limestone, six in number, have been largely quarried and burnt for lime. Many of the old quarries are now nearly filled in with earth or are full of water. It was for lime- burning that many of the rather poor and thin seams of coal were worked. The Dun Limestone, which was only 4 ft. thick at Barmoor, was 7 ft. in the pits near Hetton Coal Houses. It is a bluish- grey limestone which, owing to the presence of iron, weathers often to a brown colour, hence its name, but it is very little exposed in the western part of the area. In the Lowick Forest pits sunk to the Fawcet Seam, it was only 2ft. 6 in. thick, and in this neighbourhood it is visible in the Low, and also in a small stream which joins the Low from the east, where the dip is 50° to west. The beds between the Dun and Woodend Limestones seem to be principally sandstones, judging from the pit-sections and 32 CARBONIFEROUS. from what is seen of these beds in the Coal Burn west of Hetton Coal Houses. West of Hetton Coal Law and south of Redsteads, these sandstones form marked features. No coal on this horizon is known.* The Woodend limed una is 12 ft. thick at the Barmoor quarry, and is generally a light-coloured or whitish limestone markedly coralline at top, where there is often a good deal of calcareous shale. By the Biteabout Fault it is thrown down to the south, and has been worked extensively east of Coalshank and in a long quarry at Hetton Coal Houses ; but little is known of it or of the Dun Limestone to the south of the Hetton Coal Law Fault. The Woodend Limestone has been much worked at Chatton and Belshill, and many fossils have been collected from it, lists of which are given in the Appendix (pp. 88, 121). It takes its name from a place called Woodend in the Map west of this. Above this limestone the sandstone is often decomposed into sand. The Woodend Coal comes a short distance above the limestone, but does not seem to have been worked at Barmoor. At Hetton Coal Houses, however, a coal on this horizon has been largely worked, and is said to have been good. Further south in some more recent pits the coal was 20 to 24 in. thick, and reported to be a soft coal with a bad floor. The same coal seems to have been worked east of the Fawcet workings near Wrangham on the south side of the large fault there. It was being worked^(1884) at Chatton Colliery. Above this coal come sandstones and shales with the Little Howgate and Muckle Howgate Coals, which have not been worked at Barmoor, but one or both have been worked at Detchant Coal Houses, Fenwick and Belford Moor. The Muckle Howgate Coal has been worked south of Lowick in a pit 72 ft. deep, by the roadside about half a mile south of Brownrigg. The . coal is rather dirty, with several bands, and is 4 to 4£ ft.^thick in all, the top coal being left on for roof, and only the loAver 2 to 1\ ft. being fairly good coal. West of the working-pit a series of borings, given in the Appendix (p. 136), proved the coal to range from 3 ft. 9 in. to only 2 ft. at the most northerly boring, and it would seem that further north, west of Brownrigg House, it was only 1 ft. thick in a boring made there to a depth' of 90 ft. A thin limestone, 1 to 3 ft. thick, has been bored through above the coal, associated with white, green and red shales ("metal" in the accounts) which remind one much of parts of the Tuedian group. Similar beds are seen in the railway-cutting north of Scremerston Station, near Berwick, and again in the bay of the Burgess' Cove, north of the Tweed, where they have been mistaken for the Lower Carboniferous or Tuedian Beds. A lower coal supposed to be the Little Howgate, was proved to the west of the outcrop of the Muckle Howgate in a series of borings, details of which are given in the Appendix * Both Mr. Boyd and Mr. Tate in their sections give coals between the Woodend and Dun Limestones, and mention one of them as being worked viz., the Biteabout Seam, but this must be a mistake. LIMESTONE GROUP. 33 (p. 137). The coal in one of the borings occurred as in the following- section : — Ft. In, Coal IX Shale 1 5 Coal' 6 The coal lies below a good thickness of red and white sandstone, but how far it is below the M'uckle Howgate Seam cannot be exactly given. It must be as much as 50 ft., and is probably a good deal more here. It seems likely that this is the lower coal of _ the boring west of Brownrigg House, where it is 1 ft. 2 in. thick, and separated from the upper seam by about 53 ft. of measures. A boring further west below the coal proved nothing but red, white, and dun-coloured sandstone, to a thickness of 48 ft. 6_in.,_ under 12 ft. of clay. A thin limestone was noticed at Barmoor Clay Pit, and it may be seen in a small quarry to the north-west, on the other side of the road, dipping E.N.E. It is there blue and compact, and appears to be 3 or 4 ft. thick, but may be more. This I think is the same as the Watchlaw Limestone of the area to the west, and it appears in several other parts of this Map, being often light-coloured, like the Woodend Limestone. It is, perhaps, this limestone that was proved in the Brownrigg Borings. Higher up in this series of beds come the two Greenses Coals, proved near Barmoor South Cottage. The upper coal is 1 it', thick, with 18 in. of limestone above. It is probably this coal that is exposed in the stream east of Barmoor Moss, where the following beds are seen:— Dark shale. Coal, nearly 1 foot. White clay. There are other two coals, thin, between this and the thick lime- stone above. One of the Greenses Coals has been worked a little east of Lowick High Stead, and a coal on this horizon has been worked at Low Lynn and Hetton Steads. The Oxford Limestone is a grey or blue-grey limestone, often largely made up of encrinite fragments, and generally from 15 to 18 ft. thick. It has been extensively quarried near Barmoor Moss, west of Highstead Whitehouse, where it yields Saccam- mina Carteri, and there are large quarries in it at Dunsall in the area to the west and at Oxford, north of Ancroft, whence it derives its name. It has also been quarried north of Swinhoe and about Low Lynn, and it appears on the shore at Annstead, and twice at Monkshouse. In this district its outcrop is shifted eastward by the fault near Lowick High Stead, but there is little trace of the limestone in the drift-covered low ground south of Lowick. The Biteabout Fault shifts it back again to the south- west, and there is a small exposure of it north of Brownrigg, and a long old quarry in it north of the camp to the west of Laverock- law, where it is said to overlie a thin coal. Another coal 15 in. thick, a few fathoms below, has been proved by boring. Again it is shifted a long way to the west by a large fault at Laverocklaw, and it is only seen once to the south of this, in a 2312. 34 CARBONIFEROUS. quarry about half a mile W.S.W. of Hetton Steads ; and south of this all definite trace of it is lost in the drift. West of the last- mentioned quarry the Greenses Coal has been worked ; it was 20 in. in thickness with sometimes a metal parting 9 in. thick, the roof being a limestone 2 ft. thick. It seems there are two Greenses Coals here. Above the Oxford Limestone comes a group of thin limestones with interstratified sandstones and shales with coals — the whole being 300 to 400 ft. in thickness. Of these limestones there are six to be seen at Scremerston, south of Berwick, and there would seem to be at least seven at Beadnell — but there are only traces of four or five between the Oxford and the Eelwell Limestones west of Lowiek, and those are imperfectly seen. The highest of them is seen in the stream behind Lowiek, and another was found in making the reservoir west of the village. Only one limestone is at all conspicuous and this is at the Cross Hills near Barmoor, where at the west end it becomes brown, and ends abruptly as if cut off by a fault. It may be the same limestone that is seen at the front of the houses at Barmoor. There are traces of some others in the fields. In a little burn north of Brownrigg the beds are somewhat better seen, but still the section is rather a poor one. The following can be traced : — Eelwell limestone. (Gap.) Limestone (?) (Gap : sandstone and shale further down). Limestone, brown. Sandstone and shale, dip 15° to E.N.E., of some considerable thickness. Limestone. Coal, underclay, and shale, seen in one place. Limestone. Sandstone and shale. Limestone, dip E.N.E. at 25". Coal. Thin sandstone and shale. Limestone. Sandstone and shale, good thickness, with coal. Oxford limestone. There is a better section north of Lowiek in the stream near Low Lynn Mill :— Eelwell limestone. Sandstone, seen for - 25 feet Limestone, thin, probably coal below - - - 5 _ Sandstone and shale, dip at 30" to W., at least - 100 Limestone, 8 to 10 feet 9 Sandstone and shale 40 Limestone, dip W. at 20° 5 Sandstone and shale - . 55 Limestone, dip W. at 20°, 7 to 8 feet seen 8 Sandstone, seen for - 05 Limestone, 2 to 3 feet seen, say - 5 Sandstone and shale - . 45 Limestone, thin, say - 3 Sandstone and shale - 75 Oxford limestone. LIMESTONE GROUP. 35 The dip is pretty high throughout, and 400 ft. seems a moderate estimate of the thickness of the beds here. At Bead- nell, the section of which will be given further on, they appear to be even thicker, quite as much as 500 ft. Only one coal is known to have been worked in this series near Lowick, and it occurs a little below the uppermost of the thin limestones, and is called the Eelwell Coal at Lowick, where it was worked south of the quarry. In one place where it was proved it was only 9 in. thick. At Beadnell there are two Eelwell Coals, one of them thick, and coals on somewhat lower horizons have been worked at Beadnell, Fleetham, and Hetton Steads. At the latter place, nearly half a mile west of the farm, a good coal has been worked 14 in. thick, or, according to another account, from 18 to 24 in. The workings are south of the large fault there, and the coal seems to be about half-way between the Eelwell of Hetton quarry and the Oxford, south of the Smithy ; for two thin lime- stones can be traced in the fields east of the pits, and another seems to have been sunk through in the shafts. The Eelwell Limestone has been extensively worked in a long quarry at Lowick, stretching for more than a mile to the west- ward, and the same limestone has been largely worked at Bowsden, Hetton, Beadnell, and North Sunderland. The dip in the quarry at Lowick is northward from 8°, to 10°, changing to nearly eastward at the village, where it appears in the street. At the east end of the workings the section was — Soil, like decomposed shale 2 to 3 feet. Shale, becoming sandy above 18 to at least 24 „ Limestone worked, but one or two feet at the top not used - - - - 18 „ Limestone below not worked ; only about 1 ft. of this at top is good stone - 8 „ At the west end of the long quarry only about 12 ft. of shale is visible above the limestone. Near the middle of the quarry, where the road from Lowick makes a sharp bend to the north, there is about 23 ft. of shale above, with 2 to 3 ft. of flaggy sandstone near the top. Here is what seems to be a reversed fault with a downthrow of 2 to 3 ft. Fig. 2. Eeverse Fault, Eelwell Quarry. South of this is a fault ranging nearly east and west, throwing down south 4 to 5 ft. and having dun-coloured limestone along its course. A long list of fossils collected from this quarry will be found in the Appendix (pp. 86, 121). It seems to be the Eelwell 2312.- C 2 36 CARBONIFEROUS. that appears in an old quarry between the two faults south-east of Lowick, and it can be seen in the stream some distance west of Moorhouse, but it cannot be traced southward. The large quarry at Hetton Steads, south of the large fault by Laverocklaw, is in the Eel well Limestone. The dip is high near the fault — about 30° to E.N.E., changing further to the east to N.E. at 10°, and then to nearly due north, though the beds roll about a good deal in places. One of these sharp rolls striking N.N.W. may be seen nearly opposite the old limekilns, and others which may possibly be accompanied by small faults are visible nearer the east end of the quarry. Nearly opposite the old limekilns is the following section : — Stony loam - - 5 to 6 ft. Tiles or thin flagstones about 6 „ 7 „ Grey shale 10 „ 12 „ Limestone 10 ft. Shaly parting 7 to 8 in. Limestone (bottom not seen) 4 ft. Near the eastern end of the quarry 18 ft. of limestones were got out, leaving 2 to 3 ft. of bad limestone below unworked. The dip here changes again to N.E., but the limestone cannot be traced, being covered by 8 to 10 ft. of stiff blue till or boulder clay. The fossils obtained in this quarry are : — Lithostrotion jtmceum, Flem. Chonetes laguessiana, be Kon. Spirifera trigonalis, Mart. Productus giganteus, Mart. „ longispinus, Sow. „ sinuatus 1, Be Kon. „ spimilosus, Sow. The beds between the Eelwell and Acre Limestones are not well exposed about Lowick. The following is partly an estimated section : — Acre Limestone. 2? al T 8 in. to 2 ft. Fireclay - -\ Sandstone and Shale -J " • 25 » Acre Coal with a 6 in. stone 20 in to 2 Sandstone and Shale - 9*5 " Little Coal. . Sandstone and Shale - - 20 Limestone - - 5 " Sandstone and Shale - 30 " Eelwell Limestone. " The coals have all been worked north of Lowick, and some of ^ 1 Upp J er - , maybe seen al °ng with the Acre Coal near Barmoor Mill and m the stream east of Bowsden; but the best section is m the bum west of Moorhouse, where the limestone is exposed. Ihe coals were also worked for lime-burning at the Ancroft- steads quarry at the northern edge of the map in a pit 90 ft. deep, of which the following is a verbal account :— Tills Limestone - ~ - - 24 ft. in. Freestone bands. " " ° »> Coal - Bands - - " - n D • " , * » 6 >i Coal with 1 in. to 6 i n , of Chalk-s'tone V?o 4 " " LIMESTONE GROUP. 37 In places the two coals nearly merge into one, and they vary much as to depth below the limestone. The A ere Limestone has. been a good deal worked north of Lowick at the Acres and west of the north road (where it has been called the Dun quarry, owing to its occasional yellowish or brownish tinge), as well as north-east of Bowsden, and at Linkey- lea and Ancroftsteads quarries. It is about 20 feet thick, and by some is reckoned the best limestone of the series. The bed has yielded many fossils at Lowick, Bowsden, and Ancroftsteads, the shale above being especially rich in Ostracoda, and the upper part of the limestone is in places full of the remarkable foramimfer, Saccammina Oarteri. There is generally a bed of coal below the limestone, and this is said to have been 2 ft. in thickness at the Acres quarry, but it is generally only a thin coal. ' The shale overlying this limestone is in places rich in ironstone nodules. The beds between this and the Lowdean Limestone are about 50 to 60 ft. thick, and seem to be mostly shales with some white and blocky sandstone near the top, and a thin coal immediately underlying the limestone. Some of the beds may be seen east of Barmoor Mill and in the stream west of Moorhouse, where they are flexured a good deal. They were also exposed in a neAV cut made there. The Lowdean Limestone has not been so much quarried at Lowick as the others, but it is exposed east of Barmoor Mill, and there is an old quarry in it further eastward between the two roads running north. The thickness seems to be from 20 to 25 ft., but some of the upper part is thin-bedded and shaly, as may be well seen at the quarry in this limestone at Moorhouse, a mile south-east of Lowick, where were obtained : — Phillipsia Eichwaldi, Fisch. Athyris ambigua ?, Sow. Productus longispinus, Sow. Spirifera trigonalis, Mart. Streptorhynchus crenistria, Phil. Terebratula hastata, Soto. This is the limestone so much worked at Scremerston and on Holy Island. Lists of fossils from these places are given in the Appendix (p. 121). The following is an approximate section of beds below the Dryburn limestone : — Sandstone and shale - I o to 25 ft. in. Coal worked at Dryburn - Maid to be 1 „ 3 „ Sandstone and shale 50 „ „ Limestone, gritty 6 „ „ Sandstone and shale 45 „ „ These beds are partly to be seen north-east of Barmoor Mill, and in the stream near Lowlynn Mill, and the coal, which has also been worked at Berryburn and at Newton-by-the-Sea, may be seen in several places in the burn south of the Dryburn quarry. There is a fair section of these beds at Lowick Mill, east of Lickar, where the strata between the coal and the thin limestone seem to be mostly beds of thick red sandstone. The Dryburn Limestone is the highest thick limestone of the Calcareous series, and has been largely quarried for a length of three-quarters of a mile. It dips northward from 10 c to 15°, in- 88 CARBONIFEROUS. creasing to 20° or more west of New Dryburn, where it strikes' away to the north-west, until cut off by the large fault there like the three thick limestones below and the Lickar Coals above. About 200 yds. east of the main road is the following section :— Reddish clay above. . Shale and thin sandstone bands, grey sandstone m middle and red above - - " Impure yellow-brown limestone, thin-bedded and snaly j above 2-3 feet Thick limestone post ; - 3-4 feet Shaly partings, with encrinites and brachiopoda - J Good limestone below in several beds, with a coral band near the top - - seen to Probably more limestone below. Several caverns in the limestone have been formed at the junction of the upper and lower beds, and 200 yds._ further to the east the beds are very much contorted into a series of sharp rolls something like those in the accompanying sketch : — 15 7-8 12 Fig. 3. Contortions in l)ryburn Quarry. The coals above the Dryburn Limestone have been a good deal worked from New Dryburn to Lickar and again west of Berrington. The deepest pits are from 180 to 216 ft. deep, but no satisfactory section of any deep shaft could be obtained. Most of the in- formation about the workings was got from working miners. At Dryburn Colliery west of the main road, one shaft to the Lickar main seam was 204 ft. and another shaft north of this sunk for 216 ft. did not reach any of the seams, though the limestone coal was proved by boring 60 ft. further. The beds " hang " 1 in 1 or at about 45°, and the coals were won by a stone drift from the bottom of the shaft driven south-west for about 20 yds. The section* of the coals is as follows : — Ft. Limestone- - - ... 1 Coal - - is j n- to 2 Beds - 8 ft. to 10 Rough coal, with bands . . 2 £e4 s ■ , - 8 ft. to 10 Mam coal - - 2 6 in. to 3 In. 3 * Information from W. Brown, Barmoor S. Cottage. LIMESTONE GROUP. 39 East of the road is a pit 150 ft. deep to the Lickar Main Seam. The following section of Drybum Hill, Lowick, 1859, from Sinkings and Borings (issued by the N. of Eng. Inst. Min. Engineers), seems to be that of a pit about here, but I do not know how far it is trustworthy : — Ft. In. Freestone, full of red keel - 126 Lickar Limestone 6 Coal - 2 Bandy freestone - 12 Blackband ironstone 2 Coal, rough 2 Freestone 13 o Shale - 13 Main Coal, good, fine splint, but does not cake - 2 6 North of Old Drybum there was an engine pit 96 ft. deep to the Main Seam. The section* of the coals here is said to be : — Ft. In. Limestone - - 6' in. to 2 Limestone Coal 18 in. to 2 6 Freestone bands and tills 6 Parrot Goal - - 4 Bough Goal, with 2 bands in middle - 24 in. to 2 2 Freestone bands - - - - - - - 15 Maim, Goal, coarse, and not so good as rough coal 26 in. to 2 4 North-west of this the pits seem shallower, and the coals are said to turn up sharply to the north, probably against the large fault. Mr. Steavenson's Lickar Pit, further to the east, was 180ft. deep to the Main Coal, but I could obtain no section of it. The following section of the coals given by Mr. Boyd in his paper was probably obtained from Mr. Steavenson when the pit was working —about 1860 :— Ft. In. Limestone - 4 Coal - ' 2 Freestone 6 Parrot Coal 2 6 Measures - 6 Rough Goal - - 18 Sandstone-and Shale 15 6 Maim, Coal - - 2 6 Another pit of the same depth, on the i hill west of the house, is said to be sunk mainly through freestone bands above the coals ; and m this direction the Mam is said to become thinner and to deteriorate in quality, so that only the Rough Coal was worked. The Main Seam Coal was worked for land-sale purposes and is said to be highly bituminous in some layers, but leaves a residue of white ash. More recently an attempt was made to work the coals further to the eastward, and Mr. John Dunn of Shotton Colliery sank a pit 400 yds. to the north-east of Mr. Steavenson's Lickar Pit. This was sunk to a depth of 126 or 147ft., and then a boring from * Information from Alex. Bolton, Brownrigg. Ft. in. 12 25 6 3 9 9 9 6 11 7 6 10 40 CARBONIFEROUS. the bottom proved the limestone seam 30 ft, lower, and others below that. There seem to be some discrepancies in the accounts kept of the sinking, so that the lower part is untrustworthy. The upper part is : — Clay Soft freestone bands Blue metal Freestone bands Tills Hard freestone post " Blue " and freestone bands - Freestone post Thick freestone The rest is not to be depended on, but seems to have been principally sandstone. The coals proved are said to be as follows (in a prospectus published in 1877) : — Ft. In. Limestone seam - 2 4 Cannel Coal, same as Parrot Coal - 4 Lady Coal, this is the Bough Coal - 2 6 Main Coal - - 3 6 Probably these thicknesses .are somewhat exaggerated. Mr. Dunn sank another pit in the same field at the corner, near the branching — which was only about 55 ft. to 60 ft. to the Cannel Coal. The coals proved were said to be : — Ft. In. Limestone seam - - - - 2 4 White post - 3 Cannel Coal - 2 11 Bottom Coal, about 5 Band 10 Lady Coal - 2 4 Most of the coals have come near together here. What has become of the Main Coal is not known, for a boring below the Lady Coal, though going down 27 ft. further, did not prove it. The boring was in : — Ft. Hard white post • - 24 Soft red sandy shale 3 Some of the beds below the Main Coal, mostly sandstone, are to be seen in the stream north of Lowick Mill, dipping N.ISI.W. at 15°, and in the lower part of Dryburn, where a portion of the sandstone is coarse and red. Further west at Crookhouse is an old sandstone quarry where the dip is north from 10° to 15°, and the following section was obtained : — Boulder clay__ Coal trace, may be Lickar Main. Sandstone, thin bedded Shaly coal Dark sandy shale Sandstone [Gap of about] Sandy shale, dark, with trace of coal Sandstone white, and thin above, seen for Ft. In. 2-3 2-3 2-3 9 3-4 1 1 6 4 LIMESTONE GROUP. 41 Some of the beds above the coals are visible north of Lowick Mill about the junction of the Low and the stream from Lickar Dean, and up the latter stream the dip is to the north-west and eventually beds probably higher in the series than any sunk through in the coal pits are exposed. There seems to be a great thickness of soft red sandstone, in places decomposed into sand, and this, in Lickar Dean, close up against the fault which passes along the north side of the stream, appears to dip at high angles to the south. This Lickar Dean fault has a large downthrow to the south, so that all the beds of Lowick are repeated again to the north of it, from the thin limestones below the Eelwell up to the beds above the Lickar Coals, and probably nearly as far up as these soft red sandstones of Lickar Dean. In the dean it seems to be the Low- dean limestone on the north side that is thrown against these red sandstones, and the fault has probably a throw here of 400 ft. or more. The Eelwell limestone is seen in the village of Bowsden, and is quarried to the east of it ; the Acre limestone has been a good deal quarried to the north of the burn, and the Lowdean and Dryburn limestones come on to the north, though they are not much exposed owing to a covering of drift. Yet a good deal of the Dryburn limestone may be seen down Berrington Burn past Berrington down to Berryburn Mill, and again at Berryburn itself. The Rough Coal and the Lickar Main Coal have been worked at Berrington in former times, but I could not learn much about the old workings, though I was informed that the Rough Coal was in a good state. The principal engine pit was situated south of the burn and about 100 yds. east of the main north road. The beds in the burn here dip generally to the west of north — but inclining to east of north in places — at various angles between 10° and 30°, and a bed of oil-shale or coarse parrot can be traced for more than 1-00 yds. on the south side of the burn. In the wood west of the road near the bridge are quarries in red and brown sandrock. This probably underlies the oil-shale and strikes north-eastward across the burn, dipping to the S.E. Immediately west of the bridge red and white sandstone is visible in the burn, and west of this is a good thickness of shale with two coals dip- ping a little south of east at 35°. There are some small coal-pits here and the two seams of coal may belong to the Lickar set. There is now a gap in the section and then we see the following beds dipping at 45° to S.S.E. : — Shale. Soft massive sandstone. Shale. Shattered white sandstone. Coal, 6 in. Soft sandstone. A little further west there is one thin limestone and probably another ; and there is fairly good .evidence, taking this and the sections further up the burn together, that we have to deal with quite a different set of beds, and that just before reaching the high dip of 45°, a large fault was crossed which throws down to the 42 CARBONIFEKOUS. south, the beds above the Drybum limestone abutting against those 'below the Eelwell limestone on the north, for such seems to be the horizon of the beds about Sandyford Plantation. The beds are flexured a good deal and at rather low angles, and traces of coal appear in two or three places. About a quarter of a mile west of the bridge a pit was sunk about 60 ft. deep on the north side of the burn, The section is said to have been : — Tills and freestone bands. Bastard stone, neither freestone nor limestone. Parrot coal, 6 or 8 in. Coal, 1 ft. It is possible that this may be the Greenses Coal, and a limestone may be seen in the burn close by. There are traces of old pits north of this on the north side of the cross road, and coal brought out by moles was noticed further east in the same field. There is an old limestone^ quarry at the western edge of the Map near Berrington Law, which seems most likely to be in the Oxford limestone, and there is another old limestone quarry east of Berrington Back Hill which seems to be either in the Acre or the Eelwell. A sinking was made for water in a corner of the field 250 yds. north-east of the house, and this is an account of it : — Soil and clay. Sand. Tills. Coal, 20 in. or 2 ft. Till. This sinking was altogether 22 ft. and then a boring was made from the bottom 24 ft. further, which seemed mostly in tills; it was " soft stuff" according to my informant. The coal is probably the Acre or the Eelwell. The limestones and coals cannot be traced about here, however, as little can be seen at the surface owing to drift. South of the Ancroftsteads quarry, the Acre limestone, shale and sandstone are seen in the burn, dipping W.N.W. and N.W. at angles of 15° to 25°, so that there must be a fault or sharp roll between the burn and the quarry where the beds dip eastward. Some old quarries to the eastward, now full of water, show the Lowdean limestone, which is said to have below it a coal 1 ft. thick. Nearer Berryburn the Dryburn Coal was worked, and is said to be 16 inches thick. The Dryburn limestone is visible in the stream at Berryburn and for a long way below. A little south of the house it contains many corals, and some way north of the road there was found a large Nautilus. Further down stream the limestone is yellowish, compact and siliceous-looking, and is probably magnesian as it seems often to be. The lime- stone is folded a good deal in many places, and about 250 yds. south of Berryburn it rises out of the stream and exposes sandstone below, Avhich near Berryburn Mill is faulted against the same limestone. There are limestone quarries on both sides of the stream at Bridge Mill, in rather compact blue limestone, app .rently nearly flat, but what bed this is I cannot say. All the ground to the south around New Haggerston is thickly covered with drift, and LIMESTONE GROUP. 43 nothing is known of the rocks below. Some of the limestones and associated beds above the Oxford appear however in the Low to the south-east, with a north-west dip, and the Oxford lime- stone itself is in the stream east of Lowlynn Bridge and it has been a good deal quarried near Lowlynn and southward over Kentstone Hill. At one of these quarries by the roadside lh miles W.S.W, of Beal Station were collected : — Alveolites. Orthis Miclielini, L'Eveille. Procluctus longispinus, Sow. Spirifera trigonalis, Mart. The Greenses Coal has been worked on the hill and in the field to the south, and there are also many old pits and falls at Low- lynn, showing that it was worked there. At High Kentstone there is a well-marked sandstone below this coal, but not much is seen of the beds west of this down to the Wood End limestone, though there is in one place a trace of one of the Howgate Coals and the Woodend coal seems to have been worked east of Kentstone. Little is seen of the Woodend limestone except in two small quarries, but some of the beds below it are exposed in the side of the whin quarry south of Kentstone, where sandstone and shale dipping eastward from 8° to 30° are altered by the dyke. The Dun limestone appears at the bend of the road a little north of the fault, and it has a coal immediately below. The Oxford limestone bends round on approaching the fault and runs along the north side of Mount Hooly Dean with a northward dip till cut off by the fault ; and a part of it appears again close to the fault at Mount Hooly, apparently with a high dip to the north. Beal and Fenwick. — The Eelwell Limestone is found on the shore at Beal Point, dipping eastward at 5°-10°. There is a line of crush with spar in ' it running eastward. Several quarries in this limestone occur in the fields to the south, and it appears to be the same limestone that is found at Penham Granary, where there is an old quarry. In the cliff southward from this is found a considerable , thickness of dark shale with ironstone nodules, and this probably overlies the limestone. A list of fossils collected at Beal Point will be found in the Appendix (pp. 86, 121). Along the shore west of Beal Point several thin limestones are found. The first to be noticed is a brown impure limestone with caudagalli markings. It has a good coal about 1 ft. thick below, and this rests on a fireclay. Two or three other limestones are to be seen near the mouth of the Brockmill Burn, the upper- most of which has been quarried in the fields to the south. Another -limestone, which may be the Oxford, crops out at the farm- steading on the east side of Beal ; and on the west side of the hill is a large quarry in fine white sandstone dipping gently to the east-south-east. Much sandstone is found outcropping about Fenham Hill with a gentle southerly dip, and south of the fault at Mount Hooly with an east-north-east dip, and many sections in shale and sandstone occur in the sides of the whin dyke quarries, especially in Cockleman's quarry. Ft. In. - 13 2 in. ' 8 in. 8 in. 1 ™ - 2 m fin. 4 in. 3 in. 44 CARBONIFEROUS. At least two and perhaps three coals known as The Howgate Seams are found on the south side of Mount Hooly Dean. In a level driven westwards from the dean the most easterly and uppermost seam .was found to be 1 ft. thick. The same coal burnt to a cinder is visible in Cockleman's quarry. A limestone 4 in. thick was found below in the level. The lowest seam, with bands, is 2 ft. 8 in. thick. The same coals occur at Fenwick, where one engine pit 120 ft. deep was said to be sunk in a fault which throws down the Small Coal, 42 ft. above, so as to be opposite the Lower Coal. This engine pit at the west end of the village is now a saw mill. The following is said to be the section of the Lower Coal : — Black metal, soft Top coal - Soft metal Top coal Chalkstone, bright yellow- Coal Brown slate Thill, white marl, like seggar - A boring below this to the extent of 54 ft. was all in freestone. The light-coloured Woodend Limestone crops out in the dean between West and East Kyloe, and may also be observed in several quarries near the latter place. Both it and the Dun Limestone below are probably shifted by the faults which affect the Howgate Coals. In the fields east of Fenwick a brownish siliceous-looking limestone may be noticed in several places between Fenwick Granary and Fenwick Stead. This is probably the Watchlaw Limestone of the adjoining Sheet 110 S. W. The whole of these beds are cut off by the great fault which passes south-west through Fenwick and Kyloe Woods, and has a downthrow to the south-east. The limestone once worked at Fenwick Stead is probably one of the higher limestones (Eelwell or a higher one) faulted on the east against a thin grey and brown compact nodular limestone, a little below which a coal seems to have been wrought. There is much disturbance in the rocks of this neighbourhood. At the north-east end of Kyloe Plantation a coal was wrought, said to be 1 ft. 6 in. thick, a dirty seam, only fit for lime-burning. Nearly half a mile south of this and a quarter of a mile east of the wood is a large old quarry where the Oxford Limestone was worked for lime- burnmg. There is 15 ft. of dark shale to be seen above, and the dip is from 15° to 20° or even more, to north-east. Between this and the coal last mentioned, four limestones crop out, of which the upper two have been quarried. They all dip N.E. and overlie the Oxford Limestone. A coal has been worked south of Buckton where the beds dip to the north-west. There are numerous sections along the County Burn in shales and sand- stones with a thin limestone, but all seem below the Oxford and above the Woodend Limestone. Belford.—ln approaching the Belford district from the north, we find that the Woodend and Dun -Limestones have been quarried near Holbum Woodhouse on the west side of LIMESTONE fiROUP. 45 Detchant Wood ; and a coal has been worked on the east side of the same wood near the Woodhonse, which has the following section : — Ft. In. Coal, soft, dirty 6 in."! Coal 3 in. I « a Shale - 4in.f 1 6 Coal 5 in. J The beds rest on shale and dark micaceous sandstone 2 ft. in thick- ness, and fine sandstone is found below. The dip of the beds is here to the north-east and east-north-east at angles of 6°-10°. To the westward sandstone is found, and then shale with two thin lime- stone bands from 12 to 18 in. each. In the branches of the next burn to the south-east of the Woodhouse a poor coal is found, 15 in. thick, which is probably the same as that last described, and one of the Howgate Seams. It occurs among undulating sandstones and shales. Nearly a quarter of a mile to the south-east of the last- mentioned burn a limestone has been quarried. The position of this is uncertain. It may be the Oxford Limestone, A compact blue limestone, probably the Dun, has been quarried more than half a mile to the west near a place — not on the map — called the Grey Mare. It is said to have been from 6 to 9 ft. thick, and was quarried under 12 ft. of tills and 10 ft. of soil. The rocks are now shifted a long way to the south-west by the Cockenheugh Fault, which has a large downthrow to the south-east, but does not appear to affect the Whin Sill, and is therefore probably older than the intrusive rock. The Oxford Limestone appears to have been quarried 100 yds. south of Swinhoe Pond ; and nearly half a mile south of Detchant Coal Houses, the Dun Limestone has been extensively quarried. It is at least 7 to 8 ft. thick, is of a blue-grey colour, weathering- brown, and is said to be 10 ft. thick and to have a 9 in. coal below. Above it comes 10 ft. of shale, and over this soft white sandstonemp to 10 ft. The dip is north-north-east to north-east at 10°-15°. Names of fossils collected here and at the Grey Mare will be found elsewhere (see pp. 89 and 121). A coal which is above the Woodend, and is probably one of the Howgate Seams, has been worked west of Dick's Old Walls between the two faults marked. Below this in places, the beds have a high dip of 40°-60° to east- north-east. To the east of the fault the same coal has been worked near Middleton Tile Works, and west of Plantation Farm up to the fault near Blagdondean. In a pit 600 yds. east of the tile-works there are two seams, but only the lower of the two was worked. The most important part of the pit-section is the following : — Parrot coal Beds - ("Top coal Coal -J Band (.Bottom Coal The Parrot Coal probably represents the Oil Shale of other pits. Near Plantation Farm the coal was 2 ft, 3; in, to 2 ft. 5 in, Ft. In, 2 18 18 in."| 20 in. } 3 9 7in.J 46 CARBONIFEROUS. thick and dipped to the north-east at 1 in 5. There are many old shafts in the Coal Wood, and one of these south of the house was said to be 144 ft. deep. A coal has also been wrought half a mile to the west in a curved outcrop just north of the Blagdon- dean Fault. South of this fault there is a good section in the Blagdondean. The flaggy sandstones and thick bed of shale overlying the Oxford Limestone have a gentle dip eastward of 3° to 5°. The limestone has been largely quarried on both sides of the dean and probably also near the Guide Post east of Sionside. Below the limestone in the dean is a coal 8 in. thick which rests on grey sandy underclay. To the westward crop out thick sandstones, and below them the Greenses Coal has been worked. _ The dip is here about north-east. Two other coals have been tried a little to the west ; and near the north end of the racecourse on Belford Moor are two more coals, making in all five that have been here worked between the Oxford and Woodend Limestones._ Of the racecourse coals, the upper, called the Little Coal, is 18 in. thick, and the lower, called the Stony Coal, has a freestone roof, and the following is its section : — • In. Top coal - - 18 Band • 20 Bottom coal 6-7 This seems to be the same seam as that near Plantation Farm, shifted a mile to the westward by the Blagdondean Fault. The Woodend and the Dun Limestones have not here been quarried. The Stony Coal appears to be that worked near the southern end of the racecourse, where there are several faults. It is 18 in. to 2. ft. in thickness. Again it has been worked further south, and close to the large Belford Moor Fault. Two seams have been worked at the latter locality, the lower of which is the Stony Coal. The Top Seam is here 15 in. to 18 in. thick, and is a good coal. Below are 6 or 7 fathoms of strata, and then comes the Lower or Stony Coal, made up of three beds : — ("Tops - - - 18 in.' to 2 ft. Stony coalj Metal - 18 in. to 2 ft. [Coal - 8 in, to 2 ft. In the pit-heaps of the upper seam an oil shale is found, which seems a constant band in North Northumberland. On the east side of the fault here a limestone has been worked, which is white in colour, and is probably the same as that seen in Newlands Burn north of Whitelee. It is the Watchlaw Lime- stone of Sheet 110 S.W. A coal 16 in. thick was worked in pits in Warenton Dean, but the same coal thickens in places and was found to be nearly twice this thickness in one shaft 60 ft. deep, of which the following is an oral account : — c , Ft. In. Surface - 6 Dark grey limestone 3 q Freestone bands and blue mixed 18 o Freestone in thin beds 15 q Blue- - - - -18-20 Uoal -«---.. 26 LIMESTONE GROUP. 17 There was no regular band in the coal, but sometimes it con- tained round sulphur stones or ' brassy.' The bottom was a hard blue till. A still lower seam than any of the above has been extensively worked for lime-burning and household purposes at Chatton Colliery. The working pit in the year 1882 was three-quarters of a mile west of Warenton, and was 120 ft. deep. The coal-section was as follows : — n. In. Hard post, roof stone 5 Coal 1 6 Band - I 8 Coarse coal - 1 Freestone bottom. The dip is eastward at 1 in 7. In a pit farther south the coal-section was as follows : — Ft. In. Top coal l 4 Band - 2 Bottom coal - 1 Here a " trouble," occurred which seems to have been only a ' nither,' for the top coal continued on, though the bottom coal entirely disappeared. The line of thinning had a direction from east to west. In 1848 an account of the seam worked on the north side of the road gives the section as : — Boof, blue metal. Ft. In. Coal 1 ft. 2 in- to 1 3 Soft metal - 3 Splint coal 1 ft. 6 in. to 1 8 This seam is the Woodend Coal and it occurs here from 9 ft. to 15 ft. above the Woodend Limestone. From the pit-heaps north- east of the lime-works were obtained the plants CardiopUris polymorpha and a species of Sphenopteris. The Woodend or Chatton Limestone is 13 ft. thick, light- coloured and coralline, and often the upper part is a calcareous shale crowded with corals. Sandstone often rests almost imme- diately on the limestone, being thus an exception to the almost universal rule that shale overlies limestone. A. fault with a down- throw south, nearly along the line of road, appears to cross the coal-workings and both the limestones here quarried. The Linkeylaw Limestone (the Dun) has been largely wrought for road metal. It is a compact grey rock, weathering of a brownish colour, is 7 to 8 ft. in thickness, and has been quarried under as much as 20 ft. of shale. The Woodend Limestone has also been much worked at the Belshill quarries east of Mousen, where it dips gently to the south and spreads over a considerable surface, though at the east end near the main road it turns sharply round and dips steeply east- ward. This limestone is 12 ft. thick and below it is an impure limestone 6 in. thick, which rests on a fireclay, beneath which comes a mass of false-bedded white and yellowish sandstone more than 20 ft. thick. (For fossil lists from all these quarries see Chapter VI, on' Palaeontology.) 48 CARBONIFEROUS. Over a large area to the south and east of Belford very little solid rock is exposed, and to the north and north-east of the town all the prominent features are formed by the Whin Sill. Much of the country is obscure, though a few of the higher lime- stones have been quarried. A limestone, which is probably thin, was observed in the fields nOsth of Belford Station, and in the Chesterhill Dean, where the road crosses, a red limestone may be" seen which has probably furnished the red fragments found in places in the drifts, and which have been by some supposed to have come from Scandi- navia. Lower down in this same dean, and overlying the lime- stone, is a mass of shale with thin irregular sandstone bands, altogether some 20 ft. thick, and above this comes 6 ft. of flaggy sandstone. There were collected here Athyris Roissyi, a fragment of a Lingwla, and Streptorhynchus crenistria. To the north-west of Belford on the north side of the Blagdon- dean Fault we find the Oxford Limestone at Craggyhall shifted nearly a mile eastward by the fault. About 7 ft. of dark compact encrinital limestone may be observed, but this is probably only one-half of the total thickness. It has 10 to 12 ft. of shale over it, containing small ironstone nodules. Traces of one or two other limestones are found to the north of Sunnyside Hill, and in one place there is a patch of limestone adhering to the whin on the hilltop. Shales that underlie the whin. have been found on the north side of Belford in drains and wells. The limestone quarried at Middleton is probably the Eelwell, but the section there is much complicated by the irregular intrusion of the Whin Sill, which has altered the rocks consider- ably, rendering the limestone crystalline. In the quarries west of the main road the limestone appears to be about 18 ft. thick and patches of limestone are enclosed in the whin which sends out dyke-like processes. One of these, 2 ft. in width, runs westward through the limestone on the north side of the old round quarry, now a pond, and another dyke crosses the stream to the west. On the east side of the road whin occupies the bed of the stream for 70 yds. from the bridge, and to the northward is a large old quarry in the limestone. On the south side of the stream we see a section in beds which overlie the thick limestone : — Limestone, forming small outliers, 1 to 2 ft. Coal. Thin sandstone and shale, 5 to 6 ft. Sandstone, fine and white above, reddish below. The lower part of this section is truncated westward by the rising of the upper surface of the whin. A north-west fault probably crosses the stream 130 yds. from the road, and east of this sandstone occupies the stream. Over- lying this comes a limestone with a dip of 8° to east-north-east, possibly the same 'limestone as that worked near the road, and into which the whin is intruded. From the outcrop in the stream limestone may be noticed at intervals to the south-east, till we arrive at the large quarries near Easington demesne where the LIMESTONE GROUP. 49 bed dips north at a gentle angle and covers a large surface. The following fossils were collected here : — Cyathopliyllum Murchisoni, J/. Edw. Poteriocrinus (stems). Orthis resupinata, Mart. Productus giganteus, Mart. Spirifera trigonalis, Mart. The limestone is largely encrinital, dark blue in colour, and is succeeded northward by shale which overlies it. It is probably a portion of this limestone that appears west of Easington below the whin of the hill. A limestone has been largely quarried north of this at Easington Mill where the rocks are sharply folded and the structure is difficult to make out ; and the top of another or the same limestone appears at the east end of the mill-pond coming up as a dome. In the quarries were collected : — Chonetes laguessiana, De Kon. Productus pustulosus % Phil. _ „ scabriculus, Mart. Posidonomya Becheri, Goldf. Bellerophon Urei, Mem. Another limestone with a north-north-east dip of 60° appears at the farm-steading at Elwick, but sandstone only was found in two wells sunk near the house. An extensive series of borings, details of which are given in the Appendix (p. 134) was made on this farm, but no valuable coal-seam was found, though one of the borings was more than 120 ft. Some limestones were met with, however, and one of these was 15| ft. in thickness, but none of these crops out at the surface, the soil and clay overlying them varying from 8 ft. to as much as 32 ft. thick. About two-thirds of a mile north-west of the farm there was formerly an old coalpit, of which the following is an account : — Ft. Clay, with boulders 32 Soft pale blue metal 12 Black metal 1 Coal - 2 Black metal - ■ 2 49 Warenford district. — The principal sections about Warenford are afforded by the Waren Burn from Lucker upwards. None of the higher limestones are known in this area. At Lucker station a boring for water was made to a depth of 107 J ft., and the strata pierced were : — Clay and sand Soft post Strong hard post Blue metal Hard grey post Grey metal - Veiy hard limestone with a little spar in it S312, Ft. In. 13 5 10 9 ■ 18 6 11 ■ 4 38 10 7 11 6 9 107 6 50 CARBONIFEROUS. A limestone has been quarried about half a mile west of Lucker village, which is said to be 8 to 12 ft. thick, with a coal below. A few feet of shale may be seen at the top of the quarry. The limestone may be the Oxford, and it is probably bounded on the south side by a large fault. There were collected here : Alveolites septosa, Cyatho-phyllum, Lithostrotion Portlocki, and Productus. Sandstone of various colours, dipping to the north-east, occupies the stream at the village, but higher up, the sandstone undulates and the dip is in various directions. Three hundred yards above the mill-pond a thin impure limestone occurs of which 2 or 3 ft. may be seen. The dip of this is to the north-east, and it is succeeded by shale and sandstone, and 600 yds. farther up by another limestone which seems a thicker bed. It is of a blue colour, at least 5 ft. thick, and has been quarried in the banks of the stream, where 5 ft. of shale overlies it, and over this is sand- stone. Below this limestone, sandstone with a north-north-east dip of 6° to 7° succeeds for some distance, and under this lies a coal which has been worked in many shallow pits on the north of the burn. Thin sandstone with plant-remains, and an 8 in. limestone lie below the coal. Soon the dip increases considerably, and there is probably a fault crossing the stream in a direction a little north of west. It appears likely that all the beds north of this fault belong to the series of thin limestones, &c, above the Oxford Limestone. However this be, it is certain that the rocks now to be described, which occur south of the fault, are below that Limestone. On the south of the fault the sandstone has an easterly dip ot 20° to 25°, and there appears a coralline limestone two feet in thickness. Another limestone occurs rather more than 100 yds. higher up the stream, and this is white, fine-grained, and blocky, and dips east at 10°. Near the foot-bridge the beds are nearly horizontal, and higher up the dip eastward is only about 5°, in whitish, yellowish, and greenish micaceous sandstone. Opposite Warenford, sandstone may be seen in places, and above the bridge fine sandstone with a northerly dip occurs. A little above the junction of the two streams we come on the Woodend Limestone in the South Dean, but in the North Dean the outcrop of the bed is considerably further up owing to the dip being here to the north-east. It is just beyond the sharp bend in the stream, where we find the section to be : — Ft. Thick bedded sandstone 12-15 Thinner sandstone 6 Shales - 7 Grey limestone (Woodend). Proceeding up the North Dean we come on to the beds below the limestone, and 350 yds. higher up there is a fine section in Corbie's Crag of nearly 40 ft. of sandstone with 7 ft. of shale below. A hundred and fifty yards farther west we find the Dun Limestone, blue-grey in colour, and at least 6 ft. thick, in three beds, with a north-east dip of 10° The beds for about a mile west of this belong to the Carbonaceous Series, and have been described previously, see p. 29. The Dun Limestone, with a LIMKSTONK ((ISOUP. ;")] steep dip to west, appears again in a poor section at the sharp bend of the stream west of Quarry Plantation. The sandstones and shales in the stream about Luckermoor house, which dip first west and then north, may belong to the series between the Dun and the Woodond Limestones, but it is more likely they are a lower set brought up by a concealed fault. The Woodend Lime- stone has been quarried to the west near Brownridge, where it is a white limestone dipping east and south-east at angles of 10° to 15° ; it has 10 ft. of thm shaly sandstone above it. It has also been quarried to the west of Twizell North Wood, where the sandstone above it is coarse, and reddish in colour, but in neither locality does the Dun Limestone appear. A thin nodular limestone is visible by the side of the Warenton Burn, south ofWarenton, and nearly 200 yds. south of the Belshill road. It is probably one that lies between the Woodend and the Oxford Limestones. A limestone has been quarried at the cross roads about 600 yds. south-west of Newham New Buildings, and north of Ellingham. This limestone is either the Dun or the Woodend, and the sandstone and shale with a south-east dip, visible in the burn about here, should overlie the limestone. Sandstone with an easterly dip, crops out in several places in the village of Ellingham, and two-thirds of a mile west-south-west, a thick sandstone, which has been quarried, makes quite a feature with a scarp to the west. By the roadside north of Lanehead is a rather large and deep quarry in a thick-bedded, fine, yellowish sandstone, which is nearly flat, or gently dipping to the south-west. The position of the Rayheugh Limestone in the series is some- what uncertain. It is 7 to 8 ft. in thickness, compact and encrinital, grey in colour above, but darker below. Shale or clay lies below it, and 4 ft. farther down a coal is said to occur. Sandstone crops out not far above the limestone. There is a limestone at a place called Hot Law, on the south side of the long plantation, more than three-quarters of a mile west of Rosehrough A small quarry has been dug, but the lime- stone was said to be in a disturbed state, and the quarry was given up. Some four or five feet of blue-grey limestone could be seen, but judging by the hole made, it is probably much thicker. The dip seems to be S.W. or W.S.W. at a high angle (55° ?). _ Chillingham. — In the Chillingham synclinal, before described, both the Woodend and the Dun Limestones must be found, but the former only has been quarried. The old quarry in it is west of Chillingham Barns, but it gives only a poor section, about 2 ft. of light coloured rock being visible, lo the west, a sand- stone which comes between the two limestones has been quarried. The dip is easterly in both quarries. I was informed by Mr. Bowie, of Chillingham, that a limestone was found in the Limetree Drive, about 50 yds. from the West Lodge; and lime- stone was also ploughed up in a field to the north-west of the Lodge. These would be on the east side of the synclinal. Nearly two miles E.S.E. from Chillingham a small area of limestone is coloured just at the edge of the Map on the south g3i2, P a 52 CARBONIFEROUS. side of a large fault. Limestone, however, is not visible here, but the strip is the continuation of the Woodend Limestone, which has been quarried at Botany in the area south of this. THE EAST COAST AND THE ISLANDS. BeadneU. — The best and the most complete section of the limestone series within the limits of this Sheet is to be found on the shore at Beadnell, from the harbour northwards to Annstead, a distance of a mile and a half. Unfortunately it is not complete in the lower part, as we do not see the Woodend and the Dun Limestones along the shore. They are found, however, inland near East Fleetham. The shore sections display all the limestones and intervening beds from the Ebb's Snook or Dryburn Limestone down to the Oxford, or rather, down to a thin limestone, 4 ft. in thickness, which lies 20 ft. below the Oxford Limestone. A few faults occur in the section, but these are small, and do not offer much difficulty in making out the succession of beds, which will be found to differ considerably from that given by Tate* and others, principally in that part of the section below the Eelwell Limestone. Several of the thin limestones can be observed only at very low water, and only after a careful search, and most previous observers seem not to have understood the section between the Eelwell and the Oxford Limestones elsewhere, with the result that the Oxford Limestone has been supposed to be the Woodend or Hobberlaw Limestone. There are in all fourteen limestones in this section, varying in thickness from 2 to 35 ft., and amounting altogether to 173 ft. The total thickness given in the section is about 950 ft.: Dryburn to Eelwell Limestones (both inclusive), 400 ft. ; Eelwell to Oxford, 500 feet. These thicknesses are greater than those of the corresponding beds at Lowick and Scremerston, and the thick- nesses of some of the sandstones here may have been exaggerated, especially as it is not easy to estimate the true dip in undulating and false-bedded rocks. BeadneU Section. Ft. in. Sandstone, rather fine. [Gap of a few feet, may be shalej 1st Limestone, of Ebb's Snook \_JDr-yburn\ Shales mostly, but with some thin sandstone 10 ft. to Sandstone, fine, calcareous at top, with encrinites \ Sandstone - J Coal - Sandstone, shaly and clayey Sandstone, coarse and yellow - "1 Sandstone, thick-bedded and reddish J Shales 2nd Limestone \Lowdean~\ Coal, traces. Sandstone, white, and probably shale, with ironstone 45 ( Limestone, 2 ft. ~| 3rd Limestone [Acre or Dmi]\ Shale, 5 ft. \ 22 < ft. J 30 12 15 1 20 50 25 35 [Limestone, 15 : Proc. Ber, Nat. Club., Vol. iv.,p. 96. LIMESTONE GROUP. 53 Goal, thin. Sandstone, grey and shaly, with concretions and shales Coal [Acre or Shilbottle Seam] - Sandstone and shale Limestone, dark Sandstones and shales, flaggy 4th Limestone [Eel-well] Coal, thin. Sandstone and shale Limestone Shale and sandstone - about Coal [Beadnell Main] ■ Shale and sandstone about Sandstone, some rather coarse and thick, with a little shale Shales Limestone - Sandstone, flaggy, and shale Limestone - - - Sandstone, blocky, and white ] Sandstone and some shale J Coal, said to measure Shales Limestone, may be about Coal, thin, said to be 4 in. to 6 in. Sandstone, flaggy " Limestone Sandstone, massive [Fault here, some beds may be missing]. Sandstone, massive ; perhaps part of same mass as that south of fault - Sandstone and shale Limestone Stone, clayey, and sandstone Shale, probably Limestone Shale and sandstone Sandstone, brown and white, false-bedded, flatfish or rolling Shale- 5th Limestone [Oxford or Greenses] Sandstone and shale Limestone, coralline Coal. Sandstone. At this point in the section is an important fault running east and -west, beyond, which is sandstone dipping- towards the shore, i.e., south-west. Besides the coals actually observed in this section there must be several others, some of which have been worked. These will be noticed as we proceed. The dip varies from 10°-12° in the higher beds and is generally about S.S.E. In the lower beds it is as low as 5°. The highest beds occurring in the section are fine- grained sandstones and below these there may be a few feet of shale immediately overlying : — No. 1. The Ebb's Snook or Great Limestone which forms the Snook or Beadnell Point. This is a whitish or pale yellow magnesian limestone, is very hard, and contains numerous corals as well as Productus giganteus, the latter fossil being found in 25 1 50 6 30 25 45 5 16 3 16 100 20 4 6 15 3 6 25 1 4 25 10 6 15 5 15 10 5 2 20 15 6 10 100 15 15 20 4 54 CARBONIFEROUS. nearly every limestone of the series. The peninsula south of the harbour has probably been an island, and may be one again some day. The isthmus connecting it with the mainland is flat and composed of blown sand. The beds between this limestone and the next are enumerated in the detailed section. They amount to from 120 to 125 ft. The coal 1 ft. thick has not been worked near Beadnell, but it was worked at Newton-by-the-Sea and at Dryburn near Lowick. No. 2. This is the Lowde