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SILURIAN ROCKS OF MAY HILL, ETC.
May Hill.
Prolongation of the axis of Woolhope by May Hill , to Purton and Tortworth in
The Silurian ridge which forms the south-eastern termination of the valley of Wool -hope, ranges by Oldbury Hill to the eastern side of Upton Bishop, exposing grey, inco-herent and flaglike strata of Ludlow Rocks, flanked by Old Red Sandstone.
At Yeaton the beds dip 35° to the W.S.W., hut to the south the line of elevation becomingless distinct, at Chibler’s Hill they are inclined only 8° or 10° to E.N.E. Beyond Upper Tedge-wood they are no longer traceable; for between Linton Wood and Queen’s Wood, these UpperSilurian Rocks rise in dome-shaped masses from beneath the clays of the Old Red Sandstone.In Linton Wood, ferruginous sandstone overlies beds of earthy grey limestone, some of whichare burnt for lime, and from their position and fossils are presumed to be the equivalent of theAymestry Limestone. Light coloured sandstone, sometimes almost white and occasionally mica-ceous, generally constitutes the upper ledge of these rocks. Such beds are well seen at Clifford’sMine, in contact with the Old Red Sandstone. On Gorstey Common, one of the domes alludedto, are very extensive quarries, which show this sandstone passing down into a dark grey, sandy,argillaceous rock, with casts of some of the Ludlow shells, underlaid by two remarkably hardbeds of calcareous grit, nearly one foot thick each, called “pitching stone” and “hone stone,”which again are succeeded by fifteen or twenty feet of beds, sufficiently calcareous to have been for-merly burnt for lime. Other quarries, north of the great road from Ross to Newent, expose grey,flaglike beds of genuine mudstone, with concretions of argillaceous limestone. Up to this pointthe Ludlow Rocks only are apparent, but in approaching May Hill we meet with two brokenlines, along each of which masses of the Wenlock limestone have been thrown up; the one rangingby Aston Ingham being a simple band, the beds of which are in a vertical position, striking15° east of south, and containing many characteristic shells and corals. The other, in RistleyWood, includes several masses of the same rock thrown about with discordant strikes and in-clinations, in one part dipping 45° east, in another 65° W.N.W. Some of these masses on thesides of Ristley Wood, are of the same red colour as the Wenlock limestone of Clencher’s Millnear Ledbury, and are subordinate to shale, containing many small concretions of impure limestone.Near a spot called the New House Farm, where the strata are much contorted, and thrown intoa south-easterly direction, it is a fine, crystalline, light grey limestone, highly charged with encrinites,corals and shells.
Advancing to the south-east, and ascending the arid elevation of May Hill 1 , 965feet above the sea, we find ourselves upon red-coloured Caradoc sandstone, filled with
1 I recommend every traveller who may be near it to ascend May Hill, from the summit of which he willenjoy a panoramic view not inferior to any in Great Britain. The Severn , meandering through rich plains, isseen to expand into its magnificent estuary, landlocked by the Cotteswold, Mendip, Quantock and DevonianHills ; while to the N.E. and N.W., the rich and undulating expanse of the central counties, is beautifully con-trasted with the sharp outline of the Malverns, and the sombre distant masses of the Welsh Mountains.