bring that about), there would not be much difference between the Ham-Hill section and several other sections near Sherborne.
Fig. 2.—Comparative Sections of Beds at Ham Hill and Babylon Hill.
Ham Hill has always been a puzzle to the geologist; but if we place it on the same horizon as the so-called "Lias Sands" at Bradford, the difficulty is at once cleared up.
Mr. Moore, in his paper "On the Middle and Upper Lias of the South-west of England," speaking of Ham Hill says:—
"The workable freestone at this spot is 58 feet thick, and almost entirely composed of comminuted shells, united by an irony cement, and is a remarkable deposit; for though attaining so considerable a thickness, it does not appear to be represented in any other locality. It has been largely worked for centuries, and yields a very excellent stone, of a light-brown colour, due to the presence of carbonate of iron, an analysis of the deposit proving it to contain 14 per cent of metallic iron"[1].
The best Gloucestershire equivalent of this bed is to be seen in the straight wall of rock at Crickley Hill, which latter section we consider the equivalent of the freestone-beds at Ham Hill, and the
- ↑ Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archæological and Natural-History Society, vol. xiii. 1865-66.
