In transcribing the following passage from Smith’s text, I have begun with the rough OCR material provided by the Internet Archive and then collated it with the Internet Archive’s page images. If you spot any errors, please notify the webmaster. — George P. Landow
Great breadths of heathy surface, sandy roads, and deep hollow-ways, are the general characters of this stratum. The rusty-looking sandstone used in building, is also too singular to be passed without notice, especially where the mortar, in the coarse joints of its masonry, is spotted with small chippings of the stone, which makes if look like the heads of large rusty nails in strips of white paper. Specimens of this sort of masonry may be seen in West Norfolk and at Ryegate. As this stone is seldom carried far, the use of it us sufficient to mark the locality of the sandy stratum which produces it.
The course of this stratum, like that of many others, is much obscured by modern enclosures, culture, and planting. The extensive plantations of fir, at Longleat, Bowood, and Woburn, are instances of what were, only a few years since, the most dreary heaths, like several of those still remamihg on the course of the carstone sand. They are the same in Kent and Sussex as in Bedfordshire, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire. Rabbit warrens are numerous along the sandy course of this stratum, which extends over an unusual space on North York moors, Sussex forest-ridge, and Blackdown. [43-44]
Related material
- A County-by-County Geological Description of England’s Counties
- Smith’s Explanation of His Map of Geological Strata in England and Wales
- The History of the Idea of Geological Strata before William Smith’s Formulation and Map
Bibliography
Smith, William. A Memoir to the Map and Delineation of Strata of England and Wales. London: John Cary, 1815.
Created 11 September 2018