Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/611

 ENGLAND 599 ney marsh, W. of which the shore becomes alternately precipitous and flat. The "W. is by far the most irregular of the English coasts. It is high and rocky as far as Minehead bay on the Bristol channel. North of Wales the shore consists of wasting cliffs of red clay and marl, of peninsulas which were probably once more ele- vated than now, of abrupt headlands, and to- ward Solway frith of sands and marshes. The most mountainous part of England lies N. of the rivers Humber and Mersey, and is traversed N. and S. by a range called the Pennine moun- tains or the northern range, connected with the Cheviot hills on the Scotch border, and terminating in Derbyshire. The highest sum- mits rise to about 3,000 ft. West of this range are the Cumbrian mountains, occupying the cen- tral and southern portions of Cumberland, the larger part of Westmoreland, and the N. part of Lancashire. Their highest summits are Sea- fell (3,229 ft.), Helvellyn (3,055), and Skiddaw (3,022). The Devonian range extends from Somersetshire to the Land's End, and its high- est summit, Yestor Beacon, reaches a height of 2,077 ft. Three cross ridges occupy the 8. E. part of the kingdom, extending from Salisbury plain, one S. E. to Beachy head, another E. to the E. shore of Kent, and the third N. E. into Norfolk. The famous South Downs, 50 m. long and 5 or 6 m. wide, are in the first, and the Surrey hills or downs in the second, both being celebrated for their sheep pastures. The Malvern hills extend over parts of the coun- ties of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester. The Cotswold and Stroudwater hills are in Gloucester, and the Chiltern hills extend from Hertford, across Bucks, into Oxford. Between these ridges lie many beautiful vales; other parts of the country spread out in vast plains, such as the plain of York, which extends from the valley of the Tees to the confluence of the Ouse and Trent, 70 or 80 m., and others abound in rugged and picturesque scenery. Northumberland is largely occupied by moors, which also cover much of Lancashire, York- shire, Staffordshire, Cumberland, Westmore- land, and Durham. These are elevated tracts, in most places sterile, heath-grown, or gravelly. Those of the East Kiding of Yorkshire alone cover an area of 400 or 500 sq. m. The wolds of Yorkshire, which closely resemble the chalk hills of many other counties, occupy about 500 sq. in. The distribution of the geologi- cal formations through England is closely con- nected with that of its inhabitants, their in- dustrial pursuits, and physical condition ; all which indeed are in great measure controlled by the nature of the mineral productions and of the soil. Nearly all that portion of England lying E. of a line drawn from the mouth of the Tyne in Northumberland in a southerly direction through the towns of Nottingham and Leicester, thence S. W. nearly to Glou- cester, and again S. to Bath and S. W. to Ex- mouth, consists of the upper secondary forma- tions, including the oolite, lias, chalk, and greensand; and on both sides of the Thames, widening as the formation extends N. along the coast of Suffolk, is the tertiary group of clays and sands, which constitutes the London basin, and rests in the depression of the chalk. Similar strata hide the secondary rocks over a small area about Southampton and the north- ern part of the Isle of Wight. In Lincolnshire a strip of alluvial skirts the coast, and stretches S., constituting the boggy district of Hunting- donshire and Cambridgeshire. Over this region of secondary rocks the prevailing dip is toward the S. E., so that the lower members of the series are in general met with in passing from the eastern coast westward. They constitute narrow belts, which are traced with great uniformity in their line of bearing, or N. E. and S. W. Thus from Weymouth to the Hurnber one may continue on that bed of the middle oolite called the Oxford clay, the ave- rage thickness of which does not exceed 500 ft. A little further west, from Bridport in Dorsetshire to Flamborough head on the coast of Yorkshire, the topography, rocks, and soil all designate the chalk formation of earlier date ; but west of this, on the line from Lyme Eegis to Whitby, the limestones of the lias ap- pear in the general order of older rocks in a westerly direction. Over all this region no mines of coal or of metallic ores are found. The easily disintegrated strata present no bold hills, except in the cliffs of chalk abutting upon the coast, but are spread out in elevated plains, and gentle undulations and hills of smoothly rounded outlines. The calcareous nature of the strata secures fertility to the soil; and the region is distinguished for its agricultural character. West of this, occupying a belt not many miles wide, is the manufacturing district of England, made so by the mines of coal and iron ore along its range. They occur at in- tervals in isolated basins of moderate area, but remarkably productive in coal by the close grouping of the beds and the great depths to which they are carried by the steepness of the dip. These basins are often overlaid in part by the sandstones and marls of the new red sandstone formation, which rests upon the up- turned edges of the strata of the coal forma- tion. The marls afford rock salt and strong brine springs, which have long been advanta- geously worked in Cheshire, and near Droit- wich in Worcestershire. Associated with the salt are valuable beds of gypsum. The coal fields are too numerous to be all particularly named. That of Newcastle extends from the N. E. extremity of England to the river Tees, along the coast of Northumberland and Dur- ham ; it is traced further S. to Leeds, but this portion has only the lowest beds, which are of little importance. The Yorkshire and Derby- shire extends S. from Leeds to near Derby, and covers in its northern portion a breadth of about 25 m. Some small but very productive coal basins lie S. W. of Derbyshire, of which that near Coventry is the most southern locality