Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1867).djvu/43

Rh mural cliff 400 feet above the sea level, resting on sandstone, and overlaid by a shale, which is metamorphosed; it then extends south-eastwards, and at Middleton is intercalated between a limestone and a sandstone, the latter being above it and metamorphosed at the point of junction. From Belford it goes eastward in a succession of high cliffs to Spindlestone, where it rests on limestone, and then to the mouth of the Warn, whence it bends southward to Bamburgh, where it is 75 feet thick, resting on sandstone and shale. Along the coast, between Budle and Bamburgh, there appear two different overflows or veins, separated by metamorphosed shale, and above the basalt is limestone. From Bamburgh it extends seaward, and forms the mass of the rocky islets of the Farne. It reappears on the south side of Beadnell Bay, having above it what we shall call, for distinction's sake, the Bent Hall limestone, which is here magnesian; and after curving inland, and again running along the coast southward of Newton, it sweeps round by Emblcton and Spittalford to Dunstanburgh Castle, where, in two places, metamorphosed shales come out of the mass of basalt; and limestone, when in contact with it, is changed into white crystalline marble. It extends along the coast to Cullernose, where it is 120 feet thick, and where, too, remarkable results of mechanical action are seen in the dislocated sandstone strata. Here it bids adieu to the coast, and trends away south-westward by Howick and Longhoughton; and at Rateheugh there are evidences of two, if not three, overflows or injections, two being distinctly seen in a section at Dunsheugh, where the limestone above as well as the shale below is metamorphosed. It crosses the Aln near to Denwick Mill, and is next seen southward of Alnwick at Stoney Hills, whence it runs to Snipe House and Shieldykes among the lowest beds of the calcareous division of the Mountain Limestone; but between this and the south bank of the Coquet no traces have been found of this sill. It, however, reappears at Ward's Hill, with the Bent Hall Limestone below it, and goes thence to Hartington, beyond which, for some distance, there are two lines of basalt, one passing the Elf Hills and Bavington, and the other West Whelpington and Throckington; but from