265 the Palace, and Burnt at the King's Coronation, but the Payment For
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Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of St Andrews on March 6, 2015 EMBLETON: NOTES ON ANCIENT GOAL MINING. 265 the palace, and burnt at the King's coronation, but the payment for which had been neglected. However, owing to the scarcity and dearness of wood, coal was as it were forced into use in spite of proclamations, and prejudice gave way as the value of fossil coal became more known, and from that time its use became more extended. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the coal trade flourished greatly and was regarded as an important source not only of local but national revenue by succeeding monarchs. In the reign of Charles I. coal was used all over the kingdom. THE CAYTON GILL BEDS. BY REV. J. STANLEY TTJTE, B.A. Immediately underlying the Plumpton grit, there occurs a bed of highly fossiliferous rocks, traceable from the western boundary of the Permian beds to the flanks of Great Whernside; and from the banks of the Laver near Ripon, to Follifoot, South of Harrogate, In the maps of the Geological Survey it is called the shell-bed, bat; unfortunately it has no special colour whereby it might be traced, bx his memoir of the Harrogate district, Mr. C. Fox-Strangways, adopted the term Cayton Gill Beds, which had been suggested to him, in consequence of an excellent section occurring in the little valley called Cayton Gill, about three miles North-West of Ripley. Here the beds dip 20° south under the Plumpton rocks, and rest conform• ably upon a bed of very dark shale, slightly fossiliferous, on the east side of the hill, but half-a-mile to the west, on the other side of the hill, abounding in Poseidonomya becheri, a small orthoceras, some fishes' teeth and scales, and vegetable remains. The upper parts of the Cayton Gill beds are much softer and arenaceous than the lower, which are very hard, and in many places are quarried for road material, as at Hampsthwaite, Follifoot, Darley, and near Fountains. The occurrence of these fossiliferous beds in the middle of the millstone grit series, commonly so wanting in organic remains, seems to me to possess a certain value as a horizon in the midst of a dis- Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of St Andrews on March 6, 2015 266 TUTE: THE CAYTON GILL BEDS. trict very greatly disturbed by faults, which are concealed by pasture and arable land. It would be an advantage, therefore, I think, if they could be distinctly marked by some special colour in the Geolo• gical maps of the district, and not concealed under the general colour for sandstone. The fossils generally occur as casts, sometimes filled with carbonate of iron, and often highly interesting, as they preserve the muscular impressions, &c, with great delicacy. In the land near Fountains, where the rock is exceedingly hard, the shell structure of brachiopoda is beautifully preserved, but the shells of Bellerophon costatus have become porcellanous. Here, as in some other places, the beds are filled with the broken stems of encrinites. The fossils which I have noticed are as follows :— Scales of Acrolepis. Teeth of Oladodus. Teeth of Petalodus. Portion of Encrinite Stems. Froducta semireticulata. „ cora. „ aculeata. Spirifera trigonalis. ,, striata. „ lineata. Streptorhynchus crenistria. Orthis resupinata. „ Michelini. Chonetes Hardrensis. Discina. Aviculopecten. Bellerophon costatus. Discites sulcatus. Nautilus. (Found at Hungate Gill, by Mr. Ingleby.) Gasteropods. Conchifers. Outcrops of these beds occur in the following places:— 1. In the Parish of Bishop Thornton. Downloaded from http://pygs.lyellcollection.org/ at University of St Andrews on March 6, 2015 TUTE: THE CAYTON GILL BEDS. Oayton Gill. Tinker's Lane. Church Yard. Ridsdale's Quarry (Watergate). Stream, East of Careless House. Raventofts. 2. Near Brimham Rocks, East and South. Near Clint. Near Hartwith. Rivers hill. Brimham Lodge. Summerfield's Farm. Lurkbeck. Warsill. Summer Bridge. 3. Near the Parish of Sawley. Lane from Fountains to Sawley. Spa Gill. Hungate Gill. Near Eavestone Lake. North Pasture. 4. Near Pateley Bridge. Ripon and Pateley Road, near Pateley. Bleasefield, near Glasshouses. Old Lane, Scotgate Ash, Bishopside. Under Guyscliff. Near Eagle Hall. 5. Constable Ridge, Kettlesing. 6. Near Harrogate. Follifoot. Saltergate Hill. Four-Lane Ends. .