MEMOIRS OP TIIE GI%&~JCh-b

SU&-Y;

IRELAND.
\I

THE

GEOLOGY

THE

COUNTRY

AND

CORK

(EXPLANATION
OF

OF

AROUND

HARBOUR.

CORK

THE CORK COLOUR-PRINTEJ)

DRIFT ikl~~.)
BY

G. W.

LAMPLUGH,

A. MHENRY,
W. B. WRIGHT,

PUBLISHED

BY ORDER

M.R.I.A.,

F.G.S.,

J. R. KILROE,

H. J. SEYMOUR,

B.A., F.G S.,

B.A., F.G.S., and H. B. MUFF, B.A., F.G.S.

OF THE

LORDS

COMMISSIONERS

OF HIS

MAJESTYS

TREASURY.

DUBLIN:
PRINTED

FOR HIS MAJESTYS

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PREFACE:
THIS Memoir has been prepared to aoco_mpany the new colourprinted map of the Cork district.
The boundaries of the map
have been arranged to embrace the country around the city of
Cork, and including the whole of Cork Harbour.
This area
formed part of four sheets of the previous solid geological
maps. It is expected that the present arrangement
will be
found more convenient for local purposes and for visitors to
this beautiful district.
The recent survey had for itIs object the mapping of the
glacial Idrifts and other superficial deposits which were not
included witshin the scope of the original survey made half a
century ago. No re-examination
of the solid rocks was
attempted,
and the boundaries of these formations shown on
the new map have been transferred from the solid maps,
with the exception that certain limited tracts of dark shale in
the south-western
part of the sheet, which were shown as
Coal-IVle.asures on the last edition of the solid m,ap, are
not now shown separately from the Lower Carboniferous rocks,
for reasons given in the sequel.
The short description of the solid rocks contained in the
present volume is mainly compiled from the published- Sheet
Explanations, of the origin.al solid maps, with the addition
of some new matter indicating the results of later researches.
This description, together with a general account of the superficial deposits, forming Part I. of the Memoir, has been
prepared by Mr. G. W. Lamplugh.
The detailed d,escription of the superficial deposits, forming
Part II.,, has been written by Messrs. Lamplugh, J. R. Kilroe,
A. MHenry, H. J. Seymour, W. B. Wright, and H. B. Muff,
by whom the recent survey w,as made ; the respective work of
these officers is indicated by the initials after the paragraphs.
Until this survey was carried out our knowledge of the Glacial
deposits in the district was extremely scanty, and it is believed
that the present Memoir will adcd materially to our knowledge
of the later geological history of the South of Ireland.
The discovery by Messrs. Wright and Muff of an ancient
shore-line beneath the Glacial deposits at very nearly the same
level as .the existing shore-line, h,as wide bearings upon muchdebated questions relating to the geographical conditions of the
British Island at the beginning of the Glacial period, and to
the origin of the present flor#a and fauna of Irerand.
In Part III., the economic geology of the district is dealt
with, including #an account of the water supply and of the
soils. TJader the last-mentioned
head Mr. J. R. Kilroe gives
the results of his ex.amination and mechanical analysis of some
characteristic
samples of the soils and subsoils of the district.

It is my pleasant duty to acknowledge with thanks t)he

assistance received from Mr. J. Wrig.ht, of Belfast, Dr.
Wheelton Hind, and Dr. A. H. Foord, in preparing the account
of the Carboniferous rocks and their fossils ; ,and also from
several local engineers and firms for detiails of well-borings and
other information
used in the Economic chapter and other
parts of this Memoir, whose names ar,e mention&d in the
subsequent pages.
The plates ,are from excellent photographs
purpose by Mr. B. Welch, of Belfast.

taken

for the

J. J. H. TEALL,
Director.

Geologicat

Survey

Office,

28 Jermyn-street,
January

London.

26t71,1905.

-~__.__

._-___.

-____- ____
--

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

Preface

by

the. Directoq
PART

I.--GENERAL

CHAPTER I.-INTN.ODUCTION,

OLD RED SANDSTOND,

1-8

Table of
and its
.

0-14

Position and Structure, 9. Lower Old Red Sandstone, 9.

Upper Old Red &and&one, 11.

CHAPTBR III.-THE

CARBONWEROUSROCKS,

Position and Classifxation, 15. Lower Limestone Shale

and Carboniferous Slate, 16. Discurfiion as to Age
of Carboniferoue Slate, 18. Fossils of the Shale and
Slate, 26. Carboniferous Limestone, 28. Fossils of
the Limestone,
29.
The Upper
Shale, or
Posidcmomya Becheri Be&, 32.
CHAPTER W.-THE

YOST-TERTIARY

DEPOSITS,

OR

SUPERFICIAL

15-35

3a9

or Early Glacial
Preliminary Note, 36, Pre-Glacial
Shore-line, 36.
The Glacial Deposits :-Boulder-clay,
40 ; Boulders, 41;
Glacial Strise, 42 ; Glacial Sand and Gravel, 42 ;
Origin of the Glacial Deposits, 44.
River Gravels, 47 ; AlluPost-Glaoial Deposits :-Old
vium, 47 ; Peat (absence of), 48 ; Intake, 48 ; Raised
Beach 1 48.
PART II.--DE\ThlLED
CHA~TFJRV.-D~TA~LED
DEPOSITS,

111

DESCRIPTION.

Area of the Map, 1. Scope of the Map, 2.

Form of the Ground
Formations, 3.
relation to the Geological Strnoture, 4.
CHAPTER II.-THE

DESCRIPTION,

DESCRIVTION OF THE
.
.
.
.
.!

SUPERFNIAL
.
.
.

Introduction, 50.
1. The Upland north of the Cork Valley, 50-65.
Upland north-east of Blarneey, 50. Blarney Valley,
5% Eastern end of Bla#rney Valley and CYountry
northward, 54.
Country beltween the Cork and
Blarney Valleys, 53. Upland east of Kilcully and
north of the C.%rk Valley, between Dunkettle and
Queenstown Juncltion, %. Kilcully, 57, ~Glashaboy
River, 58. Butlerstown a,nd Knockraha, 58. Ballynagaul, 59. Upland between Queenstown Junction
and Pigeonhill, 59. Upland to the earth of C&r&tohill land Midleton, 61.

50-108

2. The Cork and Midlcton Valley, 65-86.

!I%, low ground around Cork, with the bordering
Carrigrohane
and neighbourhood,
66.
slopes, 65.
Einvirons of ciolrk city and ea#stward to Blackrock,
Bride
66. Blackpool,
/U.
Gouldings
Glen, 71.
Valley,
72.
Leo Valley,
73.
Douglas,
76. Alluvium of the Lee Valley, 77.
Cork Lough, 77. ArtiLlow ground beficial changes around (York, 78.
tween
Duukettlo
and
Queenstown
Junction,
81.
Harpers
Island,
82.
Brown
Little
Island,
81.
Is~land, 82.
Cork Valley beFoaty Isl,and, 82.
tween Foaty Island and Midleton,
82.
3: The Central Ridge, 86-91.
High ground south land south-west
of Cork,
R~ochestown, Passage
West,
and Monkstown,
Great Island, 89. East of Great Island, 91.

86.
88.

4. The Oloyne and Carriga.line Valley, 91-97.

Ballinhassig to Carrigalinel, 931. R+affan and Shanbally,
92. Railway Cuttings from Raffeen to Carrigaline,
Coast
Coast Sections near Ringaskiddy,
93.
93.
Sections at Curraghbinny and Loughbeg, 94. Estuary
of the Owenboy, 94.
rhe crlo~yns Valley,
east of
Cork Harbour, 95.
Corkbeg Island, 96.
5. Tho Southern Ridge and Co.ast-line, 97-1108.
1Jpland south of Bldlinhassig,
917. Upland south and
. south-east
of
Oarrigalino,
97.
Coast
sections
from Ringabella
Bay to Crosshaven,
98. Poulnacallee
or ahwrch Bav and Ooast northward,
98.
The
Upland
south-east
of Colrk Harbour,
100.
Aghada, 100.
White Bay, 101. I&hes
Point, 102.
Trabolgan,
102. Gyleen, 103.
Powerhtead Bay, 104.
Power Head, 104. Ballycroneen Bay, 104.
Inbrjor
north of Powelr Head, 106.
Upland between Cork
Harbtour and the open Coa#st, 1107. The Topography
.
aml Drainage of t.he Upiand,
108.

PART

III.-ECONOMIC

CHAPTERVI.-ECONOMIC

GEOLOGY,

GEOLOGY.
.

109-X%

Absence of Metalliferous
Ores, 109. Building
Stone
and Ornamental
Marble,
199. Ra#re Minerals,
110.
Slates, 111.
Bricks, 111.
<Silica CXay, 1112.
Sand
and Gravel, 113. tild
Materials,
113.
Water
Suplply
Monkstown,

City,
114.
Midleton,
119.

:-Cork
119.

Queenstown,
118.
Blarney,
119.

Agricultural
Geology : General Notes, 120.
Soils and Subsoils of the Area around

Notes on the
Cork, 121.

APPENDIX.
List

INDEX,

of Memoirs
ant1 Papers
of the Cork District,
.

referring

to the

Geology

. 127-130

.
+

* 131-135

vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATES.
PLATE

PP
?S
I)
9)
?)

I.-East
P,assage, Cork Harbour : A Transverse
VaJley,
II.-Antioline
Point,

in Old Red Sandstone near Weaver

To

III.-Carboniferous
Ballintemple,
IV.dff

face

p. 9

?I

>,

P* 28

,,

>?

p. 41.

,,

,,

p. 72

2)

p. 99

Limestone, Carrigmore Quarry,

of Boulder&y

V.-High-level

Bon t&piece.

near Ring&skiddy,

Glacial Gravells nelar Blackpool,

VI.-Raised
Beaoh and Rock Platform near mouth
of Uork Harbour,
?)
FIGURES IN TEXT.

Page
Fig. 1.
99
2.
9,
3.
?, 4.
*t 5:
0 6.
9) 7.
19 9.
$9 9.
9, 19.
1) 11.
tl 12.
)? 13.
), 14,
## 15.

Outline-map showing area of Cork Sheet,

.
.
,
,
Se&on across the western part of the Map,
.
.
Archceopteris (A&&&s)
hibemiq
from Kiltorcan,
.
Archamodolz (Anodonta)
Jukesi,
from Kiltolroan, .
.
.
Structure of Carboniferous Slate at Ring,abella Bay,
Czc~mot2ls from Carbonifereus Slate and Coomhola Grit,
Diagram to explain relations between Carboniferous Lime.
stone and Uarboniferous Slate (J. I?. J&es),
.
Diagrammatic section of the Raised Beach and overlying
deposits on the coast near ithe mouth of C?ork Harbour,
Plan of Leamlara Valley system,
.
.
.
.
.
Cavity in Carboniferous Limestone filled in with drift,
Ballinaspig More Quarry,
.
.
.
.
.
Diagrammatic section of the Blackpool Gravels and Gould:
ings Glen,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Section across Cork, showing Superficial Deposits of Lee
Valley,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Plan of Cork in tihreSixteenth Century, .
.
.
.
Plan of Cork in the Eighteenth Century, .
.
.
.
,,
View of a Delta-Gravel f,an near Carrigtohill, .
.

1
4
12
13
16
17
21
37
64
70
72
75
78
79
85

- --- --- -.-- -- -

.----- -_- _-. .

-z:.

_-

THE

GEOLOGY

OF THE COUNTRY

AROUND

CORK AND CORK HARBOUR

PART

I.-GENERAL

CHAPTER

DESCRIPTION.

l.-INTRODUCTION.

Area

of the

Map,

In carrying

out the plan of surveying the superficial deposits

in Ireland first in the neighbourhood
of the chief centres of
population, the field-work during the year 1903 was concentrated upon the country around Cork, and an area equal to
that of an ordinary one-inch sheet of the Ordnance Map was
This ground included portions of four sheets of the
surveyed.
regularly numbered ,series of Ordnance one-inch maps, as the
marginal boundaries of these sheets fall inconveniently
in
The field-work has thereregard to the city and it,s suburbs.
fore been reproduced on a special or unnumbered
sheet,
prepared at the Ordnance Survey Ofice, and so arranged that
it includes the surroundings
of Cork and all the waterways
Fig 1.

~TOCORKLWDCORKfaRROUR

--G?idazs1czQ.

&IEET.

2sgauw;~*4&&6m.

and inlets between the city and the open sea. This map, to
be known as the Cork District Sheet, is of the same size
as the ordinary numbered sheets, namely, 18 inches by 12
The greater
inches, representing an area of 216 square miles.
part lay within Sheet,s 187 and 195 of the previous survey,
with a smaller portion within-the eastern borders of Sheets 186
and 194. The accompanying Index-map,
Fig. 1, will serve
to show the limits of the new sheet, and also the principal
places, rivers, heights, &a., included within it.
I)

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND CORK

HARBOUR.

Scope of the Drift Survey.

The previous work of the Geological Survey in the district,
published on the numbered one-inch sheets above referred to,
wa.s devoted to t,he m,apping of the solid rocks only, and,
except in the case of the alluvium of the principal valleys, the
maps contain no indication of the boulder-clay,
gravels and
other superficial deposits under which these rocks are often
On the present map the superficial deposits arc
deeply buried.
shown by distinctive colours, according to (their composition,
wherever they are of #sufficient thickness to conceal the underlying rocks, while the colours representing the solid formations
are confined to the places where these rocks occur at the
surface or are covered only by a thin layer of soil and detritus
derived from the local disintegration {of the rocks.
The field-work on which this map is based was done on the
six-inches-to-the-mile
maps of the Ordnance Survey, and has
been reduced from these maps to the one-inch scale for publication.
Manuscript coloured-copies of the six-inch maps have
been prepared and are available for public reference at the
Dublin office of the Geological Survey.
As the recent investigation
was confined to the superficial
deposits and did not include a re-examination of the solid rocks,
the boundary lines of the latter shown on the present map
have been transferred from the published maps of the previous
survey.
For the same reason the description of the solid
rocks embodied in subsequent pages of this memoir is based
on the information contained in three previous memoirs of the
Geological Survey, viz. , the Explanation of Sheets 187, 195
and 196 (published in 1864) ; Explanation of Sheets 185 and
186 (published, 1861) ; and Explanation of Sheets 194, 201
and 202 (published, 1862). The local details given in these
Explanations
have not been reproduced ; and where fuller
information
with regard to the solid rocks is required the
original memoirs, which are still obtainable through the usual
channels, should be ,consulted.
Since the publication of these
memoirs, however, some revision-work has been carried out
on the solid rocks of the district, resulting in the issue of revised
editions of #all the sheets in the years 1878 and 1879, showing
alterations in the classification and boundaries of the Old Red
Sa.ndstone series ; with further alterations of Sheets 194 snd
195 in the year 1891, consisting in the sep,aration and distinctive colouring of small tracts of shales supposed to be of
Upper Carboniferous ( Coal Measures ) age. These alterations, which have not hitherto been described, will be briefly
discussed in the present memoir, with references also to other
literature relating to the geology of the district which has been
published since the original memoirs.

INTRODUCTION.

A short description of the Glacial and Post-Glacial deposits

is given as a sequel to the account of the solid rocks in Part I.
of this memoir.
The detailed description of these superficial
deposits, containing the fuller results of the recent field-work,
is given separately, forming Part II. ; while in Part III. the
economic geology of the district is dealt with.

Table of Formations occurring within the Map.

Reclaimed Land
Alluvium.

I,

RECENT.

(Intak8)

Estuarine

River Alluvium.
River Gravel and Gravelly D&as.
Sand and Gravel.
Boulder-Clay.

GLACIAL.
Local Rubble ( Head ).
Infra-Glacial
Upp8.r
Beds
sUr8s

Beach.

Shale or Po&doynonvya Becheri

(formerly
termed Coal-Metl?), not S8~&d~
EJhQWll, 8% p. 3@e

Carboniferous Limestone.
.
Lower Lim8&me
Shale,
ferous Slate and Grits.

and

Carboni-

Upper Old Red Sandstone ( Kiltrbrcan

Beds of the solid maps).
OLD RED

SANDSTONE.

.
I

Lower Old Red Sandstone

Beds of the solid maps).

( Dingb

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND CORK

HARBOUR.

Form of the Ground and itpJrelation

Geological Structure.

to the

In its leading outlines the geological structure of the district

is remarkably simple, and is very clearly expressed in the form
of the -groGd.
The Carboniferous and Old Red Sandstone
rocks have been compressed
into a series of broad folds or
elongated 1 troughs and ridges
with axes ranging approximately east and west. From
these axes the strata dip away
steeply on both sides, forming
a succession of anticlines and
synclines, with the newer rocks
descending into the troughs and
the older rocks rising into the
ridges. The period of the earthmovements causing this structure appears to have been
toward or at the close of Carbonif erous times.
Although very great thicknesses of rock have been stripped
away and the whole country
has been remodelled by denudation since the period of folding,
these anticlines and synclines
still govern the surface-features.
The less durable limestones
and shales of the Carboniferous
series are worn away relatively
more quickly than the more
resistant sandy and slaty rocks
which constitute the Old Red
Sandstone ; so that the synclines
are marked by broad deep
hollows of the present surface,
and the anticlines by hilly
ridges.
These features are
illustrated by the coloured section at the foot of the map, and
by the following figure (fig, 2)
reproduced
from
a former
memoir.
The broad undulations of the rocks are complicated by many minor folds
contained within them, which
are revealed in the contorted
structure frequently visible in
the open sections (see Plate II)

but these minor folds are without much effect upon the outline
of the land.
The position and direction of the principal folds are indicated
on the foregoing Index-ma& Fig. 1, the nomenclature adopted
being mainly that used by Prof. J. B. Jukes in the earlier
memoirs.
On the south the outcrop of the Old Red Sandstone
which forms the chief constituent of the Southern Anticline
is marked by undulating high ground, interrupted
only by the
water-channel
giving entrance to Cork Harbour.
This tract
culminates westward in Doolieve, 600 feet high, but east of
Cork Harbour the ground does not rise, in the present map,
above 318 feet.
The depression on the northern aide of the upland, #marked
en the Index-map as the Cloyne Syncline, is partly filled, in
its lowest and broadest portion, by Cork Harbour, and is here
mainly underlain by Carboniferous Limestone.
This belt of
limestone, however, becomes contracted westward of Carrigaline and disappears before reaching Fivemilebridge ; and the
valley then assumes a narrower and steeper aspect.
The Central Anticline to the northward of this depression
traverses the mlap from east to west as a steep-sided ridge of
Old Red Sandstone, broken only by the transverse water-filled
gorges of East Passage (Plate I.) and West Passage by
which the Great Isl*and portion of the ridge is insulated.
At
the eastern margin of the map the ridge from side to side is
less than a mile in width and its greatest altitude is about
330 feet ; but it expands gradually westward to about three
miles in width, its flattened crest then forming a gently undulating upland with summits ranging up to 579 feet in elevation.
This ridge is deeply trenched on both flanks by the ravines of
small ,streame draining from shallow basins on the summit ;
and on Great Island it is also indented by a large valley running
nearlypartillel with its strike for about tlwo miles.
The Cork Syncline, which forms the principal valley of
the map, is underlain by Carboniferous Limestone and Lower
Limestone
Shales brought down in a deep infold between
the OId Red Sandstone rocks of the Central Anticline and the
similar rocks of the Cork or Northern Anticline.
It is about
two miles wide in the west, and increases to over three miles
near Midleton at the e.astern margin of the sheet.
The lowest
ground of this valley usually occurs immediately at the foot of
the steep slopes by which it is bounded on both sides, and is
due to the rapid weathering of the Lower Limestone shale.
In the middle of the syncline, between the outcrops of this
shale, the massive limestone frequently rises in irregular knolls
which, in a few places, carry the ground above the loo-foot
contour.
The River Lee runs along the northern edge of the valley
from the western #margin of the map to three miles east of tbe
city of Cork, and then turns southward through Lough Mahon
After being
and the gorge ,at West Passage to Cork Harbour.
deserted by the Lee, the low flat on the northern side of tht

Q
Cork Syncline is in part occupied by tidal waters, and is confirmed eastward to the eastern extremity of Little Island and
Harpers Island.
Tidal chann,els then branch southward from
it around Foaty Island and join the broader inlet which separates the northern shores of Great Island from the mainland.
The seemingly aberrant deflection of the Lee. from the broad
longitudinal or strike valley to the narrow transverse gorge
by which it breaks through the Central ridge is a good example
of the phenomenon which recurs again and again in the courses
i>f some of the rivers of the South of Ireland, particularly in
respect to the Lee, the Blackwater, and the Suir. It was from
the study of the peculiarities of these river-courses that Jukes
was led to enunciate, in the year 1862,l his famous principle
that the erosion of such valleys must have been commenced on
a plane which lay above the level of the hills and ridges through
which the gorges have been cut, and that the present hills are
the out,come of the differential resistance of the rocks under
the influence of long-continued subserial erosion.
This principle, which has since found universal application, was stated
as follows by Jukes in describing the Cork district in a
previous memoir (Explanation
of Sheets 187, 195 and 196,
p. 32).
This marine action [by which the original high-level surface is supposed to have been produced] cannot now be traced anywhere except in a
eneral way. The surface produced by it must have been a gently unduPating plain, which was wholly above the present surface, unless the
summits of some of the present hills and ridges may possibly have-formed
art of it. That formerly existing plain has been eaten into vertically
%y the action of the rain and rivers running over it, and these have
removed all the rock that intervened between it and the present surface
of the ground. The result has been that the hard and insoluble sand&ones and grit&ones, whether of the Old Red or C?a#rboniferousslate, now
form hills and ridges, while the soluble limestones, and the more easily
eroded shales and clay mslartes
have ,been worn down into valleys and ffats.
It was long before I arrived at the conviction that this action wad truly
and solely an atmospheric one, but the conclusion was at la& forced
upon me . . . .

Under the explanation given by Jukes, we should regard the

West Pamage as part of the valley initiated by the south-flowing Glashaboy River on an original high-lying land-surface
Afterwards, through the
which rose gently toward the north.
rapid development of the east and west valley along the strike
of the perishable Carboniferouq rocks, more and more of the
drainage of the country to the west,ward w4as drawn through
the gorge, until this water, combined in the River Lee, far
exceeded in voIume that of the original main-stream.
Similarly, the East Passage (Plate I.) represents the continuation of the valley of the Owennacurra River; and the
entrance of Cork Harbour marks the course taken by the
confluent streams from both gaps in their further passage
Routhward.
The present condition of the channels has been
1 On the Mode of Formation of some of the River-valleys of the South of
fretand, by J. Reete Jukea. Quart. Journ. Oed. Bloc., vol. xviii., p. 378.

PHYB1OQRAPHICAL

FfiAlfURfi8.

brought about by later depression of the land, whereby the

lower parts of the valleys were converted into marine inlets,
or ~iaa, as submerged land-features of this kind are sometimes
now termed by geographers.1
Prof. E., Hull, in his Physical Geology and Geography of
Ireland (2nd ed. , 1891, p. 208) proposed certain modifications
in Jukess viewIs, by introducing th,e supposition that the westflowing streams may have been diverted southward by obstructions due to faults or folds, but there seems no need to call in
this factor.
More recently Mr. J. Porter, in a suggestive
paper on Geographical Evolution in Cork,2 has arrived at
the conclusion that river-diversion on a large scale may have
taken place through the blocking up of the original channels
by drift d,eposits during the Glacial Period.
But it will be
shown in the context that although some minor instances of
river-diversion of this kind have taken place in the district and
are readily recognisable, the principal transverse gorges are of
Pre-Glacial
age <and cannot have been formed through the
ponding b.ack of the rivers by drift.
During the Glacial
Period when the valleys were filled with confluent ice that, at
its maximum, overwhelmed
also the intervening
ridges and
covered the whole of the dSstrict, it is evident that the PreGlacial surEace-drainage
would be temporarily
obliterated.
And, ae will presently be shown, there is evidence pointing to
the passage of heavy floods of water, during the melting of the
ice-sheet, along the whole length of the Cork valley included
in the present map 4and also along the Cloyne valley.
But this
drainage only acted while the valleys were partly occupied by
glaciers ; and upon the disappearance of the ice, the pre-existing
system was re-established, without radical change so far as this
district is concerned.
Indeed there are few parts of Ireland where the Glacial
Period has passed with so little influenoe upon the topography.
On the upl,ands the drift, where present, usually occurs as a
scanty covering conforming generally to the contours of the
with a tendency to become rather
underlying
rock-surface,
thicker in the hollows ; and in the valleys its chief effiect is to
smooth down the irregul(arities of the limestone and rarely to
build up new features except in a few places where the stratified
drift has been piled into mounds and short ridges.
i To return now to the description of the surface-features
and
rock-folds of the remaining por,tion of the map, we find that
on .the northern sidle of the Cork valley the Old Red Sandstone
rises steeply from beneath the Carboniferous rocks to form the
ridge named by Jukes the Cork and Youghal Anticline.
This lanticline, however, is complicated by the proseof
subsidiary folds which bring in the Carboniferous rocks again
1 F. van Richthofou who introduced the term (Fihrer f& Forschungwei8ende,
1886, pp. 308-309) especially mentions the S.W. coast of Ireland as an example
of the &&s-type, as does also. E. . Suess (Das Ant&k der &de, 1888; vol. ii.
p. 101.) I am indebted to my colleague, Mr. 0. T. Jones, for these refez;;.

. . .

'I&97,

NdUTdi8t,

Vol. Xi. (1902), pp.

163-166.

t3

3~14 GI~OLOGY

oP

CORK

ANY COOK

BARBOUY~.

along boat-shaped troughs.

Thus, to the north-east of the
city of Cork the anticline is split into a northern and a southern
branch by thie intervention of the lens-shaped strip of Lower
Limestone Shale occupying the minor Riverstown Syncline,
which gives rise to a small longitudinal valley ; and again, in
the north-western corner of thie map there is a deep wedge of
Carboniferous
Limestone
and associated beds, forming the
Blarney Syncline, which is marked by thle broad low strath in
But diswhich stand the celebrated ruins of Blarney Castle.
regarding these minor infolds, the country north of the Cork
valley may be ,described as an undulating upland of Old R,ed
Sandstone rising gradually toward the north and merging into
the great belt of similarly constituted country which stretches
across Ireland from the west coast south of Dingle Bay to the
east coast south of Dungarvan,
generally referred to as the
Mangerton Axis or Anticline.
The highest ground of the
present mlap lies within this tract, the greatest elevation
reached being \ 640 feet, on the summit of a rounded hill 2%
miles north of Carrigtohill.
The margin of this upland is high and st,eep, and is trenched
by deep narrow ravines in which the principal streams have
graded their channels to a low level in agreement with the
But in all parts beyond the
drainage-level of the Cork valley.
immediate influence of these deep channels, the plateau shows
a mature topography,
with gently rounded features and
broad shallow valleys, evidently the relics of a past period
when the base-level of erosion had been nearly attained and
the country was being slowly reduced to the condition of a
penceplain. This period was certainly
anterior to Glacial
times, as the Glacial drift not only rests on the gently rounded
features of the plateau, but also in places has been lodged
within the deep ravines.
It may be surmised, therefore, that
at some time about the close of fhe Tertiary
epoch, the
drainage-system which had become mature and sluggish was
rejuvenated by a relatively rapid deepening of the longitudinal
valleys, probably as the result of some change of climate
accompanied by elevation of the land.
The gradient of the
trunk-valleys draining the Old Red Sandstone tracts was thus
sharply raised at their debouchure into the limestone-valleys,
and they commenced to cut rapidly backward into the upland.
We shall revert to the probable reason for this renewal of
erosive activity in a later part of the memoir.

THE PAL2EOZOIC

CHAPTER

IT.-THE

ROCKS.

OLD RED SANDSTONE.

The Old Red Sandstones, which constitute the oldest rocke

of thi*s district, consist of alternating bands of sandy and clayey
composition, of which the prevalent tints are various shades
of dull red, brown and green.
The clayey beds are indurated
and converted by a Fell-marked slmatyclelavage into a soft clayslate, and the sam,e cleavage-structure
also often pervades the
sandstones; thus giving an e,ssentially slaty character to the
whole series (Plate II).
The strike of this cleavage is approximately E. 25 N., its dip being either northerly or southerly,
at angles varying from 60 up to vertical.
There are no conglomerates in the *series in this district, though in the prolongation of these rocks to the westward, conglomerates
are frequently con,spicuous.
The. lowest beds are exposed along the
crest of the Central anticline and in the Cork (anticlme toward
the northern m,argin of the m.ap, but it is probable that these
beds are still far above the base of the series.
In estimating
the thickness of the formation at not less than 5,000 feet,
Jukes remarked that the continuous section at Monkstown
shows a thickness of 4,300 feet, without any change appearing
in the lower beds there shown, or any sign of the base of the
formlation being approached. l
Fossils are extremely rare in th,e Old Red Sandstone of this
district, being entirely unknown in the lower part of the Beries,
and in the upper part represent,ed only by scanty remains of
plants, #and a shell, ArcIzuznodon (AnodoGa) Jukei
It is
believed that the whole series is of fresh-water origin and has
been accumulated in a large lake fed by a powerful river or
rivers.
The series is divided into two parts by slight lithological
differences_the
Low,er Old Red Sandstone
or so-called
Dingle Beds , and the Upper Old Red Sandstone or Kiltorcan Beds -which
will now be separately discussed.

Lower Old Red Sandstone,

The lower division, which includes the greater part of the
series, is characterized by the prevalen,ce of brown and purplish
tints in its sandstones and sl.ates, and by the comparative rarity
of the yellowish and greenish beds which prevail in the upper
division.
The )boundary between them in this district is, however, &more or less arbitrary and can only be approximately
defined.
The ,alternative term Dingle Beds was applied to the
Lower Old Reid Sandstone in the revised editions of the solid
sheets published in 1879 and in subsequent editions ; but it
has not been thought advisable to reproduce this term on the
1 Hem.
t&sol. ihrvey.
Explantttion of Sheets 187, 196, and 196, p. 7. It is
probable; however, that in this estimate insufficient allowance has been made
for the effect of folding in increasing the apparent thickness of the beds, as this
effect was imperfectly understood et the time when the estimate wss made. The
preeenoe of cleava e in itself implies thst the beds have undergone severe lateral
compression, whia% almost always implies considerable vertiosl expansion.

OEOLO(fY

OP CORK

AND CORK

HARBOUR.

some confusion
to
arisen in regard
. . appears
__
. . have
_
ti it. The name was orlgmally appllled to a, series of sandstones, sh#ales and conglomerates
in the Dingle Promontory
which are supposed to be closely asslociated with Upper Silurian
rocks and are overlain unconformably
by part of the Old Red
Sandstone.
Professor E. Hull1 believed that this Dingle series
W&Sthe equivalent of the Glengariff Grits and of the lower part
of the Old Red Sandstone throughout the South of Ireland.
Consequently he held that a great break existed between the
Lower Old Red or so-called Dingle Beds and the Upper Old
Red or Kiltorcan Beds ; and he reglarded thle former division as
being ,clogely allied with the Upper Silurian, and proposed that
it nshould be relegated
to a new system to be called the
Devono-Silurian
formation,2
while the l.atter division was
recognised as being only slightly older than the Carboniferous.
Even wh,ere the two divisions were apparently
condormable
and in direct sequence, Prof. Hull believed that the great
unconflormity existed, but was concealed by the prevalent later
8folding.
Mr. A. McHenry, who took part in the re-examination of the
ground which led to the issue of the r,evised maps in X379-1880,
is of opinion however that the correlation of the beds showing
Silurian affinities in the Dingle Promontory
with the lower
part of the Old Red Sandstone of the country farther eastward
and south-eastw,ard ,cannot be <sustained ; that the Old Red
Sa#ndstone of the Cork district forms ,a single unbroken series ;
and that the whole is newer than the Dingle Reds of Dingle
-the last-mentioned beds being regarded by Mr. McHenry as
of Upper Silurian age.
So far as the present map is concerned, the evidence seems
opposed to the view that there can be a great unconformity
between the lower and upper parts of the Old Red Sandstone,
although Prof. Hull believes that indications of the supposed
unconformity may be found in the section between Monkstown
and Passage, where he supposes that 2,000 to 3,000 feet of the
lower division are wanting on the northern
sidle of the anticline.8 In the description of this locality given by Jukes, it is
suggested that the beds are displaced by a fault* ; and in any
case it must be acknowleldged that, in view of the possible
complications by folding and faulting, the section is not sufficiently clear to afford satisfactory proof of the unconformity.6
._______________
p---p
-- - - - - I
1 On the Geological Age of the Rooks formin,g izd qxthern Bighltnds of
Glengarlff Grits and
Ireland, generally known as The Dingle Beds
Quart. Journ. Beol. Boc., vol. xxxv. (1879), pp. 699-723 ; see,also A
Slates.
possible explanation of the North Devon Section.
Beol. Mug., deo. ii., vol. v.
(1878), p. 529 ; and On the Relations of the Carboniferous, Devonian, and
Upper Silurian Rooks of the South of Ireland to those of North Devon. 196.
Trans. Roy. Dubl. ~oc., n.s., vol. i. (1880). pp. 136-150.
9 On a proposed Devono-Silurian Formation.
Quart. Journ. Qeol. SOL,
vol. xxxviii. (1882), pp. 200-209.
5 On the Relations $0. (swra cit.) 8 . Trans. R. Dub?. Sot., n.a., vol. i.,
p. 141, and Fig. 4.
* Mem. Qeol. Survey. Explanation of Sheets 187, 195, a.nd 196, p. 47.
5 Mr. &Henry, who sup lied Prof. Hull with the data for this se&Ion, states that
his subsequent work in t%e distriot satisfied him that the section affords no
definite proof of unoonformity.

11

OLD RED SANDBTONE.

But the question is one which could only be settled by the

critical re-exlamination of a l,arge number of sections in the
south-west of Ireland, and this work is at present beyond the
scope of the survey.
Meanwhile, by reverting to the original
designation of Lower Old Red proposed by Jukes, it is
granted that the inference implied in the adoption of the term
Dingle Beds on the revised solid map requires further
corroboration.

Upper Old Bed Sandstone.

The description of this *division given by Juk,es is a,s folc
lows1 :- The Upper or Yellow San&tone differs from that
below chiefly in the greater abundance
of yellowish and
greenish cl*ays and sandstones, though often interstratified with
red beds. The boundary between the upper and lower parts
of the Old Red is quite arbitrary, though their characters are
sometimes sufficiently di.stinct to enable one to recognize them
if a sufficient mass of either be exposed.
Beds of rusty brown
colour, readily decomposing into a loamy sand, occur in both,
but chiefly in the upper group.
These are decomposed Cornstones, ,and, when unweathered, are found to be full of strings
of crystalline carbonate of lime. Many of the clays or slates
of the upper part are also full of holes or lcells, looking at first
like places from which fossils have been removed by decdmposition.
These beds precisely resem,ble Isome beds in the
Old Red Sandstone of South Wales, from which indeed that
of Cork differs only in the presence of slaty cleavage.
Rocks of this character form the greater part of the crest of
the low Southern Anticline (Fig. l), and occur in a narrow
belt along both sides of the Central Anticline.
They also
occupy the edge of the upland north of the Cork valley and
surround the depressions which mark the Riverstown
and
Blarn,ey synclines.
Their thickness is estimated at from 400
to 500 feet.
Fossils are extremely rare in these rocks, but those which
have been found are of great interest, inasmuch as they show
that the beds are of fresh-water origin, and that they are equivalent to, the celebrated fossiliferous rocks of Kiltoroan in
Kilkenny

The term Kiltorcan Beds, which has been applied as an

alternative title to the Upper Old Red Sandstone, expresses
,>
this relationship.
The principal locality for the fossi1.s obtained from these beds
in the Cork district was from an excavation at Tivoli Villa on
the lower Glanmire Road, one mile and a h,alf east of Cork.
The specimens included fragments of the well-known Kiltorcan
plant, Archaopteris
(Ad&&ites) Izibernica, Forbes, and the
bivalve mollusc Arckxn~d~n
(Andonh)
Jukesi,
Forbes.
It
is also stated in a former memoir ( Explanation
of Sheet
187 , &c., .p. 23, footnote) th,at Sir R. Griffith procured a
large frond of the plant from the cutting at the mouth of the
railway tunnel in the strike of the same beds.
1 Mem. Oed.

Survey.

&planstion

of Sheet 187, &cc.,p.

7.

The following figures represent the better-preserved

apecimens of theBe f&s& obtained from l
Kiltorcan.1
The plantFro. 3.
Archceopterie (Adiuntitee) habernicu (Forbes), (from Mem. CfeoZ. Burvey.
Explanation of Sheem 147 and 167) ; Kiltorcan Hill, co. Kilkenny.

WkE3
a is a representation in outline, somewhat restored, of a large portion of
one of the fronds reduced to one-sixth of the natural size ; b is a sketch of one of
the leaflets, natural size, showing the venation by longitudinal striae, which are
occasionally forked; c is a single branch in fructification, taken from another
specimen; it shows the spore csses which were originally aggregated into clusters
end grctnulated. (&I&J).
1 R. Griffith and A. Bron niart On the Remains of Fossil Plants discovered
in the Yellow Sandstone %t&a,
&c., Journ. R. Dublin floe., vol. i., p. 313.
W. H. Baii
On Fossils from the Upper Old Red Sandstone of Kiltorcen
Hill, co. Ki 9kenny.
SC. Proc. R. Irieh Acad., ser. 2, vol. ii., p. 46. See also 6.
Htlughton On the Evidence afforded by Fossil Plants as to the Boundary Line
between the Devonian and Carboniferous Rocks.
Joum. Bed. Sot., Dublin,
vol. vi., p. 227*; 0. Heer On .
L [plants] from Kiltorcan.
QUMt.
Jown. Ued. ~oc., vol. xxviii., p. les; &d later works on Palaeobotany.

OLD REID SANDSTONE.

13

remains are of peculiar interest, ELSthey represent the oldest

land-plants known in the British Islands.
The magnificent
series of these fossils from Kiltorcan preserved in the Survey
Collection in the Dublin Museum of Science and Art include
specimens showing the fructification.
Fro. 4.
Archanodon (Anodonta) Jukesi (Forbes), (From Mem. Ueol. Survey: Explanation
of Sheets 147 and 167 ): Kiltorcan Hill, co. Kilkenny.

Reduced to half natural size.

. . . . a exhibits the exterior of this
elongated shell, with its well-marked lines of growth, characters common to
existing fresh-water unios and river mussels ; b is from a cast of the interior of
the left valve of a very large specimen ; it shows the impression or cicatrice of
the adductor muscle, and the straight toothless hinge line. (Buily).

There is no sharp line of demarcation between the Upper

Old Red Sandstone And the overlying elaty shales and grits
which are assigned to the Lower Carboniferous system.
The
junction is apparently everywhere conformable,
with indications of a gradual passage from the one series to the other,
although a change of conditions is indicated, since the overlying beds oontain !a *marine fauna.
So close is the association
that it was at one time thought desirable to include the Kiltorcan Beds with the Carboniferous, and as will presently be
shown, Prof. Jukes in his later papers advocated a return to
But on the other hand it would
this mode of classification.

I$.

THE

GEOLOGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

appear to be more in keeping with the method adopted in

England and on the Continent if part of the #division known in
Slate and Coomhola
Ireland as the Lower Carboniferous
Grits were regarded as marine Upper Devonian, and there-
for,e separated from the Carboniferous rocks and chased along
An extensive literature
with the Old Red Sandstone system.
ha,s arisen upon these questions of technical classification, and
there is little doubt that if the Cork rocks were to be re-surveyed at the present day, modifications would be introduced
into the scheme on which the rooks were originally mapped.
But so-long as the true order -of succession of the strata is
expressed upon the map, as in the present case, the scheme of
classification under which the rocks are arranged,
though
technically important, will not greatly affect the direct purpose
of the map.

LOWER

CARBONIFEROUS

ROCKS.

15

CHARTER I&--THE
CARBONIFEROUS
ROCKS.
The method of classification adopted in the original survey
of the Carboniferous rocks of the Cork <district was to separate
out the limestone from the shaly slates and grits which in part
underlie and rn part are .supposed to represent
the detrital
deposits equivalent in age to the lim(estone.
The former,
which constitutes a very definite stratigraphical
subdivision,
was shown on the map as the Carboniferous Limestone or
Lower Carboniferous Limestone,
and the latter, according
to locality, as Lower Limestone Shale or as Carboniferous Slate and Coomhola Grits.
Afcterwards two or thre!e
small tracts of black shale in the south-western
part of the
present sheet were sep*arated out and distinguished as CoalMeasures, but as will be shown in the context there is now
strong reason to doubt whether these beds should be regar,ded
as Coal -Measures.
The position of the Carboniferous
rocks in the synclinal
valleys of the district has ,already bleen indicated.
It may be
further noted that the principal maes of limestone occurs in
the Cork valley (Plate III.), which is underlain by this rock
throughout the area shown on the present map, excepting in
the narrow marginal .strips underlain by the Lower Limestone
Sh,ale. Limestone is also developed in a bro,ad belt along the
middle of the Cloyne syncline east of Cork Harbour, and on
the opposite side ,as far westward as Carrigaline ; but it soon
afterwards dimsappears, and f,arther westward occurs only as a
narrow infold which taper-s out Ibefore Fivemilebridge
is
reached.
A small tract of limes8tone also occurs in the Blarney eyncline, as previously mentioned ; and near the south-eastern
corner of the map, one mile S.E. of Whitewell, the tip of a
small trough-like infold of lrmestone probably enters the sheet,
though obscured by a covering of boulder-clay.
The Lower Limestone Shale or Carboniferous Slate Series
forms only a narrow fringe to the synclines of limestone in
those parts of the map where the limestone occurs extensively.
But south of the Central Anticline, where the area of the limestonedis reduced, the Carboniferous
Slate appears to increase
rapidly in thickness and becomes the predominant
member,
covering wide stretches of country.
At the same time its
lithological characters are changed by the inclusion of bands
of hard sandstone-the
Coomhola Grits --and
it is no
longer confined to the margins of the low ground, but rises into
The apparently correlative
association of this
hilly ridges.
thickening of the Carboniferous Slate series with the dwindling
of the Carboniferous Limestone led Jukes to suppose that there
was a complete replacement
of the limestone by shales and
grits in going southward
and westward from the present
Before this hypothesis is discusseld it will be condistrict.
venient to enter briefly into the composition and palasontology
of the rocks underlying the limestone in the several districts.
This description will be taken mainly from the accounts published in the former memoire.

16

THE

GPOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUB.

Lower Limestone Shale and Carboniferous Slate,

The following is the
Jukes in 1864 in the
196 : In the neighbourhood of
gray or black shale, usually

description

Explanation

of these

beds given

by

of Sheebs 187, 195 and

the Cork valley this group mn&te of dark

cleaved into clay slate, interstratified with
thin bands of fine-grained gritstone or sandstone of a gray or yellowish
colour. In some places the lower gray grits alternate with red beds for a
short distance, so that it seems to pass down by insensible gradation
into the upper part of the Old Red Sandstone, although no marine fossils
are known to occur beneath a red bed. Its upper part is nowhere well
seen, except at Riverstown, where it seems as if about to graduate upwards
into the limestone, as thin flaggy limestones alternating with black shales
are visible there. A curious little bed of conglomerate, consisting of a
base of gray grit in which pebbles of white quartz are enclosed, occurs in
the middle of the slates.
*
FIG. 6.
RingabellalBay, looking E. ~WVOSS the mouth of Cork Harbour (from Hem. Geol.
Burvey, Explanation of Sheets 187, 195, and 196 ).

Carboniferous Slate, showing beds, dipping to the S. at 36 ; join@ cutting

the beda at right an lea in two directions ; and cleavage, dipping N. at 70. The
p+
&view_ lies a% out a~,~~~~,,_tq,th~,?~~th~~~~_ zf

i~~~~i~~l~~-~
-@3s&?&
L
( From wanti of &ygontinuous section from

to the limestone, it is impossible to determine the thickness of the

intermediate beds with any accuracy ; but it can hardly ever exceed 1,000
or 1,500 feet, when the limestone is present above it.
( It is in many places very fossiliferous, the fossils, except the plant
remains, being all of marine origin ; and it is remarkable that no undoubted marine fossils are ever found in the red beds, but frequently
make their appearance in the gray.
The characters here assigned to the Lower Limestone Shale do not,
except in the element of thickness and slaty cleavage, differ from those
which are found in similar beds between the top of the Old Red Sandstone
and the base of the Carboniferous Limestone generally in the south of
Ireland and also in S. Wales. The description applies to the whole valley

up

LOWER

CARBONIFEROUS

17

ROCKS.

of Cork, and to the neighbourhood

of Ballycottin,
Cloyne, Queenstown,
Near Monkstown,
they are certainly 1,000 feet thick,
and Monkstown.
where they dip beneath the Carboniferous
Limestone ; but where they
rise again from beneath it, about Carrigaline and Coolmore, they seem to
be much thicker, so that it appears impossible to assign them a less
This thickness must be again doubled
thickness than 2,000 or 3,000 feet.
in the Kinsale country, as excellent sections are seen on both sides of the
promontory of the Old Head, exposing a thickness of not less than 6,000
(See Explanation
of Sheet 194,
feet of dark gray shales and sandstones.
&c.)
The grits which come in in the lower part of this series were called
by myself Coomhola grits, from the name of a place in Bantry Bay,
They have
where they assume a far greater importance than near Cork.
rather a peculiar assemblage of fossils, which occur either in the grits, or
in the slates which are interstratified
with the grits, such as shells of the
genera Cuc&Zcea, and Curtomtus,
the Avicula Damn.onie&s,
and others,
FIG. 6.
Curtonotus from Carboniferous Slate and Coomhola Grit; County Cork (from
1Mem. Geol. Survey : Explanation of Sheets 187, 195, and 196 ).

a, Curtonotus elegans (Salter), cast of interior of shell. b. Exterl%r of shell.

c, G?.Ourtonotus var. elongatue, cast of interior of shell. d. From gutta-percha
impression of hinge.
e. &rtonotus var. rotundatus, cast of interior of shell.
f. Curtonotus species, cast of interior of shell. g. Curtonotus central&, cast of interior of shell.
(Baily.)
but these are mingled with many other species which are found in the
shales and limestones
of the Carboniferous
formation
throughout
the
British Islands.
If we give to these gray beds the name of the Lower
Limestone Shale (which they have in S. Wales and near Bristol) in all
those places where it has the Carboniferous
Limestone above it, it will be
better to adopt Sir R. Griffiths term of Carboniferous
Slate for those
districts where it acquires so great a thickness, and is no longer covered
by the Carboniferous
Limestone.
This is the more necessary, because I now believe that the part thus
called hhn~ferozls
slate never had the Carboniferous
Limestone
above
it, but is contemporaneous with that limestone-mud,
sand, and silt being
deposited over one part of the district, while calcareous matter was being
accumulated in another,
c

18

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORE

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

A list of the fossils which have been recorded from the Lower
Limestone Shale and associated deposits within the area of the
present sheet or from localities only just beyond its boundaries
is given subsequently (pp. 26 and 27). The list h,as been compiled from that of the late W. H. Baily, published in the
Explanation of Sheets 187, 195 and 196, with additions from
a later paper published by Jukes, for which the fossil-lists were
also prepared by Baily.
The names of the fossils in this list,
and also in the subsequent lists, are reprinted as given in the
original records cited, as it was found that much confusion and
risk of error would have arisen if the names had been altered
to their supposed equivalents in present nomenclature without
re-examination
of the original specimens, which is beyond the
scope of the present drift-survey.
It will be noticed that there are very few species in the list
obtained from that part of the Iseries classified as Lower
Limestone Shale by Jukm which have not al,so been obtained
from the Carboniferous Slate district or from the Coomhol,a Grits of 4he same district.
Therefore if these lists may
be taken m fairly representative
of the fauna of the different
rock-groups, there is no palEeontologica1 evidence on which to
establish a distinction between them.
Neither do we find anything in the fossils to support the view of Jukes, on the one
hand, that part of the Carboniferous
Slate of the southwestern district may be equivalent to the C,arboniferous Limestone of the north and north-east, and therefore in part newer
than the Lower Limestone Shale ; nor, on the other hand, to
support the widely held opinion that the CoomhoLa Grit
series may be older than th,e Lower Limestone Shale.
If the
Carboniferous
Slate and Coomhola Grits be relegated to the
Upper Devonian, it would appear to be necessary to regard the
greater part of the Lower Limestone Shale of the Cork district
(See Note at end of list, p. 27.)
as Upper Devonian also.
The views of Jukes on the question of classification, to which
reference has been made, are expressed in the following statement, extracted from the Explanation of Sheets 187, 195 and
196, pp. 32-37 : I havz, however, arrived at a conclusion difEerent from my original
one respecting the relations between the rock groups of the district,
which it will be well to give a brief account of here. Wherever th6 Carboniferous Limestone occurs in this district, it lies above beds of dark
gray or black shale or slate. These beds are thicker near Cork than they
are farther to the north, about Mallow for instance, or anywhere in
that latitude, either at Kenmare to the west, or at Dungarvan to the east.
Proceeding from, &Fk to the aou+h and west towards Kinsale, these
gray slates become still thicker, but are still capped by the limestone as
far as Carrigaline. The most obvious supposition is that the lowest limestone beds about ,Cork are the same beds which are the lowest at Mallow,
and that the lowest beds about Carrigaline are the same as the lowest
at Cork ; in fact, that while the limestone remained the same over the
whole area of the south of Ireland, a great thickening took place in the
oeds below the limestone in the south-western part of the county of Cork.
This increase of thickness in those beds, as we proceed towards the southwesi, is an undoubted fact. ; but I now believe that it was accompanied
by a corresponding thinning out and dying away of the limestone, and

LOWER

CARBONIFEROUS

19

ROCKS.

that the bottom beds of the limestone at Carrigaline correspond to beds

which are above the bottom beds near Cork, and the bottom beds of Cork
are in like manner contemporaneous with beds that lie above the bottom
beds at Dungarvan and Mallow.
The first suspicion that such an interpretation was the true one, was
derived from the examination of the fossils. Some specimens of fossil
fish were found by the late Mr. Flanagan, in some black shale near
Ballyheedy R.C. Chapel, SW. of Ballinhassig (in Sheet 194). Professor
Edward Forbes recommended me, in the year 1852, to send these to Sir
P, de M. Grey Egerton, for his inspection and determination. Sir R.
Egerton was kind enough to inform me that they belonged to the genus
Ccrzlacunthus,
which he said he had never seen any trace of in any beds
below the Coal Measures.1
These fish remains were accompanied by shells of the genus Po&
donomya. The same shells occurred also near the inner corner of the
Old Head of Kinsale, near Lispatrick Lower, where they had been procured by Sir R. Griffith, and have since been found by ourselves. Posidonomya, although very characteristic of the lower Coal Measure Shales
in the south of Ireland, does occur in the Carboniferous Limestone also.
I therefore concluded that it might occur in the Carboniferous Slates which
I then supposed to lie wholly below the limestone, and that the genus
Codacmthw might also be found in earlier rocks in the south of Ireland
than elsewhere.
Still the possibility of these black shales being Coal Measures, resting
on the Carboniferous Slate by overlap or unconformability, remained
present to my mind, accompanied, however, by a repugnance to the supposition that the Carboniferous Slate could possibly be contemporaneous
with the Carboniferous Limestone.
A short visi$ however, in Se tember, 1852, to the neighbourhood of
Barnstaple, in N. Devon, and t Fle acquisition of a set of fossils from
Mr. Symons, of Braunton, collected in that parish, removed this repug
nance. I saw that both lithologically and palseontologically, bed for
bed, and fossil for fossil, the Braunton and Pi&own rocks of Devon were
identical with the Carboniferous Slate of Cork. The Marwood Sandstones, and the gray grits below them that form Baggy Point, were obviously the same as our Coomhola Grits, and the red and green rocks
that rise up from beneath those rocks in Morte Bay, are exactly similar
to:?
Upper Old Red Sandstone of large parts of the we& of County
Rut the Coal-Measures of Devon rest on the Carboniferous Slate,
without the intervention of any Carboniferous Limestone in its ordinary
form, often without any appearance of limestone at all.
The whole
series of N. Devon seemed to me to be a conformable one, and in many
instances it a.ppeared difficult to draw any very decided boundary between
the Coal Measures and the rocks below. If, however, we have Coal
Measures abov& and Old Red Sandstone below, the rocks between them
must be of the age,of the Carboniferous Limestone. It is possible, therefore, that the sa,me may take place in Cork, and that the small patches
of black shale, which in Cork contain fish of the genus Caelacanthus, and
shells of the following species-Posidomomyn Becheri and P. mern&raru;ccea,
Avioulopecten papyraceus, Lwnwlicardium sp., Orthocerascinctum, 0. seaZcvre,and 0. zcn&2;atum, and Goniatites sphcericus, an assemblage so peculiarly characteristic of the lower Coal Measure shales throughout, Ireland,
from Kerry to Dublin-are
really themselves Coal Measure shales also.
The plants identified by Mr. Baily as Nceggemthiu dichotoma, also occur
in the same locality as the C&acanthus.
If we add to this the fact that these patches of black shale differ in
lithological character from the general mass of the Carboniferous slate,
and are precisely like the lower Coal Measure shales* of Kerry, Limerick,
1 See pages 32-35 for discussion of these supposed Coal Measures.
* This is espeoiallyremarkablein one lace, whereI saw them freshlyo ened, at
a small quarry by the roadside, at Raglzridge, three miles S.W. of Bnl Pinhassig,
between CooloulithaHouse and TemplemichaelChurch.
C2

20

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

Tipperary, Kilkenny, Carlow, and Dublin, the evidence in favour of their

Ei;tteally
those beds becomes sufficient to warrant us in accepting it as

.
On a reexamination

of the Carboniferous limestone between Carrigaline and Cork Harbour, with this idea as a basis, I saw that two
points, that had previously struck me as remarkable, favoured this
hypothesis.
One of these points is near Carrigaline Church and Castle. A mass
of dark gray, fine-grained grit is visible at the corner of the cross-roads,
while immediately north of it there comes in thick, massive, gray, crystalline, crinoidal limestone. Neither of these rocks are at all like the beds
that usually occur at the base of the limestone, where it passes down into
the Lower Limestone shale, so that it is probable that the bottom beds
at this locality are not the regular basal beds of the limestone, but some
higher ones. I was at one time half inclined to suspect that the limestone might be unconformable to the lower rocks at this place, but the
exposure of the latter is too small and obscure to found such a supposition on.
I The other instance i.s much more telling, though it has to be sought
in an obscure locality. It is on the south side of the promontory of
Ringaskiddy, on the eastern shore of the shoal inlet there
where some beds of dark gray shale and thin gray grit bands, verk liketh;?
Carboniferous slate beds (and not like any beds that are called Calp),
come in above some 800 or 900 feet of thick, gray, crystalline limestone.
These look very much like beds of Carboniferous slate beginning to be
intercalated between beds of the limestone, or like beds of Carboniferous
slate con&g in over the Eimestme, and as if the limestone was beginning to die away as an inlier in the slate.
Lastly, we may appeal to the general palseontological evidence procurable from the Carboniferous slate itself. With t-he exception of the shells
called Czcc~ZZccaand Cwrtomtus, and a few other fossils which are found
almost solely in the gritstones (and which we m.ay suppose, therefore, to
have been sand-loving animals)., and a few species, such as Modiola
Macada,mi and Avicula Danmomensis,
which are found chiefly in shales
or slates (and appear, therefore, to have been inhabitants of muddy
bottoms), most of the species found in the Carboniferous Slate are also
found in the Carboniferous Limestone. It is true that the limestone has
many species which are not found in the grits or in the shales or slates,
but it is obvious that we may attribute this also to the nature of the
different sea bottoms which were favourable to them, and not to the different periods of their existence.
Certain animals loved clear seas and calcareous bottoms, certain
others preferred sand, and others again mud, all inhabiting simultaneously different parts of the same sea ; while others, and those the most
abundant in individuals, ranged indiscriminately throughout. Among
the latter we may include those common Carboniferous species, Fenestella
antiqua, A thyris ambigua, Producta scabricula, Rhynchonella plezlrodon,
Spirzfem
czcspidata and S. striata (varieties of which latter species are
probably the disjmcta
of Sowerby, Vmmezcillii of Murchison), Streptoand Terebratbla
hastata, which range throughout
rhynchus crennistria,
the Carboniferous Slate, as thev do throughout the Carboniferous Limestone, occurring in the grits and slates side by side with the fossils that
are peculiar to those beds.
[ I feel, then, now assured that the Carboniferous Slate must be taken
to be contemporaneous with the Carboniferous Limestone, and that here
and there in the Carboniferous Slate country of Cork, small patches of
Coal Measure shales come in conformably on the topmost bed of the
Carboniferous Slate, just as they do on the top of the Carboniferous
Limestone in the northern part of County Cork, and the rest of the S.
of Ireland.
The deposits of sand and mud which first succeeded the formation of
the Old Red Sandstone in South Ireland and South Wales, were continued uninterruptedly through the whole Carboniferous period to the
southward and westward of a line which runs through Kenmare Bay,

ark Harbuur, and the Bristol Channel, while to the north of that line
those muddy and sandy deposits were interrupted during a large part
of the period, and the Carboniferous Limestone was formed from the
waste of the bodies of marine animal organisms, which flourished in the
abeence of the mtchanic$ detritus.
Coomhols Grits.

- --

.
.
.
.

.
.

...
.1
*
.

Carboniferous lA;meatone,
The Carboniferous
submarine forests of

Limestone was mainly derived from the debris of

Crinoidal
animals ; just as many great bulks of

limestone are being now formed in tropical

seas from the debris of

THE GEOtOGir OF C6ftK ANb CO&K BARBOUR.

Corals. Even wh8r8 the Carboniferous Limestone does not exhibit any
distinct traces of Crinoidal remains, it may still have been derived from
Crinoids ; just as many raised Coral reefs exist, which do not exhibit
any r8cOgniSabl8 fragment of the Corals from the waste of .which they
were formed. It follows, then, from the nature of their origin, that the
beds of limestone are limited in extent bv the growth of the animals,
and that a great vertical accumulation of limestone beds may terminate
rather abruptly along any boundary which marks a change in the conditions, from those that were favourable to those that were unfavourable,*
to the animals from whose hard parts it was derived.
The detached portions of limestone to the wea3twardof Carrigaline are
excessively crinoidal, so as obviously to have been derived from local
rowths of these animals, which we may readily understand to have spread
f arther to the southward and westward during one part of the Carboniferous period than in other parts of it.
The diagram, fig, 7, represents in a condensed and therefore a distorted form, the change which I suppose to have taken place from the
Carboniferous Limestone to the Carboniferous Slate. The one end of the
dia ram, that at which the limestone is given, may be taken as an
un (?oubted representation of the rock-groups composing the northern part
of the County Cork, and the adjacent counties east and west of it. The
other end may be taken as an equally correct representation -of those
forming the south-western part of the county, provided that the shales
which we now suspect to be Coal Measures are allowed to belong to that
The middle part of the diagram is hypothetical, for unfortunately
!r$ructure
of the country does not allow of our observing directly the
nature of the change between the two; but the idea of it suggested in
the dia ram is that which has at last settled in my mind, after many
years 0%fW
rvation and &i&ion.
If the above views be correct, there is one special palaeontological point
to be insisted on, and that is, that the species of Spirifera which has
been called Spirifem disjuncta and Spirifera VerneuMii (whether these
are mere varieties of Spkif era striata or not), and also the fossils called
Pleurodictyum problem&cum, AvicuJa Damwumiensis, Cucullcea Ha+
d&.&i and trapmiunn, and Curtonb~tw elegans, are genuine Carboniferous
foesils, and that the occurrence of those fossils in any beds is evidence in
favour of those beds belonging to the age of the Carboniferous Limeatone,
J. B. J.
and not to that of any lower rock.
64NOTE
.-Feeling assured that in North Devon, the Old Red sandstone (with
slaty cleavage), the Carboniferous slate (including the Baggypoint, Braunton,
Marwood and Piltown beds), and the Coal Measures,occur in regular conformable
succession,the upper boundary of the Old Red sandstone running nearly due east
from the southern corner of Morte Bay to Exmoor, and the Carboniferous slate
being the equivalent of the Carboniferouslimestone, I suspect that it will turn
out that the slates and limestonesof South Devon are an extension, and, perhaps,
an expansion, of the Carboniferousslate, and are therefore also equivalent to
the Carboniferous limestone.
The palsontological differences between the Carboniferous limestone and the South Devon rocks may arise from difference of
eographical position, the animals inhabiting different zoological provinces (as
B arrande showed was the case with the Lower Silurian trilobites of Bohemia and
Scandinavia), and also from difference of condition as to depth of water and nature
of bottom, and not from difference in the periods of deposition.
If this be so, it follows that the term Devonian, if retained, can only be used
as a synonym for Lower Carboniferous, including the Carboniferous limestone
in that Lower Carboniferous.

* The Barrier Reefs of the N.E. coast of Australia are 1,200 miles long, having
through part of that space a thickness of at least 1,800 feet. After crossing
Torres Straits they terminate on the coast of New Guinea, in a large massive reef
oalled Warriors Reef. Immediately to the eastward and northward of this there
is a wide open sea in which there is not a particle of Coral to be seen for at least
120 miles, the bottom consisting entirely of mud and silt, brought into the sea
there by the rivers which drain, a parently, the larger part of the Island of New
Guinea. The change here, then, Hom a purely calcareous formation to one consisting entirely of mud and sand, is as abrupt as can possibly be imagined, both
formations having been deposited simultaneously side by side with each other.

L;OWE!R

CA~kO~IFtiROU$

R6CK&.

This conclusion will apply to the Eifel limestones and the other rocks now called
Devonian in Europe and America, as well as to those of the British Islands. It
will also follow that no part of the Old Red sandstone can properly be called
Devonian, as the topmost bed of the Old Red sandstone will then be shown to
have been in existence before any of the beds containing the marine Devonian
shells were deposited.
The upper art of the series called Old Red sandstone, that containing plant
remains and fis% of the genera Pterichthys, Coccosteus, &c., will then form the
conformable base of the Carboniferous series, while the lower art, containing fish
of the genera Cephalaspis, &c., will more properly belong to t%e top of the Upper
Silurian Series.
These hypothetical conclusions, however, are here put forth as problems for
solution, having a sufficient amount of probability to make them worth enter-
taming, and not as demonstrated theorems.
E.B.J.]

It will be noticed that much stress is laid by Jukea in the

above-quoted passages on the supposed Coal Measures directly
overlying the Carboniferous
Slate in the neighbourhood
of
Ballinhassig . But, as already mentioned,
it must now be
acknowledged, for reasons to be subsequently discussed, that
the correlation of these beds with the Coal Measurers can no
longer be sustlained.
Their fa,una, though newer than that
of the Carboniferous Slates themselves is still a Lower Carbonifer0u.s fauna, being one which iss found in other parts of
Ireland in the ,sh&les associ.at,ed with the upper part of the
Carboniferous Limestone (p. 33).
In the above argument Jukes fully recognized the close
relationship of the Carboniferous Slate series with the Pilton
and Marwood Beds of Devonshire both in their respective
faunas and in their lithological
characters.
This correlation has indeed been accepted by all geologists who have
attempted to compare the Cork rocks with those of Devonshire.1 Thus, Davidson, in dealing with Devonian brachiopods
in his great Monograph on the Brachiopoda, vol. iii., part vi.,
pp. 106-107 (Palaont.
Sot. for 1863), pointed out the close
resemblance of these fossils from the two countries, and enforced the comparison by a tabular list. He contributed a
further discussion of the correlation to the Geological Surveg
Memoir on Sheets 192 and 199 (pp. 28-30)) published in 1864,
from which the following passages may be quoted :
it would appear that about twenty-one species of Brachio-

pod; hkebeen found to occur in the North Devon grits and slates, while
about sixteen have been recognised in the Irish corresponding beds.
Of the twenty-one North Devon species, nine or ten only have been
recognised in the Irish brown grits, not quite half of the species being
common to the two.
They contain in common Athyris (perhaps concentrica), Spkifera
disjuncta and Cyrtina heteroclita 1 hitherto considered to belong to the
Devonian age, but there is no reason why they should not have existed
also in that of the Carboniferous period.
The absence, however, in these Irish beds of any example of Eh.
laticosta, Strophdosia caperata, Productus pra&ngus, and Gngulla mola,
species so common and characteristic of the ,North Devon beds, is very
remarkable ; but our not having met them among the specimens sent from
Ireland fovr e,xamination, is no proof that they do really not occur in
these Irish grits.

1Since the above was written, this correlation has been restated by Dr.
Wheelton Hind in a paper to which further reference is given on p. 26.

ti4

THE

GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR.

In a paper1 published
in 1866, Jukes expressed
his conviction, after personal
examination
of the Devonshire
sections,
that the rocks of North Devon belong partly to the group
called Carboniferous
Slate in Ireland,
and partly to the Old
Red Sandstone.
And Ias he still adhered to the view that the
Csrboniferous
Slate was in part deposited
synchronously
with
the Carboniferous
Limestone,
he suggested
that the upper
portion of the Devonian
series in Devon might also be equivalent to the Carboniferous
Lime,stone.
The following
concise re-statement
of his views
to the Gork rocks as a whole, is given by Jukes
quoted paper (p. 345) :-

with regard
in his last-

One general conclusion may be briefly stated as the result of the

examination
of t.he western part of @ounty (York, namely, t,hat there are
two great formations
in it, the Old Eed Sandstone below, and the Carboniferous
Slate above ; the Old Red Sandstone containing no marine
fossils and scarcely any fossils at all, except Elands in its upper portion ;
the Carboniferous
Slate containing some of these plants, but also marine
fossils, sometimes in grea,t profusion.
The Old Ited Sandstone has a
with no beds of black or bluish-grey
prevailing red tinge t,hroughout
slate ; the Carboniferous
Slate has a prevailing
black or bluish-grey
colour, with no beds of a red tinge.
Both are greatly affected by slaty
cleavage.
It may also be stated that where the Carbonifcrous
Slate and Carboniferous Limestone are both present together, the Carboniferous
LimeLimestone has a
stone is uppermost ; but that where the Carboniferous
thickness of 2,000 feet, or upwards, the dark slates between it and the
Old Red Sandstone are very thin, rarely more than 200 feet in thickness ;
while where these dark slates thicken out to more than 2,000 feet, there
is no great thickness of Carboniferous
Limestone over them.
Where the
Carboniferous
Slate attains a still greater thickness, and swells out to
three, four, or five thousand feet, it has never any Carboniferous
Limestone over it at all, but there appear here and there patches of black
slate upon it, which both lithologically
and paheontologica.lly
resemble
the Coal-Measures.
If so, the Carboniferous
Slate occupies, there, the
whole interval between the top of the Old Red Sandstone and the base
of the Coal-Measures,
with a perfectly conformable
and continuous series
of beds to the exclusion of the Carboniferous
Limestone ; and therefore
replaces that limestone.

Prof. E. Hull2 at la later date expressed the same opinion as

to the relationship
between
the Carboniferous
Slate and the
Pilton and Marwood Beds of Devonshire,
and the correlation
has been frequently
referred
to by other writers.
On the

1 On the Carboniferous Slate (or Devonian Rocks) and the Old Red Sandstone
Quart. Joum. Geol. Sot., vol. xxii., pp.
of South Ireland and North Devon.
320-371.
See also the following other papers by Jukes :- Additional Notes
on the Grouping of the Rocks of North Devon and West Somerset, privately
printed, Dublin, 1867. Notes for a Comparison between the Rocks of the
South-west of Ireland and those of North Devon and of Rhenish Prussia [containing a :ood list of fossils and fossil-localities], Journ. R. Geol. Sot. of Ireland.
vol. i. (1867), pp. 103-138 ; Further Notes on the Cla.ssification of the Rocks
of North Devon, ibid., vol. i. (1867), pp. 138-143 ; and Notes on parts of South
Devon and Cornwall, ibid., vol. ii. (1871), pp. 66-107.
2 A possible explanation of the North Devon Section, Geol. Mag., dec. ii.,
vol. v. (1878), p. 532 ; and ,.Cn a proposed Devono-Silurian Formation, Quart.
Journ. GwZ. Qoc., vol. xxxvm. (1882), p. 208.

LOW&% CAttkbNIFEBOUS

ROCKS.

25

strength
of this correlation
some authors,
including
Jukes and
Hull, have urged that the Devonshire
beds should be classed as
Lower CarboGif erous .1
It has, however,
been supposed by most later workers that
the Carboniferous
Limestone
period is represented
in Devon
and Cornwiall by part of the Culm series2-a
shaly and sandy
group differing
widely from its equivalents
in other parts of
Britain-and
fhat the Pilton and Mtarwood beds which underlie this series are older than the Carboniferous
Limestone
and
must be retained
in the Upper Devonian.
If this method of
classification
be finally adopted
for the English
rocks it will
re-act to some extent
upon the system adopted
by Jukes in
Ireland,
and, as previously
rioted, it would probably
become
requisite
to relegate
a large part of the Carboniferous
Slate
series to the Upper Devonian.
Within
recent years the fossils of the Pilton
and Marwood
beds have been carefully re-described
by the Rev. G. F. Whidborne in vol. iii. of his Monograph
of the Devonian
Fauna of
the South of England
(&!onogr. P&zon.t.
Sot.,
~01s. l., 1896,
li., 1897, and iii., 1898) ; but no similar work has yet been done
on the Cork fossils, and the list given below is based entirely
on the determinations
made by Baily over forty years ago.
It is highly desirable
that the fauna of the Carboniferous
Slate
and Coomhola
Grits should
be re-examined
in the light of
present
palpontological
knowledge,
,and until this has beer1
done further
discussion
of the correlation
is hardly possible.
But the absence
of some characteristic
Devonshire
species,
commented
on by Davids,on,
and the comparative
poverty
of
the Irish fauna, suggest that the conditions
in the two regions
were not identical,
and that only part of the Pilt,on and Marwood series is represented
by m.arine deposits in Ireland.
As a summary
of our present
knowledge,
.it may be concluded that in the dilstrict under
discussion,
after the long
period of lacustrine
conditions
represented
by the Old Re,l
Sandstone,
a wide-reaching
depression
occurred by which the
area was submerged
beneath
the sea.
This submergence
took
place before the close of the Devonian
period-if
we accept the
limits usually assigned to that period in the south of Englandand was continued
throughout
Lower
Carboniferous
times.
The earliest
sediments
accumulated
during this submergence
are therefore
of Ialte TJpper Devonian
age, but .pass insensibly
1 See Correlation Tables in Renort of Sub-Committee on Carboniferous,
Devonian, and Old Red Sandstone, published in Report of International Leological Congre.%s,London 1888.
2 For some recent conclusions regarding the Culm Series, see Mr. W. A. E,
Usshers papers The British Culm-measures, Proc. Somerset drchocol. & Nat.
Hist. Sot., vol. xxxviii. (1892), pp. 111-219, and The Culm-measure types of
Great Britain, Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers, vol. xx. (1901), pp. 360-387.
See
also Messrs. G. J. Hinde and H. Fox, on Radiolarian Rocks in the Lower Culm,
Quart. Journ. Oeol. Soe., vol. li. (1!395), p. 662. Since the above was written,
however, Dr. Wheelton Hind has urged, on palnontological grounds, that the
Lower Culm is equivalent to the Pendleside Series of the North of
England, and t,herefore newer than the main mass of the Carboniferous Limestone ; see his paper < On the Homotavial Equivalents of the Lower Culm of
North Devonshire, a&. Mag., dec. v., vol. i. (Aug., 1904), pp- 392-403.

26

THE

GEOLOGY

OIf CORK AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

upward into similar sediments of Lower Carboniferous age.

These sediments include the Carboniferous Slate and Coomhola
Grits, and the Lower Limestone Shale. In this conformable
sequence any division to be drawn between Upper Devouian
and Lower Carbomferous rocks must be more or less arbitrary i
and for purposes of local stratigraphy it is more convenient to
adhere to the existing method, by which the marine beds are
united as a group.
For the sake-of
analogy we may cite the case of the
Rhatic Beds, which lie conformably
between the salt-lake
deposits of the Triassic or New Red period and the marine
sediments of the Lias, and are classed sometimes with the
It is
underlying and sometimes with the overlying series.
noteworthy,
moreover, that the Rh&ic fauna in its broader
features bears a distinct resemblance to that of the Carboniferous Slate.
The classification of such passage-beds in our
conventional
scheme of geological systems has ever been a
source of difficulty and divergent opinion.
FOSSILS OF THE LOWEIR LIMESTONE
SHALE, CARBONIFEROIJS SLATE AND COOMHOLA GRIT from localitim within the
limits of the Cork map or olosely adjacent to its outer boundaries, compiled from W. H. Bailys list (marked B.)
in Xem. Geol. Szcruey,
Explanation of Sheets 187, 195 and 196 (1864), pp. 8-18 : with additions
from I the neighbourhood of Ballea (marked J.) from the paper of
J. Beete Jukes, On the Carboniferous Slate (or Devonian Rocks) and
the Old Red Sandstone of South Ireland and North Devon, in Qwurt.
Jowm. GC&. Hoc., vol. xxii. (1866), p. 336-7. For the exact localities
at which the fossils were found reference should be made to the abovementioned publications.
Lower
Litll3dIN3

t
-1 T-car-

bog jfeous

Coomhole
Grit.

PLANT.q.

Cyathophyllum (P&r&) celticum, Lonsd.

Pleurodictyum problematicum, QoZdf.

.
.

.:

Filicites line&us, Baily

AOTINOZOA.

..

EOHINODERMATA.

.
Actinocrinus polydactylus, Miller
.
Cyethocrinus pinnatus, Qoldf. .
---(1 Actinocrinus) varisbilis, Phi&!. :
Cyathocrinus (1 Actinocrinus), and other crinoidal remains.
Plstyorinua
.
.
.
.
.
.

..
..
ii

JJ
J
B

..

CRUSTAOEA.
Cypridina (Leperditia) subrecta, PO&.

1The classification of the Coomhola series as passage-beds is ado ted also

by Dr. Wheelton Hind in the correlation table in his paper on The Sub: ivisions

of the CarboniferousSeriesin Great Britain and some of their European Equivalents. Trans. Ed&b. Geol. Sot.. vol. vii. (ZSSS), p. 360.

POSSILS

OF THE LOWER

LIMESTONE

SHALE,

Lower
LiK&;ne

27

ETC.

~~bOll;OUS
.

oomhob
Qrit.

BRYO~OA.
Ceriopora rhombifera, Phi&
Fenestella antiqua, Goldf.

..
..

..
..

BRACHIOPODA.
Athyris ambigua, &our.
.
.
.
.
Discina nitida, Phi&
Orthis Michelini, Lkv. (including some speci:
mens which may possibly be 0. interlineata, Sow.)
Productus scabriculus, Martin
.
.
.
--semireticulatus, var. Martini, Sow. .
Renssellseria stringice s ? F. Roemer
.
.
Rhynchonella pleuro $ on, Phil?. (or R. latiCosta).
Spirifera cuspidata, Martin
.
.
.
---striata, Martin (along with forms
usually named S. disjuncta or S. Verneuili)
Spirifefep cristata, var. octoplicata, J. de 0.
Streptorhynchus crenistria, Phill.
Terebratula hastata, J. de C. Sow.,

.
.

.
.

BB
B

J
ii
J

..

z..
....
..
ii

..

::

3
B

..

..

LAMELLIBRANcHI_~TA.
Avicula damnoniensis, Sow.
.
.
.
Aviculopecten nexilis, Sow.
.
.
.
Cucullaea Hardingi, Sow. (including vars.
trapezium and amygdalina).
Curtonotus elegans Salter (and vars. elongatus
and rotundatus).
Cy ricardia Phillipsi, &Orb.
.
.
.
Do Pabra ? sp.
Modiola Macadami, P&X
:
:
:
:
Nucula, sp.
Sanguinolites, sp:
1
1
1
1
1
Sedgwickia bullata ? MCoy
.
.
.

..

ii

..
..

..

BB
B
B

..

..

BB
B

..
..

GASTEROPODA
(with HETEROPODA).
Acroculia striata, Philt.
Bellerophon subglobatus,
---sp.
Euomphalus, sp.
:
Natica, sp.
Pleurotomaria, sp.
1
Turbo, sp.
.
.

.
.

.
.

1
.

1
.

1
.

1
.

:
.

:
.

MCo~

CEPHALOPODA.
Goniatites, sp.
Orthoceras unduiatum; SOW:
:
---sp.
.
.
.
.

J
J

ti
..

..
..
..

..
..

3
..

ii

..
i3.
ii
..
..
..
..
..

Note.-As it was held by Jukes that the Lower Limestone Shale, Carboniferous
Slate, and Coomhola Grit were equivalent deposits and all of Carboniferous
age, their classification for purposes of fossil-collecting was probably considered
to be of secondary conse uence, and therefore the separation indicated in the
original list, from which tx e above table has been compiled, has evidently been
more or less arbitrary. Jukes stated in his paper (Quart. Journ. Geol. Sot., vol.
xxii., p. 337) that CucuZZ@a, and Curtonotus were found at several localities,
but always in grits, the situation of which showed them to be low down in the
Carboniferous Slate.
As these fossils are recorded in the list from all three
divisions, it may be inferred that the grit-bands with the peculiar fauna ocour in
the Lower Limestone Shale as well as in the Carboniferous Slate.

ab

TEtE GEOi;Oc;POF CORK AND C6BR RARBOUR.

Carboniferous Limestone.
The following is the short description of the

Carboniferous
Limestone
given by Jukes in the Explanation
of Sheets 187,
195 and 196 (p. 9) : The Carboniferous Limestone preserves nearly the same characters
over the whole area, being a pale gray compact or crystalline limestone,
almost always thick bedded. It is, however, so much cut up by numerous
joints, and often so much affected by an imperfect slaty cleavage, that
it is generally impossible to say which are the original planes of stratifycation, and determine its dip by any observatioss made in the limestone
itself.

Where this can be determined, it always agrees with that of the

no appearance of the slightest unconformity having ever
.been observed in any of the beds of the district.
It may be further
noted that in many places the limestone
is seamed or veined with dolomite,
usually of a, brown colour.
It also includes irregular
bands and nodules of chert.
Though
usuallyof a grey or blu.ish grey colour, in a few places it has
been stained pink or red, and then affords a handsome
ornamental
marble
when polished.
The principal
localities
for
this red limestone
lie a little to the south and south-west
of
Midleton,
where the rock is quarried as an ornamental
stone
(p. 110).
The ordinary
grey limestone
<constitutes
the chief
building
stone of the district,
and for this purpose,
and also
for lime-burning
and road-mending,
is worked
in numerous
quarries, of which those around Blackrock
(Plate III.) and on
Little Island and at Midleton
have attained
large dimensions.
The amount of its deformation
under the lateral pressure which
caused the folding of the rocks seems to have varied widely from
point to point, and in some places to have been very great.
Thus, in a quarry in the strip of limestone
east of Fivemilebridge the rock has in pl,aces been thoroughly
breccilated
and
then re-cemented
into a solid mass.
In other places, as at
Little Island,
Midleton,
and other localities
along the middle
of the Cork valley, the fossils of the limestone
though frequently
distorted and compressed
are on the whole well-preserved,
even
when of large size, so that in spite of the disturbed
aspect of the
rock and the obscurity
or absence of bedding
there can have
been no gener,al reconstruction of the limestone in these places.
The quarries
at Little
Island
and those around
Midleton
have long been famous as collecting
grounds
for the CarboniMany fossils have also been obtained
ferous Limestone
fauna.
from the quarries
near Blackrock
and from other places in
the immediate
neighbourhood
of the city of Cork (see p. 82).
A long list of these fossils w.as published
in 1864 by Baily in
the former memoir
on the district
( Explanation
of Sheets
&c.), and a supplementary
list of the brachiopods
by
187,
Davidson
was incorporated
in the Explanation
of Sheets 192
and 199, published in the same year.
Since that time several
groups of the Cork fossils have been re-studied
by specialists
in
the preparation
of the Monographs
published
by the Palaontological Society, the rich collection
m.ade by Mr. l
J-eph
Wright.
1r.6. s., now of Belfast, affording the major part of the material
requisite for this purpose.
rocks below,

CARBONIFEROUS

LIMESTONE.

29

The groups of fossils thus dealt with are as follows :-The

Entomostraca,
by Prof. T. Rupert Jones, J. W. Kirkby,
and
G. S. Brady (Monogr. Palaont. Sot. between
1874 and 1899) ;
the Trilobites
and other
Crustacea,
by Dr. H. Woodward
(Mon. Pal. Sot. for 1878,1883
and 1884) ; the Lamellibranchs,
by Dr. W7. Hind (Mon. Pal. Sot., between 1896 and 1904-not
yet complet,ed) ; and the Cephalopod,s,
by Dr. A. H. Foord
(Mon. Pal. Sot. between
1897 and 1903).
In most cases these
rnonographs
contain numerous
figures of Cork fossils.
From the above works and other publications
hereafter
mentioned the following
list has been compiled :LIST

OF FOSSILS
FROM
THE
OF
THE
CORK
DISTRICT
publications : -

CARBONIFEROUS
; compiled
from

LIMESTONE
the following

BAILY, W. H.-List
in previous Memoir Geol. Survey : Explanation of Sheets
187, 195 and 196 (1864), pp. 8-18.
of Brachiopoda in Mem. Geol. Survey : Explanation
DAVIDSON, T.-List
of Sheets 192 and 199 (1864), pp. 27-28.
DONALD, MISS J.-
Notes on some new and little known species of Carboniferous Murchisonia, Quart. J ourn. Geol. Sot., vol. xlviii. (1892) ; and Notes
on Murchisonia and its allies, ibid. vol. li. (1895), p. 221.
FOORD, A. H.-
Monograph of the Carboniferous Cephalopoda of Ireland,
Fa,Gzont. Sot. for 1897-1903.
HAU~HTON, S.- On some Fossil Pyramidellidae from the Carboniferous
Limestone of Cork and Clonmel, Proc. Dublin Univer. *Zool. & Botan. Assoc.,
vol. i. (1859), p. 282.
HIND, W.--- MFmograph of the British Carboniferous Lamellibranchiata,
Pakeont Sot. for 1897-1904.
JONE;. T. R., J. W. KIRKBY, and G. S. BR.\DY.- Monograph of the British
Fossil Bivalved Entomostraca from the Carboniferous Formations,
Palceont.
SOS. for 1874 and 1884.
-
Monograph
of
the
British
Palaeozoic
JONES, T. R., and H. WOODWARD.
Phyllopoda, Palaeont Sot. for 1899.
of the British Carboniferous Trilobites,
WOOD WARD, H.-- Monograph
Pakont
Sot. for 1883 and 1884 ; and Monogr. of the British Fossil Crustacea
belonging to the Order MerJstomata, Part V., ibid. for 1878.
WRIC4HT J. - Description of a new Palmchinus, Joum. R. Beol. Sot. Ireland,
vol i. (1864), p. 62.
ACTINOZOA.

Authority

: Raily, op. cit.

Amplexus coralloidcs. J. Sow.

Note.-Mr. J. Wright informs us that his collection also includes the following
hitherto unrecorded species from Little Island or Blackrock :-Cladochonus
bacillaris, MCoy ; Columnaria Egertoni, Edw. & Haimes ; Cyathophyllum dianthoides, MCoy ; Favosites parasitica, Phill ; Lithostrotion irregulare, Phill. ;
L junceum, Flem. ; L. Phillipsi,
Edw. & H. ; Lonsdalia rugosa, &ZCoy ;
Michelinis tenuisepta, Phi& ; Zaphrentis cylindrica, Scou.,?er.
ECHINODERMATA.
Authority
Cyathocrinus ( ? Actinocrinus).
Platycrinus ellipticus, PhiZZ.
Authority

: Baily,

op. cit.

Platycrinus
: Wright,

gigas, Phill.

op. cit.

Pahechinus quadriserialis, J.

Wright.1

1 No locality is mentioned for this fossil in the original description, but we are
informed by Mr. J. Wright that it was obtained from Ballynabointra, 2+ miles
west of Midleton.

30

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND CORK

HARBOUR.

CRUSTAOEIA.
Authority : H. Woodward, op. cit.
Cyclus Wrighti, H. Woodw.
Brachymetopus diacors, MCoy
Griffithides globiceps, Phill.
ourahcus, De Vern.
seminiferus, PhiU.
Cyclus ii[arknessi, H. Woodw.
Phillip& Colei, MCoy
jonesianus, H. Woodw.
,,
derbiensis, Mart.
radialis, Phill.
,t
,,
gemmulifera, Phill.
torosus, H. Woodw.
,9
,,
Authority : Jones and Woodward, op.
Chzenocaris tenuistriatct, MCoy.

cit.

Authority : Jones, Kirkby, and Brady, op. cit.

Beyrichia gigantea, J. K. & B.
Offa brtrrandiana, J. K. & B.
Entomis biconcentrica, Jones
Philomedes bairdiana, J. K. & B.
obscur&, J. K. & B.
Polycope simplex, J. & K.
En$moconchus
Scouleri, MCoy
Rhombina hibernice, J. K. & B.
orbiculsris, J. K. & B.
end numerous species of the genera Cyprella, Cypridella, Cypridellina, Cypridina, Cypridinella, and Sulcuna, for which see above-cited Monograph.

.
BRYOZOA.
Fenestella
9,
1,
9,
9,

Authority : Baily, op. cit.

antique, Cloldf.
Glauconome grandis, M Coy
crass&, M Coy
Polypora laxa, Phil2.
ejuncida, MCoy
Ptylopora pluma, MCoy
membranacee, Phill.
Retepora undata, MCoy
multiporata, MCoy
Vinculsrie dichotoma, MCoy
BRAOHIOPODA.

Authority : Davidson, op. cit.

Athyris ambigua, Sow.
Retzia ulotrix, De Kon.
Rhynchonella acumins&,, Mart.
,, expansa,l Phill.
lamellosa,
LEveille
angulata, Linn.
,,
,9
plano-sulcata, Phill.
cordiformis, Sow.
,,
,9
Roissyi, LEvei&
flexistria, Phill.
,9
Csx&rophorL crumena, Mart.
pleurodon, Phill.
,t
globulina, Phi&
pugnus, Mart.
,,
Chone& buchiana, De Kon.
reflexa, De Kon.
,9
(Productus) comoides ? Sow.
reniformis, Sow.
,,
,,
hardrensis, Phill.
trilatera, De Ron.
,J
papilionacea, Phill.
Spirife$ cuspidata, Mart.
,,
Crania quadrata, JfCoy
distana, Sow.
Cyrtina dorsata ? MCoy (? syn. C. sep::
duplicicosta, Phill.
tos&, Phill.)
elli tica, Phill.
,f
Discina, davreuxiana, De Kon.
gla %ra, Mart.
,t
nitida, Phill.
integricosta, Phill.
1,
Or&& Michelini, L' Eve&!&
line&a, Mart.
9,
resupinata, Mart.
mosquensis ? Fischer
1,
Proiuctus sculeatus, Mart.
pinguis, Sow.
,,
cora, D' Orb.
rhomboidea, Phill.
,,
,,
fimbriatus, Sow.
striata, Mart.
,t
1,
giganteus, Mart.
trigonalis, Mart.
,I
,,
longispinus, Sow.
trirsdialis, Phill.
,,
,9
margaritaceus, Phill.
Urii, Flem.
,,
1,
mesoloba, Phill.
Spiriferina cristata, var. octoplicata
,,
plicatilis,
Sow.
J. de C. Sow., and var.
1,
punctatus, Mart.
biplicata.
,,
pustulosus,
Phill.
insculpta,
Phi&?.
,,
,t
scabriculus, Mart.
laminosa, MCoy
,9
semiretiaulatus, Mart.
Strep&hynchus
crenistria Phill.
,9
spinulosus, Sow.
Kellii, M Coy (var. of
,,
99
tesselletus, De Kon.
crenistria).
,9
undatus, Def.
Strophomena analoga, Phill. (var. of
,9
Wrighti, Dav.
rhomboidalis).
19
youngienue, Dav.
Terebratula [Dielssma] hastata, Sow. ;
Ret& radialis, Phill.
and var. sacculus, Mart.
1 Recorded b#yT. Davidson in Monogr. Carb. Brachiopodrt, Supplement, vol. iv.
pt. iii., p. 310 (Mongr. Pa& Sot. for 1880).

FOSSILS

OF THE CARBONIFEROUS

LIMESTONE.

31

LAMELLIBRANCI~IATA.

Authority : W. Hind, op. cit.

Amusium concentricurn, Hiti
planicostatum, MOoy
Avio~opecten Carrolli, Hind
clathratus, MCoy
,,
deornatus, PKZZ.
,,
dissimilis, Flem.
,*
Forbesi, iU7oy
,,
incrassatus, MCq
V
maorotus, iUC0
,9
Murchisoni, M 8 oy
,,
nobilis, De Km.
,,
planoclathratus, NOoy
,,
plicatus, 8020.
,9
Sedgwicki, MCoy
,9
stellaris, Phill.
CarJiozorpha Egertoni, MCoy
oblonga, Sow.
,,
ventricosa, MCoy
Edmo&ia aompressa, MCoy
igantea, De Kon.
Eumkotis 5-lemisphsrious, PhiZZ.

Eumiorotis ovalis, De Kon.

Limatulina alternata, MCoy
desquamata, MCoy
Mod&la patula, &fCoy
Wrighti, Hind
Not%amusium radiatum, Hind
Paleeolima lsevis, Hind
simplex, PiciZZ.
Parafielodon decussatus, &Coy
verneuilianus, De Km.
Pseudimusium anisotum, PhiZZ.
,,
auriculatum, M Coy
ellipticurn, PI&Y.
,9
sublobatum, PI&
Protosdhizodus magnus, De Kon.
Pterinopecten cyclopterus, Phill.
eximius, De Kon.
,9
,,
radiatus, Phi&
tessellatus, PhiZZ.
Strebloiteria laevigata, McCoy
Synoyolonema Sowerbyi, MCoy

QASTEROP~DA.

Authorities : B&y

(B.), Haughtorr (H.), Donald (D.), op. cit.

Capulus vetustus, Sow. (B.)

Euomphalus aoutus, Sow. (H.)
pentangulatus, Sow. (B.)
9,
planorbis, Vern. (B.)
Loxodkna rugifera, PhiZZ. (H. )
suloulosa, Phi& (H.)
,,

Macrooheilus aoutus, Sow. (H.)

Murohisonia dispar, M Coy (D.)

telesoo ium, Haughton (D.)
Natioz plicistria, P Rill. (B.)
Straparollus Dionysi, Goldf. (B.)
Turritella suturalis, PhiZZ. (B.)

Note.-Mr. J. Wright informs UEthat his collection contains also the following
species hitherto unreoorded, the majority being from the old Windmill Quarry
ornatum, De Kon. ; Euomphalus aequalis, Sow. ;
(see p. 32) :-Dentalium
E. oalyx, PhiZZ.; E. catillus, Mart. ; Littorina solids, De Kon. ; Loxonema oonstriota, Mart.; L. Lefebvrei, LEw. ; Maorooheilus ourvilineus, PhiZZ.; M. nobilie,
sow. ; Murohieonia striatula, De Kon. ; Natica ampliata, PhiZZ.; N. elliptica,
Phill. ; N. elongata, PhiZZ.; N. spirata, Sow. ; Platychisma fallax, De Kon. ;
P. helicoides, Sow. ; Pleurotomaria altavittata, MCoy ; P. oonica, Phi& ; P.
oallosa, De Kon. ; P. decussata, MCoy ; P. expansa, De Kon. ; P. naticoides,
De Kon. ; P. tornatilis. PhiZZ.; P. Y vanni, LEv. ; Trochella prisoa, MCoy ; Turbo
biserialis, PhiZZ.
CEPHALOPODA.

Authority : Foord, op. cit.

Aotinooeras insulare, Foord
Orthoceras acre, Foord
propinquum, Foord
Hindei, Foord
,9
Aipo&as ? hainesianum, Foord
multistriatum, Foord
,9
Aphzleceras mutabile, MCoy
perellipticum, Foord
19
Ccelonautilus planotergatus, MCoy
pilum, Foord
Cyrtooeras (Melooeras) arcuatoseptatum,
1:
Porteri, Foord
lf00rd
subolavatum, Foord
Disoitooeras disoors, MCoy
Perid$olus fasciculatus, MCoy
Wrightii, Foord
funatus, Sow.
Glyph!ooeras (Beyrichoceras) oordatum,
11
multicostatus, Foord
Crick
Poteriooeras fusiforme, J. de C. Sow.
obtusum.
Proleoanites compressus, Sow.
2,
9,
Phill.
Solenooheilus (1) olausus, Foord
subquadradorsalis, Phill.
1s
99
,9
turn, Foord
(5) hibernious, Foord
trunoatum,
Stroboo$as suloatum, J. de C. Sow.
,,
?)
Phiu.
Temnocheilus coronatus, MCoy
(Muensteroo;o;~;llip
Vestinautilus oariniferus, J. de C. Sow.
9,
crassimarginatus, Foord
89
Crick
multioarinatus, J. de C. Sow,
1,
obesum,
paucioarinatus, Poor&:
8.
:
I,

Food

32

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

m,ajority of the fossils of the foregoing hsf

Localities. -The
have been obtained front the large quarries on IJittk bland, but
other quarries near Blackrock and around Midleton, a8 well as
the old workings on the ridge south of Cork city, have ah
yielded many specimens, though in many places the fossils
appear to have been obliterated by pressure or other causes, and
their occurrence
is mainly in sporadic patches.
For information
as to the localities from which individual species have been
recorded, the original publications mentioned at the head of the
list should be consulted.
As already stated, the best collection of these fossils is that
accumulated through the assiduous labours of many years by
Mr. Joseph Wright, F.G.S. (now of Belfast), and it is in this collection that most of the species recorded in the various monographs of the Palzontological
Society have been determined.
Our grateful thanks are due to.Mr. Wright for his kind assistance in compiling the present list, and for permission to
publish the following
information
from his letters on the
subject : There are two localities near Cork of special interest, viz., 1st.

Little Island :-a

few hundred yards S. W. of the quarries was a small
patch of limestone
nolt so hard or compact as the stone at the quarries.
This stone contained
fossils in the greatest profusion,
(many of them
It was here that the Ostracods,
Tsilobit+
I&&,
being alma11 in size.
Brachiopods
and Lamellibranchs
were found.
!A few years ago when I
visited the spot the limestone was gone and the land under tillage.
2nd. Cork or Windmill
Quarry at the south side of the city,
off
Windmill
Road, off Summer Hill
South :-the
limestone here for the
greater part appears devoid of fossils, but in some spots Gasteropods
occurred in great profusion and variety.
Nearly all the specimens I have
were obtained from this quarry.
The following genera were well reproLoxmema,
Murchisorzia,
Plcurotomama,
Natica
sented : Macrocheilus,
and Euomphalus
[see also p. 311. The qularry has not been worked
for years.

The Upper Shale or Posidonomya

Becheri Beds,

The presence of beds in the south-western

part of the map,
supposed by Jukes to be Coal-Measures, has *been referred to
several times in the foregoing descriptions,
and the extract
from the previous memoir given on p. 19 contains the principal reasons which led Jukes to adopt this view.
The
following further particulars may be quoted from another part
of the same memoir (p. 9) : Coal-Measures ?-There occur in one or two small localities in Sheet
195 [of the Ordnance one-inch map], some very earthy, perfectly black
slates, with surfaces so carbonaoeous as sometimes to stain the fingers.
like rotten coal.
They have some thin , greenish gray, soft, earthy sandstone bands interstratified
with them.
Wherever these beds occur, they
are the highest beds seen ; and, while they are not lithologically
identical
with any beds below them, they are precisely like the lower Coal Measure
shales which spread from the N. of Cork through Kerry, Limerick, Clare.
Tipperary,
Queens County, Kilkenny,
Carlow, and Dublin.
They may
possibly, then, be the basal beds of the Coal ,Measures, and the abundance
of Poszdonomya Becheri and other fossils which they contain, favours this
supposition,

CARBONIFEROUS

ROCKS : THE UPPER SHALE.

33

In a later paper, l Jukes estimated that the thickness of tho

Ballyheedy Coal-Measures might be 500 or 600 feet.
As previously stated, these beds .were not originally shown
on the geological map as a separate division ; butduring a revision of the ground many years later, diagrammatic
boundar;)
lines were traced between the supposed Coal-Measures and the
Carboniferous <Slate, and the beds were distinguished by a separate colour and symbol on the revised editions of Sheets 194
and 195, published in 1891.

In view of more recent work on the palzeontology of the Carbcniferous rocks, however, the reasons adduced by Jukes for
considering these beds to be Coal-Measures are no longer valid,
as their fauna would now be classed as Lower Carboniferous.2
The following is the list of fqsils (with tlhe original nomeE.clature) from the black shales given by Baily in the former
memoir, in part from localities within the present sheet, and
in part from places just outside its southern margin :FOSSILS

OF THE

POSIDONOMYA

BEDS.

PLANT&.
Noggerathia

I,

dichotoma

? Goepp.

BRAUHIOPODA.

Spirifera

pinguis,

Sow.

CONOHIFERA.
Aviculopecten
Lunulioardium,

papyraceus,
sp.

Posidonomya
9,

Bow.

Becheri, var. membranacea,

vetusta, 80,.
[MCoy.

CEPHALOPODA.
Qoniatites
9,

sphaericus, var. orenistria,

sp. indet.
[Phill.

Orthoceras
,,

cinctum, Bow.
scalare, Goldf.

:ISClES.

Caelacanthus

elongatus,

Huxley.3

Palsoniscus,

sp.

The comparison dra%vn by Jukes between the black shales of

Cork and beds at that time classed as Lower Coal-Measures in
other parts of Ireland has also po longer any force.
Mr. J. R.
Kilroe, who was instructed to carry out the above-mentioned
revision of the Southetn Cork maps in 1890-91 has recently
drawn up a MS. account of the work, from which the following p.assage is quoted :- It may also be mentioned that
1 On the Carboniferous Slate, etc., of South Ireland and North Devon.
@art.
Journ. Ued. ~oc., vol. xxii. (1866), p. 339.
12In a paper published since the above was in print, Dr. Wheelton Hind ha8
stated his opinion, based on the palaeontological evidence, that these black shales
with Posidonomya are equivalent
in age to the c Pendleside
Series of the
North of England, and to part of the Lorer Culm of Devon ; see 6On
the Homotaxial Equivalents of the Lower Culm, Ueo!. Mug., dtc. v,, WI, i.
(1904), p. 401.
,,J &fern. t&01. Survey. : Organic Remains : dec. xii. (1866), pp.3 23-25, P1.v.
n

34

THB GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

the supposed Coal-Measures

of North Dublin upon the
similarity to whioh, in the case of the black slate of South Cork,
Jukes in some degree relied in arriving at his decision, have
The Coalsince 1864 been relegated to a lower horizon.
Measures throughout Central Ireland were revised under Prof.
Hull, and those in the above county were altered to Yoredale
Shale and Millstone Grit in 1877. The area at k3oss Cliff in
Clare, which yielded fish-remains to which the fish-scale found
rrt Meadstown in Cork was compared, is now Bhown as Yoredale Series on the published maps revised in 1882.
For these reasons it has not been considered advisable to
retain the separate division on the present map, and the beds
are therefore coloured as part of the Carboniferous Slate.
To the present writer it appears that if the view, so. strenuously advocated by Jukes, of a lateral passage of the limestone
into shale be correct, these black Posidonomya-shales,
which
make their appearance at the spot where the limestone ends off
westward, are quite possibly the local equivalent of some part
Several of the shells which occur in these
of the limestone.
shales are characteristic of muddy deposits associated with the
upper part of the Carboniferous Limestone in other ,parts of
Ireland ; and as Dr. Wheelton Hind has shown,l the fauna1
facies of the Lower Carboniferous rocks generally in the British
Islands is peculiarly dependent upon the composition of the
sediments ; ISO that the fossils o fthe limestone, representing
the life in areas of clear watkr, are different from those of contemporaneous shales and sandstones, which represent the life
Gf muddy or sandy sea-floors.
The line of separation which was drawn around the supposed
and
was necessarily more or less arbitrary,
was based mainly on t+he local occurrence of fossils, since the
lithological difference between the black shales and the surrounding rocks mapped as Carboniferous
Slates is by no
mean,s sharply marked, the one series apparently merging into
the other, as was recognised by Jukes.
And the impression
gained in traversing the ground during the recent mapping of
the drifts has been that the upper portion of the Carbofiiferous
Slate might be united with the black shales, and that these
together might be the equivalent of the limestone.
This combined series might then possibly be correlated with the Culmmeasures of Devonshire, and would represent the fringe of
the Culm type of deposits in their westward prolongation
As a minor point favourable to this sugfrom Devonshire.
gestion, it may be added that a specimen of chert from one of
the numerouur thin seams of this substance intercalated
with
Coal-Measurss

1 The l'mreotme
of the Cerboniferoue Rocks of the Pennine System.
I&e. Qd. & Pdptech, Sot., vol. xiv. (1902), pp. 422-468,

Plot,

35

CJARBONIFEROUS ROCKS : THE UPPER SHALE.

the black shales was recently submitted1 to Dr. G. J. Hinde

for microscopic examination, who reported as follows : Locality

: near

Fivemilebridge,
Cork.

Balhnhassig

, south

of

The rock is filled with casts of Radiolaria,

which are
rounded or oval, more or less distorted, either clear (by transTraces of structure
mitted light) or light brownish in tint.
have almost entirely disappeared, but occasionally faint indications of perforations are recognizable.
The radiolarian casts resemble in form and size those in
the Lower Culm cherts of Devon and Cornwall, and the
rock is likewise similar.

By Mr. H. B. Woodward who collected the specimen while on a visit of inspection

to the ground during the drift-mapping.

D2

36

THE

GEOLOGY

CHAPTER

OF CORK AND CORK

IV.-THE

SUPERFICIAL

HARBOUR.

POST-TERTIARY

OR

DEPOSITS.

The geological history of the southern part of Ireland as

recorded in its solid rocks is broken off abruptly at the Carboniferous Period, and for the conditions which prevailed therein
during the vast interval of time represented by the remaining
portion of the Paleozoic
era and the whole of the Mesozoic
and of the Tertiary eras, not one vestige of direct evidence
remains.
If any rocks of newer age than the Lower Carboniferous described in the last chapter were ever deposited
over this tract, they have since been entirely removed by the
erosive agencies which, as we have seen, have bitten deeply
even into the Carboniferous rocks themselves.
The only indication of the later conditions is the indirect evidence afforded
by the river-systems already referred to, which show that at
some period toward the close of this long interval the surface
of the country had a comparatively regular slope towards southWhether this slope was produced merely by the
south-east.
planing-down of the Carboniferous and older rocks to an even
surface, or whether it was the result of an accumulation
of
newer sediments over the whole country during a period of
submergence, we cannot tell, though the latter supposition is
At any rate, it is clear that the Postthe more probable.
Lower-Carboniferous
rock-folds which dominate the present
surface-features
were either too deeply buried or too regularly
shaved off to affect the general level of the old surface.
Judging from data available in the north of Ireland and in
parts of England we may surmise that the sub&al erosion of
the district under the above-mentioned
conditions was in progress during the later stages of Tertiary times.
With the commencement of the Pleistocene or Post-Tertiary
Period the curtain is lifted, and from that time onward to the
present we may interpret the course of events with comparative
certainty.

Pm-Glacial or Early Glacial Shore-line,

During the recent survey, it was discovered that an ancient
shore-line, of earlier date than the glaciation of the district,
was traceable almost continuously in the present coast-sections
of the south-eastern part of the map and around Cork Harbour.
Considerable
interest attaches to this discovery since it
affords the first definite evidence forthcoming in Ireland for the
physical condition of the country immediately
prior to the
Glacial Period.
Recognizing its important scientific bearings,
the surveyors in whose ground this beach occurred have extended their investigation unofficially, with the result that they
have been able to trace the old shore at intervals along the
whole of the southern coast of Ireland, from Baltimore to

SHORE-LINE

1I

BENEATH

GLACIAI,

DEPOSITS.

37

Carnsore Point, for a distance of about 130 miles.

A full
account of their work has been incorporated in a paper read
by them before the Royal D.ublin Society and recently pubhshedl ; and to this paper the reader should refer for particulars
as to the extension of the old shore beyond the limits of the
present map, where it sometimes attains a fuller development
than in the sections within this map.
The detailed description of the beach-deposits and the overlying drifts will be found in Part II. of this memoir (pp.
98-105), where also the general features and relations of the
old shore-line to the Gl(acial #deposits and to the Pre-Glacial
topography
are discussed (pp. 106408).
It will therefore
suffice here briefly to summarize the evidence.
Where best preserved, the ancient coast consists of a broad
smoothly-worn tidal shelf falling seaward to present mean-tide
level, but rising at its inner edge at the foot of the ala cliff
to a few feet above present high-water mark.
The ancient
cliff presents a somewhat weathered rocky face rising bluffly
from the margin of the old platform, and in the sheltered angle
thus formed, a thick wedge of detrital deposits has been accumulated and in some places still remains, though generally
more or less eaten away by recent marine erosion, as shown in
the following diagram, Fig. 8, and in Plate VI., p. 99.
Fm. 8.
Diagrammatic

Section of the Raised Beach and overlying deposits on the coast

near the mouth of Cork Harbour.

. .

..

Upper Head or Rubble-drift.

Boulder-clay.
Dower Head.
Blown Sand.
I
Raised Beach Gravel and blocks fallen from the cliff, resting on a
water-worn rock platform.
The complete suooession may be seen on the south side of Poulnacallee Bay.

* .*
ZI(
r: P

6.
4.
3.
2.
1.

1 W. B. Wright and H. B. Muff, The Pre-Glacial Raised Beach of the South

Coast of Ireland, SC. Proc. R. Dublin BOG., vol. x. (LS.), pt. ii. (1904), pp.
250-324.
.

38

!EiB

0EOLOoP

OF

CORB:

ANb COI?&

E~A~BOUR.

The Iowermosf of these deposits, where the full succession is

developed, consists of a few feet or inches of well-rolled shingle
mixed with a little sand, resting directly on the rock-platform.
The pebbles have been almost wholly derived from the adjacent
rocks, but in some parts of the coast tliey include here and
there a round.ed fragment
of distant origin.
Though no
relics of marine fife have yet been found in this shingle and
sand we may safely attribute their absence to the solvent effect
of percolating waters ; and there can be no doubt that the
deposit represents a, marine beach.
Near the foot of the old cliff we frequently find large angular
0: partly rounded blocks of rock w.hich have fallen from the
These blocks
impending crags, just as on the present shore.
are sometimes partly embedded in the old beach.
In a few
places, a mass of fine sand, evidently wind-blown, has lodged in
the angle between the cliff and the old shore, enveloping the
fallen blocks and enwrapping
the adjacent rock-face.
ThiB
blown-sand could not have accumulated so long as the wavea
washed the base of the cliff, and it affords the first indication
of that elevation of the coast-line which is demonstrated by the
overlying deposits.
This elevation evidently raised the tidal shelf above the reach
of the sea, and consequently
all the screes or rockirubble
derived from the subzrial wastage of Zhe old cliff and of the
steep slopes above it were showered down upon the platform
and thickly piled there in long talus-slopes.
The climatal conditions at fhis time appear to have been severe, so that the
tack-fragments
were greatly shattered by frost and perhaps
spread out by streamlets from the summer melting of the Fnow
(p. 103)) like the talus-:slopes of Greenland, Spitzbergen
and
Franz Josef Land at the present day. The result of this subtrial erosion is found in the Lower Head or rubble of our
sections.
While the Lower Head gives indication of arctic conditions, the deposit which overlies it in most of the sections
marks the advent of an ice-sheet and the culmination of the
Glacial Period.
It consists of a more or less loamy boulderclay containing
the characteristically
striated
stones and
boulders, similar to that which overspreads wide tracts of the
inland country.
As the glacial deposits of the district will be
separately described, it will suffice here to state that the accumulation of this boulder-clay appears to have taken place when
the whole country was overwhelmed by an ice-sheet which, in
this district, moved approximately from westward to eastward.
Here and there the boulder-clay has cut out the underlying
deposits and rests directly upon the rocky shore-platform,
and
where this is the case glacial striations may be occasionally
noticed on the previously sea-worn rock-surface (p. 98).
Above the boulder-clay there is usually an upper bed of
head or local rubbIe resembling that below the boulder-clay,
but of less thickness and containing Borne material washed
from the drift along with the local detritus.
This Upper

SHORIGLINE BGNIZAT# GLACIAL bEPC)SlTS.

59

Ee&d has evidently been formedst the close of the Glacial

geFdd under approximately
similar conditions to the Lower
9,
From the extended researches previously referred to it has
been shown that this ancient shore-line is distirrctly older than
the glaciation of any part of the south or south-east of lreland.
Thus, on the coast to the eastward of the present map, where,
as subsequently
described (p. 105), a boulder-clay somewhat
older than that of the Cork district is preserved, the old beachdeposits are still found beneath it. Thle presence of a few fartravelled pebbles in the ancient shingle points, however, to the
existence of floating ice in thle sea which carved out the shoreline ; and this, together with the relation of the coast to the
pre-glacial topography, serves to indicate that the period of its
development cannot have been long prior to the glaciation.
It has previously been shown (p. 7) that the valley-system
of the interior has been only slightly modified since Pre-Glacial
times ; and the presence of this pre-glacial shore, coinciding
almost exactly with the position of the present shore, proves,
somewhat unexpectedly, that the change in the coast line has
also been slight,
This%apparent inactivity of the sea is however explained by the above-noted elevation of the land after
the old shore was formed, as in all probability it was not until
a comparatively recent date that the sea was brought back to
approximately
its former level, and in the interval its erosive
energy has been exerted at some Ibwer level now submerged.
It is particularly instructive to find that the old shore-line is .
not confined to the open coast, but h.as been developed also on
both sides of the strait leading into Cork Harbour and around
the coast of the Harbour.
Not only sb, but it is, furthermore,
still recognizable in the narrow passages east and west of Great
Island (p. 90).
If we adopted the view previously expressed, that these
gorges represent submerged river-valleys ex,cavated at o, period
when the land stood at a higher level, it follows from the
above facts that the pre-glacial period of elevation when the
valleys were formed was succeeded by a period of subsidence,
also earlier than the glaciation, during which the lower part
of the valleys was occupied by the sea to a level just a little
Then followed the elevation associated
higher than at present.
with the glaciation of the district, and finally the subsidence
that again converted the lower part of the valleys into marine
inlets.
The possibility that the old shore might have been developed
during an Interglaci,al episode has not been lost sight of, but
is unsupported
by any evidence.
No trace of a period of
glaciation older than the beach could be detected, while the
definite proof afforded by the country to the eastward (p. 106)
that the shore was in existence before the advent of the icesheet which occupied the basin of the Irish Sea tell@ s\rongly in
the same direction, as the deposits of this ice-sheet wnsfitufe
the oldest glacial drift heretofore recognized in Ireland,
l

.
TBB GEOLOGY Ol? CORX AND CORK BARBOUR.

It is especially noteworthy
that throughout the extent to
:vhich this old shore has been traced along the southern coast
of Ireland no appreciable difference in its level could be
detected,1 thus showing that there has been no differential
movement of the south of Ireland in an east and west direction
nince pre-glacial tim,es. There can be no doubt, also, that the
same shore-line is indicated on the opposite side of St. Georges
Channel, by the Raised Beach of Gower, described by Mr.
R. H. Tiddemanz; and it is probable that an old shore-line
which occurs in Devon and Cornwall is of the same period.3
Still more remarkable is the fact that an ancient sea-beach has
been found beneath the drifts in the east of England, on the
south side of Flamborough Head,4 at about the same level.
This pre-glacial insulation of Ireland has an important bearing on questions relating to the distribution of the flora and
It must be remembered, however, that
fauna of the country.
a land-connection
with Great Britain may have been established during the subsequent
Glacial and Post-Glacial
reelevation.

The Glacial Deposits,

Considered as a whole, the accumulation of Glacial drift is
not nearly so great in the Cork district as in country around
Dublin and in the country around Belfast which were previously
surveyed.
The glaciating agent in this part of the south of
Ireland has been less effective than in the districts farther
north, both in the transport of material and in the erosion of
although here and there the
the solid rocks. Consequently,
drifts are heaped up to a considerable thickness, they are as a
rule only thinly distributed, ,and are often not very different in
character from ordinary subaerial rock-detritus ; and we find
many bbroad areas in which the #country-rock lies so near the
surface that the sprinkling of drift is insufficient in quantity to
be worth showing on the map.
Boulder-Clay.-The
most widely-spread kind of drift in the
district is a red stony loam or clay; equivalent to the boulderclay of the more severely glaciated parts of the country,
but usually of looser texture,
and with less variety in its
ingredients and fewer ice-scratched stones. For the most part
it is entirely composed of the debris of the local Old Red and
Carboniferous
rocks, (and the occurrence of any extraneous
m,aterial is quite exceptional (pp. 58 and 62). In the northern
part of the map, drift of this character is spread thinly but f,airly
continuously over most of the slopes and basin-like hollows of
1 See Wright and Muffs paper referred to on p. 37.
3 Report British Assoc. for 1900 (Bradford), p. 760,
3 W. A. E. Ussher, The Chronological Value of the Pleistocene Deposits of
Devon, Quart. J OUTTLCkd. J?oc., vol. xxxiv. (1878), p. 449 ; and Post-Tertiary
Geology of Cornwall (privately printed, 1879) ; also J, Prestwich The Raised
Beaches and Head or Rubble Drift of the South of England, Quart. Journ.
(ieol. Sot., mol. xlviii. ( 1892), p. 263.
4 0. W. Lamplugh, Drifts of Flamborough Head, Quad. Journ. @eoZ. ~oc.,
vol. xlvii. (1891), p. 384.

BOULDER-CLAY.

41

the upland, leaving the rock uncovered only on the ridges and
in the steep-sided valleys.
But farther southward the proportionate area of drift becomes much less, except in the broad
synclinal valleys.
On the Central Ridge, the drift is practically
confined to the flanking slopes and to a few isolated patches in
upland basins.
Where least abundant it is also least worthy
of the term boulder-clay , being often no more than a
clayey local rubble containing a few scratched stones, and
scarcely to be distringuished from the previously-&scribed
head of the coast sections,
Moreover, this scanty drift has
frequently
been re-arranged
by sabzrial downwashing since
the Glacial Period, with further detriment to its distinctive
character (p. 52). There is, however, sufficient evidence to
show thacf the glaciating agent has passed over the whole district, and that the highest summilts within the present map
have been overwhelmed by it.
The boulder-clay of the low synclinal valleys differs from
thaB of the uplands in its greater average thickness, and in the
far larger proportion of striated stones which it contains, as
well as in the abundance of limestone-detritus
which is scarcely
ever found in the upland drift.
In the Cork valley, especially
in the tract west of the city, although the drift has the compact
unstratified and well-glaciated aspect of a !boulder-clay_, it is
sometimes
composed almost entirely
of sand, gravel and
boulders, with h:ardly any clayey matrix ; and there has then
been difficulty in deciding whether it should be mapped as
sand and gravel (i. e., &ratified drift) or as /boulder-clay
(p. 68). This condition has probably b,eon brought about by
the incorporation
of the pre-glacial fluviatilo deposits of the
Lee.
In the Cloyne valley, on both sides of Cork Harbour, the
boulder-clay,
largely derived from the Carbonif erous rocks,
more often assumes the normal character of a compact boulderstudded till, as may be well seen in the cliff-sections south
of Ringaskiddy (Plate IV.).
Boulders.-Except
in these low-lying
sections,
where
glaciated blocks of limestone are sometimes numerous, there is
a notable rarity of large boulders in the Cork drifts, mainly
due, no doubt, to the slaty cleavage prevalent in the counltryrock, which is unfavourable
to the . production
of cubical
blocks. It is necessary, however, to qualify this statement in
respect to the south-eastern part of the m,ap, where a peculiar
close-grained siliceous breccia occurs rather abundantly in large
transported
blocks.
These boulders are common over the
summit of Great Island (p. 89) and on the upland between
Cork Harbour and the open coast (p. 207), up to the western
margin of the map ; while the most westerly example observed
was found on the high ground 6 mile SE. of Old Court, west
y
of Passage West (pr89y.
The source of these boulders has not been ascertained, but
they have probably been derived from a much-crushed
and
silicified portion of the Carlboniferous Limestone
in which
chert was originally abundant.

A few far-travelled blocks and pebbles of granite, andesite,

were noticed on the upland in the north-eastern
part of
the map (pp. 58 and 62), mostly in the neighbourhood of the
place where boulders of granite, supposed to be from Galway,
It is in this district
bad previously been recognized by Jukes.1
that the high-level stratified drift, presently to be described, is
best developed, and we may suspect that the erratics have been
in some way associated with it.
Extraneous pebbles of a different type, including many fragments of flint, were also found near the south-eastern
corner
of the sheet, in gravels which are believed to have been derived
from the margin of the eastern ice-flow ~(p, 106).
Glacial St&e. -Although
where there are bare crags, these
generally show a glaciated outline, it is not often in the
Cork district that the finer glacial markings are preserved.
But occasionally, where a covering of compact boulder-clay has
protected the rock-surface from weathering, the striae inscribed
by the. #glaciating agent are still visible, and denote the direction of movement.
The only previously recorded striEe were
those noted by the late Prof. H. Carvill Lewis on the limestone near Corks; we are now able to add instances from
many other parts of the district, as shown on the new map,
from which they have been copied on the Index-map, Fig. 1.
It will be noticed that these stria indicate a general movement
of the ice from about W.N.W. to E.S.E. in the northern part
of the map, and from nearly west to east in the southern part,
and that the local contours of the ground have had surprisingly
little effect upon the movement.
We shall return to this
matter in discussing the origin of the drifts (p. 45).
Glacial Sand and Grawl. -As
usual in glaciated areas,
the most extensive masses of stratified drift occur on the
lower ground, but are not entirely confined to it. In the Cork
o,alley west of Cork there are numerous sporadic patches of
coarse glaciated gravel mixed with sand, which, as already
noted (p. 411, are scarcely distinguishable from the surrounding gravelly ,boulder-clay. In the same valley, on Little
Island and over the country to the eastward up to the margin
of the map, there is an%lmost continuous though tortuous belt
of well-washed gravel and sand often heaped into mounds and
ridges, that evidently marks the course of glacial flood-waters.
This belt attains its maximum development
in the country
south and south-west of Midleton (p. 83).
Masses of gl,acial gravel are also #banked to a great depth in
some of the transverse gorges tributary to the Cork valley,
notably in that of a small branch of the Bride River north of
Cork (p. 72 ,and Plate V.), and in that of the Glashaboy (p. 58) ;
and in both cases these have had a striking influence upon the
Similar gravels on a smaller scale are
post -glacial drainage.
&c.,

1 Hem. Qed. 8urvey.

Explan. of Sheets 187, 196, and 196, p. 69.
S Papem and Notea on the Glacial Geology of Great Britain and Ireland
(Longmam, London, 1894), pp. 100, 107,

43
also found in some of the glens on the southern side of the main
valley (p. 88) )and in the synclirral hollows of Blarney (p. 53)
and Riverstown (p. 59).
In the Cloyne valley east of Cork Harbour, several tracts of
sand and gravel have been mapped, including an esker-like
ridge bordering the Saleen estuary (pp. 95-6). On the opposite
side of Cork Harbour, gravels #associated with the boulder-clay
were found along the border of the Owenboy estuary east of
Carrigaline and on the flank of the hill east of Crosshaven, as
well as in several places on the undulating ground between the
Owenboy and Monkstown Creek (p. 94). A few small patches
also occur higher up the valley of the Owenboy, above its gorge
at Balls (p. 92).
South of the Cloyne valley, very little stratified drift was
found, except immediately north of Power Head, where there
is a moundy tract of sand and rather fine gravel containing, as
previously mentioned, some far-transported
pebbles.
The stratified drift o.f the northern upland deserves especial
attention because of its belaring on the question as to the origin
It occurs on the highest ground within
of the glacial deposits.
the map, heaped up in isolated mounds which show the arched
bedding characteristic of glacial fluviatile deposits.
The largest
of these mounds lies a little beyond the north-east margin of
the present sheet at the place called Sandyhill, about three
miles N.N.E. of Midleton, at an elevation of 592 feet above
Ordnance Datum.
_
A lbelt of pebbly loam, which )appears to be a local variety of
the upland boulder-clay, stretches west-south-westward
across
the upland from this place ; and most of the high-level gravels
in the northern part of the map lie within this belt. They are
piled up in mounds on a high rock-spur at Birch Hill (p. 62),
3 miles N. of Carrigbohill, here reaching an altitude of 500 feet.
A mile and a h(alf farther west, near Ballynakilla, they form a
thin capping on a rounded summit reaching to 640 feet above .,
of Birch
O.D. (p. 62). At Pigeon Hill, 2 miles W.N.W.
Hill, they occur as conspicuous mounds on the open upland at
an elevation of about 600 feet, the largest mound being about
35 feet high .and over 200 y#ards in length.
Large sand-pits
excavated in this mound reveal good sections showing the
irregularity
and steep cross-bedding of the deposits, and it is
at this place that the high-level gravels may be best studied
(p. 59). F,arther westward _ag#ain, north of Knockraha and
just beyond the northern margin of the map, moundy gravels
fringe a high-lying valley at 373 feet above sea-level ; and other
instances, described in the next chapter, are found in several
places at lower levels to the southward and westw.ard (pp.
56-8). PitIs for the local supply of gravel and s.aad have been
opened in nearly all the districts where the stratified drift

44

THE

QEOtOaY

OF

CORE

AND CORB H,ARBOUR.

Origin of the Glacial Deposits.

The drifts of the Cork *district confirm the general conclusions which have been drawn from the Btudy of other parts of
Ireland that the glaciation of the country has been effected by
land-ice.
The comparison of these drifts with those of the
districts farther north, described in lthe preceding mem$rs on
the neighbourhood of Dublin and of Belfast, brings out some
notable differences which throw much light upon the conditions
of the glaciation.
Instead of the massive drumlins of compact boulder-clay of
the Belfast district or the thick smooth sheets of camplex drift
of the Dublin lowland, with their large proportion of fartravelled ,erratics, we find in the neighbourhood of Cork a preponderance of loose rubbly drift derived entirely from the 104
rocks, sprinkled rthinly and interruptedly
over the surface and
rarely building up new topographical
features except on a
small scale in (the bro.ad deep valleys.
The presence of a few
large boulders and of scratched stones and occasional striated
rock-surfaces
on the uplands, together with the high-lying
hummocks of stratxified drift and some traces of the effect of
glacial drainage among the hills, give sufficient evidence that
the glaciation has extended over the whole area included in
the present sheet ; but these indications are slight as compared
with the equivalent
effects at altitudes twice as great in
northern Irel,and, and it is evident rfhat in the Cork district the
glaciating agent has .acted with greatly diminished force, which
we may assume to imply that the thickness of lthe enveloping
ice-sheet w)as far less than in the nonth.1
Within the present map no marine remains, nor indeed
fossils of any kind (except those of Carboniferous age contained
in derivative pebbles) have been found in the drift, though in
the e,astern <boulder-clay which is visible in the coast sections only a little way beyond the eastern margin of the sheet,
fragments of marine shells are f,airly abundant (p. 105). In
the absence of any facts rto supply a basis for the idea that the
drifts might Ibe of marine origin, it is unnecessary here to
repeat the reasons put forward in preceding memoirs on the
1 It may here be mentioned that in consequence of thwe inconspicuous effect!,
the previous literature relating to the glaciation of this part of the country 1s
remarkably scanty-more
sc,anty, indeed, than for any other part of Ireland. A few
observations
were given by Jukes in the previous
memoir on the district
(Explanation
of Sheets 187, 196, and 196, pp. 68-60), in which he expressed
doubt whether most of the drift was anything more than detritus due to subThe posthumous
notes of Prof. H. Carvill-Lewis in The
aerial weathering.
0lacia.l Geology of Cheat Britain and Ireland (Longmans, London, 1894), contain
a few observations made in the neighbourhood
of Cork, but are too incomplete
Prof. E. Hull, in his P2iysicuZ Geology and
to require further notice here.
Qeograpittl of Ireland (Stanford, London, 2nd ed., 1891), p. 292, devotes a few
eentencee to the glaciation of the district, and shows that it has been covered
by an ice-sheet; and the same author has a brief note on Haulbowline Island
in a short paper in Journ. ROT{. Geol. Sot., Ireland, vol. iv. (1877), p. 111.
Finally, Mr. J Porter, in disc&sing
the origin of certain Cork valleys (I&&
Naturalist
vol. xi,, 1902, p. 163), makes passing mention
of the presence of
glacial drift in the district.
This comprises the literature of the subject known
to the present writer.

ORIGIN

OF THE GLACIAL

DEPOSITS.

45

Dublin and Belfast districts to show that this idea is untenable.

The general character of the deposits, their position in the
field, and their relation to the phenomena of other parts of the
country, as aheady outlined and subsequently
given in full
detail, will be sufficient to show why we are unable to assign B
marine origin to these drifats.
The alternative
hypothesisAhat
.the glaciating agent was
land-ice-affords
a satisfactory solution of the problem in all
its aspects.
With this clue we may now attempt to follow
the probable course of events during the Glacial Period.
At the beginning of the period, as already shown, the sea
stood at approximately its present level, but afterwards receded
from the old coast-line.
The annual snowfall, being in excess
of the amount removed by melting, gradually accumulated and
* became consolidated into an ice-sheet, which not only covered
the present land-surf,ace but allso filled the basin previously
occupied Iby the Irish Sea with a great ice-lobe (the WestBritish Ice ) that crept southward along the hollow.
The
growth of the inland ice-sheet was much slower in the south of
Ireland
than in the central
and northern
parts, and the
West British lobe had reached St. Georges Channel and
over-ridden the south-eastern
corner of Jreland while yet the
ice was comparatively limited in extent m the country around
Cork. During this time however the subaerial wastage of such
portions of the land as were still uncovered went on at a high
rate, owing to the character of the climate ; and und*er these
(p. 103).
conditions the Lower Head was accumulated
Gradually the ice extended its [borders, the Ivernian sheet
rising higher over the central plain of Ireland until in some
places it over-topped the hilly aouthern rim of Old Red Sandstone, while the West British sheet Sy this time had
spread beyond St. George!s Channel and invaded the southern
borders of Waterford and Cork. Meanwhile the highlands of
West Cork had become buried in an icy covering that crept outward along all the valleys which were still unoccupied, and that
finally became confluent with the ice-plains to the northward
In the area immediately under our notice the
and eastward.
ice-fields increased until they covered the whole of the land, and
being augmented and dominated by the flow from the mbuntains to the westward, and hemmed in by the great sheets to the
northward and eastward, a local movement from the westward,
roughly parallel to the course of the principal longitudinal
valleys, became established in the mass ; and this direction was
held irrespective of the minor inequalities or even of the deep
transverse valleys of the buried land. If the sea-floor to the
southward had been unoccupied we should probably have found
that tongues of ice escaped southw.ard through the broader
gorges like that forming the entrance to Cork H(arbour ; but
instead of this, we find that even in this instance the stria
indicate #amovement across the gorge (p. 102).
From the evidence of the coast sections lying outside our
map, to the e,astward of Power Head, it is cle#ar that this local
ffow from west to east invaded (an area which had previously

46

THE

OEOLOOY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR,

been covered by the West British lobe, as the characteristic

marly boulder-clay, with marine detritus, of the ice from the
Irish Sea basin is overspread (by the red boulder-clay of Cork,
mainly composed of detritus from the Old Red rocks to the
westward (p. 106). This evidence is confirmatory of that observed in the Dublin district (see Dublin memoir, p. 49)
in showing that a shrinkage of the West British ice was
in progress before the Ivernian sheet of the interior had
attained its maximum.
Coast-sections at the mouth of the
Cloyne valley south bf Youghal seem to indicate, however, that
the two sheets were conterminous and that the invasion of ON
followed immediately
upon the retreat of the other, with no
interglacial episode between these events.
The glaciation of the district appears to have been of comparatively short duration, and not only to have commenced
later but to have terminated earlier than that of the greater
In all prolba,bility the region was not far
part of Ireland.
within the outer southern limits of the British ice-sheets, as
we know that on the opposite side of the Channel, although
South Wales was covered,: Cornwall remained unglaciated,
and there is no indication of the ice-sheet to the southward of
the Bristol Channel.
The high ground of south-eastern
Cork,
being thus less deeply buried than most p#arts of the country,
emerged at a relativelg earlier stage of the meltin,g, an3 a
powerful land-drainage
was soon re-established.
To this
stage, when the ice-margin w$as retreating
northward across
the upland, we may assign the high-level gravel mounds przviously described, these being the product of rivers whose
courses lay mainly within the ice-fields.
In the principal longitudinal valleys the ice appears to have
lingered later ; especially in the Cork valley, which probably
sustained a valley-glacier fed from the western hills until some
time $after the surrounding ridges were bare.
The heavy accumulation of gravels in the transverse glens o,f the Bride (p.
72) and Glashaboy (p. 58) #and in hollows on the hill-slopes,
as at Douglas (p. 88) and Crosshaven (p. 94)) may be explained
under these conditions ; and the esker-like belts of similar
material in the eastern part of the Cork and Cloyne valleys
(pp. 83 and 96) probably represent the product of glacial rivers
flowing on and under the waning glaciers.
It was during this stage of retreat, also, before the normal
land-drainage had become fully re-established, that the erosion
of the deep rock-trenches was commenced in places where the
streams had been locally diver,ted from their pre-gZacia1 courses
either by ice-barriers or by exceptional masses of drift ; of which
many striking examples are described in the next chapter,
(e,.g., Gouldingcs Glen, p. 71; Gllanmire, p. 58 ; Tattans
Gorse, p. 64 ; Monard, p. 54 ; Kilcully, p. 57). The depth
to which some of these gorges have been excavated bears eloquent testimony to the he.avy volume of water which the
streams then carried, and also to the length of the interval
which separates the close of the local glaciation from the
present day.

POST-GLACIAL

DEPOSITS.

I 47

With the disappearance of the ice-sheet from the district, .we

enter upon the period reckoned as Post-Glacial ; but it is highly
probable th.at th,e earlier of the ,deposits ,classed as Post-Glacial
in the south of Ireland have been accumulated synchronously
with the later of the deposits classed as Glacial in the north.
Thus, the Upper Head of the Ncoast-sections (pp, 98-105)
and Borne of the older fans of river-gravel in the valleys
(pp. 63, 66 and 88) may be Post-Glacial only in the local sense.

Post-Glacial Deposits,
L

Old River Gravels and Deltas.-As

the Post-Glacial channels
at the mouths of the rivers tributary to Cork Harbour are excavated well below present sea-level, it is evident that the elevation of the land which, as we have seen, ushered in the Glacial
Period was persistent into Post-Glacial times.
The available
evidence is unfortunately
insufficient to allow an estimate of
The subsequent
the maximum amount of this elevation.
depression has inundated the lower parts of the valleys and
submerged their ancient alluvial deposits ; and probably the
oldest Post-Glacidil
fluviatile beds now accessible are the
fans of gravel and wash thrown down around the mouths
of the transverse
gorges where these open upon the flats
Almbst every stream descending
of the longitudinal valleys.
from the ridges has formed a low alluvial cone of more or
less water-worn local detritus on entering the broader valley.
These cones are altogether disproportionate
to the size of the
present streams and were probably formed, as previously suggested, like the Upper Head, at a time when the climate
was still severe.
With heavy snowfall accumulating during
the winter in the upland basins and melting away rapidly in
the spring, we should have conditions favourable to the production of strong floods in the drainage channels ; and such
conditions would be sufficient to explain the rapid Post-Glacial
trenching of the gorges and the spreading out of the floodThese alluvial fans are now genedetritus at their mouths.
rally under cultivation,
and their originating
streams are
reduced to rivulets flowing in artificial gutters or in the larger
examples cbnfined within a narrow alluvial flat excavated
through their older deposits.

The broadest stretches of these old flood-gravels are found

in the vicinity of Midleton in association with the Owennacurra River and its tributaries (p. 84) ; in the Lee valley around
Carrigrohane (p. 88) ; and in the depression north of the Central
ridge at Curraheen (p. 66) and west of Douglas (p. 76).
A ZZuvium.-The
flats of recent alluvium which border the
rivers of the district bear the usual character of fluviatile
deposits, being gravelly where the flow of the stream is rapid,
and $more or less loamy or silty where it is sluggish.
The
broader flats generally show an upper layer of loam, resting
on gravel, as in the alluvium of the Lee west of Cork (p. 77).
The principal strips are found in the longitudinal valleys, but

48

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR.

even here they are not very extensive, while in the transverse
volleys they me for the most part too small to be represented
on the one-inch map except by exaggerating
their breadth.
Some flat wet tracts on the southern side of the Cork valley
appear to have suffered periodical inundation until artificially
drained, and in these places the extent of the alluvium is not
dependent upon the size of the streams.
The swampy alluvial
hollow east of Blarney probably owes its condition to the comparatively rapid lowering of its limestone-floor
by solution
(p. 53). The re-arranged drift of the shallow upland basins,
due to the gradual slidmg or washing of the material down the
adjacent slopes, sometimes merges into true alluvium in the
hollows which have held temporary ponds (p. 52).
Peat.-There
is a curious absence of peat throughout
the
district, in spite of the conditions in many places being apparently those favourable to its accumulation,
as, for example, in
the wet upland hollows, which in most parts of Ireland would
be found deeply lined with peat.
This may imply some slight
difference of clicmate, possibly a greater degree of summerwarmth, than in the interior and western parts of the country.
Whatever the cause may be, there are no deposits of economic
importance within the present map, and it is only at the borders
of a few small natural ponds on the uplands that peat has been
dug, and the quantity obtained is insignificant,

Intake.-The
ramifying tidal inlets with broad muddy foreshores that penetrate
the country surrounding
Cork Harbour h,ave presented mlany Favourable opportunities
for the
artificial reclamation of land,*and embankments for this purpose
have been raised in many places with good result.
The tracts
of intake are separately shown on the new map where the
scale has permitted.
Great changes have been brought about during the last two
or three centuries by the balme means within the boundaries of
the city of Cork, so that where the old maps show marshes and
An account of the progress
creeks there are now busy streets.
of these changes, illustrated by reproductions
of the old maps,
.ilrill be found in the next chapter (pp. 78-80, figs. 13 (and 14).
Raised Beach?-Of
the Post-Glacial
Raised Beach which
is so conspicuous at from 10 to 20 feet above present eea-level
on the east coast of Ireland from Dublin northward no definitea
trace was found in the Cork district.
Along the shores of
some
of the inlets draining
into Cork Harbour, particularly
on the northern side of that which separates Great Island from
the mainland, there is sometimes a shelf of a few yards width
which is only overflowed by exceptionally
high tides and is
more or less overgrown by vegetation ; and at its landward
margin there is frequently a sloping bank of drift also clothed
with vegetation, representing a 10~ weathered cliff upon which
the sea has at present no erosive action (p. 85). This shelf
may possibly indicate a very slight recent uplift, but the feature
is so interrupted and so insignificant that it may possibly be

POST-GLACIAL

49

DEPOSITS.

the rmult of some minor local modification of the tidal impulse

or of heavy flood-waters occasionally !pouring into the estuary
from the land.
The huge heaps of oyster-shells piled up on this shelf at Brick
Island and Brown Island, and in less quantity at a few other
spots (p. 86) appear to h.ave been accumulated artificially by
the ancient eaters of molluscs that inhabited the country.
These shell-heaps
or kitchen-middens have frequently
attracted the attention of archaeologists and have been well
described by Mr. G. M. Atkinson, who noticed thin layers
of charcoal and stone pounders in them.
Although consisting
mainly of the shells of O&ea edulis, Mr. Atkinson collected
1 also the following species from them :--MytiZus edulis, Carddum edwle, Pullastra decussata, Littorina litorea, Buccinum
undatum, Patella auJgaTis and Murex erinaceus.1

1 Kitchen Middens in the Estuary of Cork Harbour.

Ardueol. As~oc. of ldtmd, ser. 2, vol. ii,, pp. 268-261.

Journ.

Roy. Riut. d

.6Q

TEE c3EOLQGY OF CORK AND CORK RARBOUR.

PART II.

CHAPTER

V.--DETAILED
SUPERFICIAL

DESCRIPTION

OF THE

DEPOSITS.

Ilntrodzcction.---In
dealing with the details of the Glacial drifts and
Post-Glacial deposits of the district included within the map, the descriptions will be arranged as far as possible in separate divisions corresponding to the principal topographical features of the area as defined in on
earlier chapter (pp. 4-8).
In every case more than one oficer took part in the mapping of the
several divisions.
The descriptions which follow represent the combined reports of the individual members of the field-staff, the share of
each in the work being indicated by the initials appended to the
paragraphs of which he is the author. The divisions will be described
in the following order :1,
2.
3.
4.
6.

The
The
The
The
The

Upland north of the Cork Valley.

Cork and Midleton Valley.
Central Ridge.
Cloyne and Carrigaline Valley.
Southern Ridge and Coast-line.

I.-THE

UPLAND NORTH OF THE CORK VALLEY.

Upland north-eaat of Blarney.-Though

presenting, as a whole, the
aspect of a plateau with a steep edge on the south rising abruptly from
the Cork valley, the northern upland is trenched in many places by
deep stream-gorges that have been graded down into close relationship
At the north-western corner of the
with the depth of the Cork valley.
map, the River Martin, north of Blarney, flows south-south-eastward
along a deep trench of this kind, excavatrd in the Old Red Sandstone,
with steep and sometimes craggy slopes, 60 to 80 feet high, and with
room at the bottom for only a narrow strip of alluvium scarcely above
reach of present floods.
Although the features of this gorge have undoubtedly been accentuated in Post-Glacial times, there are clear indications that it was in
existence before the close of the Glacial period. The clayey drift with
which the upland to the eastward is partly overspread, descends in
places over the upper portion of the valley-slopes, and a patch of purple
stony loam with scratched stones occurs at a lower level in the angle
between the main stream and a small tributary which joins it from
the west, half a mile north of Blarney, being exposed to a depth of 8
feet in an old quarry.
Moreover, the presence of a thick covering of
drift on the lower slopes of the Blarney valley, as subsequently
described, affords further proof that these valleys had been excavated
nearly to their present level before the drift was deposited.
The upland drift consists mainly of red rubbly boulder-clay, almost
entirely derived from slaty Old Red rocks similar to those on which it
rests ; but as rocks of the same type extend far to the northward and
westward, there may have been an undetected transport of material.
On the upland in this district, and for many miles to the eastward,
the only extraneous substance observed in the drift was black chert

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

NORTH OF CbRK

51

VALLEY.

in small frstgments, probably

derived originally either from the
Carboniferous Limestone or from Carboniferous shal+!s, but perhaps
incorporated in the drift at second-hand from detrital material of
,pre-glacial accumulation.
The stones in this local drift are principally angular or sub-angular
slaty fragments not more than three or four inches in diameter, with
comparatively few larger boulders, and with not many striated stones.
The matrix is usually a red loam more or less sandy, and although
it passes here and there info stiffer clay, the term boulder-clay
would be somewhat misleading in this district if interpreted in the
descriptive as distinguished from the technical sense. The soil of the
drift-covered ground, therefonb, in dry situations is fairly light,
though becoming heavy on wet ill-drained lower slopes and bottoms
1 of the upland hollows.
Drift of this character lines the smooth undulations of the plateau
with a thin irregular covering, but fades out or occurs only in scattered
pockets' on the gentle prominences that rise above the general
level. On the summits, therefore, bhe solid strata are usually either
close, to the surface, covered only by a thin layer of disintegrated rock,
,pr, al in the ridges north and sollth of Ballygibbon House, they out.c~op inrlow crags, with smooth ice-worn outlines partly obliterated by
weathering.
Y!hroughout the whole Cork district there is a notable absence of the
h&aping-up of the boulder-clay into drumlins comparable to those so
oommonly found in the northern and central parts of Ireland.
Occasionally this drift forms low terrace-like banks that, might be
mistaken for solid features, but more usually the surface of the
uplands where covered by boulder-clay is characteristically featureless,
and it is where the glacial sand and gravel is developed fhat the drifts
become m.oundy.
A distinct increase in the proportion of drift-covered ground is
observable as we go northward on the upland. Toward its southern
margin the tract6 in which rock lies close to the surface are largely
predominant ; while farther north, as an inspection of the Drift Map will
show, the driftless ground becomes broken into irregular patches that
are subordinate to the areas of ( boulder-clay.
This northward increase in the superficial extent of the drift-covering
is accompanied by a corresponding increase in ifs average thickness, :iiid
also in the degree of glacial erosion suffered by the underlying solid
rocks. As mentioned in the preceding chapter, these indications of
southward diminution in the effects of the glaciating age& become still
more nlarked when we compare the upland ridges south of the Col*k
valley with fhe northern upland. 9he best sections of upland drift i!l
1the north-western part of the map are in the cutting of the Great
The water-filled old pits on both sidds
Southern and Western Railway.
of the embankment 500 yards S.E. of Blarney Statioll appear to have
&en mainly in boulder-clay ; and 8 feet of red sandy loam full of local
The
stones is exposed in. the catting immediately S.E. of the Station.
deep overgrown cutting 500-1000 yards N.W. of Blarney Station
reaches solid rock, apparently covered by a thick sheet of drift which in
places is so gravelly and sandy that much doubt was felt in including it
as part of the boulder-clay on the map. But a pit-section on the easit
side of the railway-bridge at the northern end of the cutting exposes
6 feet of grr\velly loamy drift showing the unstratified aspect characteristic of boulder-clay, and this material weathers to a light gravqlly
This pit-section is also interesting
earth like that-seen in the cutting.
ES

52

THE

QEOLOQY

OF CORK

AND CORK

EARBOUR.

in that the drift lies within the valley of a small tributary of the
Martin River, and furnishes additional evidence of the preglacial age of
this valley-system,
On the eastern side of the railway 500 yards N. of the above=
mentioned bridge there appears to be a patch of true gravel (shown on
the map) which is indicated by the shingly character of the soil and the
abundance of waterworn stones, though no section is exposed.
Reference has been made above to the wet drift-lined hollows of the
upland. These usually represent portions of broad shallow valleys
belonging to the period of mature topography of the plateau before the
commencement of the new cycle of erosive activity represented by the
deep gorges of the present streams. They recur at short intervals on
all parts of the upland, and from the agricultural standpoint constitute
the worst laud of the district. A good example is afforded by the rushy
hollow east and north-east of Ballygibbon House, in which lies a minor
water-parting with swampy ground draining partly southward and
partly northward into separate tributaries of the Martin. The wet
slopes are underlain by clayey rubble which appearsto have been formed
by the gradual downward sliding and reconstruction of the boulder-clay.
Similar material has accumulated in the bottom of the hollow, and passes
insensibly into alluvial stream-wash when traced into the proximity of
the present drainage channels. Jn its actual position this clayey rubble
can scarcely be considered to be a glacial deposit, since it has been rearranged by subsequent agencies, mainly no doubt by the action of rain
and of small springs, the latter being usually abundant on these slopes.
On the other hand, it is essentially composed of the same material as the
undisturbed glacial drift, and merges gradually into it, so that no
dividing line can be drawn between them. An attempt was made in
surveying some parts of the district to map this basin-drift separately
from the original drift, but the division was found to be too arbitrary
and unsatisfactory to be worth adopting ; and on the published map the
rearranged stony clay is shown as part of the boulder-clay. The term
4glncialoid drift has been applied by Mr. G, H. Kinahanl to material
of similar origin in other parts of Ireland ; and it is important to
recognize, as Mr. Rinahan has pointed out, that this drift may occasionally be so displaced as to overlie deposits of later date than the Glacial
period. Thus, in the present district, at the foot of steep slopes the
clayey hill-wash has sometimesoverspreadcomparatively modern streamgravel.
The above description will serve for nearly all the wet tracts of this
kind, which are se common not only on the northern upland but also
on the broader parts of the Central and Southern ridges. Almost all
the minor streams of the district have their source in high-lying shallow
basins presenting these characters. It is not a little remarkahle, as
previously mentioned (p. 48), that these boggy tracts should be
almost all devoid of peat, while the conditions seem to be exactly
those under which upland peat has most readily accumulated in other
parts of Ireland.
Blarney Valley.-- Owing to the presence of the narrow infold of
Carboniferous Limestone brought,down by the Blarneysyncline, a broad
trough-like longitudinal or strike valley has been formed to the eastward and westward of Blarney, through the more rapid weathering of
the calcareous rock. The Martin River, on issuing from its gorge in Old
1 Wlaoialoid or Re-mm ed &&al
pp. 111-117, 168-17gi

(1874),

Drift.

GwL

iWag.

dec. ii. vol. i.

(I

D~~TAU_A: DRIFTS AROUND BLARNP;Y.

53
.
Red Sandstone, is at present diverted-westward
along this valley,
though at one time it may have crossed the syncline and escaped
southeastward through the rising ground south of the trough, where
indioations of its probable former course still exist, as will presently be
de&bed
(p. 73). After flowing westward for about a mile, the Martin
bends southward and joins the Shournagh River; and the two, joined
by another stream from the west, gain passage south-eastward and
southward to their junction with the Lee at Carrigrohane, in the Cork
Valley, through a deep ravine in the Old Red rocks which lies juat
outside the westerly margin of the present map.
At Blarney the longitudinal valley contains a broad alluvial flat,
400 to 500 yards in width, in which the drainage-trenches reveal
coarse river-gravel, derived from the Old Red Sandstone, overlain by a
The gravel has evidently been carried
foot or two of earthy loam.
into the main valley by the Martin River, as it forms a low fan of
comparatively dry ground opposite the mouth of the transverse gorge
of that stream. This fan appears to have impeded the drainage of the
eastern part of the longitudinal valley, so that the upper portion is now
a swampy hollow requiring artificial drainage. The surface-alluvium
of this boggy flat consists of peaty loam, which is stated to overlie
( black peat in the wet middle part of the valley.
Tt is possible that
solution of the limestone may still be in progress beneath this bog, in
which case the trough ma have been lowered more rapidly than its
drainage outlet across the 8 Id Red rocks. Under such conditions, unless
the hollow be filled in with alluvial sediments as rapidly as it is
developed we can imagine that a small lake may eventually form
The bare limestone crags which rise
above the patch of limestone.
irregularly above the southern margin of the alluvial flat are deeply
corroded, as may be well seen in the grounds of Rock Close, where the
rock is weathered into fantastic shapes bTj solution along the joint
planes. Under the line of crags west of Rock Close, on which stand
the famous ruins of Blarney Castle, a long horizontal cavity has been
produced by the same agency, and is partly filled with red stony earth,
full of fragments of Old Red Sandstone, somewhat resembling the local
boulder-clay ; and this earth is covered by an irregular layer of
stalagmite.
The lower part of the slopes on the northern side of the Blarney
Valley are thickly covered with drift. West of the village, outside the
margin of the map, this appears to consist mainly of loamy boulder-clay,
which is exposed in several places in stream-gullies and artificial
openings in the steep-wooded slope west of Sunberry.
But to the
eastward of the church the slope is fringed with an irregular bank or
rude terrace of stratified gravel, -best seen in an excavation behind the
new chapel at the foot of Laurel Hill, where it is exposed to a depth of
10 feet. This gravelly deposit is interrupted by the rock-gorge of the
Martin, but a similar bank of sand and gravel reappears on the eastern
side of the gorge, and is continued thence on the northern slope of the
Blarney Valley for three-quarters of a mile
Excavations have been
made into this material in several places, the best section at present
being in the large sand and gravel pit at the foot of the slope one mile
east of Blarney Church. This pit section shows 10 to 15 feet of currentbedded gravel and sand, with patches of stony loam, and with a capping
of coarse earthy rubble 2 to 4 feet in thickness. The beds are much
contorted in places, especially toward the top of the section. The gravel
is principally composed of Old Red detritus, and no stones foreign to the
district were observed. Although mostly rather fine in texture, the

54

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND CORK

HARBOUR.

deposit includes a few large boulders of limestone and of hard grit, these
being found principally, but not exclusively, .just above the floor of the
pit. One of the limestone blocks measured 10 feet by 6 feet by 6 feet,
while the largest block of grit which was noticed measured 3 feet in
diameter. The blocks appear to have been glaciated, but those of
limestone are now so deeply corroded that the original surface has
vanished. It is very instructive to observe the difference in this
respect between the grit-boulders, which still retained their original
shape, and the limestone-boulders, often reduced to mere skeletons. If
. the large blocks have suffered to this extent, it is clear that the smaller
pebbles of the same material could not have persisted, even though they
may at first have been abundant in the deposit.
The continuation of the slope on the farther side of a small stream
to the eastward of the pit seems to be principally bare rock, but gravel
reappears in approximately the same position at 400 yards east of the
stream, and, as mentioned below, forms an irregular fringe round the
eastern end of the Blarney depression. The deposit is evidently of
Late-Glacial age, and has probably been accumulated when the hollow
was still partly filled either by ice or by the waters of an ice-dammed
G.W.L.
Eastern end of Blarney
Valley and country northward.--Good
gravel conlposd of rounded pebbles of local rocks associated with
some sand forms a rude terrace along the north side of the eastern
part of the Blarney bog, and two small patches occur on the south side.
The small pits opened at one time in these gravels are now overgrown,
A gravel terrace also exists at the eastern end of the bog. In this case
gravel is not merely confined to a fringe along the side of the bog, but
extends up the steep slope to the east, and forms moundy features on
the plateau about iO0 feet above the level of the bog. A pit near the
edge of t.he bog though now overgrown shows that the gravel is here
over 20 feet thick.
Just above the gravel-pit a narrow streamless valley nearly 400 yards
long runs between two craggy hills in a south-easterly direction towards
the small patch of alluvium marked on the map. It is dificult to connect this gap either with the modern or any late-glacial river system.
The Monard River, from its entrance into the map to a point just
above the railway viaduct, flows in a narrow alluvial flat bounded
either by steep walls of rock or gentler slopes of drift. Below this point
the river enters a narrow rock-gorge in which the Monard Iron Mills
are situated, Its course through the gorge is marked by two waterfalls
from w.hich the mills derive their ppwer. At the outfall of the stream
into the Blarney bog there is a dry alluvial fan a few feet above the
general level of the bog. Just above the point where the river enters
the gorge, the left bank of the inner valley is broken and a hollow of
the same size as the upper part of the Monard River valley, but partly
filled with drift, runs through to the alluvial flat south of Monard, and
seems to mark a pre-glacial course of the river.
East of the alluvium mentioned above there is a small area of craggy
ground. The railway is carried through a gap which passes through
the watershed into the drainage basin of the Shandon River,
The
craggy sides of the gap appear to have been glaciated, so that the gap is
presumably of pre-glacial age. It may possibly be connected with the
river-system at some period before the Monard River was diverted westward through the Blarney depression.

bBTAfL$ : DRIFTSNoRTB0P

co&x VALLEY.

Red stony boulder-clay covers the ground west of Kilcronan and

spreads along the slopes on the west side of the Monard River as far as
the Blarney bog, except in two or three areas where the Old Red Sandstone comes close to the surface. A good section of boulder-clay about
30 feet high is exposed in the right bank of the stream one mile above
the railway viaduct.
On the east side of the Monard River the drift-covering is less
This distribution is in
extensive and is confined chiefly to hollows.
conformity with the evidence obtained from other parts of the area,
namely that the drift tends to accumulate ou the western slopes of the
north and south valleys.
An
area of rocky ground extends southwards from a point
half a mile below Kilcronan along the eastern side of the Monard
River and past the eastern end of the Blarney bog, The crags are
often rounded, but their surfaces bave been shattered by weathering,
and all tracea of atria? removed.
This hummocky surface is exposed
in the railway cutting to the N. of Clogheenmilcon, where the hollows
are filled in and the knobs often thinly covered by boulder-clay.
In sinking a trial for brick-clay 300 yards N.N.W. of Monard, it is
reported that 23 feet of hard boulder-clay was passed through without
reaching the Old Red Sandstone, whilst a short distance away bare rock
comes to the surface in a quart .
A small pit north of the 1 ridge over the railway to the south of
Monard is opened in drift which appears to be a very gravelly boulderclay. The stones are small and suficiently numerous for the material
when dry to be screened for gravel.
H. B. M.

Cozrntry between the Cork: alta? BlurEey Valleys.-The

ground rises
abruptly from the Lee on the north side, reaching a height of 474
feet, the culminating point, one mile north-west of Cork, Most of
the high ground is almost devoid of drift, and in no part does the
It should be
superficial covering seem to be of considerable thickness.
explained, however, that the ground represented as rock on the published
one-inch sheet, presents an interrupted covering of variable thickness,
consisting chiefly of local detritus with angular fragments, but in many
places also containing subangular and rounded obviously travelled stones
Here and there, even where the covering is
-the remains of drift.
shallow, the surface presents a level or evenly rounded outline, which
at a distance might be mistaken for a drift surface ; but more usually
in this portion of the area the high ground shows uneven features, commonly ribbed in accordance with the direction of the strike in the
rocks. Along these ribs the rock is closer to the surface than in the
intermediate spaces, and in the spaces the covering generally contains
Much of the material filling the hollows and
remnants of drift.
covering the rock ledges on sloping ground seems to be rain-wash,
An attempt has been made on the six-inch scale field-map (Sheet 74)
to distinguish the shallower from the deeper covering, for reasons to be
referred to later (p. 122); but on the one-inch map the boulder-clay is
represented only where the deposit is of such a depth and character
as to show that it consists almost wholly of transported detritus.
Certain points of distinction may be observed between the bouldsrclay on the high ground and that in the Cork valley.
In the latter,
fragments of limestone are of frequent occurrence, while they are
absent from the former. The boulder-clay flanking the ridge, and in
parts covering the valley sides in the higher ground, is chiefly made

up of angular detritus and argillaceous matter ; that in the valley, to

be subsequently described, contains a large proportion of sand and
rounded pebbles, and is sometimes quite gravelly,
The zig-zag valley through which the Bride River flows, and which
opens westward by Anagloghduff Bridge towards Carrikippane, shows
sections of boulder-clay 6 to 10 feet in depth beside and near
the Blarney road. Parts of the sections are now overgrown ; but
judging from the portions which are visible, the boulder-clay consists
chiefly of rubbly material containing subangular and scratched boulders,
ail derived from rocks very similar to those of the immediate locality.
The boulder-clay in certain places in this valley seems to be of
considerable thickness.
A depth of 32 feet was reported to have been
dug through in sinking a well at a farm house half a mile ea.st by
Half a mile to the north-east
south of Wyses Bridge near Blarney.
of this bridge an important deposit of boulder-clay extending southward from the Blarney valley rests upon the slopes of Killeens Hill
up to the 200-feet contour line.
A section of this deposit, some 8
feet in depth, is exposed in a lane near a farm house, showing the drift
to be more clayey than usual, with few stones, some of them being
limestone,
The thick mass
more conveniently
valley, when also,
be stated. (See p.

of gravel in the lower part of this valley will be

described in dealing with the drifts of the Cork
certain deduotions as to the origin of the valley will
71).
J. R. K.

In the low ground running east from Blarney Lake, by Turret Farm
and on to the Blarney River valley, thin boulder-clay occurs over
the rock to a limited extent, and forms wet clay land on the lower
slopes and in the hollows.
A. MoH.

Uplam? east of Kilcully and north of the Cork valley between Dunkettle
and Queenstown Jurxtion .-The portion of the northern upland between
these limits when viewed from a distance so as to lose sight of the
minor irregularities of the surface, presents the appearance of a rather
level plain rising here and there into low hills. On attempting to
traverse it however without following the roads, one finds the way
intercepted by numerous deep gorges, the sides of which are always
steep and sometimes so craggy and precipitous as to be almost
impassable.
The streams which occupy the bottoms of the gorges
have well-marked alluvial flats, from 30 to 150 yards wide, in which
they wind from side to side of the valley. They are however by no
means sluggish, having an average fall of 50 feet in the mile. The
gradient is of course much greater in the tributary streams than in the
main rivers. In the former it rises to 140 feet in the mile, in the
latter it sinks as low as 30 feet or less. The valleys are in general
characterised by a complete absence of terraces above the level of the
present alluvium.
These steep-sided gorges have a general trend from N.N.W. to S.S.E.
across the strike of the rocks. At Riverstown there is a wide open
east and west strike-valley caused by the more rapid erosion of the
Carboniferous Limestone and Lower Limestone Shale occupying a small
synclinal trough. The Glashaboy River enters this from the north at
its west end, and emerges at once to the south. At its eastern end, near

bETAILS: DRIFTS NORTl-3OF CORK VALLBY.

67

Brooklodge village, it is entered by a stream from the east, which

here leaves its gorge and flows along the wide valley to join the
Clashaboy.
The plateau which is dissected by these river-gorges presents also
many other irregularities of surface. Its higher portions, generally
marked on the map by triangulation points, lie on an average nearly
450 feet above the sea, rising in some places above the 500 feet contour
Its general level is howand sinking in others below that of 400 feet.
Broad upland basins have been
ever considerably lower that 450 feet.
hollowed out, in which the streams have their source ; and low cols have
been formed across the ridges, where atmospheric erosion has proceeded
more rapidly along lines of weakness.
The portion of this upland bordering on the northern margin of the
map has been much more severely glaciated, and has a thicker covering of
boulder-clay, than the southern portion.
An increase in the severity of
glaciation is also noticeable as one goes west, glaciated surfaces being
much more common in the neighbourhood of Kilcully than elsewhere.
Just beyond the northern margin of the map, at Templemichael Bridge
about three miles N.N.W. of Kilcully, is a large area of splendidly
glaciated surfaces, several hundred yards square, showing straight grooves
These, like
several yards long, with a direction of W. 25O N.
most of the striated surfaces recorded in the district, are on the crest
of an anticline, the upturned edges of the beds seldom presenting suitable
surfaces.
The boulder-clay lies thickest in the hollows, where it is often covered
by a stony wash, and forms marshy areas very difEcult to drain : (see
p. 52). It is doubtful, however, if the marsh known as the Black Bog,
which lies due north of Kilcully, close to the northern margin of the
map, is due to the presence of drift or to the occurrence here of an
impermeable bed of shale which is seen dipping under it.
K&&y.-There
are several rather remarkable deposits of glacial
One of these forms a low isolated hill in the
gravel near Kilcully.
valley south of the Black Bog. The most extensive is that lying south
of Anname Bridge.
At Kilcully Old Mill the Clennamought stream has a steep fall over
rock, and descends in rapids through a precipitous-sided gorge for a
distance of 200 yards. Falls and steep rapids are exceptional in the
rivers of the district, and appear in every case to be due to post-glacial
Here the old valley has been filled with boulderstream diversions.
clay, and the stream pushed eastward and forced to cut a channel
through the rock. The drift-filled valley can be seen in seclion at the
aide of the recent valley, at the lower end of the post-glacial gorge. At
its upper end it joins the present valley rather obliquely, causing the
stream to have a drift-bank several hundred yards long on the west
side just above the gorge.
W.B.W.
Above the rock-gorge, boulder-clay occupies the low ground bordering
the streams that flow south past Ballynahina Hpuse, Clendaniel, and
Rosemount, and the valley-bottoms contain much stony wash and
The drift is, however, of no great thickness in this area.
alluvium.
Farther westward, in the railway-cutting half a mile north of RathBelow the gorge,
peacon House, ten feet of boulder-clay is seen.
boulder-clay appears to be of some depth on the north side of the
valJey_below Kilcully Cottage, while the south side presents a craggy

rock-slope.

A, McH,

$8

THE GEOLOG? OP' CORE AND CORK BARBOUR.

The country for about two miles east of Kilcully is very varied in
its topographical features. Considerable areas show the broad smooth
upland topography so characteristic of the districts further east, but here
and there rugged crags can be seen, many of them more or itss iceThe road which runs south from Whites Cross passes along
moulded.
the bottom of a broad old-looking valley, the stream in which is fed from
two tributary gorges which open into it on the east, and carry off the
drainage of marshy drift-filled upland basins.
Glashaboy river enters the map 2;5 miles
Gkad~aboy River. -The
north-east of Kilcully,
receiving immediately on its left bank the
stream from the Black Glen. It pursues a zig-zag course in a general
south-easterly direction till about half a mile north of Sallybrook, running all the way in a narrow steep-sided gorge and receiving tributary
streams from two lateral gorges. It then turns due south, and this
direction it practically maintains until it enters the tidal estuary of the
Lee at Dunkettle.
In this north and south stretch the character of the
valley changes somewhat.
It retains to a great degree its steep-sidedness but becomes considerably wider and has a broad alluvial bottom
150 yards wide or more. Glacial gravels are abundantly banked against
its sides and on the more gentle portions of its slopes. As usual they
are often found in the angles between the river and its tributaries.
At Riverstown the Glashaboy receives on its left bank a tributary
of considerable volume, formed by the junction of the Butlerstown and
Glenmore streams.
Here the entire valley has been choked with
glacial gravel, and the river has been diverted from its original course
and has cut a gorge through the rock since the deposition of the drift,
entering the old valley again about 200 yards further south. The road
from Glanmire to Sallybrook passes through a cutting in the gravel
which occupies the old valley, and reveals no rock, though not at any
point more than a few feet above the present level of the river. The
new rock-gorge is about 60 feet deep and from 200 to 300 yards long. Its
narrowness contrasts remarkably with the wide valley above and below.
Estimating by the position of the contours and the height of the ordinary
tides, which affect the river to within half a mile of the mouth of the
gorge, the crests of the sides of the gorge appear to be from 70 to 80 feet
above 0. D. Supposing this to represent the height of the old barrier,
it will be seen, on tracing the i&foot contour above the gorge, that
after the retreat of the ice the dam of drift must have caused an
irregular lake to be formed, which occupied the lower part of the
three valleys which diverge from this point. The delta-deposits of this
lake may be traced in a series of gravel terraces which border the valley
of the Glashaboy for about a mile above the diversion, the highest lying
at a height of 76 feet above 0. D., a level which corresponds with that
of the top of the sides of thegorge. Similar terraces may be seen at the
same level in the other valleys and at about the same distance up them,
RzctZerstom and Knockraha .-The
country in the neighbourhood of
Butlerstown and Knockraha is more or less thinly and unevenly covered
with drift, The drift is very local in its origin, but flints may be found
here and there in the arable fields, and a boulder of disintegrated
granite, 6 inches in diameter, was found on the upland at a height of
300 feet, half a mile north of Butlerstown House.
The drift is everywhere more or less rubbly ; but to the south, in the neighbourhood of
Blossomgrove House, it thickens and approximates to the character of
a good tough boulder-clay.

DETAILS : DRIFTS NORTG OF Cr>l% VALtEl?.

59

RallynagauL- The valley of the stream which flows past Glenmore

House and Brooklodge presents some features of interest. About
4 Q mile a little south of east from Glenmore House, a large pit by the
roadside shows 2 to 5 feet of boulder clay on 20 feet of current-bedded
sand and gravel, with contorted bedding and much black and red
( ferricrete.l
A hundred yards east of Glenmore House is a small dry gap connecting the valley of the main stream with that of a lesser tributary
which enters here from the north. A still smaller and rather doubtful
gap may be seen from 50 to 100 yards west of the House.
In both
iastanca, the mode of formation of the gap is somewhat uncertain.
A larger and possibly a more easily explained gap occurs a quarter
of a mile south-east of Brookville.
From the Glenmore strea.m south to the margin of the upland the
drift lies almost entirely in the hollows, and has been for the most part
rearranged by a subsequent washing, so as to have in places the appearance of a greyish stony alluvium.
W.B. W.
Upland between, Qldeenstown Jwnction and PigeonMl,-Along
the
northern edge of the map near Pigeonhill Cross-roads, a general superficial deposit of reddish or yellowish clay with numerous small pebbles
of local rock and vein-quartz forms a thin covering over the solid
rocks. This pebbly loam extends from the edge of the map north of
Pigeonhill Cross-roads to the south of Reanasallagh Gorse and over this
area seems to replace the ordinary boulder clay.
At the road-fork nearly a mile E.N.E. of Knockraha, two large mounds
appear to be composed of clayey drift containing a good deal of angular
slate debtis, butthere are no open sections in them. The soilon theground
adjacent is a reddish clay containing rounded and subangular pebbles of
the local rocks. In the hollows where springs issue there is a thin
covering of grey stony wash. Four feet of reddish brown boulder-clay
with scratched stones is exposed near the bridge rather over half a
mile S.W. of Pigeonhill Cross-roads.
On the hill to the south, Old Red Sandstone comes to the surface, and
in the small stone-pits at the eastern end of the hill the superficial
deposit consists of angular rubble only.
Over the hill-top to the west
as far as Killeena, the soil seems to be derived from the shattering of
the underlying rock. On the southern slope of the hill boulcler-clay is
seen in the small stream-sections quarter of a mile N.W. of Reanasallagh Gorse, and again in drains to the N.E. and E. of the Gorse.
PigeonnhilZ.-The most remarkable feature in the area is the gravel
mound of Pigeonhill situated on the high ground a quarter of a mile
S. of the Cross-roads of that name. It is an elliptical mound about
35 feet high and rather over 200 yards long, lying on the watershed
between the drainage basins of the Glanmire and Owennacurra Rivers
at nearly 600 feet above sea-level. Two pits have been opened in
the mound. The larger one is centrally placed and is entered from the
south. On the west side of the entrance 15 feet of alternating fine
and *coarse beds of gravel are seen. The coarse beds are thin and cornposed of stones two to three inches long, with a few larger ones which reach
a length of 10 inches. The finer beds are sometimes two feet thick, and
the pebbles are mostly less than an inch in length, but there is an
admixture of larger ones up to three inches long. The pebbles are chiefly
1 Sand and gravel

cemented

by iron-oxides

Mag.dec. iv., vol. ix. (19021, p 676.

into hard rock-like

masses.

See JeoL

60

9cHE G&Ol;OG3?86 CORK AM

CORE BARBOUR.

subangular and rounded pieces of red slate and fine red sandstone, but
pebbles of yellow and green grits and vein-Quartz also occur. Fine
reddish loam partially fills the interstices between the pebbles. Near
the top of the section the beds lie horizontally, but they gradually bend
downwards so that at 6 feet from the top they are dip at an angle of
32O to the north. Following the section round towards the west the
beds dip at the same steep angle, but the direction of dip appears to
swing round to the west. At the west end of the pit, beds of fine sand
come in. These quickly thicken and unite to form a bed 8 feet thick
which can be followed round into the north-east corner of the pit, It
consists of fine sand with pinkish layers of laminated loam. Its upper
surface is unevenqand it is overlain by an irregular mass of coarse gravel
and fine sand which exhibits current-bedding
The sand-bed in the
north-east corner of the pit is split up by gravel into tongues which thin
out. The general dip of the bedding is here nearly 36O to the northnorth-west.
The gravel is generally overlain by one to two feet of yellow
stony wash.
The section in the smaller pit opened in the SW. part of the mound
exposes about 25 feet of coarse and fine gravel and sand exhibiting
curved bedding.
A smaller gravel mound lies 100 yards to the north and several others
occur on the slopes of the valley which trends westward past Glenmore
House to Riverstown.
Small pits have been opened in these gravels.
The pit in the mound east of Reanasallagh Gorse shows three to five feet of
gravel resting on 8 feet of reddish loamy sand. On the south bank
of the stream, 5GO yards above the ford, the boulder-clay overliea a
fine loamy sand which appears to be about 20 feet thick, but the section
is much overgrown.
Gravel is also seen on the roadside west of the
ford and in a pit opened in a small mound near the road-fork 700 yards
S.S.W. of Killeena.
Here about two feet of sandy wash overlies more
than three feet of sand and gravel. The gravel is composed of pebbles of
the local grits, sandstones, and slates which are not as a rule well
rounded,
In Ballinbrittig the boulder-clay forms a fairly uniform though often
thin covering over the rocks, but it is absent from the ridges to the north
of Windsor Hill and Spring Hill.
The strip of alluvium marked on the
map to the north of Ballinbrittig, lies in a valley whose sides are steep
but not high. This depression runs through the watershed from the
Glenmore valley on the north to Wakehams Glen. It may have
carried off the waters of a lakalet formed by the obstruction of the
Glenmore valley by the retreating ice. The watershed is also cut
through at a slightly lower level by a small valley with rocky sides
just south of the patch of alluvium west of Ballyregan,
In the quarry near the bend in the valley west of Spring Hill the surface of the rock is striated from W. 35O N. to 5. 36 E. The stris run
along the hill-slope and are overlain by two to three feet of sandy
drift, Their direction is partly determined by that of the valley
in which they occur. Striae trending from W. 20 N. to E. 20 S. are
exposed on the side of the lane a little over a furlong to the W.S.W. of
the quarry mentioned above, and here the direction does not seem to _
have been influenced by any local feature.
The hill-slope from Johnstown House eastwards is covered by a
reddish stony boulder-clay, which sometimes forms rude terraces simulating solid features. A section in the lane near Killora Lodge cuts
through one of these terraces and exposes 10 feet of red stony boulderclay.
(I

DETAILS

: DRIFTS NORTH OF CORK VALLEY.

61

Limestone boulders are very rare on the upland, but a boulder 3 feet
long lies just south of Windsor House, and another, 2 feet long, was
met with near an old lane a quarter of a mile north of the 6n in Ballinbrittig.
H.B.M.

Uplad to the north of Gawigtohill and MicEletort.-This district,

forming the N.E. corner of the map, comprises an area of some 18
square miles. It consists of a high peneplain, usually from 300 to 400
feet above the sea level, and reaching a maximum elevstion of 640 feet
at one point in the townland of Ballynakilla, lying one and a quarter
miles N. by W. of the new Quecnstown waterworks.
The whole of
the area is much dissected by stream and river-courses, which have
formed steep-sided rock-gorges, sometimes over 100 feet deey, as in the
case of the Owennacurra River, N. and W. of Ballyedmond.
These
gorges when, as in the last-mentioned locality, their steep slopes are well
wooded, constitute the most picturesque feature in the scenery of the
district, The predominating direction of the main river-courses is 8. by
E, There are numerous tributary streams, also flowing through steepsided rock-gorges, and joining the main streams in the majority of
cases at a right angle. The result is that the country is divided up into
extensive flat-topped tracts, separated one from another on nearlv every
side by deep stream-cuts. The smaller streams have their oiigin in
upland hollows, or areas of comparatively flat ground, surrounded by an
almost complete ring of hills, with one opening however on the lowest
side. Opposite to this latter point is generally a minor depression or
co1 in the encircling hills, and on passing over this point, a second
upland hollow and drainage area is seen, with a stream flowing in an
opposite direction.
A good example of these features may be seen a
quart8r of a mile south of Lisgool Cross Roads, just outside the N.
margin of the map. The divide between the two drainage systems lies
just E. of the farm buildings at this locality ; the stream on the E.
descends abruptly through a deeply notched gorge, some 300 yards
long, and joins the Owennacurra River nearly two miles N. by E. of
Ballyedmond ; and the stream on the W. flows southwards for a
distance of a mile and a half, parallel to the Owennacurra River, and
one mil8 to the west of it, and joins the main tributary of the latter
close to the Midleton waterworks.
Drift material is extensively developed in this area, and is chiefly
boulder-clay, occurring over more than three-fourths of the entire district. It occurs in thin sheets smoothing over the minor inequalities of
the rock-floor, but without forming drumlins.
The matrix is fairly
clayey in the most northerly part of the district, with a good many
rounded pebbles, chiefly of local rocks, and mainly of the slaty Old Ned
Erratics are extremely soarce, and in fact were found only
Sandstone.
in two localities.
Limestone pebbles are practically absent, which may
perhaps be due to their having been dissolved away, as the former pre.
sence of this rock may b8 inferred from the frequent occurrence of small
pebbles of black chert.
In some places this boulder-clay forms a fairly thick deposit, and
shows the usual oharacteristics of a glacial till ; but in other places
it becomes quite thin, and then loses its stiff character, the material
forming a clayey rock-rubble, in which however a few round pebbles
are usually found. Tn many of the wet upland hollows again, the
boulder-clay has a gravelly character, and in such situations its stony contents are often bleached to a greyish white tint,
Along a line stretching nearly E. and W., about a quarter of a mile
S. of the place on the one-inch map where the word Rathgire is printed,

869

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR.

there occurs a belt of a very loamy boulder-clay (probably the continuation of that mentioned previously, 1). is), which is more gravelly
than that which is developed in the country to the N. and S. of it. This
pebbly.loam was traced for a distance of about one mile and a half in a
strip a few hundred yards or so in width.
It appears to be associated
in some way with the moundy glacial gravels, presently to be described,
which are developed here and there along the margin of the belt.
Towards the western limit of this gravelly boulder-clay, about half a
mile north-west of Killeendooling, a number of far-travelled erratics
were found lying on the surface of an arable field on the western side of
the N. and S. valley running past (Xortacrue Mills.
They included
several specimens of a greenish porphyritic andesite, of a type similar to
that occurring on the west side of the Leinster granite; also a few chalk
flints, chert, and one pebble of a fine-grained granite with pink felspar
phenocrysts.
Further west, close to Knockakeen bridge, a boulder of a similar
granite was noticed in the wall on the N. side of the road. This
measured 10 inches by 8 inches by 6 inches, and was well rounded. In
an old lane (now obliterated) one mile N. by E. of Knockakeen bridge,
Jukes, in the previous Survey Memoir, recorded the presence of granite
boulders, apparently similar to that just described. A careful search
was made in the locality without discovering any remaining traces
of these boulders.
It is probable, however, that the one found
further south, as above-mentioned, has been carried from the locality
where Jukes observed the erratics, in order to furnish material for walling. The granite found by Jnkes was believed by him to have come
from County Calway, and if this supposition be correct; the pebbles of
porphyritic andesite above referred to may have been derived from the
Limerick volcanic area. In several localities+ther large isolated blocks
of Old Red grits and slates occur, often set up on end to form standingstones. One of these standing-stones, 400 yards to the south-west of
Ballytrasna House, and just outside the northern boundary of the map,
is inscribed with Ogham characters.
There are a number of isolated areas, usually of limited extent, in
this district in which stratified drift consisting of sands and gravels
occurs. In two cases --viz., around the trig. point, one mile N. by W.
of the new Queenstown water-works (situated in the valley just
W. of Tibbotstown), and at Birch Hill, 14 miles north-east of the
same place-these
take the form of high-level mounds occurring respectively at maximum elevations of 640 feet and 500 feet. Their position
in regard to the topography can only be explained on the supposition
that they are the result of some form of glacial drainage. In the firstmentioned locality the gravel is exposed in a few shallow pits near the
summit of the hill, and is rather variable in character, including gravelly
clay, red sand in places, and also sub-angular and angular slaty debris,
as-if near rock. This deposit is evidently of no great thickness, and is
irregularly banked on a sandstone core. At Birch Hill we find a smaller
area, but with apparently a much greater thickness, of well-rounded and
stratified sand and gravel ; and a little to the S.E. are three small
mounds which appear to be built up wholly of gravel.
Isolated patches of stratified drift also occur at lower levels. Thus,
at the,northerly end of the va*lley in which is situated the Carrigtohill
water-reservoir, is a small area of rubbly gravel, a pit on the road leading up to the farm-house on the east showing a section up to 8 feet
in thickness. Gravel also occurs intercalated in boulder-clay at Ballycurrany House, and at the Queenstown waterworks ; and there is a

DPJTAILS : DRIFTS NORTH OF CORK VALLEY.

63

small area of gravel similar to the last at the north side of the valley,
half a mile west of the ruins of Ballyspillane Church
Along the
bottom and sides of a small valley running N.N.E. one mile N. W.
of Ballyedmond, which has apparently served at one time as an
overflow channel for the impounded waters of the chief western tributary
of the Owennacurra, gravel mounds occur, the mtlterial being mostly a
rather coarse well-rolled gravel, but rubbly in places. Towards the
northern end one of these mounds is cut through by a miniature
drv gap of crescentic form.
Glacial stria were observed in three localities in the district, viz..,
at the Queenstown water-works, where their direction was E. 15-20 S. ;
at three-quarters of a mile S.W. of the same place, with a SE.
direction ; and again close to the extreme N.E. corner of the map,
directed to E. 16OS.
Over most of the area mapped as bare ground there occurs a layer
of rubbly material mainly developed by the weathering down of slaty
rocks in situ, and occurring in amongst the hollows between rock knobs.
It is of rather variable thickness, but seldom exceeds a few feet in depth
except in such places as the lower portion of steep hill-slopes, where it
has accumulated as the result of down-wash.
The floors of the gorges in this district are usually too const.ricted to
have allowed the accumulation of much Late-Glacial or Post-Glacial
river-drift.
A narrow strip of recent alluvium is usually found in the
bottom of all the valleys, but, except to the south-east of Leamlara,
and along parts of the Owennacurra River, its width is generally under
20 yards, On the one-inch map it has been necessary somewhat to
exaggerate its breadth in order that its presence might be indicated.
Where the upland valleys open out upon the low around, however,
the tracts of river-borne detritus become much more ikportant.
Thus
in the low-lying longitudinal valley which extends eastward from just
south of Ballyedmond to BYllyspillane old Church, there is an extensive
area of ancient river gravel, good sections of which are exposed along
the artificial cutting for the stream flowing from the last-mentioned
locality.
This gravel appears to have been deposited by the slacbwaters of the three streams which open from upland gorges into
this depression, and the greater part was probably accumulated not
long after the Glacial Period.
A well-marked terrace may be
seen to the right of the road going north from Ballyedmontl Bridge,
running for a distance of six or seven hundred yards nearly parallel
to the course of the Owennacurra River at this place.
The remnant
of a higher terrace of similar gravel forms a prominent feature, rising
up well above the general level, some 300 yards or so north of the
mill near Clonmnlliou House.
In concluding the description of this district, attention may be called
to some interesting examples of the effect of the Glacial Period upon
the drainage system.
The general course of the rivers, as has been pointed out earlier in
the memoir, was originated in Pre-Glacial times, . and has remained
Certain minor features, however, were proessentially unchanged.
duced in Glacial times that throw much light upon the conditions during
the glaciation.
The most striking of these are the glacial overflowchannels, of which there are several in this district.
One very fine
example, perhaps the most remarkable in the whole sheet, occurs southeast of Leamlara House, at the place marked Tattans Gorse on the
one-inch map. This is a narrow gorge excavated, with nearly vertical
sides 70 feet high in places, through the sloping sides of a hill rising
to a height of 397 feet above O.D. A reference to the accompanying

DETAILS : DRIFTS

NORTH

OF CORK VALLEY,

65

In Pre-Glacial times the two streams (the eastern and the weslern),
on either side of Leamlara House, together with the one further south,
appear all to have united above Dooneen bridge, and flowed thence
past Rnockakeen bridge to join the Owennacurra near Ballynaclashy
House.
Toward the close of the Glacial period large floods of water,
draining off the country to the north consequent on the melting of the
ice-sheet, found their Pre-Glacial channel blocked either by a remnant
of the ice sheet, or possibly by large accumulations of Glacial drift, so
that they could not pass along their former outlet at Dooneen bridge,
The water had therefore to find a new outlet, which it did along a course
subsequently rapidly deepened to form the northern gorge at Tattans
Gorse, through which the water of the Leamlara stream still flows.

Further evidence of the obstruction of the old river-courses in this

neighbourhood is furnished by another example of an overflow-channel
which now forms a dry gap north of Leamlara House and just outside the limits of the present sheet.
This was formed during the
temporary obstruction of the western branch of the Leamlara stream
at some point south or south-west of Leamlara House, when the waters,
being ponded back, overflowed at a point 400 yards west of the Iastmentioned place, and carried the drainage of that branch over into
the eastern branch, and in so doing cut a miniature valley.
The combined drainage of the two valleys then flowed south as far as Lear;lara
bridge, where it was diverted to ,the east, cutting in its progress
across the hill-slopes the remarkable gorge previously referred to.
Though the waters of the Leamlara stream are now permanently
diverted through the new gorge at Tattans Gorse, the level of the
water at Leamlara bridge is practically the same as that at Doormen britlge
further south, and a cutting only a few feet deep would suffice to restore
the Leamlara stream to its old southern channel.
Evidence that drift
has filled up many of the valleys is given by the presence of large
boulders in the river beds, much too large to be moved by the present
streams even in time of heavy flood.
_ H.J.S.
2.

THE CORK AND MIDLETON

VALLEY.

The low ground around Cork, with the bmfering

slopes.-From
the
western margin of the map to Dunkettle, three miles east of Cork, -the
River Lee runs at the foot of the bold straight slope which tnarks the
Two miles to the southward rises hhe
border of the northern upland.
correspouding and opposite slope which marks the northern margin of
the Central anticlinal ridge. Between these high ground8 stretches a
comparatively low-lying tract, with a general level of SO to 100 f6et
above datum. This tract is flanked by wide strips of alluvial ground,
in some parts marshy and in others liable to floods.

This portion of the Cork valley presents a large variety of drifts and
alluvial deposits.
In order to show the relative distribution of the
different superficial deposits, in the 24 square miles represented by Sheet
74, of the six-inch-scale field-map the area occupied by each has been
estimated, and the result is shown in the following table. The Cork
valley occupies nearly all the southern half of this sheet, and
the northern half covers a strip of the upland north of Cork, the city
lying approximately in the middle of the area represented by the map.
The table may be taken as roughly indicative of the proportion of driftcovered ground in the same belt to the eastward and westward of this
particular six-iuch sheet,
J.R.K.
B

THE

66

GEOLOGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

TABLE OF AREA OF SUPERFICIAL DEPOSITS, ROCK, ETC., IN SHEET

OF THE ORDNANCE SIX-INCH MAP.
(J.R.K.)
Rock,

Boulder-clay,
:
1
Glacial Sands and Gravels,
Old-River (gravelly) Alluvium,
Recent Alluvium,
.
Slob, reclaimed,
.
1

:r

74

10.0 square miles.

8*3

,,

,,

l-4

9,

,,

,,

,,

:
Total,

. ii-

Carrigrohame and neighbourhood.-The

drift of the Cork valley
near the western margin of the map has a prevalent gravelly or
pebbly character even where it is unstratified, and is held together by
a loamy matrix, so that it forms a loose-textured till or boulderStony drift of this kind is spread as an irregular covering over
clay.
the uneven limestone surface between the valley of the Lee at Carrigrohane and the wet hollow near Curraheen, 14 miles farther south,
being apparently of considerable depth in some places, and scarcely
thick enough to cover the rock in others, while occasionally it is broken
through by hummocks of bare limestone.
Along the margin of the Lee valley this material merges into
stratified sand and gravel which appears to hang round the limestone
bosses and fill up the cavities in the rock in the manner shown in
Fig. 10, p. 70. At Carrigrohane railway station the section of a vertical
crevice or funnel is exposed in the rock-bluff, into which the gravel has
been packed from top to bottom, to a depth of over fifty feet. The
infilling material of this crevice is a red-brown sand, with coarse and
fine gravel, the stones being well-rounded and all derived from the
rocks of the vicinity, or of the country to the westward, as they consist
of red and grey grits and slates, with an occasional limestone fragment.
Drift-filled fissures of this kind are common throughout the limestone
districts, as mentioned in subsequent descriptions (see pp. 70,81 and 93.)
The gravels are clearly of glacial origin, and have been cut through,
along with the underlying rock, by the present valley of the Lee.
Within this valley to the northward and eastward of Carrigrohane
, there is a later series of gravel deposits which are evidently the
product of the present drainage system when its volume was much
larger than it now is.
On the north side of the river a high terrace of
shingly gravel is traceable along the base of the rock-slope from
Leemount past Kitsborough to Millbro, and on the south side from
Carrrgrohane station to Inchigaggin House.
A large pit close to
Carrigrohane House shows six feet of this gravel. High ,level rivergravel is also seen a little farther south, along the stream that runs
into the Lee at Ballygaggin House.
Unlike the more recent riveralluvium, it is not covered by loamy wash,
The lower alluvial flat of the Lee in this part of its course has
usually a surface-layer of loam, from 1 to 3 feet in thickness, with
shingly or gravelly deposits below.
Similar deposits are also found iu
the broad hollow at the southern margin of the limestone, between
Curraheen and Ballinaspig Cottage.
A.McH.
iY~viro~~s of Cork city and eastward to Blackrock.-The
boulderclay of this district will be first described, then the stratified glacial
drift, and afterwards the river-gravels, alluvium, and other Post-glacial
deposits in successive order,

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

AROUND

67

CORK.

The loose-textured loamy boulder-clay mentioned in the foregoing

description extends eastward over the uneven tract of limestone south
of the Lee, in the area now to be dealt with. It invariably contains
Here also it
rounded pebbles, and is sometimes quite gravelly.
sometimes graduates downward into gravel, which is occasionally seen
alternating with it. Further description of fhis tract will be given
subsequently.
In the valleys north of Cork also, boulder-clay rests upon gravel.
Indeed it may be said that wherever gravel and boulder-clay are met
with in the same section, the latter rests upon the former.
At the North Monastery schools, near St. Finbars Diocesan Seminary, the boulder-clay is more than 20 feet in depth, as was ascertained
when the foundations for the new laboratory were in process of formaThe m;&rix is a reddish-brown clay, and contains scratched
tion.
boulders of grit, some of which are more than 18 inches across. The
only accumulation resembling a drumlin in the vicinity of Cork is to he
Its axis strikes south-eastward towards
noticed near the monastery.
the old burying-ground and is crossed by Shandon Street; and if seems
to overlie gravels which crop out alon g the face of the steep descent
capping the rocky ledges of the angular space where the Bride River
joins the Lee. The boulder-clay thins out over sand and gravel upon
the slope which overlooks Blackpool on the west, and, at the entrance
1 lodge nearest fo the Seminary, 12 feet of boulder-clay covers 20 feet of
sand.
Three quarters of a mile north by east of this point, at the large railway siding on the Great Southern and Western .Line, a deep section of
drift may be seen in which layers of boulder-clay alternate with those
of gravel ; and half a mile eastward of the siding, a thin capping of
boulder-clay conceals gravels.
The tracts of boulder-clay north and south of New Inn, near Glanmire
(village), present a material which is of the ordinary upland character,
rubbly with few rounded stones. Near Lota Lodge, however, it becomes
gravelly, more so than any boulder-clay covering the high ground elsewhere in the area now under description.
The deposit capping the
small ridge north of Glanmire, between the old and new roads, rests
upon gravel, 300 yards north of the village ; elsewhere it seems to form
a thin covering over the rock.
Passing fo the ridge that bounds the limestone valley on the south,
small areas of rubbly boulder-clay clothe the slopes and base of the Old
Red Sandstone high ground. The deposit presents a thickness of 20 feet
in the Garrane cutting of the Bandon Railway, three miles south-we&
of Cork : while it is characteristically rubbly, it contains many scratched
subangular boulders of grit.
South of Douglas the matrix of the boulder-clay of the small area
covering the foot of the ridge islsandy and gravelly.
Near Bloomfie!d,
and at Ronaynes Court, the wash of the tides has exposed numerous
sections five or six feet in depth, showing red clay with boulders and
pebbles of red and green grit,.
The boulder-clay represented on the map, over most of the valley lying
between the Old Red Sandstone ridges, is, as previously mentioned, generally a stony loam, becoming here and there more clayey on the one hand,
or more sandy and gravelly on the other. True clay is not a prominent
component, but sufficient occurs in the matrix, together with a number of
1 Information
given
contractors, Cork,
*

by Mr. OFlynn,

junr.,

of Messrs. OFlynn,

builders and
F !

68

THE

GEOLOGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

large-sized stones, to justify the appellation boulder-clay as distinguished at least,from sand and gravel. Under the conventional method of
representing the glacial deposits on the map either as boulder-clay or
as sand and gravel, it became necessary to separate the two
divisions from each other by a boundary line and to show them by
distinctive colours, but in this area the boundaries are generally indefinite, as material of intermediate composition is prevalent in many
places, and the definition in such cases must be to some extent a matter
The general character of the boulder-clay in
of individual opinion,
the different districts has, however, been indicated, as far as possible, by
short verbal descriptions printed across the map.
Sections are laid open in road.cutCings and quarries to the south-west
of Cork, from which the following details have been gathered. In the
large quarry half a mile south-west of Victoria Cross a thickness of
12 to 15 feet of brown clay is presented, with boulders and fragments of
limestone, and pebbles of red and green grit. The clay contains pockets
of clayey gravel in which pebbles of much-weathered chert and of white
quartz commingle with those of red and green grit. In.another quarry
half a mile east of Bishopstown House, boulder-clay rests upon stratified
sand and gravel which fills a pocket in the limestone, opening downward
into a former cavern, now also tilled with stratified sand and gravel.
Stony clay is to be seen in a small road-cutting, 6 feet deep, near
Looneys Cross, and at another point between this place and Leslies
Cross.
In the old disuaed quarry in Lower Glasheen, south of George IV.
Bridge, clay 6 feet in depth, with boulders of local rock, covers the
limestone at the eastern end of the quarry ; while between the quarry
and Fernhurst a section has recently been laid open, which showed clay
dovetailing with and resting upon gravels, all reposing upon glaciated
limestone.
The boundary of the boulder-clay and gravels passes through
this point.
Three hundred yards north-west of Cork Lough in a limestone quarry,
now abandoned, the rock is covered with 10 to 20 feet of boulder-clay,
containing blocks of red sandstone and of limestone asswell as pebbles
of red, green, and grey grit, The tract surrounding the lough shows a
thin superficial coat of sandy clay over sand.
The sand is frequently
to be met with at a depth of 3 feet, and the soil is particularly gravelly
in a few places. Southward, towards the alluvial flat, the surface layer
is much more ar_gillaceous. Between Cork and Douglas also, the loamy
covering is thin : sand and gravel, which however are usually
clayey, are reached within 2 feet or 2 feet 6 inches of the surface. East
of Beaumont, near Besborough, the clay is gravelly ; and the drift over
a wide district is apparently thin ; while, near Besborough Farm, the
railway has bc:en cut throu.gh a considerable thickness of gravelly clay
with boulders, which seems to dovetail with sand and gravel, east of
Besborough House and at Lakeland.
lhe clay-covering over gravel
and sand, between Ringmahon cross-roads and Lakeland, is so thin
as to be almost negligible.
The stratified glacial drift of the district will now be described, referring first to these deposits as they are to be observed in the low tract
bordering the Lee on the south. One of the best sections of gravel
over the limestone is that to be seen in a pit on the south side of Ballygaggin road, opposite the Munster Dairy School. The gravel is being
dug out for building and other purposes, and a depth of 30 feet is
exposed. On the whole it is coarse, contains some sand, and shows but
a rude stratification,
It is studded with boulders, some of which are

bETAftS : DRIFT& ARdUtib CORE.

69

large, and many subangular and glaciated.

Viewed from a distance it
presents the appearance of a boulder-clay.
The face, lnoreover, stands
vertically, which must be attril.)uted to the angularity of the fragments
rather than to significant proportions of clay. At the base are some
large boulders of local rock ; and all re&s upon limestone which shows
evidence of glaciation by a glacier moving eastward, the general direction of the valley.
To the east, south-east, and south, at distances of one quarter to
three quarters of a mile, mounds of gravel are to be seen, one of which
at least, iu Ballinaspig More, shows moraine-like features. All may
be morainic in origin, but the one referred to shows irregularly stratified layers of sand and gravel, dipping towards the north and containing pebbles of red , green, and gray grit, quartz and chert, and boulders
of limestone up to 3 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches by 2 feet 6 inches.
Sand and gravel cap the rocky bank of the Lee on the south side.
About 300 yards south-east of George IV. Bridge much of the material
has been removed from pits, where a section 10 feet deep may be seen.
The deposit there consists of alternating layers of sand and gravel, with
much shingle containing large well-rounded pebbles of red, green, and
light gray grit, some of dark gray calcareous grit, and of dolomitic
limestone.
Large boulders also occur, chiefly of limestone, many of
which u,re striated.
The cutting for the Cork terminus of the Macroom Railway, at Summerhill South, reveals a section of sand and gravel 14 feet deep, similar
to those above described, with less shingle than the last, the layers
showing an irregular arrangement.
A remarkable ridgy and hummocky tract extends from Ravenscourt
It consists of sand and glavel, and, some thirty
eastward to Besborough.
years ago, was a source of m,uch material for economic purposes. The
best sections are now overgrown with grass, but, from what can be
seen, the ridge seems to be of Esker origin, and consists of materials
similar to those at the other points referred to, with some small limestone pebbles in addition to those of different grits.
Red sand and gravel underlies a thin covering of clay eastward of
Cork, as already mentioned, coming quite near the surface near Douglas
and Lakelaud ; in the Besborough railway-cutting however, as already
mentioned, a gravelly boulder-clay of contiiderable thickness is to be
seen, from which it may be inferred that the sand and gravel dovetails
with the clay, or forms lenticular layers therein.
A somewhat peculiar section is to be seen beside Churchyard Lane,
Independently
south-west of Beaumont House, adjoining a quarry.
of a quantity of tipped material adjoining an old sewer, this section
shows :-

.
Reddish stratified sand,
.
Brown and gray sand alternating* in thin seams,
Blanched sand, .
.
.
,
.
:
Black carbonaceous (or iron-oxide) seam,
Pebbly layer with small cavities, such as would be leit
after the dissolving out of limestone pebbles,
.
Stratified sand and gravel,
.
.
.
.
Total,

Ft. In.
2.6

0:1

Iii::
14.11

Reference was made above to large caverns and fissures in the limestone. Some are as much as 10 or 12 feet in width, while many are
Some of the smaller ones do not open
quite narrow, and attenuated
all the way upward to the summit of the rock-face, where exposed in
quarries, yet all are full of material- sand and gravel, in many instances

70

THE GEOLO&Y

OF CORK

ANb

CORK

lTAitt3OUki.

; and it is somewhat remarkable that neither in the fissures

nor in the caverns has anything been met with by the writer to
indicate that superficial c&G, such as disintegrated limestone solely,
or boulder-clay, clothed the rock prior to the incoming of the sands
and gravels, which are characterised by pebbles of red and green grit.
An example of one of these drift-filled hollows in the limestone is shown
in the following section. Fig. 10 :stratified

Cave in limestone laid open in Ballinaspig More quarry, filled with stratified
sand and gravel, and covered with boulder-clay.

Numerous small caverns are laid open in the large quarry at Carrigmore, Ballintemyle (see Plate III.).
These are partly filled with brown
laminated clay and fine sand. The clay may in part be residual material
after dissolved limestone ; but its colour suggests that it is the finest
portion of inwash from drift, shown to be such by the associated sand
and gravel containing red and green grit pebbles, Clay has not been
noticed elsewhere by the writer, either in the caverns or fissures ; and
together with the sand and gravel filling them, they contain coarse
well-rounded shingle, with pebbles corresponding to those in the gravel.
These are of red, green, and gray grits, some chert, white quartz, and
rarely pebbles of limestone.
These, it. will be remembered, are the
characteristic materials of the surface-gravels, as above described.
Sometimes the surface-gravels are observed covering the rock which
contain the fissures ; but not infrequently the present surface-deposit
resting upon the rock is a sandy boulder-clay, containing a prepondarante oi limestone fragments.
It would thus appear that the fissures
aud caverns become filled with materials washed out of a glacier, and
that the surface at certain points was then swept clear of the gravelspossibly by a temporary renewal of glacial conditions before another
covering was laid down consisting of more locally-derived materials.
iYuckpool.-Th e important deposit of sand, gravel, and shingle lying
to the north of Cork, near Blackpool, has been described by Jukes, who
has also given a sketch illustrative of the mode of occurrence of this
interesting deposit : (Fig 11 of ( Explanation of Sheets 187, 195, and
196.)
Much of the material has been removed, but the original surface
seems to have had an undulating surface throughout, declining towards
the east; and dropping suddenly towards Blackpool.
The stones are
all well rounded and waterworn, consisting of red, green, and gray

DI~TAILS : RIFTS

AROUND

CORK.

71

grits, with which are interspersed a few of limestone, all much corroded
and the smaller ones reduced, when dry, to friable masses of porolls
lamellarly-arranged dust. The existence of these limestone blocks
in the drift shows that the transporting agent must have crossed
a limestone tract ; and their scarcity proves that the area of this rock
traversed must have been trifling compared to the entire gathering
ground which fed the tranxporting glacier. Such circumstances would,
have been fulfilled by supposing that the glacier had come from the
westward-a
conclusion confirmed by the direction of glacial striae ;
and as the Old Red Sandstone forming the valley side near Killeens
House is ice-smoothed, there can be little question that a large proportion
of the material of the Blackpool deposit was carried by a glacier moving
eastward along the Anagloghduff valley, joined probably near Rathpeacon by another from Blarney, by Killeens Gap, where the rock
is also glaciated.
As pointed out by Jukes in the former memoir, it is noticeable that
the layers of gravel and sand in the deposit in question, dip with striking
regularity to the eastward, at angles varying from forty degrees to
almost horizontal.
This regularity of internal structure, as well as the
decline in level eastward, point to deposition in water of sufficient
depth to admit of uninterrupted sedimentation,
The circumstances
also point to a continuance of the conditions for a period sufficiently
long for the piling up of the gravels, layer over layer, to 100 feet in
height near Blackpool, and for the extension of the deposit for a mile
eastward, and three quarters of a mile north to south. Some 4,000,OOO
cubic yards of gravel, sand, and shingle have thus been accumulated
here. The position of these gravels, and their relation to Gouldings
Glen, are shown in the accompanying view, Plate V.
At Victoria Barracks the gravel is found at the 250 feet contour
approximately ; and at the gravel pits north of Gouldings Glen they
The waters which carried the
attain almost the same elevation,
detritus from the glacier must consequently have flowed at this elevation at least, and possibly upon the surface of ice which at the time
may be supposed still to have partially filled the Bride River valley.
The necessary conditions for the deposition would be furnished by a
glacier lake, temporarily formed through the damming up of waters by
a glacier. Such an impediment may be supposed to have existed at
the time in the Cork valley ; which had not been lowered by melting
below the level of 270 to 300 feet, near the present Summerhill North,
and probably sent a tongue northward into the Shandon gorge.
The lake thus formed would have extended a mile and a half northward from Barrack Hill to Ballincolly ; and from New Inn near
Glanmire, three and a half miles westward to Kilnap, where gravels rest
upon the north side of the Bride River valley, considerably above the
200 feet contour line, and 150 feet above the present stream.
Gouldhags Gbn .-After the deposition of the gravels, and a lowering
of the Cork valley glacier sufficiently to admit of drainage passing
through the Shandon gap, a channel was initiated through the gravels,
across the rock-shoulder of Barrack Hill, the water having been thus
diverted from its original course, which lay perhaps 150 yards further
north. The channel could not have been deepened to its present extent
by the drainage which it now carries ; it was more probably eroded by
a much more copious water-flow, fed probably by the melting ice
which still lingered on the surrounding uplands ; and which experienced
partial renewals from time to time before final disappearance.
The
channel ultimately assumed the form now known as Gouldings Glen.
The glen is about 100 feet deep at the disused Corn-mill, and presents
comparatively fresh faces of rock on either side. The south side at this

72

THIS

GEOLCKiP

OB

N&B

AND

CbRB

HARBOUB.

point is a rock face throughout : and the rock face on the north side
iR some 50 feet lower, which 7would show that the gorge has been
sculptured out of the I original I hill side. The cross-section,, Firr. 11,
may be taken as illustrative
of the conditions.
v

The fact which invests this

instance of erosion with special
interest is, that if the clearing
of the river-valleys of drifts be
excepted, we have here probably the latest episode of the
kind ou a large scale which
this recognisedly interesting
area presents ; and the magnitude of the operation prepares one to admit a vast,
clearing out of the original
valleys since glacial times,
should the conditions of drainage have been favourable.
Bride VuZley.---Before describing the several kinds of
alluvial deposits met with in
the vicinity of Cork, it is
necessary to offer a preliminary note on the general
drainage which enters this
central district, and first with
regard to the Shandon gorge.
The rocky brow of this striking gap is 150 feet above
datunl on the east side, and
100 feet on the west; while
the high ground culminates
at more than 360 feet on
either side. The present bottom is 30 feet above datum,
the rock being several feet
deeper, for 18 feet of river
gravels
have
been bored
through at one point. The
steep-sided portion of the
gorge is, consequently, some
140 ft. deep and is 2,000 ft.
wide ; and the valley, as a
whole, is more than 360 ft.
in depth, reckoning from the
summits of the ridges. This
valley is,
therefore,
comparable to Glashaboy gorge
to the east, which is about
400 ft. in depth from the
culminating point, somew hat
more than 150 ft. from the
brow near Lota Lodge to the
present bottom, and 2,200
feet wide at this point,
Both

DETAILS

73

: DRIFTS AROUND CORE.

the glens are of pre-glacial origin, though they may have been
deepened during glacial and
post-glacial times ; and represent the
_
eflFects of river erosion. But while Glashaboy river has a drainage
basin of about 59 square miles, the Bride river now flowing through
the Shandon Glen drains only 16 square miles. It is very improbable
that so small a stream as the latter could erode the Glen so
as to keep pace with the Zowering of the ground ,within ; the present
cut must have been formed by a much larger river.
The writer
suggests that the Martin river may, ah one period of its history, have
maint,ained its south-e&erly
direction-that
common to so many
streams in the region --and formed the gorge, before the comparatively
rapid lowering of the limestone tract at Blarney occasioned the sharp
diversion of the river towarda the west, to join the Shournagh and other
rivers. The drainage area of Martin and Bride rivers combined is 47
square miles.
A comparison of the Anagloghduff and Glennamought streams is interevtiug : the former runs in a well established apparently old valley, with
a fall of some 50 feet in three miles ; whereas the latter has a fall of
over 100 feet in little more than a mile and a halt: It has been
previously shown (p. 51) that the latter in its lower reaches occupies
a comparatively new course. Its original direction was probably southeastward past Kilcully,
ultimately to enter the Bride river by
Ballyvolane.
The Lee Valley.-- The quest for water supplies by the Cork Corporation, and private persons and companies, has brought to light much
information concerning the Lee Valley deposits, .and the depth of its
ancient rocky bed beneath the present alluvial surface. The valley as
now seen is the result of the filling up of an original hollow with comparatively loose gravelly materials, in part possibly of glacial origin ;
and with river-gravels and alluvial deposits, consequent upon the partial
submergence of the vall,:y which occasioned the present regimen of the
river.

To ascertain the quantity of water obtainable from the valley gravels

a number of borings were made, yielding data from which the following
have been selected.1 Distances are measured westward of the Waterworks Weir, about a mile above the city ; and the depths mentioned
are the greatest reached in borings made upon cross-sections taken,
somewhat promiscuously, from point to point upward along the valley.
The rock was not entered ; only the superficial deposits were bored :At Water-works, S. of river, near M7estern Road,
At Water-works, just north of the river,
700 feet west of W&r, under Western Road,
2,360 feet west of Weir, a little S. of Western Iioad,
.
4,800 feet west of Weir, N. side of river,
6,250 feet west of Weir, between Bishops Brook
l

104 feet.

1
.

995::

aid

1.1,300 feet west hf Weir,betweed Westerh Road knd Leei

11,800 feet west of Weir, N. side of Lee (near Carrig
rohane),
.
.
.
.
.
.

iz

::

72
67

i:

73

,,

The borings were through material the description of which Mr.

OToole summarized thus :-Impervious
sandy clay, in parts quite hard
like concrete, for 16 feet in depth ; white sand and gravel, with white
quartz pebbles and blocks of grit : these were especially prominent on
the north side of the river. No boulder-clay was met with, and a certain uniformity in character prevailed in the gravelly deposits,
a From information supplied by Mr. Henry Cutler, Assoc. M.I.C.E., and Mr. QToole

74

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

EARBOUR.

Mr. Cutler considered that the uppermost 30 feet consists of alluvial

soil (fine sandy clay and gravel), the underlying material being u Drift
.
gravels and sand.
Sections met with in well-borings at Cork will be given in the later
part of the memoir dealing with Water-supply, but two are here reproduced because of their interesting bearing upon the question of valley
submergence above mentioned.
It will be noticed that peat has been
found to occur 25 feet below the surface at Cork, or 7 feet below lowwater of spring tides, the Ordnance Datum.
The records of these
borings have been kindly placed at the writers disposal by Messrs.
Robert Walker and Sons, Architects and Civil Engineers, of Cork.
Beasley Street Wells, near South Mall, between the north and south
channels of the Lee-O. D. at 18 feet below the surface.

Thickness.

BORE 1.

Ft. In.

Made ground,
Rough gravel,
Peat,
.
I$;;
gravel,

.
.

Fiene gravel,
Rough gravel,
Boulders,
Rough gravel,
Fine gravel,
Rough gravel,
Fine gravel,
Rock,

:z

.
.
.
.

1
.

1
.

1
.

:
.
.
.
.

:
.
.
.
.

:
.
.
.
.

BORE 2,

Made ground,
Peat,
.
Gravel,
Peat (dark),
Peat (light),
Loamy sand,
Gravel,

Depth.

70
18
22
25
30
34
38
45
53
66
57
60

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Thickness.

Depth.

Ft. In.
4 0
1 0

Ft. In.

$9
2

6
0

1:
21
22
29

60
0
0
6
6

[FIG. 11.

DfiTAlLS : DBll?T$ AROUND

depth of gravei at both

CORK.

75

A well sunk by Messrs. Kiloh near

St. Patricks Bridge gave 84 feet of
sand and gravel, sometimes very
coarse, over rock ; and no perceptible
change in the deposit was noted in
the account of this boring.
From
the data afforded by the well-borings
the cross-section of the valley at Cork,
given in Fig. 12, ha1sbeen prepared.
This section will be further discussed
in a later chapter, when the Watersupply of the city is under review
(p. 114).
None of the borings at Cork may
have reached or been made at the
point of greatest depth of the original
Even the
rock-bed of the Lee.
deeper borings made at and nea,r the
Water-works, though reaching 104,
98, 99, and 95 feet in depth, may not
have fathomed the lowest levels.
Taking LO4 feet, however, as the
minimum lowest level from which
water had to be discharged by the
ancient river, we may conclude that
80 feet below datum is the level of
erosion by the original Lee-the
alluvium at the Water-works being
24 feet above datum, Assuming a
fall of 10 feet to the mile for the
original river-which
will be shown
to be a reasonable allowance-the
rock-bed at Cork, where deepest,
would be 90 feet below datum,
The Corporation borings show a
maximum recorded depth of gravel
of 73 feet at Carrigrohane, where
the levels of the alluvium range
from 35 feet over datum, above the
bridge, to 24 feet below it. Deducting these figures from 73 feet, there
would be a fall of 42 feet in 22
miles in the former case, and 31
feet in 28 miles in the latter, between Carrigrohane and Cork Waterworks. These figures correspond to
16 feet and 12 feet to the mile
At Inishcarra, where
respectively.
the Lee issues from a gap in the
Old Red Sandstone ridge, the alluvium level is 46 feet over datum,
which gives a surface dec1in.e of 4$
feet per mile in the present silted-up
condition of the river; for seven miles
towards Cork ; and deducting the
places .-.Inishcarra and the Water-works-

74

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

ITARBOUR.

Mr. Cutler considered that the uppermost 30 feet consists of alluvial

soil (fine sandy clay and gravel), the underlying material being u Drift
.
gravels and sand.
Sections met with in well-borings at Cork will be given in the later
part of the memoir dealing with Water-supply, but two are here reproduced because of their interesting bearing upon the question of valley
submergence above mentioned.
It will be noticed that peat has been
found to occur 25 feet below the surface at Cork, or 7 feet below lowwater of spring tides, the Ordnance Datum.
The records of these
borings have been kindly placed at the writers disposal by Messrs.
Robert Walker and Sons, Architects and Civil Engineers, of Cork.
Beasley Street Wells, near South Mall, between the north and south
channels of the Lee-O. D. at 18 feet below the surface.

BORE 1.

Made ground,
Rough gravel,
Peat,
.
I$o;fh gravel,

gne gravel,

Rough gravel,
Boulders,
Rough gravel,
Fine gravel,
Rough gravel,
Fine gravel,
Rock,

.
.

.
.

.
.
.

Depth.

Ft. In.

Ft. In.

:;
11

?-0
18 0

26) 0
22

:
4
7

;
0
0

30
34
38
45

0
0
0

3 00

66
63

60
57

Thickness.

BORES.

Made ground,
Peat,
.
Gravel,
Peat (dark),
Peat (light),
Loamy sand,
Gravel,

Thickness.

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

Ft. In.
4 0
: :
;:
:

Depth

Ft. In.
50
21
1:
29
22

0
0
6

[FIG. 11.

btiTA1LS : DRfFTB AROUND CORB.

cn.

G --

--

3
.c

O--_
.2
ti

depth of gravei at both

75

A well sunk by Mossrs. Kiloh near

St, Patricks Bridge gave 84 feet of
sand and gravel, sometimes very
coarse, over rock ; and no perceptible
change in the deposit was noted in
the account of this boring.
From
the data afforded by the well-borings
the cross-section of the valley at Cork,
. given in Fig. 12, ha,s been prepared.
a This section will be further discussed
i in a later chapter, when the Watersupply of the city is under review
(p. 114).
None of the borings at Cork may
have reached or been made at the
point of greatest depth of the original
rock-bed of the Lee.
Even the
deeper borings made at and near the
Water-works, though reaching 104,
98, 99, and 96 feet in depth, may not
have fathomed the lowest levels.
Taking LO4 feet, however, as the
minimum lowest level from which
water had to be discharged. by the
ancient river, we may conclude that
80 feet below datum is the level of
erosion by the original Lee-the
alluvium at the Water-works being
24 feet above datum. Assuming a
fall of 10 feet to the mile for the
original river-which
will be shown
to be a reasonable allowance-the
rock-bed at Cork, where deepest,
would be 90 feet below datum,
The Corporation borings show a
maximum recorded depth of gravel
of 73 feet at Carrigrohane, where
the levels of the alluvium range
from 35 feet over datum, above the
bridge, to 24 feet below it. Deducting these figures from 73 feet, there
would be a fall of 42 feet in 29
miles in the former case, and 31
feet in 24 miles in the latter, between Carrigrohane and Cork Waterworks. These figures correspond to
16 feet and 12 feet to the mile
respectively.
At Inishcarra, where
the Lee issues from a gap in the
Old Red Sandstone ridge, the alluvium level is 46 feet over datum,
which gives a surface dec1in.e of 4;
feet per mile in the present silted-up
condition of the river; for seven miles
towards Cork ; and deducting the
places -.Inishcarra and the Water-works--

36

THE

GBoL~GY OF CORK AND ooRB

BAR~ouIL

the fall of the rock-bed would be 15 feet per mile.

This amount is
in keeping with the falls of
rivers in the regions unaffected
by the recent submergence -that
is, where the land stands sufficiently
high to admit of the free formation of the river beds ; and we must
assume that this condition obtained when the Lee made its way originally
outward beyond Roches Point into the ocean. This gives sufficient
ground for the hypothesis that the river-bed fall was at least teu
feet to the mile for the fourteen miles from Cork to the river mouth,
and for the following calculation, viz. :Depth of rock bed of the Lee at Water-worke, below datum, 80 feet
Fall from Water-works to Cork,
10 ,,
Difference of level between Cork and Rdchea Pdint,
: 140 ,,

This total represents the least height at which the land stood above its
present level at that stage of -Pre-Glacial times when the valley was
eroded and the extent to which submergence has since taken place.
The existence of peat at a depth of 7 feet below datum in the Cork
alluvium -as shown in the case of the Beasley Street borings-proves
that the land stood higher than at present iu Post-Glacial times ;
and this accords with the fact that submerged peat was fount1 at a
depth greater than 50 feet1 in Dunworly Bay on the south coast.
It
may have stood much higher than the levels indicated by the peat at
Cork, though not for a period sufficiently long for the complete clearing
out of the supposed glacial deposits in the valley ; but nothiug definite
can be said as to the full extent of Post-Glacial submergence on the
strength of facts so far ascerf ained.
Douglas,-The
broad, flat tract now occupied by alluvium, and
stretching eastwards by Douglas, may once have carried an important
river entering from the west, and receiving the streams which drained
the ridge as at present. Now, however, only those draining the slopes
at Garrane and eastward euter the Douglus tract, all to the west flow
towards the Lee by Bibhopstown : and the intervention of boulder-clay
at Garrane and Bishopstowu, 35 feet higher than the tracts on eithcl
side, proves that the drainage cannot have been very different from the
present since Glacial times. The flats are probably partially-filled
hollows of solution, the rock bottom of which, near Ballinaspig, is some
130 to 140 feet higher than the rock bed of the Lee at Cork.
Besides the old river-gravels of the Lee valley already described,
some small tracts of flood-washed detritus lie along the northern foot of
the central Old Red Sandstone ridge, mostly in the form of fans thrown
out upon the flat ground by former more copious representatives of
present streams. These streams drain the northern slopes of the ridge
at Lehenagh More, Pouladuff, Ivy Hill, and one opposite Bloomfield. The
deposits con-ist almost wholly of Old Red Sandstone detritus-grit
and
slate, and ale in some parts quite shingly.
Towards their margins the
gravels of the fans minglo with a,lluvial mud, and appear to be overlain
by it, as if the waters which carried the mud spread widely over the
gravels so as to form a lake or lakes before the area was drained. A
large portion of the flat tract is still a marsh.
Another small area of gravel, with shingle, appears above the surface
of the alluvium on the north side of the tract near Ballincurrig Rouse,
the existence of which it is difficult to account for.
AExplanation of Sheets 194, 20 I, snd 202, page 27&

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

AROUND

CORK.

77

A river terrace older than the fans above mentioned, and probably
formed by a glacier-fed torrent descending the glen near Ivy Hill, is
to be seen at its exit ; and a deposit of coarse shingly gravel and some
sand exists at the entrance to the glen south of Douglas, at the Rectory.
This latter deposit may have an origin similar to the former ; though it
more probably belongs to the series of glacial sands and gravels, covered
with boulder-clay along the valley, and therefore indicating a period of
deposition more ancient than the glacial-flood gravels.
The later alluvium of the tract running eastward by Douglas, mentioned above, is almost as wide and important as that in the valley of
the Lee and is more varied in character.
It is strongly clayey at its
margin, due south of Cork ; marshy to the east by south of the city ;
moory to the south of St. Josephs College at Ballinaspig ; gravelly at
some points, and in other places having the more usual character of
loamy mud. Terraces of a slightly higher elevation than portions of
the alluvium adjoining, are to be noticed, testifying apparently to the
formation of the whole deposit by stages ; but these terraFes do not
appear to differ much in character. Thus, a band of higher level than
ordinary strikes across the tract opposite Garrane : R stream section cut
through it south of Looneys Cross, shows clay with pebbles over peat
and gravel.
AEluvium of the Lee Valley. -The
alluvium of the Lee valley, from
opposite Inchigaggin House, where an old river deposit is represented,
to Victoria Bridge, consists of a sandy loam, occasionally so clayey
at the surface as to hinder percolation, so that rushes are commonly
noticed here and there. Between the bridge and the city, along the
Mardyke, the deposit is more generally sandy, though the sand contains
a proportion of clay or very fine silt, Near the turn from Western
Road to George IV. Bridge a bed of gravel was noticed about four
feet beneath the surface. Its thickness was not ascertained as the bed
was almost concealed by water.
Alluvium occurs along a hollow which carries some of the water of
the Douglas tract into the Lee by Glasheen. The surface layer is of
the usual kind, viz., moory loam ; and the same may be said of the
narrow strips of alluvium which margin the streams in Anagloghduff
and other valleys to the north and north-east of Cork. In the Bride
River valley patches of clay and gravel skirt the ordinary alluvium at
certain points, and seem to belong to more ancient regimens of the
streams, lying, as they do, somewhat higher than the portions of the
deposits adjoining.
River gravel was taken out of a deepened sewer
along the Watercourse Road, north of Ladys Well Brewery,
The
brewery occupies approximately the site of a former wet alluvium
known as Devonshire Marsh ; and the name Blackpool, borne by this
portion of the city, suggests that the marsh (perhaps it may be said the
margin of the pool ) was peaty. A well sunk by the proprietors,
Messrs. Murphy, Limited, in the brewery yard revealed some IS feet
of mud and artifioial (I filling.
Cork Lough, a permanent lakelet to the south-west of the city,
occupies a hollow in the drifts. As there is no surface&tlet,
any
water which may escape from it must find its way through the underlying cavernous limestone, but au ancient discharge in times of flood
may have run towards Glasheen, where the general surface level is considerably lower than thatt of the ground on the north, east, and south
sides of the lakelet, and where a hollow is now seen. On C. Henwoods
map of 1828 the lakelet was shown as 445 yards in length by 330 in

78

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR.

79

80

THE

GEOLOGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

width;
at present it is 433 yards long and 225 yards wide, so that,
in so far as the measurements are reliable, it appears that consi&rable
shrinkage has taken place within recent years : and the lough is now
filling up with vegetable growths.

ArtiJiciaZ changes around Cork- Several small areas, now covered

only at highest tides, are partially reclaimed in the Douglas estuary.
Tn the estuary of the Lee the area known as Cork Park is reclaimed
slob-land.
The park is enclosed by the navigation embankment formed
principally of materials (gravel, sand, and mud), dredged out of the
river, and which now forms the beautiful Marina promenade from
Cork to Blackrock, a distance of two miles. On J. Connors map of
1774 the embankment is shown as partly formed, and was then known
as the New Wall ; but a branch of the river-the South Channel-still
flowed along the inland margin of the slob, approximately where the
Blackrock Railway runs, as far as the Agricultural Societys Buildings.
This estuarine area was accessible to tidal waters, as was part of the
area between Warren -now Parnell--Place,
and the Custom House,
at that time an islet ; as was also another islet between the channel
at Morrisons Quay and the south channel, where it turned southeastward near the present entrance to the park. The remaining
portions of both islets were then marshy, as was the low ground margining the Lee on its north side, the site now occupied by the stations of
Still earlier in the history
the Great Southern and Western Railway.
of the city, the road, which is now Georges Street, crossed two marshes,
viz., Dunscombs Marsh, near the present Grand Parade, and Reap
Marsh, around Warren Place.
Above, as well as below the original city, marshes, cut up by more
or less deep navigable channels, marked the character of the adjoining
ground,
Thus we find indicated on the old maps Reilys Marsh, Pikes
Marsh, Hammonds Marsh, Clarks Marsh, and West *Marsh,stretching
in the order mentioned across the Lee valley from the North Mall Distillery to the Bishops Palace _grounds. The small maps 1 shown in
Figs. 13 and 14, present successive stages of the citys growth, as well
as some of the modifications which its progress occasioned in the physical
character of the area, since the city received its name-carcach
in its
original form, meaning Marsh.
Joyce a informs his readers that
Corcach is the name by which the city is known still to Irish-speaking
natives ; and, from the same authority, we learn that the swampy place
was known for many hundreds of years, after the sixth century, by
the name of Corcach-mor, or Corcach-mar-Mumhun [Mooan], the
great marsh of Munster, of which only the first part has been retained,
and even that shortened to one syllable.
J.R.E.

1 l?he small maps have been prepared from data presented on a map in Smiths
History of Cork, 1760, afterwards enlarged for Geo. Mbarthy, Esq., Estates
Commissioner, J. Connors map of 1774, C. Henwoods of 1828, and a very
complete outline of the old cities prepared by the Messrs. Robert Walker and
Son, Architects and Civil Engineers, Cork, who were good enough to give a copy
for the present purpose.
2 Irish Names of Places,

by P. W. Joyce,

I,L.D.. M.s.,L.~

DETAILS : DRIFTS

OF THE CORK VALLEY.

81

Law ground between Dunkettle and Queenstown. Junction.--The

northern trough of the Cork valley, after being deserted by the Lee,
which turns southward opposite Dunkettle, is prolonged eastward by
the depression which separates Little Island from the mainland. This
depression was formerly a tidal mud-flat, but the greater portion of
it has been reclaim_edby embankments and converted into meadowland.
Along the borders of this depression there arc extensive monndy
terraces of gravel, which are developed principally, but not wholly, along
the southern or Little Island side. Pits have been opened here and
there showing that the terraces are composed of ordinary current-bedded
glacial sand and gravel, The terrace on Little Island is, in places,
a quarter of a mile wide. It is well marked between Inchera and Ballinderrig House, but at the latter place it appears to sink under the recent
estuarine alluvium, in the midst of which a few smaller isolated mounds
can be seen further east.
In the grounds of Little Island House, towards the western end of
the terrace, is a natural pond, probably a 4kettle hole,
On the northern shore the fringe of gravel seems to be overlain in
many places by loamy boulder-clay or rubbly hill-wash. Good sections
of gravel are visible in the railway cuttings.
Small fans of gravel occur opposite the gorges a_t Northesk and
Glounthaune, but whether they are glacial or post-glacial is not qtiite
evident.
W.B.W.
z
For a short distance east of the junction of the Queenstown and
Youghal railways the boulder-clay extends down to the railway line,
where up to nine feet of reddish boulder-clay is exposed in a cutting.
The low ground, however, is mainly occupied by gravel and sand,.which
forms moundy features, especially on the south side of the Midleton
road. The gravel is more than 15 feet thick in an old pit 300 yards
east of Queenstown Junction station, Sections, more or less overgrown,
are to be seen along the coast opposite Foaty Island. At one place the
gravel overlies ten feet of red boulder-clay,
H.B.M
Little Island is covered with a varying thickness of reddish-brown
loamy and gravelly drift. Knobs of limestone project through it
in places, but the drift seems to contain little or no limestone. This
may possibly be due to solution of the calcareous pebbles by leaching,
The principal constituents are Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous
Slate,
In one or two places in the great limestone quarries of Little Islaid
the drift can be seen filling fissuresin the rock to a considerable depth.
One of these, of exceptional size, has been quarried round and left as an
outstanding stack of boulder-clay. It is remarkable in being composed
of two distinct boulder-clays separated by a sharp line of demarcation.
The upper 5 or 6 feet consists of limestone boulder-clay, with the stones
not very well glaciated, while the lower 15 feet is a boulder-clay derived
from the Old Red Sandstone and containing no limestone. The junction
dips at an angle of 20 or 30 degrees to the south-east.
There is a considerable quantity of reclaimed ground on the south as
well as on the north side of Little Island. A quarter of a mile
N.N.W. of the Chemical Works, a small storm-beach can be seen
about 300 yards inland, at the inner margin of one of these tracts.
w.L).w.

82

THE

aEOLOGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOGR.

iYappe#u Island consists of gravel overlying limestone, except the

northern end, which is reclaimed slob-land The limestone is exposed in
the railway-cutting, and is overlaid hy 2 to 6 feet of gravel. Near the
south end of the Island the gravel has been artificially cleared off
the limestone, which has been quarried,
Brm
mound.
obscured
rises out

Island, situated to the east of Harpers Island, is a gravel

The cliffs on its western side are 20 to 30 feet high, but are
A small mound of gravel, about 16 feet high,
by vegetation.
of the slob east of Brown Island.

Eoaty Island.- The superficial deposit over the greater part of Foaty
Tsland is a reddish boulder-clay, which is best exposed in the cliffs
It contains boulders of Old Red
half a mile west of Belvelly Bridge.
Sandstone, Carboniferous slate and chert, and a few of Carboniferous
The north-eastern part of the Island is occupied by ridges
Limestone.
and mcunds of gravel and sand, which reach a height of over 100 feet.
Small outlying patches of gravel occur near Fota station and at a
point nearly half a mile to the east-north-east of it. At the latter
locality a pit-section exposes eight feet of bedded sand and fine gravel
without the base of the deposit being seea.
Along some portions of the shores of the islands mentioned above,
as well as on the shores of Great Island near Belvelly, and of the
mainland to the north of the islands, there is a small terrace or bank
of gravel at the foot of the cliff. This terrace is only covered by high
spring tides, and, together with the cliff at the back of it, ia more or less
overgrown by vegetation. This feature suggests, but is scarcely eufllcient
to prove, that there has been a recent slight rise of the land relatively
to the sea (see p. 48).
H,B.&f.
Cork va2ley between Poaty Island and MidZeton.-In
its easterly
extension the- Cork valley varies in width from 2 miles on the west,
near Carrigtohill, to nearly 3 miles in the neighbourhood of Midleton.
It is bounded on the southern side by an inlet of the sea, separating
Great Island from the mainland.
The central and northern portion
forms nearly level or gently undulating ground, broken through
frequently by steep knoll-like crags of limestone, rising up above the
100 ft. contour. The ground between these outcrops of rock is generally
smooth.
The country immediately around Midleton, and for a short
distance to the westward for about a square mile, is practically flat, the
only pronounced features within it being the abundant sink holes and
trough-like hollows, probably due to-the solution of the limestone,.which
are especially noticeable in the townland of Knockgriffin.
All along the
southern side of the valley, however, the ground is very moundy, the longer
axes of the mounds being in places irregular in direction, but in others,
especially where an esker-like form is developed, orientated nearly E.
and W., or slightly N. of E. Around Ballyannan Old Castle, and also
near Rossmore Bay, 14 miles S. of Carrigtohill, where the glacial
gravels occur in strong force, a kame-like structure is very noticeable.
The physical character of the ground in this part of the Cork valley
is mainly dependent upon the nature of the drift deposits which are
more extensively developed here than in any other part of the present
map; the undulating plain is mostly covered with boulder-clay, the
moundy ground with glacial gravel and sand ; and the flat area around
Midleton is portion of an extensive fan of delta-gravel brought down
in late-glacial and post-glacial times by the Owennacurra River,
These
drift-deposits will now be described in the order st,ated.

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

WEST

OF MIDLETON.

83

* The Boiclder-Clay, though covering about one-third of the area,is

only exceptionally of any great thickness. It is rather gravelly in
character, but many of the contained stones are well-striated, as may be
seen in the section of drift overlying the limestone in the red-marble
quarry near the road leading from Whitegate Rock to Ballyannan
Castle.
Limestone-pebbles are seldom seen in it, the erratics being
mainly red sandstone.
Throughout the boulder-clay area there are
numerous outcrops of limestone, sometimes sticking up in crags, and
again coming close to the surface, forming only minor undulations in
the ground.
l?ortions of this area, which it has been necessary to map
as bare rock, contain many small patches of boulder clay, usually more
or less gravelly and of little thickness except in hollows and crevices of
the rock, When the limestone occurs as an upstanding mass, a crag
and tail structure is well developed, tho tail of drift being directed
,towards the cast; one of the best examples of this structure in the
district is that at Rockville farm, 4 mile N.E. of Carrigtohill.
The
tracts barest of drift lie to the south and south-east of Midleton, and
again q-mile north of Bellintubbrid House, but even here there are
small rock-hollows containing a fair thickness of brown stony earth.
Glacial Gravel am! Sand is the most important drift-deposit of this
part of the valley, lying all along its southern boundary.
This
deposit forms a broad band, roughly parallel to the shore-line, which
has been traced almost continuously for a distance of close upon seven
miles, and also extends further both to the west (see page 81) and to
the east. The width of this band is very variable, expanding in- places
to more than a mile, and again at no great distance, contracting to only
a few dozen yards ; while to the east of Ballintubbrid House it is cut out
altogether by an outcrop of bare limestone which here abuts on the
shore. Its northern boundary approximates very closely to the 50-f&
contour, being generally just below that level, but occasionally extending
a little above it when the ground happens to be nearly level. A more
or less distinct edge marks the. junction of the boulder-clay with the
gravel, the latter appearing to overlap the former so far as could, be
determined in the absence of good sections. As already pointed out,
the gravel area is characteristically moundy, the mounds rising up
steeply to 20 or 30 feet above the general level. Long esker-like ridges
are fairly numerous, and these, as in the neighbourhood of Ahanesk,
rise occasionally above the 50-ft. contour.
There are vesy numerous
gravel and sand-pits opened in these deposits which prove that the
gravels are upwards of 40 feet thick in places. Occasionally their base
is seen on the shore-line, as for example, one half mile due S. of Rossmore Cottage, where some 12 feet of gravel is seen to rest on limestone,
with an intervening thin layer of clay with angular limestone fragments.
This clay appears to be residual material, derrved from the limestone by
solution of the latter, and has not the characteristics -of boulder-clay.
The base of tbe gravel is also seen a few hundred yards E. by S. of
Ballyannan Castle, and again, YOOyards W. of Ahanesk House and on
the shore opposite to Ballynacorra House.
On the north side of the valley there is a less extensive development
of similar gravels, which are well exposed in the large gravei-pits
, adjoining the railway line east of Midleton Station. In this locality
some corroded pebbles of limestone were noticed towards the base, but
throughout the greater part of the deposit, the absence of limestone
pebbles was conspicuous, as is the case also in the boulder-clay, a result
no doubt mainly attributable to their solution by meteoric waters.
02

84

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR.

Th Dt%%zancJ River-Qravels, deposited after the glaciation of the

valley, cover extensive areas near Midleton, on both sides of the Owennacurra River, and mark the conditions following close on the re-opening
of the land-drainage system. The ground which they occupy, as already
mentioned, is practically level, though characterised by the presence of
sink or swallow-holes, a series of these sometimes occurring along
A large exttmple occurs in, the field to the west of
well-defined lines.
the Avoncore Mills, and others are fairly numerous in the townland of
Knockgriffin.
The gravels are at least 12 feet thick, and appear generally to rest on
limestone, though the b&e was nowhere seen, and as solution takes
place in this rock, due to the underground drainage system, the sink a
holes are developed consequent upon the falling in of the gravel covering.
The river flowing from the east past the Distillery had in former times*
its junction with the Owennacurra on the north side of Midleton, and has
deposited there an extensive sheet of gravel, which is marked off from
the Owennacurra gravels by a well marked scarp, running from the
railway station past the Union workhouse.
As the strength of the
current decreased, this gravel was covered over with alluvial mud,
which at the cricket-ground is a foot or so thick, but increases towards
the east in the neighbourhood of Cahermone Castle, where it has been
in former times used for the manufacture of bricks. This .deposition of
alluvium eventually diverted the stream into its present more southerly
course.
The gravel-area just described has to some extent the character of a
deltsfan, but a much more definite example of this kind of streamdeposit occurs less than a mile N. by E. of Carrigtohill, at the mouth
of a glen descending from the upland.
From the summit of the limestone knoll at Rockville Farm, a good view of this fan can be had, the
characteristic shape being still well preserved, and the outline emphasised by the fences which surround it, The accompanying skebh, Fig.
16, made from a photograph, gives an idea of its general appearance.
Another fairly good example of the same feature may be seen near
Ballyspillane old church, the lowest part of the delta-fan in this case
just crossing the road south of the church, a few yards outside the
eastern limit of the present map.
The Alluvium of the present stIrearnsmarks the more recent stages of
It occurs as narrow bands of loam and gravelly Walsh
their history.
bordering their courses, and only seldom exceeds 100 yards in width.
In some of the depressions in the boulder-clay area, alsp, where water
has accumulated in times of flood, some limitpd patches of silty or
loamy alluvium have been deposited as a thin layer overlying the drift.
Along the shore-line opposite to Great Island, some changes have been
brought about by the artificial reclamation of tidal inlets near high
water-mark, by the erection of sea walls with sluice gates, The largest
of these tracts lies between Slatty bridge and the old castle of Barrys
Court. That portion running across the main road to Cork, west of
Carrigtohill, is ordinary river alluvium, but this merges imperceptibly
into a grey estuarine alluvium or clay with numerous estuarine shells,
mostly in a good state of preservation.
Another area of similar ground occurs north of Ahanesk
SJSQcontains abundant she&

House, and

DETALS:

DRIFTS AROUND MIMIETON.

85

The ground just described is mostly at or above mean high-tide level,

and would be flooded by high spring-tides.
There are, however, in
several places along the shore, circumscribed areas and narrow platforms

$b

Ta33

GhOL6GP

Ol? C&K

ANb

CQRK HAk$OUfl.

of very limited extent which appear to rise slightly above the level of
the highest tides of the present day, and may ptibly
indicate a slight
relative sinking of the sea-level in recent times. The largest area of
this kind lies to the west of Brown Island, covering a space of some
six acres, while a second but much smaller tract occurs on the western
Both of these low platforms are partly covered
side of Brick Island.
with masses of the shells of edible molluscs, principally of the oyster,
but with an occasional Mytilus, Cardium, and Littorina.
These
banks of shells, which range up to six feet in thickness, appear to be of
artificial origin, probably representing .ancient kitchen middens, as
such accumulations are generally called. It is noteworthy, however,
that wherever traces of this platform were seen, to the east of the
localities mentioned above and on the opposite shore at Rathcoursey,
oyster shells were associated with it. The level of tile shelf is so
slightly above tire present limits of erosion, that a merely local diminution in the height of the highest tides might be sufficient to account for
it. But as in this district no other trace was found of the PosGGlacial
raised beach which is so marked a feature on the east coast everywhere
north of Dublin, the presence of this slight shelf deserves notice.
The underground drainage in the limestone has been incidentally referred to in connection with the sink holes in the Midleton gravel-fan,
It should be further stated that in two places, one at Water Rock
House and another near the Midleton Distillery, surface-streams are
In the former case the stream flows down
seen to pass underground.
into a cave at the foot of a limestone knoll, and re-appears probably at
the smithy, 300 yards west of Whitegate House.
The presence of
numerous caves in the vicinity of Midleton also attest to the former
circulation of underground streams. In one of these caves, laid open
in a quarry east of Midleton workhouse, the bones of animals were
obtained, as described in 1865 by Prof. Harkness.1
At Ballinacorra the Owennacurra river makes a sudden bend to the
west just after emergin,0 from a narrow channel cut in the limestone at
It is probable that this is a post-glacial channel, and that the
Bailich.
old channel lies further west, and more in line with the gorge of East
Passage. If this be the case, the diversion was doubtless caused by the
mass of glacial gravel accumulated in this neighbourhood? as above
described.
H. J.S.
Q.-THE

CENTRAL

RIDGE.

rrZgl& grozcnd-south and south-west of Co&.-To

the south of Cork
rubbly local boulder-clay ia found in variable thickness along the north
and south valleys that drain the Central Old Red Sandstone ridge, the
sections in some places showing a thickness of twelve feet or more of
this deposit. In the banks of the stream which runs southward into
Curra.heen five to ten feet of stiff red-brown clay with scratched stones
In the valley running south from
can be seen at a few places.
Chetwynd Viaduct good sections measuring five to ten feet are to be
seen on the west side of the road, and in the railway-cutting northeast of the viaduct sections up to fourteen. feet occur. In the road
running south from the railway-bridge, 4 mile south of Togher, there
are good sections on both sides of the road showing up to twelve feet
of the characteristic rubbly boulder-clay.
On the south side of the
stream at Donnybrook six feet of stony clay occurs in the banks eastward from the bridge.
1 6Animal Remains
vol. ii., p. 281.

found in-a Limestone

Quarry at Midleton.

Qed, Mcrg.,

DETAILS : DRIIW3 OP TEtl3

CfiN'l'RAL
RfDtfE:

87

As already mentionod, the clay occurs in variable thickness along

the upland valleys of the ridge. In the railway-cutting half a mile
south of Waterfall station six feet to eight feet of good stony boulder
clay is seen to rest on the shattered rock-surface, and a mile to the south
of the station ten feet of clay rests on the rock. Three quarters of a
mile to the south-eastof the station, on the hill slope, u little east of the
church, at an elevation of over 400 feet, a thin deposit of clay rests
on a glaciated rock-surface, which showed good atria going E S.E.
Two miles south of Waterfall station there are two good cuttings in
the clay to a depth of twelve feet, scratched stones being plentiful.
In the upper part of these sections the clay is weathered to a yellow
stony loam, which pauses down into very stony brown clay, showing
a rudely linear arrangement of the slaty rock-fragments.
Along the valley, on the west side of the road from Cork to Fivemilebridge, the drift lies plastered on the lower part of the eastern slopes
of Lehenagh More Hill, in a similar manner to its occurrence in the valley
south of Chetwynd Viaduct. Cndeed, along all the minor north and
south valleys the drift has been deposited or banked along the western
or lee sides, which is a strong indication that the last ice movement in
this area was from the west.
On the south side of the Old Red Sandstone ridge, along the valley
of the Owenboy River, the boulder-clay appears to cover a considerable
area, and in the hollow places is fairly thick. Along the foot of the
hill-slopes on the north aide of the river many good sections are laid
open in the trenches cut by the streams running south from the ridge
into the main Owenboy valley. Half a mile east of Ballinhassig
station a road-cutting near the Constabulary Barracks shows over five
feet of good brown boulder-clay, with scratched stones of western types
only. Again, a little west of Millbrook House, olay of the same
character is seen in an old road-cutting. In the strea,m-banksjust
north of Fivemilebridge, eight feet of stiff yellow clay with scratched
stones rests on the shattered rock surface, and at several places between
Fivemilebridge and Ballygarvan, sections show five feet of similar
clay. Along the banks of the stream running southwards past Killanully Rectory sections up to fifteen feet are seen on the west side of
the gorge. There are also good openings in stiff brown stony clay,
eight feet thick, a little to the south-west of Ballinrea Cross.
At the south end of Ballinhassig Tunnel there is a section at the foot
ofs steep hillside showing twelve feet of brown clayey rubble with but
few scratched atones and scarcely any material that could not have been
derived from the adjacent slope.
This deposit may be compared with the Upper Head of the coastsections, and probably represents the down-wash of the hill, composed
in part of the local rock-detritus and in part of re arranged glacial drift.
Similar material probably occurs at the foot of most of the steep slopes
in the district, but, in the absence of good sections, cannot be distinguished from the original glacial drift, and has necessarily been included
with the boulder-clay on the map It appears in most cases to merge
indefinitely into the local boulder-clay when this is present, as may be
seen in the present instance, where small openings lower down on the
hill-slope show a more pronounced boulder-clay.
The only material foreign to the district noticed in the area under
description consisted of small irregularly-shaped pieces of chalk-flint
which were found at a few places in the rubbly soil of the upland,
mixed with stones of the usual local or western type. These flints usually
occur in the soil of ground that must now be mapped as bare of
+

88

THI~G~~oI;oQ~

OF ~08~

ANb CORK

B~M30T312.

drift, for the country-rock lies beneath the soil at an average depth of
about a foot ; and in no place were they found actually embedded in
the drift. Several of these flints were noticed on the hill-top of LeheIt is just
ndgh More, at an elevation of over 600 feet above O.D.
possible that they may indicate a former extension of the Eastern
Drift into this area, of which,no other traces now remain,
The ice-stream which passed southward along the Irish sea-basin is
known to have reached the ground ten or twelve miles to the eastward,
as the characteristic boulder-clay formed by it, in which flints are
aIways present, is seen in sections on the coast a little to the east of
Power Head, as mentioned in a subsequent part of this memoir (p. 105).
Stratified drift is very sparingly developed on the Central ridge,
though it occurs in a few limited patches on the lower part of its
northern slopes, and in one or two places of considerable interest at
higher levels.
In the open valley south of Douglas, on the north slope of the hill
behind Montpellier, a spread of gravel and sand covers the boulder-clay
from the 250-ft. contour down to the stream a little east of DonnyPits in ,hiS deposit show t6enty feet of fine sand with
brook.
streaks of coarse and fine gravel in irregular lenticular layers, dipping
at low angles with the hill-slope. The stones in the gravel are all of
local rocks.
A mile to the south of Orossnacroha a deposit of gravel and sand
occurs near the top of the steep slope of a broad valley opening northward at an elevation of 400 feet. This gravel appears to be intercalated with the local boulder-clay, as may be seen in a small pit close to
the stream on the east side of the road, which shows the following
section :Red-brown boulder-clay with matched stones,
.
46 feet.
Yellowishgravellyclay,
Lentioular layer of red 0la;ley grakl,
Coarse end fine grey gravel,
.
Boulder-clay,
.
.
.

:,

64

9)

.
.

.
.

::

The stones in the gravel are of Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous grit
ahd shale, and vein quartz, with occasionally pebbles of black chert,
probably derived from the Upper Shales (See p. 36).
This gravel has probably been accumulated at the margin of the ice
when the valley below was still blocked by a glacier,
As regards the Post-Glacial deposits, the streams flowing northwards
and southwards from the Central ridge are mostly too small and too
steeply graded to produce well-defined alluvial flats, though usually
bordered by strips of stony loam and clayey gravel, in part representing the action of the stream at a time when its volume was greater
than at present, and in part the result of rain-wash from the bordering
slopes. Where, however, these streams enter the largelow-level valleya
on the north and south of the ridge, and their gradient is suddenly
checked, delta-like fans of shingly gravel have been invariably formed
along the borders of the broader alluvial flats of the main rivers.
Examples of these detrital fans occur on the north-west at Curraheen
and Bnllinaspig Cottage, and on the south along the valley of the Owenboy, at Halfway House ; a little to the west at Ballinhassig ; half way
between Ballinhassig and Fivemilebridge.; and at several places further
east.
AMcH.
Rochestowti, Passage IVest, and Molnkstown.-The high ground on the
western side of the transverse gorge of West Passage is almost devoid of
drift. A little local rubble, more or less rearranged by rainwash, lying

in the upland basins is all that can be seen. In the wall by the roadside, SW yards S.E. of Old Court, a large boulder of the siliceous
broccia, measuring 3 feet by 2 feet by lh feet, was noticed, at an
elevation of nearly 400 feet above sea-level. Boulders of this rock are
abundant on Great Island, and farther eastward, as will presently be
described ; but this is the most westerly point at which they have been
observed.
The .gorge known as the Glen, at Monkstown, is 40 to 50 feet deep,
and is a good example of the steep-sided and steeply-graded valleys
which descend abruptly from the broad upland basins all over the
district.
Between Passage and Rochestown there are two deep basins filled
with thick clayey drift. The ridge separating these is trenohed by a
well-marked ( dry gap sloping steeply from west to east. There is a
considerable quantity of glacial gravel in the valley of the Rochestown
stream.
Hop Island is a mound of boulder-clay rising out of the slob.
Qreat Is2a~d.~The western end of Great Island contains a deep
basin-like valley bounded on the south, west, and north by high ground,
and filled with thick drift. This basin originally held at its west end a
small lake about a quarter of a mile across, but the retaining barrier has
been cut through artificially, and its site is now an alluvial flat. The
basin is drained eastward by the Ballyleary stream into Cuskinny
Bay.
The hills which bound this basin on the west, and separate it from
the West Passage, sink into a rather low co1 about half a mile south
of Carrigaloe. A small valley connecting the basin with the West
.W.B.W.
Passage has been cut in some way at this point.
The low-lying ground on the northern side of Great Island about
Belvelly and Rosslague is underlain by Carboniferous rocks, and,
Thistract is covered
strictly speaking, forms part of the Cork Valley.
As on Foaty Island,
by a reddish boulder-clay of varying thickness.
the rocky substratum of Carboniferous Limestone reaches the surface
over a comparatively small area only, and the soil which is derived from
the boulder-clay or gravel is essentiuliy a non-calcareous one. The
boulder-clay thins out against the flanks of the hills. Its upper limit
is masked by a stony loam or hillwash, but seems to be marked by a
change in the angle of slope.
The higher parts of the hill-slopes and the hill-tops are covered by a
thin soil containing much angular rubble of local origin, and a few pebbles
lying on rock. The basins and depressions in the upland are, however,
lined by boulder-clay, which in the bottoms of the basins is covered by
alluvium or by a stony wash. The boulders in the clay are chiefly
of Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Slate.
Carboniferous LimeScattered over
stone pebbles even on the IoW ground are not common.
the hills at all altitudes are boulders of a brecciated siliceous rock,
which sometimes reach a large size. Near Belgrove Lodge, and again
260 yards above Glenmore*Bridge,J are boulders of this rock nine feet
long, Boulders of similar kind were noted in the boulder-clay of the
coast-sections to the SW. of Cuskinny, and also half a mile east of
Ashgrove.

1 a Glenmore is the name given on the six-inoh map to the deep valley
lying betken Ballymore and Waterstown.

The preglacial shoreline briefly described in the preceding chapter

(p. 36) is represented by a narrow rock-platform on the west, south, and
east sides, and occasionally on the northern ahores of the Island.
Where it pa8ses beneath the overlying drifts it is generally between two
and four feet above high-water mark of spring tides, though it is sometime8 higher or lower, Reach gravel is found lying on the. platform
beneath rubble-drift, or head, 600 yard8 east of Queenstown Lifeboat
House, and again 200 yards east of Glenmore. The pebbles in the
ancient beach-gravel of these narrow inlets are not as well rolled ati
those in the gravels on the open coast. In this character the preglacial beach-gravels

agree with the modern shore deposits.

overlies the platform and heachgravels, and is banked against the pre-glacial cliff. The 6head derived
from the Old Red Sandstone is rubbly, that from the Carhoniferous
Slate more loamy.

The Lower Head, or rubble-drift,

The boulder-clay in seen to overlie the lower head in the following

sections. :NeccrOwkinny House :Boulder-olay.
Lower *head,

100 prcEs weat of the mouth of Ulenmore : ..

Red sandy boulder clay,
.
Slaty head,
Greyish clay, like an elluvialwash,. *
Rook-platform.

:
.
:

8 feet
12 ,,
10 ,,
6

14 ::

Nearly h#fa mJe north of Eaet arove :34 9,

UP r I head,
Re 8 sandy boulder-okay,
;
1
1
4 ,,
6
Lower head
Rook-platfor&, aboud 3 feet above l&h wa&r-mark.)
Below Belgreve House the lower head beneath the boulder-clay is very
thin,
On Marino Point, at the western end of the Island, where the
full effect of the ice would be felt, the lower head has been entire1
removed, and the boulder clay rests directly on the rock.platform, whit 3:
at one place is striated from W. 36 N. to E, 36 S,
A
Gravel occurs to the south-east of the Belvelly Brick Works.
Rather over halfBe&on in a drain proves it to be over six feet deep.
&mile E&E. of the Brick Work8, sand is worked in a pit beneath
boulder-clay.
A section on the working face of the pit shows the following deposits :PI

Soil,
:
Yellowloam iith an lar at&es,
Reddish-brown boulr er-olay with a
variety of sub-angular and rounded
stones, some of wbioh are striated, .
Stiff yellow olay with few small stones,
Sharp sand, iron-stained in plaocs, with
.
oontcrted bands of fine gravel,
Rather finer sand (baes not mm), .
l

1 foot
2 feet,

6 feeti.
2 in. to 14 feet.
4 to 6 feet.
4 feet.

Gravel and sand is exposed on the shore on the east side of the
fiosslague promohtory, and w&s formerly worked in pits a shot%distance
inland.
Coarse gravel up to five feet thick occurs in the cliffs half-a-mile:east
of Ashgrove House, where it is overlain and underlain by head. The
gravel thus takes the place of the boulder-clay, and towards the east it

bWIAILS

: DRlFJ!fi dF

CAtCRhlALfNl.!l VALLEY.

91

is seen to interdigitate with the boulder-clay. The gravel is, probably,

the southern edge of the gravel belt which stretches from near Queenstown Junotion Station westward to Ballynacorra.
The alluvium lying in the hollow south of Belvelly is worked for
the manufacture of bricks (p. 111).

!l?Se Central Ridge east of Great Island..-On

the east side of the
East Pa,ssagethe pre-glacial rock-platform is narrow, but well-marked.
Just south of the ferry it is overlain by six feet of slaty head. From
here it may bn traced round into the harbour beyond East Ferry House.
The high ground east of the Passage is free from drift. The soil is
formed from the breaking-up of the underlying rocks, but it also
contains a few rounded stones brought there during the glaciation.
Boulder-clay extends up the valleys above Jamesbrook Hall, and above
Saleen. It is over twelve feet thick in the road section above the latter
place, where it is a sandy red clay containing much local rock.
H.B.M.

The n&m
slope of the ridge east of Great Island is also bare of
drift, except along a narrow platform W. of Bawnard. In one or two
places, however, rmtably on the steep slopes N. of Rathcoursey House,
the slaty surface-rubble, derived mainly from the decay of the local
rock, is upwards of six feet in thickness. This material is probably
equivalent to the Upper Head described in the coast sections.

H. J. S.
J.--THE

CLOYNE AND CARRIGALINE

VALLEY.

BaElinhasaig to CarrigaZine.- The change in the character of the

longitudinal valley of Cloyne when it passes out of the Carboniferous
Limestone westward of Carrigaline, has been previously described (p. 6).
In its narrow westerly portion, which is drained by the Owenboy
River, the lower part of the hill-slopes on both sides is usually mantled
with rubbly local drift, or with clayey hill-wash scarcely distinguishable from the original glacial deposit. This drift sometimes forms a
rude terrace along the hill-side, but where the ground is steep the drift
has not been able to lodge and the solid rock lies close to the surface.
The bottom of the valley has a remarkably flat and well-defined floor,
underlain by stony alluvium. The present stream is quite insufficient
to account for the alluvial flat, which has probably been formed at
the close of the Glacial Period, when heavy floods of water were pouring
down the valley. At Kilnshone Mill, the character of the valley
suddenly changes, and the river flows in a narrow channel of modern
aspect with rocky walls, between which there is no room for alluvium.
In this part of the valley, and between here and Carrigaline, there
occur some curious patches of stratified drift.
One of these is located a little to the north-east of Kilnahone Mill,
where a gravel pit shows ten to twelve feet of gravel and sand pas&g
downwards into a loamy clay with large boulders. This gravel also
appears to pass laterally into a gravelly clay or boulder-clay, ihe hill top
only being true gravel.
On the west side of Ballinrea Cross, extensive pits were opened in
similar gravel and sand. The pit on the south side of the road show,s
five feet of brown and grey fine sand, oqer eight to ten feet of coarse and
fine gravel, the stones being such as might be derived from the local
rocks of the district, viz., Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous grit and
slate. The pit on the north side is in brown sand, with streaks of fine
gravel, Many large boulders of limestone, measuring up to 6 feet by

4 feet by 4 feet, lie half buried in the sand at the bottom of the pit in a
manner that suggests the close proximity of the limestone beneath the
gravel-mound. This gravelly deposit occurs as a low ridge, about i of a
mile long, narrowing down along the slope to the Owenboy River in a
south-westerly direction, to the point where the river takes its sharp
southerly bend into the deep rock-gorge of Ballea, by which it cuts its
passage through the intervening high ground and reaches the estuary at
Carrigaline. At the junction of the small stream that flows southwards into the Owenhoy, just above the bend, a limited patch of coarse
gravel, five to fifteen feet thick, occurs ; and directly opposite, on the
south side of the river, another small patch of gravel is found.
Again at Ballea Bridge (upper), stratified gravel and sand is developed to a thickness of ten feet. At the lower end of the Ballea gorge,
a little east of Ballea Bridge, where the river again turns eastward, a
fan of moundy gravel occurs, in which a pit has been worked just north
of Munro House. This deposit forms two elongated mounds, the
southern rising above the alluvial flat, and having a limestone core,
seen at Munro House, while the northern mound borders the alluvium
and is banked against the slope of Ravenswood Hill.
The alluvial deposits of the Owenboy are frequently exposed in the
banks of the river, and are composed principally of rubbly gravel,
covered with loamy earth.
The broad belt above Hilnahoue has already been referred to ; below
this point and in the Ballen gorge the river leaves very little room for
alluvium ; but below the gorge the alluvial flat suddenly expands.
The following section may be taken aB typical of the river-banks
between Ballea and Carrigaline :Brown loamy wash, greyish at bottom in places
and sometimes
with a
taining wood,
Coarse rubblg gravel, .
Boulder-clay with scratched

peats

layer,

oon1 to 3 feet.

1 to 2 feet.
:
23 to 3i feet.
stones, seen for
.
The stones in the river-gravel are of chert, grit, and shale, derived
from the Carboniferous rocks and Old Red Sandstone, and of vein quartz :
A.&H.
no limestone pebbles were observed.

Ra$eeen and Shanbaliy.- In the vicinity of Cork Harbour and its

estuarine inlets, where the synclinal trough of limestone sets in, the
low ground between the ridges becomes much broader and at the same
time more complex in physical features, being broken up into two
separate valleys with an irregular intervening belt of mounds ground.
In this tract, between Shanbally and Raffeen, there is an extraordinary
steep-sided dry valley in the limestone, It is rather shallow at its
upper end near Raffeen Bridge, where it opens into the valley of the
Glounatouig stream, considerably above the level of the latter. At
its lower end near Shanbally Cottage, where it opens into a
reclaimed arm of Monkstown Creek, it is deep and steep-sided, and has
a rather recent appearance, It is, however, apparently pre-glacial, as
its bottom is filled with a clayey drift resembling boulder-clay, and
oontaining fragments of Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Slate.
Its sides, moreover, have an appearance of having -been moulded by
ice moving from west to east. That it is not an old valley from which
the Glounatouig stream has been diverted by the deposition of glacial
drift is also obvious, as the stream would still flow over here if the
gorge by which the Glounatouig enters Monkstown Creek were filled up.
This latter gorge is very steep-sided, and much aebper than the limestone valley.
- -_.

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

OF CARRIGALINE

VALLEY.

93

The high ground to the south-west of Shanbally, composed partly of

limestone and partly of Carboniferous Slate, is thickly covered with drift
containing much sand and gravel. The gravel is overlain by a loose
loamy boulder-clay of irregular thickness, rarely exceeding 5 feet. The
gravel beneath this boulder-clay is often contorted. Owing partly to
its high level and partly to the pervious character of the gravel and
limestone by which it is underlain, this ground is very dry, and water
has to be carried for some distance.
Railway Cuttings from Rafeen to CarrigaZine.-The construction of
the new railway between Monkstown and Crosshaven has laid open r
Half way between Raffeen
some excellent sections in the drift.
Bridge and Sunnyside a pasty otoneless clay was exposed underlying
the glacial drift. It varied in colour from ochre to white, and in one
place was an intense bluish-grey, It seemed to be the result of the
decomposition of calcareous shales and impure limestones occurring near
the junction of the Carboniferous Slate with the limestone. Similar
clays can be seen also at this junction on the shore west of Ringaskiddy
Headland.1
About a quarter of a mile south of Sunnyside, and nearly threequarters of a mile north of Carrigaline Station, a deep cutting shows 30
feet of very tough boulder-clay, containing much beautifully glaciated
limestone except in the upper 5 or 10 feet, The boulder-clay exposed
on the surface in this district is loamy, and composed largely of Old
Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Slate. It is only in the deeper
cuttings that the tough clay with limestone was seen.
Just south of this, and half-a-mile north of the station, the cutting
passes through a knoll of craggy limestone. This is fissured in a most
extraordinary manner, A reticulated system of cracks from one-quarter
to one inch wide penetrates the whole mass, while here and there larger
vertical and sloping fissures occur, from 3 inches to 2 feet wide. Gravelly
boulder-clay lies in pockets on the top of the ridge, and fills these
fissuresto a depth of 12 to 15 feet or more, while the smaller reticulated
cracks are filled with a finer sandy loam.
Coast Sections mar i?inga&do?y.-Some
fine sections of drift are
exposed in the cliff to the west and north of Curlane Bank. South of
Lough More 12 feet of boulder clay rests on a finely glaciated surface
of limestone, with striaein the direction of E. 5O N. and E. 10 N.
Limestone is abundant in the lower portion of the boulder clay,
but not in the upper, which is composed of material derived entirely
from the Carboniferous Slate and Old Red Sandstone,
Along the shore to the north-east of Lough More the cliffs of drift attain
a height of 30 to 35 feet (see Plate IV,)
About a quarter of a mile
N.N.E. of the northern end of the lough is a cliff 30 feet high having the
lower 15 feet full of limestone, often in large beautifullyglaciated boulders.
The top 15 feet has little or no limestone., Large blocks of limestone
derived from the drift are strewn along the shore here. Some are
magnificently polished and striated, while others that lie a little further
from the cliff, or that have been derived from the upper and more
porous layers of the boulder-clay are weathered into fantastic shapes.
One of the blocks measured 8 feet by 5 feet by 4 feet, another 13
A still larger boulder, only approachable
feet by 9 feet by 6 feet.
at low spring tide, is known as the Golden Rock.

* Aleo at B similar horizon on the south ai& of Dungsrvan Harbour

94

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND

CORK

HARBOUR,

A little north of the section just described, and nearly opposite the
Golden Rock, the beds seen in the cliff are as follows :Boulder-clay
with little or no limestone,
10 feet.
Stratifiedsand and gravel, with springs issuingat base:
10 to 15 fee&
Boulder-clay,
ravelly in places, with some admixture
of slaty loca P rubble, and a fair amount of limestone,
but not so much as in other sections,
.
.

5 to 10 feef.
--30

The outcrop of gravel in the above section may be traced fro: the
cliff top round the northern slope of the hill.
The platform of the pre-glacial raised beach can be seen at intervals
along this shore, with remnants of the local rubble or li head overlying
it in places.
Coast Sectiofzs at Czcrraghbinny and Loughbeg.--The
platform of
the raised beach may be traced also all round the E. and N. coasts of
the headland of Carraghbinny, being overlain generally by 10 to 16 feet
of I6head, and in one place by 15 feet of boulder-clay, consisting entirely
of detritus from the Old Red Sandstone and Carboniferous Slate.
In the middle of the tidal flat of Lough Beg (now partially reclaimed)
a low mound of drift rises up in the shelter of some limestone crags, and
on their lee-side with respect to the direction of ice-flow, The sea
has cut a cliff-section across it, showing a fairly uniform thickness
(7 to 9- feet) of upper boulder-clay on an inner core of lower boulder-clay,
conforming to the shape of the ground, and exposed to a depth of 5 feet
in. the middle. The inner core is tough, and contains, in addition to
Old Red Sandstone and Oarboniferous Slate, a considerable propoition
of blue limestone, often in large well-glaciated blocks,
The upper
band has little or no limestone and is rather sandy in its matrix.
The
upper portion of the lower layer is in places very stony. The line of
junction is never well d&ned.
Estuary of the Owenboy. -The
remaining portion of the Owenboy
valley will be described here, though, strictly speaking, it lies within the
areA ,defined as the Southern Anticline.
The river is tidal to a short
distance above Carrigaline.
Here its course is along the southern edge
of the limestone syncline. Two miles to the east, however, instead of
continuing along the low-lying hollow. which stretches from Coolmore
House to Lough Beg, it turns in a south-easterly direction and passes
into a deep gorge in the southern ridge of Carboniferous Slate and Old
Red Sandstone.
It does not emerge again from the high ground until
it enters the harbour between Crosshaven and Curraghbinny.
On the northern shore of the estuary east of CarrigJine, where the
banks are low and composed of limestone, a terrace of gravel similar to
that on the north side of Little Island fringes the shore. In the cliffsectioas this gravel is seen to overlie boulder-clay, which throws out
springs at its base.
An isolated mass of glacial gravel lies on the slope of the hill above
The Point near Crosshaven.
A large pit in it shows 30 feet of current
bedded sand and gravel, composed of well waterworn pebbles of Carboniferous Slate and Old Red Sandstone, and an occasional band containing some limestone pebbles.
The bedding dips at an angle of 20 to
the west or south-west.
Two glaciated surfaces were observed in the gorge of the Owenboy
near Drakes Pool, the prevalent direction of the striae varying from
E. loo N. to E. 5 S. In addition to the strise there are some small
patches of boulder-clay and glacial gravel in the gorge, proving that it
was in existence previous to the glaciation.
W.B.W,

DETAILS : DRIFTS OF CLOYNE VALLEY.

95

Tice Cloyne Valley, east of Cork Harbour.-The

synclinal valley
which runs from Cork Harbour eastwards to Ballycottin Bay is marked
by an irregular central ridge of limestone, separated from the ,liills to
the north and to the south by depressions, which drain westwards from
a transverse water-parting at Cloyne beyond the east margin of the
map, The estuary on the south side has been reclaimed ; that, on the
north is almost landlocked by gravel bars.
The boulder-clay, occurring in that part of the valley lying within
the present map, is a stiff reddish unstratified loamy clay with
striated boulders and pebbles of Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous
Slate, grit, limestone, and chert. It is well exposed, on the shores of
cork Harbour, north of Rostellan Castle, where the cliffs are about 20
feet high, At the top of the cliff it weathers to a yellowish sandy
clay. Cleaved grey limestone crops out on the foreshore, but a retaining
Seeing that the boulderwall hides the contact with the boulder-clay.
clay here overlies the limestone, it is surprising how few boulders of
the latter rock occur in the clay. In the weathered material at the
top of the cliff the surfaces of the limestone pebbles are corroded,but
deeper down they are generally glaciated, so that the rarity of the
limestone boulders in this locality cannot be accounted for by solution,
In the interior the boulder-clay affords a non-calcareous loamy soil
witb a smooth undulating surface. The areas mapped as limestone are
occupied by ridges and knobs of that rock, between which there is often
a thin covering of boulder-clay.
The surface of the limestone is much
weathered, and the boulder-clay fills up the joints widened by solution.
To the south of Rostellan Castle a mound, orientated east and west,
is composed of sand and gravel.
A pit near its western end shows
18 feet of irregularly bedded coarse gravel with patches of fine gravel
and sharp sand. The coarser gravel is composed of pebbles about three
inched long, lying in a matrix of fine gravel and sand. The pebbles are
subangular or rounded, and consist, in order of abundance, of yellow
or white sandstone, red sandstone, quartz, dark chert, grey chert, and
green grit.
At the entrance to the pit 3 feet of sandy stony
bouhler-clay comes on over the gravel, and dies out up the slope of the
mound.
Boulder-clay appears to lap up the slope of the gravel in the
coast section, which, however, is obscure.
Another gravel mound lies nearly a mile to the east of Rostellan
Castle.
The following section is seen in a small excavation on its
eastern martin.

Soil,
Yellow smhy cl&, pas&g do& into reddi& brown
boulder-clay,
.
.
.
.
.
Sharp sand and gravel (base not BBen), .
.
.

6
1 In*
3
B
1

The boulder-clay contains a variety of stones and rests on an uneven

surface of the gravel.
The yellow clay above is weathered boulderclay.
Iu the clay pit, at the bend of the estuary, Q miles N.E of Rostellan
Castle, boulder-clay occurs at the western end, sand and gravel at the
eastern. The gravel overlaps the boulder-clay in the middle, where the
following section is visible :.
1 foot
Soil,
.
.
3 feet.
.
Bedded g&ml with sendg mat&,
.
.
chyey gmvel,
: ::
:
Red&sh stony bo;lder-clay (basenot z&n),
:
An esker, consisting of a series of detached mounds and curved ridges
of gravel, runs in e winding course from beyond the eastern margin o

96

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND

CORK

HARBOUR,

the map along the Saleen depression to Cork Harbotir.

It crosses-the
alluvium of the Saleen stream from side to side, but its course on the
map is somewhat obscured by the preeence of other glacial gravels in
The esker may be traced from the eastern side of
the neighbourhood.
the Castle Mary demesne which is outside the eastern limits of the map.
It first runs westward, and then suddenly turns southward, formipg a
steep gravel bank across the floor of the valley, which it almost comIt appears within the map as a curved ridge on the
pletely obstructs.
south side of the alluvium of the Saleen stream. The small area between the ridge and the alluvial Aat is covered with sand and gravel so
that the ridge is not well defined by the gravel-colour on the map.
A pit opened in the north-west end of the ridge exposes 8 feet of
sharp sand and gravel, the latter consisting of subangular or rsughly
rounded pebbles of red, green, and yellow sandstones, and vein qpartz
with a few of grey and black chert. The bedding is irregular.
In the
centre it is more or less horizontal, but at the side it follows the slope
of the ridge, so that the mound is almost certainly arch-bedded.
A gravel mound about 30 feet high on the north side of the alluvium,
and a ridge orientated N.N.E.-S.S.W.,
and just east of the high road,
continue the line of the esker towards Cork Harbour.
A sheet of
gravel here allreads southwards up the hill. From its western edge a
well-marked ridge runs in a north-westerly direction, crosses the head
of the estuary, and skirts its northern shore for half a mile. Along the
lattir part of its course, the esker is not as high as it is farther eastward, but its base is here below high water mark.
The mouth of the estuary is obstructed by two remarkable gravel
epi&
Behind the one on the south side a ridge of gravel, just rising
above the level of the estnarine mud, runs for about 150 yards up the
estuary. The gravel is more rounded than that found on the neighbouring shores, and assuming the ridges to be ordinary gravel spits, it
is impossible to point tc a source from which the material could have been
derived. There is little doubt that they are ridges of glacial gravel
subsequently modified by the tidal scour, and that they indicate a continuation of the esker below high water mark.
That a geologically recent subsidence of the land has taken place
seems to be indicated by a cromlech, which stands on the south shore
of the estuary below high-tide mark. The cromlech consists of three
upright stones arranged on three sides of a square, with a fourth stone
laid horizontally across those two upright ones which are orientated east
and west. It stands 6 feet high, and is more than half submerged
every high tide.1
though called an island, is connected with
Corkb@ Island. -Corkbeg,
the mainland by a dry shingle bar. It is relatively low-lying, and is
structurally the eastern continuation of the CHrrigaline syncline,
Boulder-clay is packed against the limestone-mass on its eastern side,
i.e., the lee-side with respect to the direction of the ice-motion.
A
few very small patches of boulder-clay also occur in hollows on its
It is a red clay contaitling boulders of 01d Red
western margin.
Sandstone and Carboniferous slate, grit, limestone, and chert
The
boulders of chert and limestone are generally striated, the others sometimes so. sear the north-eastern corner of the island boulder-clay ten
feet thick rests on a surfaue of limestone, which, is traversed by crodsstrise. The most abundant and well marked set run from W. 20 S. to
E. 20 N ; others less abundant trend due W, and E.
* Mr. R.. J. Ussher has described
a submarine
crannoge
diecovered
on
the peat .under high-water merk at Ardmore Bay, Co. Waferford,
See Royal
Hi&. and Archaeological Assoc. of Ireland., vol. v,, p. 164, 1882.

DETAILS : DRIFTS OF SOUTHERN RIDGE.

97

A short distance to the north of the striated surface,, and near the
landing-place, there is beneath the boulder-clay a u caloroted breccia
which rests on and against an irregular limestone surface about highwater mark. It consists of one to three feet of angular limestone
fragments passing up into a deposit two feet thick, which also
contains boulders of limestone and other rocks, some of which are
striated. The limestone breccia may represent the u head of other
sections,
H.B.M.
S.-THE

SOUTHERN

RIDGE

AND

COAST-LINE

Upland
south of Balli&assig. -The
local clayey drift is very
generally spread over the low undul&ing upland tract between the
Owenboly valley and the Old Red Sandstone ridge of Doolieve,
with the exception of aI bare high tract which extends from just
north of Mead&own by Ballee Gaotle and Ravenswood to the 101~
ground on the east. It is across t$his ridge that the Owenboy River
takkea a sharp 8turn southwards and, for over half a mile, has cut
for itself the deep rock-gorge prelviously referred to (page 94).
Oa the nelw upland tract south of Ba;linha,ssig the boulder-clay,
which is elxposed in many places, d,itfIerslin tbe colour od its matrix
frolm that of the ridge north of the Owenboy, being generlly a
stiff yellowish clay, with scratched stones and included pebbles of
the Old Red rocks and elf the black Carboniferous shales and
In. the lower ground itI is apparently of considerable thicksl&!s.
nes$ md makes a wet cla!yey land on the long slopes and in the
hollows, as, for example, in t,he tracts extending east and weat in
the vicinity od Badlinaboy, Nigga, Bridge, and Mead&own.
At the Ballinphelic
Brickworks, a mile to the south-east of
Fivemile bridge
the open pits show over twelve feet off yellow
stony boulder-clay with scratched stoneIs of the usual types resting
on a glaciated rock-surface with &riae running nearly from west to
east. At this place there is in one part oC the section a deposit
of fine plastic bluish-grey alluvial mud or marl overlying the
boulder-clay to a depth of 5 or 6 fee;tj, and eves it a foot or so
of black peaty soil. The blue marl contains, diatoms, and is evidently the1 deposit4 of a small lake or tarn which occupied a hollolw
in the boulder-clay until drained by the deepening of itre outlet
channel.
The yellow boulder-clay
ext*ends as a drif%covering
over the
upland basin to1 the soiuth oaf Meadstown, and eastward to the
strea.ms which ,draJn northwards from the Old Red Sandstone ridge
Sections adong tlhe streams show up to ten feet, of t,his
of Doolieve.
drift
The higher portion of Doolieve is nolw almost e&rely bare
of drift, but here and there on its slopes patches elf rearranged
stony clay are still noticeable, and there is no reason to doubt that
its whole area up to the summit, 600 feet above O.D., has been glacia-ted. The denudation of the drift since! Glacial times by atmosphelric agencies has, however, removed most of the evidence of its
A. McH.
fornmr gl~aciation.
Upland 8021th ailzc? so&h-e&
of Carviga&e.---The
same conditions as those described in the preceding paragraph are cont,inued
in the eastward prolongation of the upland, where theI high grolund
bo the south of thei Owenboy .has only irregular patches of drift
more or less rearranged and lodged in the hollows and shelterA
places.
The upland bjasins generally contain a stony clay apparently partly rain-wash, from which scratched boulders may be
occasionally extracted.
One of these basins to the south-easlt of
H

98

THE GEOLOGY

OF CORK AND CORK

HARBOUR.

Aghalmarta8 Castle has a catchment areaalof less than 4 of a square

mile., and yet is drained into the Owenboy by a deep aimost precipitous gorge, which has its head near the middle of the basin.
Coaist Sectior8s fro+ml ICirqabelZa Bay to Cross~haluen~.-On
the
north side of Ringabella Bay, about half a mile south of the margin
of the map, the platform of the raised beach is remarkably developed.
It is overlain by boulder-clay and magnificently glaciated
from W. 5O N. to E. 5O S.
In Myrtleville Bay fine cliffs od drift a,re exposed showing 10 feet,,
more or less, of boulder-clay on 30 to 40 feet of head resting
The #drift cliff is 50 t,o 100 yards
directlly on the rock platform.
from the old rock cliff against which t,he drifts are banked, and thus
the exposed portion of the old platform is rather low, being
generally only just above high-water mark of spring tide. On the
north side of the bay it is seen to be continued seaward for 150 yards
from the drift #cliff to near low-water mark, terminating in the rock
known as Carrigabrockell.
Directly north of the rock, however,
the drift-cliff approaches the preglacial cliff, and a more high-lying
portioln of the rock platform is exposed.
It rises still higher as
we go north along the shore, and half wary between Myrtleville and
Poalnaoallee (Church Bay) it relaches a height elf 15 feet< above
the line of sea-growth of Balanus and Mucus. An irregular fringe
oif ( hea,d adhe,res t,o the slope all along this coast; and blown
sand can be seen in places lodged against the old ro,ck face] behind
On the flanks of
this hea,d to aIheight elf 40 feet above high tide.
a small baly, boulder-clay ma,y be, seen capping the cliff. It dies
out, however, at the head of the bay, where the thin upper head
lies directly on t,he lower head.
Pou@nac&lele (Church Bay) ad Colaelt niolrthwand-On
the south
side of Church Ba,y is aI section showing the1 whode skquelnnce of
deposits which overlie the old slhore-plaItform ; as fotllows : Rubbly soil with rounded stones (upper
Boulder-clay,
Lower head 0; rubble drift, .*
1
Raised-beach shingle, .
.
.
Rock-platform.

head )
:

thin surface layer only

10 feet.
16
1 to i feet.

A cave! shows blolwn sand on the platform, behind t,he beach

gravel, and covered up by the head.
Large blocks of rock
which have fallen from the old cliff are lying on the pla,tdorm.
Twenty yards or so N.W. of tlhe sectioa just described, a.t the
hefad of a small bay, wei find a ra,t$elr overgrolwn cliff of drift1 about,
50 faert high, showing boulder-clay alt the top, and at the1 bo&om
This
head with large blocks resting on four feet of blown sand.
sand contains a layer of silt three inches thick close to the top and
several thin streaks of similar silt below.
On the north side of the bay can be seen 20 feet of angular
head passing below into 10 feet1 or more of fine horizont8ally stratified blown sand with tjhin layers of brown and blmk clay. In an
adjacent, section the blown stand is visible beneath the hsad at a
Half-way between
height of 40 feet above the line of sea-growth.
this place and Weaver Point1 the following section was observed : Upper head, .
.
.
.
Boulder-clay.
Lower head, sindy, &arse. ahd anglar,
Blown sand,
.
.
.
.
Blocks of rock resting on rock-platform.

.
.

2 feet.
5 ,t

Afi%

inohes to several

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

OF SOUTHERN

99

COAST-LINE.

The ( head of t,his section consists mostly of large angular slaty

fragments, mixed up with, and passing down into fine blown sand
showing bedding dipping seaward.
The blown sand lies behind
the head in t#he cliff, and covers the enormous blocks which
strew the platform.
Remnants of t,he shingle of the osld beach may
sometimes be seen bet,ween the blocks.
#From this point northward round Weaver Point into Grab-all Bay
the cliffs show boulder-clay and head with raised-beach gravel
and blown sand in places. In Grab-all Bay (see Plate VI.) the old
platform is well develoiped and very smooth, though the portioa of
it exposed, being at some distance from the pre-glacial cliff, is rather
low-lying, and is only just aabove high-Walter mark of present spring
tide.
It is overlain by four to five feet of fine sand indurated by
the infiltration of iron and manganese into a horizontally-bedded
This is overlaid by albout 35 feet of
red and black sandstone.
head and boulder-clay.
In the cliffs north of Camden Fort are some interesting sections.
About 100 yards weat of the West Pier is seen 10 to 15 feet of
( head banked on a steep slope of rock, the lolwer portion containing large blocks of rock aad also round pebbles like beach pebbles,
these being about eight feet above ordinary high-water mark. About,
100 yards further west, 25 feet of head, the lower half gravelly
and rubbly, with large angular blocks of rock and well-rounded
boulders, rests on the solid rock about 8 feet above ordinary hightide mark.
The presence of shingle is well-marked up to about
17 feet above ordinary high-tide level (measuring from the sea
growth), and there are round blocks at least six feet higher.
This
mixing of rounded boulders in the base of the head is difficult
to explain.
A little further west, halfway between the pier at,
Camden Fort and Scotchmans Point, 10 feet of ancient storm-beach
shingle can be seen overlain by hea(d and resting on a very
If it has not
much broken-up portion of the rock platform.
been subsequently
disturbed,
the upper portion of the shingle
must have been well above high-tide mark even in the raiaedbeach
period.
As there is a small
recent storm-beach
at
this point, there may also have been one in pre-glacial times.
The sections further eastI, described above, where t,he shingle and
rounded stones are mixed up with the lower portion of the (( heaId
in tlhe
may also be due to storms. As there is no boulder-clay
cliffs, holwever, it is impoesiblel to be sure tha$t we have here the
lolwer head,. All these deposJb to tihe north and west of &mden
Fort were more or lesu exposed to{ the .ice calming dobwn the valley of
the Owenboy, and m.aly havet suffered re-arrangement, during the
glaciation.
The preglacial raised beach does not seem to have been formed
to any extent in the estaary of the Owenboy, which is never more
than. a quarter of a mile wide.
The platform can be picked up
homver, as already ment,ioned, to the north of Curragh%iFy, and may be iraced northward round that promontory to the
entrance to Lough Beg.
It occurs again on the north shore of
Lough Beg near its mouth and can be seen to underlie the drift-cliffs
,which stret,ch from here to Ringaekiddy
Point
The shore of
Great Island in the West Passage is fringed with a well-marked
platform.
Between Monkstown and Passage a shelf can be seen
near high&de mark in, places, but it is meetly aovereld up or cut
H2

IO0

THE

GEOLOGY

OP CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR

away. ItI is similarly obscured by building between Rushbrooke

It occurs allso on the sout4h aide of Spike Island,
and Queenstown.
W.B.W.
where it is overlain by head and boulder-clay.
The Upland south-east of Cork Harbour.-GLcial
deposits are
found scattered over the upland between Whitegate and Powerhead, but the best sections are exposed on the coast, which surrounds the upland on three sides. All along the coast there is
abundant evidence of a pre-glacial shore-line raised a few feet
a.bove t,he modern beach.
This consists of a water-worn platform of rock subt*ending a
somewhat degra,ded cliff or bluff, which is often over a hundred
felet high.
The platform and the lower part of t)he old rock-cliff
a*re buried beneath a#ngular rubble*drift or head and boulderclay.
The drift deposits thus form a terrace of varying width
fringing t,he upland.
From the inner margin of the terracs the
pre-glacial cliff rises in a steep slope towards the upland.
The
sea is at present, eating into1 the edge of the old shore platform
and undermining t,he drift.s which lie on it. In a few places these
have been completely removed, and the pre-glacial cliff has again
become a sea-cliff.
The coa8st-sectioas will be described first,, commencing at Roe
tellan and working round through Whitegate and Roches Point
to Power Hea#d.
Aghardica.-B&ween
Rostellan and Lower Aghada the head,
a.nd lies
forming a narrow terrace, rests on the rock-platform
against the base of the pre-glacial cliff. It consists of angular
pieces of Carboniferous
Slate lying in a matrix of yellow loam.
Boulder-cla,y cont*aining striated stones is seen behind the houses
at Faraid ; near trhe road-folrk one-third of a3mile, to the west; and
a*gain immeldiately east of botwer Agha(da.
To the west of the
last-na!med place the terrace of drifts broadens and the cliffs beyond
Aghada House show 20 feet of hard red boulder-clay containing
boulders of Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous
Slate, aad C:arboniferous Limestone.
The boulders of limestone are often beautifully glaciated.
The bmase of the clay is hidden by the beach
shingle, but Carboniferous Slate crepe out on the foreshore.
The
boulder-clay is eight feet thick below t,he cottages north of Hadwell
Lodge.
Several large boulders of limestone lie on the scaurs near
here. Below Hadwell Lodge the terrace again narrows, and head
The Long
witah a little boulder-clay is seen in the coastrsectioas.
Point consistx of a low spur o,f rock part$ly covered by shingle
ridges, which rise above high-water mark and enclose swampy
Between the Point and Whitlegate a retadnground between them.
ing wall hides the drift sections, butI on the road&de near Kiln
House three feet of boulder-clay rests on lower head, and is overlain by five feet of upper head with drift pebbles.
West o,f Whitegate angular slaty rubble rests on the rock-platform.
In one o,r two places it is overlain by boulder-clay a few
feet thick.
On the west side of the bar connecting CorkBeg with
the mainland, red boulder-clay from two to seven feet thick rests
on the rock, and is overlain by a thick yellow loam with slivers, of
the local slate. A little o,ver half a mile t,o t4he west of the bar,
beach-shingle is seen lying on the preglacial rock-platform, and is
overlain by reddish boulder-clay and hea,d. The waveworn rock&&form may be foiiowed round Carlisle Fort a few feet above

DETAILS

: DRIFTS

OF S&JTR&&N

It is overlain
high-water mark.
which are large sub-angularblocks
a few rounded stones.

COAST-LfNfi.

101

by rubbly head, at the base of

of the local slat,e and sosmetimes

White Buy.-On
the south side elf Carlisle Fort beach-gravels
come in beneath the head, and rest on the smoothed platform,
which is about five feet abmove high-water
mark.
The gravel
reaches aI thickness elf 10 feet,, and consists of well-rolled pebbles
of the local rocks with an admixture, near the top, of a few augular
or slightly rounded slabs of slate. The head consists of angular
fragments of the local slates and vein-quart$z. The top two or three
feet is usually more loamy, and includes a few drift pebbles.
A
little further into White Bay the upper portion of the head with
the pebbles ia separated from t,he lower part) by reddish boulderThe follo,wing section is taken 300 yards
clay wit,h striat,ed stones.
W.N.W. elf the Glan-na?gow stream : Up er head,
.
Re gdish stony boulder-clay,
Lower head,
Rolled beach-gravel,
Rook-platform.

.
.
.
c

3 feet.
4 ,,

12 ,,
7

,,

From this point the surface oln which the beach-gravel rests rises
towards the east until it, reaches a height, of 15 feet above highwater mark. It then falls again to the south beyond Glan-na-gow.
Whilst the exceptional height to which the pre:glacial beach rises
in this locality might be attributed to a local dlfferentiaSl uplift, it
is a more probable supposition to assume that the gravel was driven
up during south-we&erly gales on to the terrace-like fe,ature which
flanks the Glan-nagow
stream.
About
50 ya,rds west o$f the
mouth of tlhe strea(m the rocks which form the lower part of the
cliff are intSerruptSedby a( driftfilled valley which is about 30 yards
wide.
The rocky sides of the valley slope1 steeply inwards and a,lso
inland.
A little angular rubble, like heaid, is banked on t,heir
sides, and is overlain by gra$vel, which thickens to,wards the middle
elf t*he valley.
It is there eight feet thick, but its base is not semen.
Above the gravel there comes a reddish-yellow
clay containing
numerous pieces of vein-quartz.
This clay is about 10 feet t,hick
in the middle of the section, butI thins out tlolwards the sides. It is
succeeded by one to three feet of fine gravel, which is in turn overlain by reddish stony boulder-clay
about1 nine feet thick. The
boulder-clay and gravel overlap the lower deposits, and rest on the
rock on both sides of the valley.
The gravel beneath the boulderclay resembles the gIacia1 gravel of inland sections, and not that
of the pre-glacial raised beach.
Where a rola$ddescends to the shore 400 yards &. of Glan-na-gow
the section in the cliffs is as follows : Weathered boulder-clay, with some rubble,
Red boulder-clay,
Lower head (base-hidden by talui),

2 to 3 feet.

4 feet.

12

99

The smoothed rock-platform beneath the head is six feet above

high-wat,er mark of spring tides.
The boulder-clay in the above sect,ioa thins out t,o the southward
and the pre-glacial shore-platform
for over 100 yards is overlain
by hegd allone. At one point in the lower part of the hea,d a
weat,hered blut unrolled flint was found.
Owing to a slight recession of the precglacial cliff, the shore platform sinks almoet toi highwater mark, land continuing
south,wward, the boulderclay
again

_j

a,ppears in the cliffs, until below a ruined cottage it cuts oat the
lower head and comes to rest directly on the rock-platform, whicn
is striated from W. 15O N. to E. 15O 8.
About

80 yards to the south the sect,ion in the cliffs is :Upper head,

.
Reddish boulder-clay;
.
Lower head,
.
.
Sand indurated by iron infiltration,
Smoothed rock-platform.

4 feet.
1
l

1
1

18

3 i&hes.

Beyond this sect8ion, the boulder-clay dies out, and the platform,
which is much cutI up by recent marine erosion, is overlain by
head alone. _
The local nature of the head is strikingly illustrated by this
line of colast-section.
At the polint in the section now reached the
old cliff and shore-platform consist of red and green slat-es, and t,he
head is formed of the same materials.
To the north, where the
pre-glacial cliff consists of blaok or da,rk grey Carboniferoua slate,
the hea,d, is composed entirely of black or dark-grey slat,e fragments.
To the southward nearer Roches Point, where t>he green
beds are absent from the cliff, green slate fragments are wanting
in the head, which consists of red slate only.
A little over 100 yards south of the section given above, large
sub-angular blocks with a little beach gravel rest on the pre-glacial
platform, and bloiwn saad is mixed with t,he lower part of the head.
The boulder-clay again comes down to the platfolrm 300 yards
further south.
It contains here a numb&y of well-rolled ellip
soidal pebbles which have evidently been derived from the preglacial beach.
Amongst them were found a pebble of felsite of a
type occurring in co. Waterford, and another of microgranite.
Rolch*ea Po~vind
.-Nearly
400 yards beyond and just north of the
coastgua,rd station nea,r Roches Point,, boulder-clay nine feet thick
overlies loose, bedded aand, which is over five feet thick.
It is probably a blown sand overlying the pre-glacial beach.
Blown sand
covered by lower head is banked against the preglacial
cliff in
the quarry near the signal station.
A surface of rock exposed at
tlhe side of the pa$h just within the lighthouse grounds is striated
from W. 5O N. to E. 5O S. On the south side o,f Roches Point the
head is composed of angular pieces of red sandst,one, and rests on
the rock-platfoerm, which is raised a few feet above high-water mark
of spring tides.
Belo,w Roches Tolwer half aI mile to t,he east of the lighthouse
blown sand occurs below the lower head, and in one place a little
gravel rests on the rock-plat,form.
TraboZgart.---The lower head may be traced into the bay at Trabolgan, where it ia overllain by 20 feet od stony boulder-c1a.y.
The
head is composed of the local red sandstane and slate, but a broken
piece of chert with its edges rubbed was found in it,. Its base
here passes belo,w high-water mark. About 18 feet of greenish
sandy loaIm with a few small1 &livers of slate was exposed on the
shore below the head, by the removal of the beach during a storm.
Some beds of the loam were pierced by small vertical pipes filled
with ferruginoua ma,tter. They appeared to have been rqotlets.
The boulder-cla,y is a hard reddish sandy clay full of sub-angular
and rounded pebbles of Old Red Sandstone and of Carboniferous
rocks, with the, exception of the limestone, which wals not no.

fT&!TAIfrS : Dl%iFTS OF SOUTidliN

COAST-LlNE.

10s

There also occur large pebbles of vein-quartz, and one flint was
Near the, outfall of a.n artificial cut there is a
found in the clay.
bed of gravel, three feet thick, near the base of the clay.
On thle aa& #side:of Trabo81gan Bay, alnd about 80 yards S.E. of
the mouth of the &rea,m, the pre+glaciaJ shore+platfolrm, folur toI
five feet above high-water mark, is covered with large more or less
rounded blocks of local rock, between which well-rounded beachThe gravel and blocks are overlain by head,
gra.vel is packed.
In one pa-rt of the section
with traces of boalder-clay
above.
blown sand occurs above the1 gmved asd blocks, and ia mixed with
the base of the head.
At the eastern horn of the bay, the head with beach gravel
b,eneath it in places, rests on tlhe rock-platform and forms a wellmarked terrace which runs round the point into the next! bay.
This
indenta;tion ie due to the partid excavation of aI short butt deep
driftrfilled valey.
The, raised-beach plat8form ia seen at theI bIaslet
of the cliffs on blolth sidee of t.he valley.
The pre-glacial rock-cliff
is here close behind t1h.emoldern cliff and the slhore-platjfo,rm is six
ta eight feet above high-wa&er mark.
Tolwards the) middle) of the,
vallley, where the ejxpoeed edge of the platform is farther from the
odd cliff, itI sinks belolw the\ modern beach. Wedl-rounded be!a#ch
gravel rests on the pla$ttorm. On the west side of the bay it is
cemented by iron-oxide, and bridges over a small ca!ve cut in t,he
rocks by recent marine action.
Embedded
in the gravel aIre
sexvera large blocks elf slandstoae which, during the erozion oQ the
pre-glacial cliff, fell on to the old beach and there became more
or lees rounded.
A considseralble quantity ob bclolwn sand overlies
the pre-glacial beach on the west side of the bay.
The next deposit
above is the lower head, which is well exposed in the old roadway.
It relachesl a tihicknelss of about 35 feet, and consists of a,ngular
irregulas lumps of red sandstone and slate.
The spaces between
the fragments a,re often filled with a reddish loam, but are sometimes quite open.
As usua,l, the oaly structure observable in the1
rubble is a linear arrangement of t,he flatter slabs of sla,te. The
materials of which the hea$d is composed are identical witah those
forming the preglacial
cliff, which is here about 150 feet high.
The deposit; appears to have accumulated in the same manner as
screes, and would seem to indicate more frequent frosts than occur
at the present, day.
In the middle of the ba$y, as in Trabolgan Bay,
the base of the lolwer heaId passes below high-water mark.
This
fact, a.nd the occurrence of a quantit,y 09 blown sand close down on
to the pre-glacial beach, shows that the beach wa;a elevated before
the oncoming of the ice of the Glacial Period in the district.
The
lower head is overlain by reddish stony boaIder-cIay containing
subangular and rounded pebbles of Garboniferous
Slate and Old
I3ed Sandstone.
Stlanding a1tlthe western horn o,f the bay, one
notices that the surface of the boulder-clay has a decided dip from
west to east, that is to say, the boulder-clay is banked up on the
western flank of the valley, a fact which has been noted previously
as podntling ta aI motion of t*he ice1 frolm we& t,ol elasit. On t,he
eastern side elf the bay there is a little anguIa,r .rubbIe with drift
pebbles in a loamy matrix, lying on the boulder-clay.
GyJeem.-Passing
ea&wasds towards Gyleen, the cliffs show a
t,hick mass of head rest,ing on the smoothed rock-platform
and
banked against t,he old cliff.
Large blocks of sandstone or slate
more or less rounded are sometimes seen lying on the platform and

ihi

Tkti GdOjClObY Oj? CbrlK AND CORK BARBOUR.

covered by head; and 400 yards west of Cotters Point blown sand
is seen at the base of the head. Nearer the Point the pre-glacial
cliff recedes inland slighUy and the platform, owing to ite seaward
slope, comes down to the modern shore. Just east of Cotters
Point the section in the cliffs is : ( Head, with some pebbles,
.
.
6 feet.
Angular slaty head,
.
.
. 12
.
3 f&t.
.
Raised-beach gravel,
Smoothed rock-platform.

Raised-beach gravel lying on the rock-platform is also exposed

300 yards to tlhe easrt,where it is overlain by head from 25 to 30
feet thick.
East of Gyleen the raised-beach platform is five to six feet above
high-Walter mark of spring tide@, and is overlain by heaNdtwenty
feet thick.
Powetihlead Bay.- At the moutlhs 09 the streams which enter
Powerhead Bay there has been a considerable encrolachment of the
sea, SQthat since the map on the six-inch scale was made in 1841-42,
the cliff-line has receded about 120 yards. Presumably it is chiefly
drift deposits which have been removed, beuse
in other place?
where the cliff is o,f rock or where the eroded edge of the old rockplatform forms the base of the cliff, the amount of erosion in the
last sixty years is comparat,ively insignificant.
About 225 yards west of t,he strea.m-mouth the head hae been
swept away, and the pre-glacial cliff iis exposed, the smoothed surface of the old platform being here rounded off intjo the cliff. The
platform is cut acroa the edges of grits with slaty bands which
abe dipping vertically. If rises at itJslinner margin to a height of
15 feet above estimated high-tide mark, whilst the pre-glacial cliff
is only 20 to 25 feet high.
Just south oS the strand three to four feet, of boulder-clay overlies slaty rubble (head) which rests on rock. A flint was found in
the boulder-clay here. T&ree hundred yards to the south the
section in tlhe cliffs is m follows:4 feet.
Head,
.
.
.
.
.
4
Rounded gravel, with sand,
.
Sharp sand,
.
i2z43
Boulder-gravel,

.
.
.
withEsandy matrix,

1 fzot.
3 feet.

The platform has a smoothed water-worn surface, which is very

hummocky. T!he gravel generally occurs in the bhollows.
Powes He&.-On
tihe moTe exposed parts of the coa& round
Power Head the platform and the overlying drift deposits have
been removed by recent marine erosion, but a lit,tle rubble is
usually found lying on the slope of the rounded pre-glacial cliff.
About1 800 yards N. o,f the signal station on Power Head the
platform is cut in dark slates. Its waterworn surface is seen to
be rounded off into the cliff a,nd to extend up it for a few feet,.
A remnant of head, 30 fed in height but only five to six in brea(dth,
is banked against tihe cliff. In the cove a quarter of a mile easti of
the signd station the cliff is capped by four fee& of tough stony
boulder-clay with boulders of red sandstone, green and white grit,
chert, quartz, and lime&one. Some of tihe stones are striated.
Ba$lycromeen. Buy .-The drift deposits described above may be
connected up with tihe Glaaia.1 deposits of the Irish Sea area by
means of the sections in Ballycroneen Bay, which lies to the east

DETAILS

: bRTFTS OF SOUTBERN COAST-LINE.

105

of Power Head bteyond the margin of map, where the boulder-clay

This consists elf a bduish,
of the Irish Sea Iceshe& is exposed.
or greenish-grey compact
clay which is sufficiently calcareous
to effervesce readily with dilute acid, and which weathers to a
brownish colour.
On solme exposed surfaces zt shows lamination,
This marly boulder-clay
conbains
v&oh is frequently contort,ed.
shell-fra,gments and numerous shell-crumbs scattered through it.
The most abundant are fragments of Cyp&na~ ~&ZQK&XZI
and Astalrte
It also contains stones, frequently striated,
sdcata, var. elliptica.
and mostly of small size. These include, in addition t,o local rocks,
stones of distant, origin, such as chalk flints,1 felsite and quartzporphyry
from the Silurian arela of the south-east of Ireland,
schists of a type found in the south-east of co. Wexford,
and
Mourne Mt. granite. 2 A pebb,le of the riebeckite-rock of Ailsa
Craig sevea inches long was picked up on the shore1 in Ballycroneen
Bay.
From t,he place where the road from Inch reaches the shore as
far as the co,astguard stlation, the cliffs are composed of drift forming a nearly level terrace from 60 to 200 yards broad, from the
inner side o4 wlhich the pre-glacial rock-cliff slopes st,eeply upwa,rd
About 75 yards east of the foot< of
to nearly 200 feet above O.D.
the road mentioned above, the following section was measured : 2 feet.
Very stony clay,
Red boulder-clay, with loial stones, and a bed 0; gravel;
1 foot thick,
Grey marly bould&-clay, *with shell-fra&ents a:d flint;,
Lower head,
.
.
.
.
.
.

I2

,,

& ::

The lower hea,d consists o,f angular fragments of red slate a,nd
sandstone lying flat, with a red or yellowish loam filling up the
interstices between the fra,gments.
Its base is hidden by the
gravel of the beach, but the lower part of the shore is formed of
slates a,nd sandstones w(hich have been planed down to level scam-s.
This shore-platform is the seaward portion of the pre-glacial platform, which extends inward beneath the terrace of drifts to the foot
of the pre-glacial cliff.
Sections similar to the above are exposed in the cliffa farther
The
eastward, but the red boulder-clay is not always present.
head beneath the marly boulder-clay is sometimes disturbed, and
the parallelism of its fragments destroyed.
Tongues of marl, from
a few inches to a foot thick and up to 16 feet long, penetrate into
the head from east to west. Lenticles of head are seen separated
from the main mass of the deposit and are drawn out or contorted
in the marly boulder-clay.
In the middle of the bay at a small break in the cliffs is the
follolwing section : Upper head,
.
.
.
.
.
.
2 to 6 feet,
Marly boulder-clay,
Lower head,

.
.

.
.

.
.

.
.

.
.

8 feet,
6 feet.

The upper heaNd is similar to the lower head in structure a,nd

composition, but generally contains a few rounded pebbles derived
from the boulder-clay.
It forms a flat cone spread out on the
terrace of drifts, and its apex points up a small valley cut into the
hill-side above t$he terrace.
Near the aaetern end of the line of

1The flints include black and mey flinta, and worn brown-coated ones.
2 A boulder of this granite, 2 feet long, was seen near the base of the marly
boulder-clay in the middle of the bay.

106

THE GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HAIEBOUK.

cliffs an irregular ma,ss of gravel composed almost ent,irely of sub

angular and rounded pebbles of Old Red Sandstone and CarboniBeyond this the cliffs are interferous rocks overlies the marl.
On the
rupted by a valley which enters the bay from the north.
o&her side of the valley tlhe pre-glacial cliff is nelarer the present
cliff and the rock-plat,form rises towards it. Just east of the coastguard station about 20 feet of marly boulder-clay overlies six feet
In a pit at the top of
of head which rests on the rock-platform.
the cliff, sand with irregular loamy and gravelly layers rests on an
irregular surface of tough red boulder-clay, similar to that occurring round Cork Harbour.
Its base is not seen, but it must certainly overlie the marly boulder-clay.
The latter, together with
the head beneath it, may be traced eastwards to where, at a point
150 yards from the, cola&guard station, one to twoI feet elf raisedbeach gravel intervenes between the head and the smoothed rockplatform.
Two rolled pebbles of igneous rocks were found in the
gravel.
From t*he sections given above it is clear that the marly bolulderclay overlies the lower head and raised beach, but underliea the red
boulder-clay of Cork. The raised beach and lo,wer head are thus
proved to be anterior to the extension of the Irish Sea Ice-sheet.
After the uplift of the raised beach and the accumulation of the
lower head the Irish Sea Ice extended along the south coast of
There is,
Ireland certa,inly as far westwards as Ballycroneen Bay.
ho,welve,r, in the int,erior some evidence of its having extended
somewhat further to the west;.
Jnlteriw n,arth of Pmep He&.-On
the high ground t%othe north
of Polwer Head there a,re low mounds 09 sand and gravel1 containing
One of
The only open sect&ns are in small pits.
erratic pebbles.
these, near a farmhouse east of the summit, shows three feet of
fine yellow sand, similar to that associated with the marly boulderclay in Badlycottin and Youghal Bays.
Another pit 600 yards
N.E. od Ba,llykenefick House shows tlwo feet ot fine sand with a
Among
the stones were found flint, quartz-porlittle gravel.
phyry, felsite, and granite.
Flints are common all over the sandcovered area. On a low gravel ridge near the western side, a
red ( baked flint of the kind occurring beneath the basalts of
In the south-eastern corner elf t>he patch a
Antrim was found.
block of Mourne granite 20 x 14 x 9 inches was noticed, and pebbles
08 this rock are not uncommon.
A pebble of fine-grained pink
granite and another of qua,rt*z-porphyry were found in the fences.
The marly boulder-cla,y has not been definitely proved to occur
wit,hin the limits of the map, but aI deep section might1 reveal it
in txhe t,riangular patch of boulder-clay oa the south side of the
sand area, or in the bo4tom of the valley near the ruins of Tit&in
. Church.
As might be expected, tlhe ned boulder-clay overlying the marlg
boulder-clay
in Ballycroneen
Bay contains, , amongst numerous
pebbles of local rocks, an occasional one of distant origin, doubtless
In the preceding description
derived from the mady boulder-clay.
of the colast sections, the occurrence of flints in the boulder-clay
m far west as White B,ay was noted.
Flints were also: found in
On the
the reddish boulder-cla,y tlo the soath-west of Inch House.
shore opposit*e Gyleen there is a large boulder of banded gneiss
with pink, felapar crystals, which measures 5 feet x 4 feet x 3 feet,
and about 220 yards to tlhe east\is a boulder of Mourne Mt. granite

DETAILS : DRIFTS OF SOUTHERN RIDGE.

107

measuring 24 feet x 2 feet x 1 foot.

The above facts seem to point
to the Irish Sea Ice having entered the southern corner of the
map, and possibly having extended along the south coast as far
as the entrance to Cork Harbour.
It must be observed, however,
that the occurrence of erratic pebbles in the raised beach pointi to
a distribution
oef ext,raneous rocks a,long the coast,, proba.b,ly by
fls&ing ice, before the accumulatlion of the lower head.
By the
erosion of the raised beach deposits, a few pebbles of non-local rocks
might become inco,rporatsd in the boulder-clay.
The two) pebbles
of igneous rock, associated with the other ellipsoidal pebbles in the
boulder-clay
in White Bay, were probably incorporated
in this
manner, but the other flint pebbles noticed in the boulder-clay were
not in the well-rounded condition 09 the raised beach pebbles.
Upland between Cork Harbour and the open coast.With
the
exception of t*he south-eastern corner and possiibly the southern
coas$ this upland bears evidence of having been overridden by t*he
The tops of the hills are covered with a
West C&k ice-sheet only.
thin rubbly soil, derived mainly from the underlying rocks but
containing
a few rounded pebmbles. Boulders of the bretcciated
siliceous rock, noted previously on Great Island and elsewhere, are
found all over the hills as far as tlhe extselme point of Power Head,
where a boulder two feet long occurs at the corner of the fogsignal station.
Stony and ra,ther sandy boulder-cla<y, generally of
a reddish colour, is found in the valleys and hollows, and on the
It is often thicker and more ext,ensive# oa
lower slopes of the hills.
The floors of t,he upland hollows
the western sides of t,he valleys.
aIre usually occupied by a greyish stlony wash overlying tlhe boulderclay.
At the top of an old quarry behind the most, northerly cottage
in Barrykilla, st~riz was obs:erved running from west to ea&. On
the east side of the streag, north of Gooleenboy Bridge, 10 feet
of reddish boulder-clay, weathering to a yellow or grey colour, contains numerous sub-angular boulders w&h a few rounded and
angular ones. The stones are all of Carboniferous
and Old Red
Sandstone rocks, a number are striated, and the more elongated
have their long axes pointing west and east. Boulder-clay, over
seven feet thick, is exposed in the road-cutting on the eastern flank
of the hill one-t$hird elf a mile south of Titeskin Church at 170 feet
above O.D.
It is also seen in the roa.d-cutting at tlhe top of t.he
hill three- uarters of aI mile south-so,ut,h-west of Gooleenbloy Bridge.
In the valqley a mile west-south-west of the bridge there is a rude
terrace of gravel on the so8ut,h side of the strea,m. It appears to
be a fine gravel, and is probably over 10 feet thick.
A little higher
up the valley, and in a narrow part of it, there is some bourder-clay
in the valley bottom, which contains striated pebbles of limestone
in addit,ion to the local rocks. Boulder-clay occurs at the bottom
of drains beneath the clayey surface-wash in the hollow south-west
of Upper Aghada, and again near the bridge one mile south-southwest of that place.
Numero8us boulders of the brecciated silice,ous rock already mentioned occur in t,he fields on the high ground half a mile due east
of Whitegate.
The largest one noticed measured 6 x 6 x 4 feet.
Reddish boulderclay
with scratched stones, and resting on rockrubble, is exposed on the side of the lower road in Whitegate.
A
little gravel occurs oa the hill-slope south-west of Whitegate and
just below the church.
On the opposite side of the valley boulderclay with striated stones occurs on the lower slopes, and stretches
southward through tlhe depression t*o Trabolgan.

108

THE:G%OLOGY OE'CORBAND

CORK HABBOUB.

In the valley above Gyleen and in the Ballinrostig valley above

Inch House West, the boulder-clay forms a rude terrace-like feature
on both sides of the valleys. The best sections in the latter valley
occur in the road-cuttings near Inch House West, and at the crossroads below Ballinrostig, where it is more than 10 feet thick. In
a yard behind the most northerly house in Ballinrostig village
reddish sandy boulder-clay, over seven feet thick, contains pebbles
and boulders of red and green sandstone, chert, and vein-quartz.
In the stream-section three-quarters of a mile above the cross-roads
the boulder-clay contains pebblee of chest asd lime&me.
m
stony boulder-clay probably over nine feet thick is exposed on tlhe
roadside south of Inch Church. The occurrence of flints in the
boulder-clay south-east off Inch House has already been nocted.
The topography and drainage of the Upland. -The rivers carry
off the drainage of the land into Cork Harbour, or into the sea on
the south coast, and naturally, all have short courses. Though they
cannolt be correctly described a%ssluggish, they seem incapable of
carrying off much of the finer material washed down the slopee,
and they are flanked by marshy alluvial ground which often dips
towards the stream and is not separated from the hill-slope by any
well-marked feature. There is no sign of a river-terrace. In the
steep-sided portions o*f the valleys with rocky walls there is little
or no boulder-clay. If, ats is probable, they were partially or completely filled with boulder-clay, it has been almost entirely washed
out again. In the more open valleys, the boulder-clay has been
deposited in a thick coating over their floors, and thins out against
the slopes on each side. In mo& cams the snrface oQ the bonrldercla*y was concave, outI in mrne it has a continuoas slope from west
ta east, as already noted in the small valley east of Trabolgan. TheI
same thing occurs in the valley at Trabolgan, with the result that
the present stlreem is tihrolwn against t,he rock on the east side of
the valley. The larger rivers have1 cut through this deposit of
boulder-clay, leaving rude terraces of it on either side, as in the
Gyleea and Ballinrostig valleys. In mrne cases they may have
reached the o,ld rock-floor, but nowhere ha#vve
t,hey cutI into it to an
appreoiable extent.
At Rootellan and Whitegate the lotwer parts of the valleys are
reclaimed estuaries; in all the olther valleys the old rock-floor is
seen to nun below low-tide mark on the shore. At Tra+bolgan, in
the bay to the elast of it; and aft Rotstelllan, the precglacial beach
runs up into the mou&s of the valleys, whizh are thus sholwn to
have been excavated ant,erior to the formation of %he raised beach.
Thus even the smaller river-valleys are of the same age as the
larger valleys represented by the Passages and the entrance to Cork
Harbour.
Traces of the old plain on which tlhe river-sy&em of the district
was initiated are well seen in this area, where it reaches a lower
level than in a,ny o+therpart of the sheet. St,anding on the top of
one of the hills, all thet surrounding hills are seen to1rise to the
same general level, which is between 200-300 feet above 0p.D. On
the north side of clerk Harbour the plain is seen tlo be at, a greater
elevation, and beyond the broa,d valle,y at Midleton the hills rise to
a still higher genera1level and seem to slope gently upwards towards
the mountains in the1 far distance. TOI the west also the plain
alppears to rise, but, not so rapidly. Its grea*test slope is thereffore
from N.N.W. to S.S.E., and this is in accordsace with the theory
of Jukeislthat the primary rivers of the district, which cut the deep
gorges, ran from north-north-west to south-south-east,
H.B.M.

109

BUILDING-STONE.

PART III.
CHAPTER

VI.-ECONOMIC

GEOLOGY.

No metalliferous deposits are known to occur within the

limits of the present map, though farther to the westward, in
West Cork and Kerry, the Old Red Sandstone rocks contain
veins of copper-ore, which have been mined in several places.
The black shales of the district south of the Owenboy River,
in the south-western part of the map, have been tested in the
vain hope that coal might be found among them.1 It has been
shown in a previous chapter (pp. 32-35) that these b&s are not
of the same age as the true Coal Measures.
The building stone, brick-clay, sand and gravel, and other
material required for constructional purposes, are for the most
part obtained locally, and will now be briefly noticed.

Building Stone.
The Old Red Sandstone has been extensively quarried for
rough walling throughout
the district, under the name of
of shaly bands and of a
brownstone , but the prevalence
rude cleavage-structure
tell considerably against its qualities
as a building stone. It has nevertheless been used, with limestone dressings, in several important buildings in the city of
Cork.2 The flaggy beds in the upper part of the formation
have afforded the principal supply in the neighbourhood of the
city.
The best building stone of the district is obtained from the
Carboniferous
Limestone,
and this rock has supplied the
material for most of the principal buildings of the city, and a
considerable quantity has also been sent out of the district. The
chief quarries now being worked lie around Ballintemple, near
Blackrock, and on Little Island, but there are numerous others
around Midleton and in almost every p.art of the district where
the limestone occurs. The following description of the Ballintemple stone was given by G. Wilkinson in his well-known
book on Irish B&ding
Stone@ : -
The stone here is of a
whitish grey, very handsome in appearance, and retains its
original colour. Stones of very large size, suitable for columns,
can be easily obtained, some of 3 feet in diameter, and from
5 to 6 feet in length. Most of the public buildings in Cork have
been erected with stone from these quarries, and exhibit some
excellent specimens of masonry, as in the Courthouse and
The capitals of the Corinthian columns at the
Savings Bank.
Courthouse are well executed in this beautiful stone.
Mem. Geol. lbvey.
Explanation of Sheets 187, 196, and 196, p. 66.
9 See G. H. Kimhans Ewnmnic Geology of Ireland, p. 326.
8 Practical Geology and Ancient Architecture of IreJaw& London, 1846, p, 176,
See also G, H, Kinahan, y.m
c&, p. 168,
1 Sea

110

TEE OEOLOCJY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

*Bedding planes are rarely distinguishable

in the limestone,
through the original structure having been almost obliterated by
earth-movement
consequent upon the folding.
The rock is,
however, generally traversed by a complicated system of joints,
as described by Harkness,l
and sometimes by a rude cleavage,
which becomes visible when the rock is weathered, and detracts
from its durability.
Besides its valuable qualities as a building stone, the Carboniferous Limestone is the only rock of the district available for
burning to produce lime, and it is also very extensively used
for road-mending.
In a few places the limestone is of a red or pinkish colour,
probably from secondary staining, and it is then valued for
polishing 8s an ornamentma marble, known collectively in the
market as Cork reds. Stone of this character was formerly
obtained from Boreenmanagh
and Little Island, but these
places are no longer productive,9 and the only workings of the
ornamental stone in the district at present are situated in the
G. W. L.
neighbourhood of Midleton, as described below.
Nearly a mile west of Midleton, on the road leading southward te Ballyannan
Castle, there is a quarry from which
the well-known red marble ( Midleton Red ) is obtained. This
rock forms *acouple of thick seams or beIds in the ordinary light
grey limestone of the district, and occurs along the axis of a
much compressed, and apparently faulted, synclinal fold in the
The rock is of a dull red colour, slightly brecciated,
limestone.
the cracks being filled in with white talc-spar in thin irregular
streaks, giving variety to the colouring.
In addition there is
also present, in isolated patches and in thin layers, a bright
red chert, which gives the polished slabs a very handsome
appearance, but adds to the difficulty of working the rock. This
quarry is not now being worked except occasionally for walling
and for road-metal.
A half-mile S.E . of Midleton, and south of the Yonghal
road, is a quarry showing the limestone beds standing almost
vertically.
Close to the old road is a much-sheared bed, showing red, greenish, and yellow tints, but the rock is too fulI of
minute shear-joints t,o be of commercial value.
Outcropping
on the road close by are other reddish beds, which seem to be
of better quality, but are not yet worked.
At Ramhill, 14 m. south by east of Midleton, a pale reddishtinted rock occurs, which has been worked on a limitled soale.
Until further workings have been made it is difficult to judge
how far t,his coloration of th,e rock may exten,d.
It may be here m&ntioned that in the neighbourhood
of
Blackrock near Cork, some very fine crystals of am&y&
quurtz were formerly obtained, and cut for ornamental
purposes. They occurred in veins in the Carboniferous limestone.
1 Quart. Journ. Beol. ~oc., vol. xv., pp. 86-104.
1 G. H. Kinehsn, in his Economic Geology, p. 136, mentions severrtl imporbnt
buildings in England in which the Little Island and other Cork reds has been
used for deoorative purposes,*
1 l,,

BUIZjDING

111

MATERIAL.

In the Carboniferous
rocks of the Carr&aline valley the
mineral wu.ueU%e occurs in veins and nodular masses, sometimes of considerablme size. The most, celebrated locality for
the mineral is Tracton, where some very fine specimens were
W(avellite has been got also at Minane Bridge and
obtained.
All these places, however, lie a little outside the
Ringabella.
18. J. S.
southern limit of the map of the Cork district.

Slaters.
A band of black slate in the C.arboniferous Slate was formerly
worked for roofing slates in a quarry three-quarters
of a mile
The slates appear to have been
N.N.E. of Trabolg8an House.
H. B. M.
generally small in size and rather thick.

Bricks.
Owing to the extensive use of building-stone and the relative scarcity of good material for brick-making,
this industry is comparatively
restricted in the neighbourhood of Cork,
There are at present only two brick-yards in operation within
the limits of the map, one at Ballinphelic, three miles east of
Ballinhassig, and the other at Belvelly, on the north-western
In most places the drift is either too
corner of Great Island.
sandy or too rubbly to yield a satisfactory brick-clay.
The section at Ballinphelic has been previously described
(p. 97). The hard yellow boulder-clay of this locality is dug
and mixed with a proportion of the alluvial silt or clay which
has deposited in a small basin in the boulder-clay when this
was occupied by a tarn or pond. In its wet state the alluvium
is bluish grey in Icolour, drying to a pale grey, and as previously mentioned, it contains a few Idiatoms. A hard strong
brick, of fairly regular reddish colour, is produced, and ridgetiles, chimney-pots, and other articles in earthenware are also
m,ade. The products are conveyed to Ballinhassig Station,
nearly four miles distant, by means of trolleys running on an
overhead cable. The chief part of the output finds its market
in Cork.
A. MCH.
At Belvelly, bricks are manufactured from an alluvial clay.
The section in the brick-yard is as follows :-

Greyish olay,
*.
Thin p&y leyef, with wood,
Greyish 01&y, with stoma in lower pa&,

Ft. In.
1
6

The clay is said to be thicker on the east side of the workings

and to rest on gravel.
The lower part of the clay contains
stones which increase in size and number towards the base.
Most of them consist of red and green sandstone, very few being
of limestone.
The stones are crushed and mixed with the clay
in making the bricks.
H. B, M.

/
THE GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

112

North-east of the town of Midleton, opposite to the Old

Cahermone Castle, there is a fairly thick deposit of ancient
river-alluvium,
which would serve as a, brick earth, and the
presence of numerous pits in this deposit shows that it was
formerly utiliaed for this purpose.
H. J. S.

Silica Clay.
A depsit of peculiar character, originally supposed to be
capable of use as a pottery clay, was formerly worked on
the north side of the Rostellan Demesne in a pit situated at
the angle in the estuary, three-quarters
of a mile below Saleen.
It is a white siliceous meal, slightly gritty to the touch, and
composed of small particles of chalcedonic silica. It is traversed
by lines which dip at an angle of about 70 to <the south. They
are parallel to the cleavage-planes in the Carboniferous Limestone, which is exposed close to the south wall of the pit. On
its north side the nearest outcrop of rock is one of Carboniferous
The
Slate, just beyond the bridge at the head of the estuary.
deposit therefore probably forms the base of the Carboniferous
Limestone beneath which it dips.
The deposit strikes W. loo S. to E .lo0 N., following closely
Along the line
the northern edge of the Limestone outcrop.
of strike it has been met with in Castle Mary Demesne, a short
distance east of the margin of the map. It may also be traced
westwards along the shore of the estuary.
In some places it
contains lumps of a hard ,white, cleaved siliceous rock, which
appears to be in situ at a point 700 yards west by south of the
pit. This rock contains casts of crinoids and seems to be a,
silicified limestone.
From information on an old plan of the workings, supplied
by Mr. E. St. J. Lyburn, of the Department of Agriculture and
Technical Instruction
for Ireland, the following succession
could be made out when the pit was open. It commences with
the Limestone on. the south side.
Carboniferous Limestone, [?I
Brown hematite iron-ore,
Compact clay,.
.
Whit0 k&x,
.
Cotwe silex.
:
.
White silex,
.
.
White clay,
.
.
White silex,
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.
.

.
.
.
.

. 12 to 16 ,,
6t438 ,,
.
20 ,,

6 to 0 feet.
about 6

,,

Small pieces of grit were found about the position

of the

coarse silex.

An analysis carried out under the supervision of Dr. F. G.

Donnan in the laboratory of the Royal College of Science,
Dublin, gave the following results :a &m&s

of

partial:

analysis
Survey

of ?nirwral

of ITeland."

sent

No.1.
Silica,
Ale09+Fe,&,

by

Geologid
No.8.

ROAD

MATERIAL,

ETC.

113

A white deposit, apparently of a similar nature, was found in

sinking a well in the corner of. a field half a mile S. S .E. bf
Saleen.
If this be on the same horizon it would indicate a
small anticline bringing up the base of the Carboniferous Limestone in the middle of the Cloyne valley.
The material is
H.B.M.
essentially ,a rotten-stone.
White and yellow clays were observed to occupy a similar
horizon on the shore south-east of Ringaskiddy, and in the railw4ay cutting at ILaffeen near Monkstown. See p. 93. w .B. w .
Y

Sand and Gravel.

The sand required for mortar-mixing
is mostly obtained
from the stratified drift by screening out the stones.
This
drift occasionally contains Ienticular beds of clean sand, but
usually the gr.avelly constituents are predominant.
The gravel
is used for paths and roads, but is not very durable, as its
pebbles are nearly all derived from rocks which werather
readily.
There are numerous large pits around Blackpool (p. 70)) and
at various places on the rising ground south-west and south-east
of Cork ; also at Glanmire, Blarney, Crosshaven, and several
other localities mentioned in the preceding chapter.
In the Midleton district the principal pits are at Ballinacorra,
and the material from here has been largely exported to Haulbowline and used there in the construction of the Government
dockyards.
A large quantity is also taken as ballast by the
small trading vessels ,on their return journey from Ballinacorra.
Sand for the filter-beds of the Midleton water-works
was
obtained from the Sandy Hill district north-east of the present
map. From the Pigeon Hill pits the material for making concrete and mortar for the new Queenstown water-works was
procured.
Along the northern shore of the inlet between Great
Island and the mainland there are the remains of numerous
workings and excavations for gravel, which was formerly loaded
A
into barges and brought up to Cork, for use in buildings.
large pif near Midleton station supplied material for ballasting
the line in the vicinity.

Road Materials.
The rock used for repairing the roads is chiefly limestone in
the main valleys, and the hard beds of the Carboniferous Slate,
and Old Red Sandstone, termed locally brownstone in the
hilly districts.
The former is generally not of the best quality, ana is unsuited for roads with heavy traffic, so that the results are somewhat unsatisfactory.
The brownstone roads, on account of their situation on
sIbping ground, are generally better, and with care in the selection of the material, might still be considerably improved.
In
the country districts much of the material consists of the loose
stones collected from the fields, and these, though partly made
1

114
,

THE GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

up of grey sandstone and grit, quite suited for road-mending,

include also fragments of the associated soft red shales and
slates, which should be rejected, though this is seldom done.
The hard grits ( Coomhola grit ) associated with the Carboniferous Slate, often supply good material, though riot so
readily quarried and broken as the limestone.
In two localities near Midleton there occurs a hard siliceous
sandstone th#at appears to be very suitable for road metal.
One is the quarry on the road to Dungourney, about two miles
N.W. of Midleton, in which most of the rock is of good quality,
though some of the beds are too soft. The second locality is on
the steep slope $afew hundred y,ards beyond the paupers cemetery, and on the left-hand side of the farm road running east.
This rock is very hard, and is well situated both for quarrying
H. J. S.
and as regards proximity to the m,ain roads.

Water Supply,

I
/

Cork City .-The

,desire to have at comm.and a supply of
water for manufacturing
purposes has induced local capitalists
to sink wells in the city and vicinity, but the results have not
on the whole been satisfactory, except, as in some instances, for
The Corcooling purposes in breweries and for cold storage.
poration draws its supply from an artificial tunnel run along
the Lee valley, more than a mile above fhe city, in the alluvial
The water is partially
gravels, as will afterwards be explained.
filtered by percolation through the gravels, prior to its transference to the artificial filtering beds, a short distance west of
George IV. Bridge.
Two well-sections
of bores in Beasley-street,
between the
north and soufh channels of the Lee, have already been given.
They were puf down by fhe Cold Storage and Pure Ice Company. The deeper well is 57 feet through superficial deposits,
and 3 feet in rock-60
feet in all ; it gave a supply of 200
gallons per minute, day and night, over a long period, witbout
The temperature
was 54O P. ; the water was
exhaustion.
fairly brackish and held a slight trace of ammonia.
The
shallow well, also previously mentioned, gave surface water ;
it was contaminated
with sewage, contained ammonia, was
brackish, and is not now used.
Two weIls were sunk af Messrs. Lunham Bros., Limited, of
Kemp-&reef, Cork, mid-way between Kemp-street
and Rutltind-street ; and Sawmill-&reef and Douglas-street-the
surThe
face at fhe point being 16 feet above ordnance datum.
deeper well gave the following section :Poet. Inohes
SCForced*l material, coarse gravel, boulders, sandy clay,
boulders of an exka hard nature, difficult for getting
through,
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
CcLimestone,
.
Total depth,

31
70

8
10

i&--i

This well, only 2 in. diameter, was capable of aunnlying 6.000

It is
gallons per hour, with&t showing signs of exhaustion.

CORK WATE&SUPPLY.

115

not now used, it having been found less convenient to work

than the second, which is through 30 feet of superficial deposits and 20 feet of rock. The 30 feet depth is lined throughout,
and for the 20 feet lower it is bored 7 in. diameter.
The yield
is about 5;OOOgallons per hour ; and, when the pump is worked
during high tide, the supply is brackish, and liable to pollution ;
but, as the water is required for cooling purposes, the defect is
not material.
Messrs. Beamish and Crawford, Limited, have supplied the
following particulars of wells sunk on their premises, viz. : An
old well at the stables near the Protestant Cathedral, 25 feet in
depth, with a constant supply of water; fuller details in this
instance are wanting.
A well at the Brewery, off Main-street,
12 inches diameter and 100 feet in depth ; but in consequence
of the pipes having got displaced, another, 6 inches diameter,
was put down 60 feet at the same point, through slob, coarse
gravel, fine gravel, clay, boulders, coarse sand, and water-sand
to hard bottom. This bore gave a good supply, which is
brackish and only used for cooling purposes.
A well sunk for Messrs. Kiloh and Co., Limited, at their premises near Patricks Bridge, gave the following section :Sand and gravel, the latter sometimes very coarse,
.
Yellow sandstone,
Blue gray sandstone, with thin shale pariings at
intervals,
Lighter pay sandstone, w&h da& gray &ale pariings,
:
Grav rock. with shale bands one inch to three inches thick,
Freiuent beds of reddish brown rock, first appearing
streaks, but bands gradually becoming thicker
2 inches at intervals of about 2,feet.
.

Thickness
Feet.
84
16 s-1

frequeni

76
10
23

2
. ---

12

220

Total depth,

..

The water yielded by this well was brackish.

Messrs. Tilley and Sons, of London, give the following
details of a well sunk by them for Messrs. M Mullen, at
Georges_quay, Cork, viz. : Pit sunk,
BlackPmud,
:
:
:
Red sand and gravel,
.
.
Conglomerate,
.
.
Gravel,
Rock (probably H boulder),
:
Fine gravel.
.
.
.
Rock1 robAbly loose block),
Loose r%roken rock and red sand.
Rock,
.
.
.
:

Ft.

:
.
.

:
.
.

:
.

:
.

:
.

:
.

Total depth,

In.

.i ,
. 2; :
.
.
ii:
.
.
.
.
.
.

E
0 IS
7

0 6
6 0
46

Comparing the results of borings at the several points mentioned, and 4aBsuming, as b,efore, that the w,ater which flowe,d on
a rock bed 80 feet below datum at the Waterworks near George
IV. Bridge, found a channel of discharge sufficiently
deep
beneath where the IJeq now runs, say in the vicinity of St.
Patricks Bridge, we are able to draw the approximate section
across the valley shown in Fig. 12, p. 75.
I3

116

THE

GEOLOGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

HARBOUR.

Definite information regarding the nature of the rock-bed is

to be had only at Kilohs and Lunhams, and the dips of strata
The
at these points are introduced on inferential
grounds.
brackish character of the water at Kilohs, though obtained
from so considerable
a depth in rock as 136 feet, may be
accounted for by infiltration laterally along the strata, entering
by their truncated ends from the gravels, which fill the old
watercourse.
Fissures
in the limestone under Lunhams
would also admit brackish water into the well there.
At Ladys Well Brewery, the Messrs. Murphy have sunk
three wells : one on the east side of the Shandon Gorge, nearly
opposite the entrance to the brewery, 149 feet deep and 6 feet
in diameter, through solid sandstone rock without finding water.
Another equally unsuccessful attempt was made by means of a
deep boring on the west side of the valley, also through Old Red
Sandstone
strata near where Old Chapel-lane joins Watercourse-road ; and a third well, already alluded to, was sunk in
the brewery yard, between Leitrim-street
and the stream that
drains the valley. This well is 10 feet in diameter and 95 feet
in depth (18 feet of superficial materials and 77 feet in rock).
An adit runs north and south, 19 feet high by 10 feet in width,
40 feet in entire length, and within 28 feet of the surface,
entirely in rock.
The supply was small, water taking three
days to fill the tunnel and shaft, to within 6 feet of the surface,
which works out at 700 gallons per hour, or thereabouts.
Even
this seems to enter from the stream above, as the water is
impure and of the same temperature as the water of the stream ;
it is in consequence not used.
It was mentionehon
p. 114, that the Cork Corporation draws
its supply from a tunnel in the first instance.
This was made
in 1879, but not used until 1899-1900, when it was adopted as a
fundamental part of the present scheme, which was done on
the recommendation
of the then city engineer, Mr. Cutler,
as an alternative
to an expensive scheme of filtering the
water drawn directly from the river.
The following interesting details are taken from Mr. Cutlers report, in which he
gives longitudinal and cross-sections of the valley. The sections
represent a depth of 30 feet of alluvial soil (fine sandy clay and
gravel) over a deposit which the author regarded as drift
gravels .and sand.
The tunnel runs parallel to the Lee for about 1,100 feet, 25
feet from its bank on the north side, and at 15 to 20 feet in
depth below the surface of the alluvium.
At this level the top
of the tunnel is just lower than the surface of the water in the
river, and somewhat higher th,an its present bed. The original
intention appears to have been to make the tunnel a reservoir
for water from the river, partially filtered by passing through
the intervening sand and gravel. The present scheme involved
the cutting off of the river-water by means of puddled clay
where especially necessary, so that the supply might come
solely from the gravels at a lower level than the river. To judge
of the effects of pumping, two tube wells were sunk, one 25 feet
north of the tunnel, and one on the south side of the river. No
water of anv account entered
t%e tubes until a denth

114

CORK WATER-SUPPLY.

of between 30 and 31 feet was reached.

In the well north of
the tunnel, the water was found to rise about 10 inches less
than the river level, and to have a temperature
of 54 F.
summer and winter ; that in the well on the south side of the
river rose to within 18 in. of the river level, and the tempera. tures were 66O F. in summer and 48O F. in winter when the
corresponding temperatures of the river water were 74O F. and
42 F. respectively.
These ,data proved that the tunnel-supply
is to some extent at least independent of the river-water ; yet
the water in both wells fluctuated with the rise and fall of the
water in the river ; but not with the rise and fall of the tidewhich affects the river only as far as the weir, about 500 feet
below the borings.
The differences of temperature
suggest to
the writer that on the south side of the Lee the water is more
affected by surface conditions than that in the boring on the
north side, and, so far, is confirmatory of the presumption that
a deep channel exists on the north side beneath the present
Lee. The water being lower in the well on the south side than
on the north, would seem to indicate that the water finds other
means of escape than through the gravel beds of the alluvium,
to the river-possibly
into fissures in the limestone beneath, to
be discharged lower down the valley.
A supply of 4,000,OOOgallons daily is afforded by the tunnel,
and the water is of a character set forth in the following tables.
Mr. Cutler remarked to the writer that the amount of free
ammonia given in the analyses is larger than at present, which
he attributed to the existence of trifling quantities of impurities
in the tunnel, when the use of it was resumed after having lain
so long in disuse.
REPORT

of the Analyses of Four Samples of Water, two being

from the River at the Waterworks
Weir, and two from
Filter Tunnel, one of elach taken on the 23rd and 29th
January, 1900.

Reautts are given in Grains per Imperial

Grains. )

Gallon (70,000

River Samples.
23rd.
Chlorine,
Sodium Chloride,
:
:
:
Magnesium and Calcium, Sulphates and
Carbonates,
Nitric Acid and Nitrates,
Nitrites,
Phosphates,
:
:
:
:
Injurious Metals,
.
.
.
Total Hardness,
.
.
.
Permanent Hardness,
.
.
Iron,
Total Solid Matter,
:
:
:
Loss on Ignition,
.
.
.

29th.

Tunnel Samples.
23rd.

29th.
___---

1.20
I.97

1.20
1.97

1.30
2.14

1.30
2*14

4.6
-13
Nil.
:tt :

4.4
*I1
Nil.
Nil.
Nil.

5.6
-28
Nil.
Trace.
Nil.

4.9
-22
Nil.
Trace.
Nil.
5.w
4.V
Trace.
7 *20
lmc;G

41$
Nil.
z

4.20
4*4O
Nil.
9.30
1.50

i:,:
Trace.
8.40
1.60

118

THR GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

ORGANIC

Results

ANALYSES

in Pa&

per Million.
Tunnel Samples.

River Samples.
23rd.

23rd.

29th.

-040
-090
0.6

-030
-080
0.5

Pale
Green.
Earthy
@=&$).

Pale
Green.
Earthy
(Sll$).

Soft.

Soft.

29th.
--

Free Ammonia,
.
.
Albuminoid Ammonia,
Oxygen consumed in three hour;
at 80 F.
Colour in Tidys 2f. glass tube, .
Smell (when warmed at 100 F.),
Sediment,
Taste, .

.
.

.
.

a020
-130
1.6
Dark
Green.
Earthy.

. Moderate.
Soft.
.

-015
-125
1.3
Moderate
Green.
Earthy.
Moderate.
Soft.

Dr. E. J. McWeeney, M.A., M.D., D.PH., kc., gave the following report on a sample of filtered Lee river-water, sent him
2 Dec., 1902 :- Only six colonies of bacteria developed from
1 cc. ; instead of 80, which was the figure obtained from unfiltered river-water. This is excellent water from the bacJ. R. K.
teriological standpoint.
Queenstown.l-The
drinking
water of Queenstown
is
supplied by pipes to taps and pumps in the streets, and is
derived from Smalls Well, which lies above the town, 100
yards N. of the National School, at an altitude of 270 feet. The
supply is very constant and averages 30,000 gallons a day, all
the year round.
In addition to this there is the main supply, which is laid on
in the houses and which is brought from the waterworks at
Tibbotstown,
N. of Carrigtohill.
Before the construction
of
these works an additional supply was obtained by pumping the
water from a spring in Ballywilliam, and from the Ballywilliam
stream across the hill into Queenstown.
The large number of springs in the neighbourhood of Queenstown, their great volume and constancy, and the heights at
The amount
which some of them occur, are very remarkable.
of ground on the island lying at a higher altitude than Smalls
Well, and which might act as a catchment area for the water,
is quite inadequate to account for the constancy and volume of
the supply.
Smalls Well is moreover only one of a large
number of springs occurring at all altitudes in the neighbourhood of Rushbrooke and Queenstown.
In winter, springs burst out at the highest point of the ro,ad
between
Ballywilliam
and Queenstown.
This road goes
Mainly from information
the Town Commissioners.

supplied by Mr. G. C. Doran, Water-Surveyor

to

WATER-SUPPLY.

119

through a co1 with slightly higher ground to east and west, but
this high ground is of very small extent, and there appears to
There is a fine
be free drainage from it in other directions.
spring near the slaughter-house
from which a great part of
Queenstown was at one time supplied.
When the slaughterhouse was built the use of this spring as a source of supply was
discontinued, and it was walled in.
Perhaps the most remarkable springs of all are those at
They have been described by
Ballynoe, near Rushbrooke.
Prof. Hull in a paper read before the Royal Dublin Society in
1889,l and me,asurements of the volume and temperature of the
water were made by Mr. Doran.
His observations show that
the temperature of the water is quite constant, being the same
as the mean annual temperature of the locality, namely, 51 F.
The springs issue at about high-water mark of ordinary tides.
They were not perceptibly affected by the long drought of 1887.
During the construction of the docks at Haulbowline, a small
Ereshwater spring is said to have been found. Its volume was,
however, too small for it to have been of any importance as a
source of supply.
Mr. Doran is of opinion that the springs on Great Island are
fed from some source outside the island, the local rainfall being
insufficient to accbunt for them ; and although there is difficulty
in seeing how this actually takes place, there seems no reason
W. B. W.
to doubt the correctness of the conclusion.
Monkstown.-The
water-supply of Monkstown is obt.ained
from a small reservoir in a spring-fed hollow on the upland
above the town, about a quarter of a mile north of Parkgarriff
W. B. W.
House.
Midie,ton.-The
organiseId water-service
for Midleton is
supplied from two reservoirs, situated about half-way in the
Ballynaclashy
House and
, east and west valley
between
Knockakeen Bridge, the water from the stream being filtered
at the reservoirs.
CarrigtohilL-This
village takes its supply from a small
reservoir in the valley, 2 mile north-east of Carrigtohill railway
H. J. S.
station.
Bhrney .-A
small reservoir close to the railway line and
650 yards S.E . of the Great Southern and Western Railway
Station at Blarney, collects the water springing from a hollow
on the hill-slope, and feeds the stand-pipes in the village.
G. W. LI.

In the country districts water is obtained either from gurfacestreams and small springs or from wells which are usually
shallow. The Old Red rocks, except where much fissured, are
not well adapted for the storage of water in quantity, from their
shaly character and steep inclination, and are for the most part
sufficiently impervious to arrest the waters descending through
On the Temperature of the Water of Ballynoe Springs, near Queenstown,
845. Proc. Roy. Dublin 8oc., vol. vi., p. 807.

the superficial deposits or through the weathered rubbly rock ;

and it is no doubt this water from which the small supply of
The open-jointed Carmost of the domestic wells is drawn.
boniferous Limestone
allows free passage for underground
waters, being known in some places, as near Midleton, to provide subtercane,an channels for considerable streams (p. 86) ;
but its low position and its extension below sea-level permit
the ingress of salt-water, and militate against its suitability for
deep wells.
.

Agricultural

Geology.

The agricultur,al character of the land in the Cork district

is less atiected than usu.al Qy the presence or absence of the
glacial drift, owing to these detrital deposits being mainly
composed of material derived from rocks of the same kind as
those on which they rest.
In a few pl,aces, however, especially in the eastern part of the Cork valley, the limestone is
oversprea,d by gravelly drift princip#ally derived from the Old
Red Sandstone ; and in other limited tr.acts, as near Ringmaskiddy and Garrigaline, a boulder-clay in which limestone is
abundant has been dragged for a short distance over the argillaceous Lower Shale or Carboniferous Slate series.
Rractically the whole area included by the map is under
cultivation,
though isolated patches of waste land or rough
pasture occur here and there where the physical conditions are
unfavoura,ble.
The majority of these patches are found in the
upland hollows, referred to in a previous chapter (p. 52)) where
small springs are abundant and the drainage imperfect,
so
that the ground is w#aterlogged #and overgrown with rushes and
other herbage of the swamp.
The subsoil in these hollows is
local down-wash from the adjacent slopes ; and it was noticed
in some places th,at there h.ad been a temporary reclamation
of patches of this character by thorough draining, but that the
attempt had been ab.andoned and the ground is reverting to its
original condition, its culture h.aving pro,bably proved unprofitable under present conditions.
There Bre also a few small
areas where agriculture is impeded by bare outcrops of rock ;
these occur principally in the limestone-country,
especially east
and south-east of Midleton, and in the upland near the
northern ,m,argin of the m.ap. In the south there is also an
uncultivated tract, including the summit and southern slopes
of Doolieve.
The tendency toward the increase of permanent pasturage
at the expense of the arable land, under the stress of modern
conditions, is as pronounced in this district as in most parts
of Ireland.
The main crops of the tilled ground are oats,
barley, potatoes, turnips and other roots, alternating with seeds
and other rotation-pasture.
The warm light lands overlying
the glacial gravels of the principal valleys are very suitable for
the growth of barley, and the ,cultivation of this cereal is especially encouraged on land of this character in the district
around Midleton and Ballyrracorra.
In pursuance of the plan adopted in the two preceding
memoirs, Mr. J. R. Kilroe has carried out an investigation
L

NOTES OF?SOILS AND SUBSOIL8.

121

into the physical properties of a number of samples of the

soils in the area surveyed by him in the neighbourhood
of
Cork. These soils ,may be taken as .approximately representative of areas of corresponding geological character in the other
parts of the map.
The results of this investigation are here
presented.
G. W. L.

Notes on the Soils and Sub-soils of the Area around

Cork : Six-inch Ordnance Sheet 74,
The soils and subsoils of this centr.al district may in a
general way be taken as representative
of those met with in
the entire area, comprising .as they do such as <are formed of
boulder-clays in the higher grounds and in the valley ; of @acial
sands and gravels including those of esker origin ; of gravel
delta-fans from the streams of hilly tracts ; of old-river and
recent alluvial deposits ; and of those chiefly consisting of local
detritus.
A table setting forth the aggregate acreage of each
kind around Cork is here given.
TABLE OF AREAS, IN SIX-INCH SHEET 74.
Rock, mostly concealed by a thin covering
detritus.
Boulder-clay,
.
.
.
.
Glacial sands and gravels,
.
.
Old river
avels, including delta-fans,
.Recent alYr
uvium,
Slob-land, Estuarine deposits, 1
1
Water,
.
.
.
.
Total,

of local

.
.
.
:
.

.
.
.
.
.
.

6,400 acres.
5,350

,,

1,::

::

880 ,,

245 ,,
(335 ,,

----. 15,335 acres.

Broad char.acteristic
differences between the boulder-clays
of the valley #and those Icovering the higher grounds have
In the valley they are usually
already been mentioned.
gravelly and sometimes ,sandy , giving corresponding
loams.
Under closer ex,amination much of the soil is little more than
fine sand, as that lying around Cork Lough, advantage of which
is taken for extensive market gardening.
A mile south by
east of Cork Lough, at Wilton (now St, Josephs College) and
in part of Inchigaggin, the loams become cl,ayey. In general,
the boulder-clays on the higher ground give stony loams, the
finer material containing a goodly proportion of clay and very
fine silt ; but owing to the large proportion of fragments of
the soils
atfine, chiefly grit, contained in the boulder-clay,
admit of being easily tilled, and the drainage is fair. On
gently sloping ground, both in the hilly tracts %nd in the
valley, unless where the soil and subsoil are sandy, there is a
li,ability to the accumulation
of a clayey rain-wash covering,
which hinders percolation and renders the surface wet and
the herbage coarse.
The soils formed of local detritus are naturally well drained ;
and, containing a goodly proportion of argillaceous matter in

122

THE GEOfiOGYOF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

l

the finest portion of their components,

they hold manures
with a fair degree of tenacity, and suffer from drought only in
very dry seasons.
An inspection of the map will show how
large a proportion of the ground is devoid of drifts, and represented as rock. . The reader will understand that there is very
little of the area thus shown which does not bear herbage,
or is incapable of cultivationthough the detritus covering the
rock in many places may be no more than a few inches in
depth ; in places it may be two feet or more.
The areas represented as sands and gravels bear a surface
layer which is usually a very sandy or gravelly loam, This
layer is occasionally no more than a few inches in thickness,
where the soil is not in tillage ; yet it is clothed with a green,
of ten luxuriant herbage,
Where the surface has long been in
tillage the soil is loamy to a good depth (12 to 18 inches), having
been treated with ashes, and Corporation and other manures.
The soils of alluvial origin show a great variety of character
a,nd texture.
Delta-fans vary from coarse shingly to gravelly
soils, usually crowned in all cases with an admixture of clay
and silt. Old river gravels are also shingly in certain places,
for example south of Ballincurrig House (the stud f.arm), and
pass laterally into lo(amy alluvium.
Recent alluvial deposits
give soils which vary from s.andy to loamy, in the Lee valley,
and are sometimes so retentive as to hold surface water and
throw up rushes and other coarse herbage. In the Douglas
alluvial tract the soils are usually clayey loams ; some moory,
The portions
and in parts scawely more than reedy swamps.
of the alluvium of the Lee, and of the Douglas river, which are
sometimes covered with tidal waters, and are represented
as
estuarine or slob land, .are usually clayey loams, showing here
and there, along stream-sections,
layers of sand and gravel.
Samples of the soils and subsoils were taken for special
examination
in the laboratory, and none gave effervescence
with acid in the finer portion of their material, from which it
is inferred that lime, in easily available form, is not present in
The soils after the boulder-clay
any considerable proportion.
in the valley contain fr#agments of limestone ; and, in some
cases, small lumps of calcic carbon,ate, after lime which ha?
Of the other fragments of rock met
been #artificially added.
with, grits greatly predominate-much
more so than the grit
in situ in the hilly ground does over its congenital slate.
The
slate in the superficial deposits is doubtless represented by the
finest material-the
clayey constituent ; while the grit, which
has resisted ultimate attrition, rem.ains. None of the grit or
slate fragments of the drifts, which were examined, were found
c,alc.areous ; though some of the beds in the rock in situ are in
certain places highly SO. A table is given setting forth the
locality, general character, proportions of the fine and coarse
components, and lithological nature of the contents in each
sample.
To ascertain the v.arious percentages,
the fine and
coarse components were separated in average samples ,weighing from one pound in the non-stony soils and subsoils to 5 Ibs.

123

MECHANK!ALANALYBESOF BOIL6.

in those which are very stony, a sieve with round holes 2 mm.
diameter being used. The coarser m,aterials were further
separated into portions more and less than $ inch in diameter ;
and the proportions of the stony contents, where given, were
determined in the coarsest portions.
The samples are arranged
to correspond with the superficial deposits from which the soils
are formed, 1 to 6, inclusive, being soils after local detritus ;
7 to 37, boulder-cl,ay soils and subsoils ; 38 to 40, upon glacial
gravels ; 41 and 42, upon gravelly delta-fans ; 43 to 47, upon
alluvium ; 48 and 49, upon estuarine alluvium or slob-land.
TABLE of Soils and Subsoils, showing their Localities, Nature, Depths,
and the Petrological character of their contents.
I

soil:

ABBREVIATIONS:-R=

~8.=

subsoil

cl - clay ; a. = sand, sandy ; gv. = gravel, gravelly

st. - stony

; 1. =

g.--grag:

7; -red

coloured

; d.=

dark-ooloured.

I
>.
I

Desoriptior

Oldwood, 14m. E. by 8. of Douglas

M;o-u\,~sovel, 1 m. E. by P. of
Ulogheen, 2 m. W. of Uork,

.
,
.
.

.
.
.

do.

Bandufi, 2 m. N.E. of Gork,

Glanmire, 196 pds. N. of village,

Rallygapgin Model Farm,

Do..

do.,

do.,

S,;yuaed ;Bm. W. by 8. of Garrane

I.
10 Wet rushy fleld, & m. W. of Garrane House.

12
13

do.,
,Do,
St.J~MQJ~s
Uollege,
Do.,

do.,

14 Market-garden,
16

Do.,

do.,

.
.

.
.

Do..

do.,

18 Grange, near Douglas.

19

Do..

do.,

.
.
.

do.,

do.,

.
.

20 Bloomfleld, E. of Douglas,
21
-

Do.,

.
.
.

Spital-lands,

do.,

16 Dampstead, 2 m. S. of Gork,
17

3
%

do.,

9
.

.
,
.

r. b.

s
A

1.

2/ m.

--

Locality.

Do.

ii!

NC

?I.= brown: 1.-light

- -

11

loam,+loamy ; 0. - coarse ; f. - fine

; p.= purple;

Presence( x )eomparative
abundance:fx x Iand perdifferent
iZ%geof
stones &cwoighte of Sample, ii
each case. being 169

st.1.

Ei

69

76 234
-

r. b. st. cl. 1,
r. b. at. 1.

473.
6. st. cl. 1

697

11 18

1;

1. b. st. 1.

48

7.8 442

.! 434

p. st. 1.

60

7.4 3P6

72 261

b. gv. IS.

929

2.7

4.4

r. b. g. cl. SR

919

I.6

66

37

D.gv. cl. 1. 8,

b. cl. S.

86% 36
_

22

l-2

I.6

99

26

LPO

T. b. I. 5.

616 56 12.8

1. gv. cl. ss.

&PO 5.7 16.3

d. b. s. 1. S.

80.6 72 123

r.79.s. Ss.

BP2 6.0 128

fat.1. s.

.
_

163
4%

74

19 7%

26

:x

p. st. cl. 8s.

p. b. gv. 1. S.

p. gv. cl. 8s.

70 16.7

10 154

1: b. st.1.8.

r.at.cl.S&

B
I

r1.6 6.2 233

/

163

X'
a

1.g. gv. cl. 9s

p.

71 40'2
_

.*G
0

_
-

2 182
-

124

TM3

Gl%-%OGY

OF

CORK

AND

CORK

BARBOU#.

of Soils and Subsoils, showing their Localities, Nature, Depths,

and the Petrological character of their contents-cmtinued.

TABLE

ABBREVIBTIONS.-S.

cl. = clay

; s.= sand,

soil ; Ss. = sub-soil

Percentages
by Weight

SamZes of
-__

sandy ; gv. = gravel, gravelly :

st. = stony ; 1. = loam, loamy ; c. =coarse

g.=grey;

r.=red ; p, =purple

coloured

; d.==dark-coloured.

; b. = brown

; f.=flne ;
; Z.=light-

Presence( x )comparative
abundance( x x )and percentage
of
different
kinds of stones, &c.weights of Sample, in
each case, being 100.

i-4

!
Locality.

No.

Ballincurrig, N.W. of Douglas,

23

Do..

24

Ballmue,

do.,

do.,

Do.,

do..

do..

do.,

do.,

Lota, f m. W. of Glanmire,
do.,

L)o.,

Poulacurry, N. of Riverstown.
do.,

Do.,

37
38

Ballygagcgin gravel mound,

39

t m.

40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47

N. of Qouldings Qlen,
Do.,

by N. of Ivy Hill, S

Do.,

IV. Br., Exhibition

do..

m. W. of last point,
Do.,

do.,

m. S. by E. of Cork Lough, in
Ballyphehane.

48

leas Ravenscourt,

49

Do.,

.
.

r. b. gv. cl. E

.
.

.
.

--z

-I

4.8 14.1

81:

s0

12

18

83:

60

10

r. b. s. 1. S

87?

24 lo

10

r. s. ss.

18

ES.!

33

91

b. pebbly 1.

8
63.t 61

30?

Gi !25

21

768 49

181

18:

Lo1 91

508

st. cl.

18

18

d. b. gv. 1. f

10

p. b. st. Ss.

18

b. st. gv. 1. E

r. b. st. c. SE

18

1. S.

IO:

r. b. cl. Ss.

*.b. gv. s. cl.6

.
.
.

do.,

LtGEuT$;

18

h. pv. 1. s.

b. 8.

nohiggagin, N. of main road.

go/V.

10

b. 1. S.

Ballincolly, 14 m. N.E. of Cork,

Do.,

1. b. gv. 1. 8
r. b. gv. cl. E

1..b.

do.,

Killeens, 3 m. N.W. of Uork,

35
36

do.,

Do.,

33
34

do.,

Diocesan Seminary Grounds, Uorl

31
32

do.,

Do.,

22
30

1 m. S.E. of Ballin

Lakelands, N. of Dwelling House

27
28

do.,

Do.,

25
2f

i
--

--

-22

s 9
3
d

Description

66

35 2

Q.3

><x
><x

18

b. gv. s. S.

U-3 69

El8

191

b. gv. s. 9.

10

(67 80

163

44

b. gv. Ss.

18

18.1 89

(30

21 383

13
*o

b. gv. S.

58 30 242

k2 290

p. b. gv. S.

93

70 237

16 220

r. b. s. 5.

12

78

13

r. 8. ss.

54

b, s. S.

65 156

37 11% I
99

1. 8. ss.

18

98.9

1. p. b. 8.

861 50

b. s. gv. 1. S

857 I 32

). gv. cl. ss.

3
X

113
89

16

II
1
x

2
x

9i

49

10.0

NOT&--The percentages given in the last column refer to extraneous material chiefly, suoh as
cindere. coal, &CA,added to the soil in manure, in some cases finding their way into the subsoil.

MECHANICAL

125

ANALYSES OF SOILS.

Selected samples were submitted to more detailed mechanical

examination,
with the aid of the centrifugal process described
in a paper by the writer, and published by the Royal Dublin
S0ciety.l
The coarser matter, consisting of sand and some
silt obtained by this process was graded by means of sieves
of meshes 1 mm., 5 mm., 25 mm., and 1 mm. respectively,
all that passed through the last sieve being added to the
mixture of fine silt and cl,ay. The results of these analyses
are presented in the following table, from which it will be
seen that the finest matter-namely,
that which consists
of particles smaller in ,diameter than 1 mm., and which
though containing very fine sand and silt might be denominated clay - is very deficient in some of the boulderclays of the area.
showing Percentages
of Gravel and Sand, of various
grades, in Fine Matter of previous Table : Samples cordespondingly numbered in both Tables :-

TABLE

FineGravel

I-

No

II

mm

ml.

mm

l--6.

nm.

mm

5-25

10
12
13
14
16
19
21
23
26

96
1522
14.8
16I7
998
326
459
753
616
12t!
7.6
747
6.72
6.3
6%

645
89
TO7
7.32
1126
5%
372
463
445
lP8
825
6.0
383
662
5%

8%
818
965
797
14.24
1106
11.82
595
666
11.0
987
75
510
7.0
896

mm

1.

*25-l
-.

3
5
6
'I
3

nm.

Silt
and
CJlay.

-7

,m

2-l.

and Sand.

Less
than
mm.
1

165
1205
160
12.61
25.08
2337
22.9
1046
70
1857
15.4
851
11.87
1391
1845

Silt

Fine Gravel and Sand.

No,
Irn.

mm

Irn

mm

In.

mm

nm.

In

2-l.

l-*5.

6--25

2k.1

375
397
10.3
C65
1875
7.57
14%1
14.5
1496
8%8
1.9
17
2
63
5%

372
459
115
4%
1075
695
10.55
892
133
7.86
53
3.87
%5
94
Pl5

935
968
684
635
932
7#82
12.45
c77
133
1153
233
4362
94
1199
762

16.77
2151
937
126
10%
14.25
1461
1085
1@3
149
23.4
22.15
192
1376
l&O5

6019
5565
6667
6692
3948
a33
56.96
7l34
75.83
45.12
58.87
70.52
72.47
67.91
6059

26
27
29
31
33
35
38
39
41
42
43
44
46
47
48
-

and
Clay.
-.Less
than
mm.
1
6641
69.85
6634
699
5032
64%
47%
5695
4913
5708
47.5
30.28
703
5854
6692

The subsoil samples were usually taken between 18 inches

-and 2 feet from the surface : and borings were made at different points along the Lee alluvium, which showed that
though the surface layer at certain points was comparatively
impervious, seams of gravel occur at three feet and greater
depth,s. In m.any places the presence of rushes along the
valley are indicative of a water-logged soil.
Attention is invited to the strikingly large proportion of
stones and coarse gravel to be observed in the soils and subsoils
The presence of
of the hilly tracts, and of the delta-fans.
1 Economic

Proceedings, Vol. i., Part v., No,

10.

126

THE GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

these soil-contenta ,aids in percolation, as well as in the cultivation, although the openness of the soil, and the degree of
percolation through it, as well as its necessary aerification,
and conditions for the active propagation and operations of soil
micro-organisms,
also depend upon tilth.
The character of
the subsoil, which is untouched by the plough, must determine facilities for natural drainage ; and is consequently
an
important consideration.

In several instances given in the above tables therefore, it

was thought advisable to define the nature of subsoils rather
than of soils-when
limited time did not admit of detailed
examin,ation of all.
The finer grading of a few samples was carried out somewhat after the manner described1 by Dr. Whitney,
chief
of the Bureau of Soils in the American Agricultural Department, by means of tubes swung from the ends of projecting
arms attached to an upright spindle.
The results, however,
through lack of time, did not prove satisfactory.
For complete results a long series of experiments would be
necessary-to
determine the relations between the rates of
precipitation of silts of different grades, and the rates of rotation of the apparatus, under different conditions of aqueous
mixture ; .and, connected with this, the relations between the
quantities of each kind thrown down, and the product of the
centrifugal
force, say in feet per second, by the time in
seconds.
The degrees of fineness of the silts should also be
checked by the microscope and the elutriation
methods in
vogue, for a proper standard of work. Were a standard established in the way suggested, examin,ation of soils by the centrifugal method would afford useful alnd satisf.actory data, out of
all comparison more rapid than, and nearly as reliable as,
those afforded by the tedious processes of elutriation.
J. R. K.
_1 Referred to in the paper by the present writer, already mentioned.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

127

LIST.

APPENDIX.
LIST OB MEMOIRS AND PAPERS REFERRINQTO THE GEOLOGY OF

THE CORK DISTRUYT.

1839.
GRIFFITH, R.-On
IrelaId.
Journ. Geol. koc. Dkl&,

the Geological Structure

vol. ii., pp. 85-90.

of the South of

1840.
WEAVBIR,T.-On
the Geological Relations of the South of Ireland.
Bed. Hoc., ser. 2, vol. v., pp. l-68.

Tram.

1844.
HAINBIS, C. Y.-On
some beds of Limestone in the valley of Cork. Rep.
British Aseoc. for 1843. Trans. of Sets., p. 61 (abstract).
JENNINQS,F .-On some Geological Phenomena in the vicinity of Cork. Rep.
Britbh Aseoc. for 1843. Trans. of Sets., p. 61 (abetract).
1845.

Geology and Ancient Architecture of

WILKINSON, G .-Practical
London, 8vo., 1846. (Cork building-stones described, pp. 170-180).

Ireland.

1863.
WILLSON, W. L.-Notes
on the Geology of the Southern Portion of the County
of Cork. Journ. CYeol. Sot. Dublin, vol. v., pp. 209-212.
1856.
HAU~HTON,S.-On the evidence afforded by Fossil Plants as to the Boundary
line between Devonian and Carboniferous Rocks.
Journ. Geol. 8oc, Dublin,
vol. vi., pp. 227-241.
WELLAND, W. J.-Note
on the Carboniferous Limestone of Midleton, To. Cork.
Journ. Qeol. Sot. Dublin, vol. vi., pp. 217-218.
.
1867.
GEOLOQICAL
SURVEY.-Geological
Map, Sheet 186. (Revised Edition in 1879).
------Sheet 187. (Revised Editions in 1863 and 18791.
-----Sheet 196. (Revised Editions in 1879 and 1891).
GRIFFITH, R.-Notes
explanatory of the Subdivisions of the Carboniferous
System
. .
on his large Geological Map of Ireland, &c. Journ.
Qeol. fIoc. Dub&
vol. vii., pp. 267-277.
JUKES. J. B., AND J. W. SALTER.-Notes on the Classification of the Devonian
and Carboniferous Rocks of the South f Ireland. Journ. Ueol. SOL, Dublin,
vol. vii., pp. 63-67.
KIOLLY,J.-On Localities of Fossils of the Carboniferous Limestone of Ireland.
Journ. Gal. 8oc. Dublin, vol. vii., p. l-62.
--On the subdivision o !! the Carboniferous Formation of Ireland.
Joum. 6W. %oc. Dublin, vol. vii., pp. 222-267.
1868.
GBOLO~IOALSORVEIY
.-Geological Map, Sheet 194. (Revised Editions in 1878
and 1891).
GRIS~TTE,R.-On the Remains of Fossil Plants discovered in the Yellow Sandstone Strata, situate at the base of the Carboniferous Limestone Series of Ireland,
in conneotion with a Communioation on that subject received from M. Adolphe
Brongniart.
Joum. R. Dublin Hoc., vol. i., pp. 313-326.

128

THE

GEOLOGY

OF

CORK

*AND CORK

HARBOUR.

1859.
HARKNESS, R .-On the Jointings in the Carboniferous and Devonian Rocks
Quart.
in the district around Cork ; and on the Dolomites of the same district.
Journ. Geo!. Sot., vol. xv., pp. 86-104 (also in abstract Rep. British Assoc. for
1857, Reports of Sections, p. 68).
HAUQHTON.S.-On some Fossil Pvramidellidze from the Carboniferous Limestone of Corkand Clonmel. Proc. Dddin University 2001. and Bot. ASSOC.,vol. i.,
pt. iii., p. 282 (see also ibid, p. 60).
1860.
GEOLOGICALSURVEY.-Horizontal
Sections, Sheet 6 (Cork District).
GRIFFITH,R.-Notes
on the Stratigraphical Relations of the Sedimentary Rocks
Journ. Geol. Sot. Dublin, vol. viii.,
of the South of Ireland, &c. (read 1857).
pp. 2-15.
1861.
GEOLOGIIUAL
SURVEY.-Explanation of Sheets 185 and 186, by J. B. Jukes and
G. V. Du Noyer. pp. 35. Svo., Dublin.
1862.

GEOLOGICAL
SURVEY.-Explanation
of Sheets 194, 201, and 202, by J. B. Jukes
and G. V. Du Noyer. pp. 27. Svo., Dublin.
GRIFFITH [SIR] R.- The Localities of the Irish Carboniferous Fossils, dc.
(read 1860). Journ Geol. Sot. Dublin, vol. ix., pp. 21-139.
JUKES. J. B.-On the Mode of Formation of some of the River-vallevs in the
South ofIreland.
Quart. Journ. Geol. SOL, vol. xviii., pp. 378-403 ; (alsoabstract
in Journ. Geol. Sot. Dublin, vol. x., pp. 72-74).
1863.
SALTER,J. W.-On the Upper Old Red Sandstone and Upper Devonian Rocks.
Quart. Journ. Geol. Sot., vol. xix., pp. 474-496.
1864.
DAVIDSON,T.-List
of Brachiopoda from the Carboniferous Limestone
Mem. Geol. Survey :-Explanation
of Sheets 192 and 199, pp. 27-30.
Monographs in Monogr. Pakeont. SOL, vol. xvii. (1863), pp. 106-114,
xxiv. (1880), p. 310.
GEOLOGICAL
SURVEY.-Explanation of Sheets 187, 195, and 196, by J.
with Paheont. Notes by W. H. Baily. pp. 65. Svo., Dublin.

of Cork.
See also
and vol.
B. Jukes

1865.
HARKNESS, R.-Animal
Remains found in a Limestone Quarry at Midleton,
co, Cork. Geol. Mug., vol. ii., p. 281 (abstract).
1866.

BAILY, W. H.-On
Fossil Plants froqthe
South of Ireland. P&c. Dublin
Nat. Hid. Sot., vol. v., pp. 41-63.
HUXLEY, T. H.-Illustrations
of the Structure of the Crossopterygian Ganoids
[includes figures and description of fossil fish from Ballyheedy].
dlernoir8 of
the Geological Survey, British Organic Remains, dec. xii., pp. 23-25.
JUICES,J. B.-On
the Carboniferous Slate (or Devonian Rocks) and the Old
Red Sandstone of South Ireland and North Devon.
Quart. Journ. Geol. Sot., vol.
xxii., pp. 320-371.
1867.
JUKES, J. B.-Notesifor a:Comparison between the Rocks of the S. W. of Ireland.
and those of N. Devon, and of Rhenish Prussia (read 1865). Journ. I/. Geol,
SOC. I&and, vol. i., pp. 103-138.
--Further Notes on the Classification of the Rocks of North Devon (read
1865). Journ. R. Geol. Sot. Ireland, vol. i., pp. 138-144.
-Additional Notes on the Grouping of the Rocks of North Devon and
West Somerset. Privately printed, Dublin, Svo., pp. xxii. and 16.
WRIQHT, J.-Description
of a New Palaechinus (read 1864). Joum R. Geol.
Sot. Ireland, vol. i., p. 62,
__

BIRLIOGIRAPHICAL

120

LIST.

1870.
WOODWARD,H.-Contributions
vii., pp. 654-669.

to British Fossil Cruetacea.

&uZ. i&g.,

vo

1871.

ANDREWS,W.-On
Oyster Deposits (read 1867). Joum. R. Gkd. Sot. Irebad,
vol. ii., pp. 13-15.
JUKES, J. B.-Notes
on parts of South Devon and Cornwall, with Remarks on
the true Relations of the Old Red Sandstone to the Devonian Formation (read
1867). Journ. R. Qeol. Sot. Ireland, vol. ii., pp. 67-107.
1874.
ATKINSON,G. M.-Kitchen

Middens in the Estuary of Cork Harbour.

R. Hi&. & Arch. Assoc. Ireland, ser. 2, vol. ii., pp. 268-261.

Journ.

1874 and 1884.

JONES, T. R., J. W. KIRKBY, AND G. S. BRADY.-A Monograph of the British
Fossil Bivalved Entomostraca from the Carboniferous Formations.
1Monogr.
P&zont. &a, ~01s. xxviii. and xxxviii. [for Cork species described see list, ante
p. 30:]
1877.
HULL, E.-Notes
on the Structure of Haulbowline Island, Cork Harbour, &c.
(read 1875). Journ. R. Qed. Sot. Irehnd, vol. iv., pp. 111-114.
1878.
HULL, E.-A
possible explanation of the North Devon Section. Qeol. &fug.,
deo. ii., vol. v., pp. 629-632.
WOODWARD, H .-A
Monograph of the British Fossil Crustacea belonging to
the Order Merostomata, Part V. Monogr. PaZceont.Sot., vol. xxxii. [For Cork
Species of Cyclzu, described see list, ante p. 301.
1879.
HULL, E.-On
of Ireland, $0.

the Geological Age of the Rocks forming the Southern Highlands

Quart. Journ. Qeul. SOL, vol. xxxv., pp. 699-723.

1880.

HULL, E.-On
the Relations of the Carboniferous, Devonian, and Upper
Silurian Rocks of the South of Ireland to those of North Devon. !/k-me. R. &,&in
&c., vol. i., pp. 136-150.
KINAHAN, G. H.-The
Old Red Sandstone (so-called) of Ireland in its Relations to the Underlying and Overlying Strata (read 1878). Journ. R. (Jed.
fg l$and, vol. v., pp. 106-113 ; also m SC. Proc. R. Dublzn Sot., vol. ii., pp.

~NA~AN, G. H.-Dingle Beds and Glengariff Grits (read 1879). Journ. R. &o,!.
Sot. IreZand, vol. v., pp. 165-169.
1881.
KINARAN, G. H.-Cork

Rocks.

8c. Proc. R. Dublin So,,

vol. iii., pp. 47-m

1882.
HIJLL, E.--On a proposed Devono-Silurian
&-ML,vol. xxxviii., pp. 200-209.

Formation.

Quart. Journ. C&Z.

1883-1884.
a~,
WOODWARD,H.-A Monograph of the British Carboniferous Trilobites.
[For Cork species described see list,
p&on&
BOG., ~01s. xxxvii. and xxxviii.
a*
p* 301.
_._I
g

130

THE

GEOLOGY

OF CORK

AND

CORK HARBOUR.

l&80-1889.
KTNAHAN,G. H.-Economic
Geology of Ireland.
Journ. R. Ged. Sot. Ireland, vol. viii. [also in SC. PTOC. R. Dublin Sot., ~01s. iv., v., and vi., and issued as
oomplete work, Dublin, lSS9].
1890.
HULL, E.-On
the Temperature of the Water of Ballynoe
Queenstown. SC. Proc. R. Dublin Sot., vol. vi., pp. 307-309.

Springs, near

1891.
HULL. E.-The
Physical Geology and Geography of Ireland (2nd ed.)
oiation of Cork district described, p. 292). Stanford, London.

(Gla-

1892.
DONALD,MISS J.-Notes
on some new and little-known species of Carboniferous
Murchisonia. Quart. J own. Ged. Sot., vol. xlviii., p: 573 [describes Murchisonia
(Cerithioides) telescopium] ; see also ibid, vol. li. (1895), p. 221,
1893.
Irish
FARRINQTON, T.- The Magnesian Limestone of the Cork District.
Naturdist, vol. ii., pp. 135-139.
PORTER, J.-Magnesian
Limestone in the neighbourhood of Cork. Irish
Naturdiet,
vol. ii., pp. 221-223.
1894.
LEWIS, H. CARVILL.- Papers and Notes on the Glacial Geology of Great
Britain and Ireland. (Cork district, pp. 100, 101, 106, 107, 135-140).
Longmans,
London.
1896-1904.
HIND, W.-A
Monograph of the British Carboniferous Lamellibranchiata.
Monogr. Pa&on& Sot., ~01s. li.-lviii. (for Cork species described see list, ante p. 31)
1897-1903.
FOORD, A. H.-Monograph
of the Carboniferous Cephalopoda of Ireland.
Monogr. Pakeont. Sot., ~01s. li. to Ivii. (for list species described see list, ante p. 31.)
1899.

JONES, T. R., AND H. WOODWARD.-A Monograph of the British Palaeozoic

Phyllopoda.
Monogr. Pdceont. Sot., vol. liii. ~6hmocari8 tenuistriatu described,
p. 1791.
1902.
PORTIPR,J.-Geographical
Evolution in Cork. I&h Naturalist,
vol. xi., pp.
153-156 ; (also abstract The Cork Valleys, ibid, p. 286, and Rep. British Ae~oc.
for 1902, p. 684.)
1903-1904.
MUFF, H. B. and W. B. WRIQHT.-0 n a Preglacial or Early Glacial Raised
Beach in Co. Cork. Cwl. Mug. de:. iv., vol. x., pp. 501 3; and Rep. Brittih
Assoc. for 1903, pp. 657-9.
/
1904.
HIND, W.-On
the Homotaxial Equivalents of the Lower Culm of North
Devonshire.
awl. Msg. dec. v. vol. i. pp. 400-403.
WRIUHT W. B. and H. B. MUFF.-The Preglacial Raised Beach of the South
Coast of Ireland.
SC. Proc. R. Dublin Sot. vol. x. (ns.) pt. ii. pp. 2~5-324.
(See also, Iri8h iVatur&sS, vol. xiii., pp. 291-294).

INDEX.

A
Adiantztes ( Aroheopteris)

*;&la,
100.
A cultural Geology,

Acnesk,
83, 84.
Ailsa Craig Rock,
Alluvial fans, 47,
66, 91.
Alluvium, 47, 48,
77, 84, 89, 91,
Amethyst Quartz,
Ans$e;i~lica-clay,

105.
64 ;

hibern tica, 11,

120.

flats, 56, 87, 65,

50, 63, 54, 60, 63, 76,

92, 112.
110.
112 ; Water Supply,

Anagfoghduff Bridge, 66.

And&e,
42,
Stream,
62.
73, 77.
Andrews, W., 129.
Annamoe Bridge. 57.
Anticline, 5, 9, 11, 113.
Archanodon (Anooknta) Jukesi, 9, 11, 13,
Archasopteris hibernica; 12.
Area of Map, 1.
Aetarte sdcata,

10.5.

Atkinson, G. M., 49, 129.

Avida
Damnoniensis, 17.

Bailich, 86.
Baily, W. H., 18, 19, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29,
33, 128.
Ballea, 43, 92.
Ballinacorra. 83.4756. 113.
Ballinaspig Cottage; 66, 80.
Cave, 69, 70.
Ballinl%ttig, 60, 61.
Ballincurrig House, 76.
Ballinhassig, 23, 35, 87, 91, 97.
Ballinphelic Brick Works, 97, 111.
Balli&ostia. 108.
Ballintem]poie, 70, 109.
Ballintubbrid House, 83.
Ballyannan Castle, 82, 83.
Ballycotton, 17.
Ballycroneen Bay, 104,106 ; sections, 105.
Ballycurrany House, 62.
Ballvedmond, 61, 63.
Ballygaggin Rouse, 66.
Ballvpibbon House, 61, 52.
Ball$ecdy,
19, 33..
Ballynaclashy House, 65.
Ballyna aul, 59.
Ballyna f ina House, 57.
Ballynakilla, 43, 61.
Ballynoe Spring, 119.
Ballyregan, 60.
Ballyspillane Church, 63, 84.

Ballvwilliam, 118.
Baltimore. 36. 37.
Bantry Bay, l7.
Barnstaule, 19.
Barrack&Hill, 7 1.
Barrys Court, 84.
Barrykilla, 107.
Beach deposits, 39.
..
Gravel, 90.
Beaumont House, section in cluarry, 69.
Belvellv Brick Works, 90, 91 ; se&ion
at, ll1.
Besborough, 68.
rail-cutting, 69.
Bib&graphical list, 127.
Birch Hill, 43, 62.
Bishopstown House, 68.
Black Bog, 67.
..
Glen. 58.
Blackpool, 70, 113.
Blackrock, 28, 32, 66, 110.
Blackwater River; 6.
Blarney, 43, 48, 50, 113.
Bog, 54, 55.
,P
Castle, 8, 63.
,,
depression, 64.
,,
Lake, 56.
9)
Syncline, 8, 11, 16.
,,
Valley, 50, 52, 53, 64, Sti, 56.
Bloo&eld, 67, 76.
Bloomsgrove House, 58.
Blown Sand,, 37.
Bones, Animal, 86.
Boreenmanagh, 110.
Borings, Beasley-street Wells, 74, 76,
114 ; Carrigrohane, 76 ; Lee Valley,
73 ; Waterworks, 75 ; Wells, 116.
Boulders, 41, 54, 56, 58, 61, 62, 68, 82,
91, 107 ; Carboniferous Limestone, 41,
82, 91, 96, 100 ; Carbo liferous Slate,
82, 89, 91, 96; Chert, 82, 96, 104;
Gneiss, 106 ; Granite, 42, 106 ; Old Red
Sandstone, 82, 89, 91, 96, 100, 104;
Siliceous Breccia. 41. 88, 89, 102, 107.
Boulder Clay, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43,
46. 50. 52. 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59,
60; 61; 62; 67; 68; 69; 70; 81; 83, 86,
87, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100,
101, 192, 105, 107, 108, 120.
Brady, G. S., 29, 129.
Braunton rocks. 19.
Breccia, 97, 107.
Bricks. 111 : Brick Island, 49, 86 ;
Works, 84-90, 97.
Bride River, 42, 46, 66, 67.
Valley, 71, 72, 77.
Br%tol channel, 21.
Brooklyn, 57, 68; 59;
..
_
Brookville, 59.

THE GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

138

Brown Island, 49, 82, 86.

Brownstone, 109, 113.
Building Stone, 28, 109.
Butler&own, 58.

Curtonotua, figures of, 17.

Cutler, H., 74, 116, 117.
Cyjx%a islandica, 106.
D

C
Cahermore Castle, 84, 112.
Camden Fort, 99
Carboniferous Rocks, 4, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15-35.
Carlisle Fort, 101.
Carnsore Point. 37.
Carrigabrockel~ 98.
Cagg;pG75,
15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 60, 91,

Davidson. T.. 23. 25. 28. 29. 30, 128.

Deltas, 47 ; Gravel-Fan, 84, 85, 88, 122.
Devon Rocks, 22,23,24,25,35,40.
Devonian fauna,. 25;
_ _ _
18: 25. Rocks, 18, 19, 24, 25 ; Upper,
Devono-Silurian formation, 10.
Diatoms. 97.
Dingle Bay, 8.
Dingle Beds, 9, 10, 11 ; Promontory,
10.
Dolomite, 28.
Donald, Miss J., 29. 130.
Donnan, Dr. F. G., 112.
Donnybrook, 86, 88.
Doolieve, 6, 97, 120.
Dooneen Bridge, 65.
Doran, P., 119.
Douglas, 46, 47, 67, 76, 88.
Drainage, Pre-Glacial, 7 ; System, changes
in, 8, 57, 58, 63, 71-73.
Drift, 7 ; General Account of ; 40-48 ;
Details of, 50-108.
Drumlin, 67.
Dry Gaps, 59, 63, 65, 82, 88, 89.
Dun arvan, 8, 18, 19.
Dun f ettle, 56, 68, 66, 81.
Dunscombs Marsh, 80.
Dunworly Bay, 76.

C*rrigalihe Valley, 91, 111.

Carrigaloe, 89.
Carrigmore, 70.
Carrinrohane. 47, 53. 66, 75.
Carrigtohill, 8, 61, 84.
_
Carrikippane, 56.
Carvill-Lewis, Prof. H. 42, 44, 130.
Castle Mary Demesne, 112.
Caves, 70, 86, 98.
Central Anticline, 5, 9, 11, 15, 66.
Ridge, 40, 41, 47, 50, 52, 86, 91,
Cl&k flints, 42, 87, 105.
Changes, Artificial, 48, 80, 89.
Chert, 28, 35, 41, 50, 62.
Chetwynd Viaduct, 86.
Church Bay, 98.
Churchyard Lane section, 69.
Clogheenmilcon, 55.
Clovne. 17.
9,
Syncline, 5, 15.
Valley, 7, 41, 43, 44, 46, 50, 91,
,,
95. 113.
Coal Measures, supposed, 2, 15, 19,
E
20, 23, 32-35,
Coast line changes, 39, 48, 80.
Conglomerate in Carboniferous Slate, 16. Economic Geology, 109.
Connor, J., 80.
Egerton, Sir Philip, 19.
Coolmore, 17.
Elevation of Land, 8, 39.
Coomhola Grits, 14, 15, 17, 18, 25, 26, Erosive Agencies, 36.
114.
Erosion, 8, 37, 46, 66.
Corals, 22.
Err&tics, 42, 61, 62, 83.
Cork, Anticline, 5, 7. 9 ; Cork City, Esker, 69, 95, 96.
environs of, 66 ; Cork City, Section
across, 75 ; County, 22 ; fossils, 25,
29 ; Harbour, 5, 6, 15, 16, 20(21, 36,
39, 41, 43, 45 ; Lough, 68, 77, 121 ;
F
Marble, 28, 100, 110 ; Marino, 78 ;
Park, 80 ; Soils and Subsoils around, Farrington, T., 130.
121; South, black slates of, 34 ; Syncline Farsid, 100.
6, 6 ; Valley, 7, 8, 11, 15, 16, 46, 50, Felsite, 105, 106.
56, 65, 82, Water Supply, 114, 116 ; Felspar Phenocrysts, 62.
Ferricrete, 69.
West Highlands of, 46.
Fish, fossil, 19, 23, 34.
Corkbeg Island, 96.
Fivemile Bridge, 15, 28, 35, 87.
Cornstones, 11.
Flamborouah Head. 40.
Cornwall, 26, 35, 40.
Cotters Point, Section near, 104.
Flanagan, >., 19. e
Crag and tail structure, 83.
Flint, 42, 58, 62, 87, 105, 106.
Crinoids, 21, 22.
Flood Gravels, 47.
Crosshaven, 46, 94, 113.
Foaty Island, 6, 81, 82.
Cuculla?u, 17.
Foord, A. H., 29, 130.
Culm Measures, 25, 34.
Forbes, E., 19.
Curra hbinny, 94.
Form of Ground, 4.
CurraPIeen, 47, 66, 86, 88.
Formations, table of, 3.
I

133

INDEX.
Fossils, 26 ; Carboniferous, 16, 20, 22, 23
26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32, 34 ; Coomholr
Grits, 17, 19 ; Old Red, 9, 11, 21, 23
24, 26 ; Slate, 20, 24.
G
Garrane Cutting, 67, 76.
General Descrintion. 1.
Geological Str&ture of district, 4.
George IV. Bridge, 69.
Glac&l Deposit; -2, 7, 40-47, 60-108
Origin of, 44.
Glacial Lake, 71 ; Period, 7, 38, 45, 63
65 ; Striae, 42, 45, 63, 71, 87, 94, 97
107.
Glanmire, 46, 113 ; Road, 11.
Glan-na-Cow Stream, Section near, 101
Glashaboy River, 6,66,57,68 ; Gorge, 72
Glasheen Lower, 68.
Glen, The, 89. .
Glenamought Stream, 57.
Glendaniel. 57.
Glengariff Grits, 10.
Glenmore, 69. 60 ; River, 58.
Glounthaune,- 81.
Golden Rock, 93, 94.
Gorges, 52, 66, 57, 58, 61, 63, 88, 92, 97,
Gortacrue Mills, 62.
Gouldings Glen, 46, 71 ; Section, 72.
Gower Raised Beach, 40.
Graball Bay, 99.
Granite Boulders, 42, 58, 62, 106.
Gravels and Sands, 47, 62, 53, 54, 68,
59, 62, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 76, 77, 81,
i 82, 83, 84, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 94, 95,
p 101, 102, 113, 122.
Gravel Mounds, 46.
Great Island, 5, 6, 39, 41, 48, 82, 84, 89,
91, 99, 107, 119.
Griffith, Sir R., 11, 12, 17, 19, 127, 128.
Gyleen, 103.

Inchigaggin House, 66, 121.

Index Map, 1, 5. !
Inishcara, 75.
Intake, 48, 78-80.
Interglacial episode, 39.
Ireland, Central, 34.
Irish Sea basin, 46 ; Ice Sheet, 106, 107.
Ivy Bridge, 76.

d
Johnstown House. 60.
Jones, T. Rupert,29, 129, 130.
Jovce. P. W.. 80.
Jukeq; J. Beete, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13,
15, 16, 18, 22,23,24., 26,27, 28, 32, 33,
34, 42, 44, 62, 70, 71, 108, 127, 128,
129,

K
Kellv. J.. 127.
Kenmare Bay, 20.
Kettle-hole, 81.
Kilcronan, 55.
Kilcully, 46, 56, 57, 58, 73.
Killeena, 59, 60.
Kiheendooling, 62.
Killeens Gap, 71 ; Hill, 56.
Killora Lodge, 60.
Kilnahone Mill, 91.
Kilnap, 71.
.
Kiltorcan Beds, 9, 11 ; fossils from, 11,
12, 13.
Kinahan, G. H., 62, 109, 110, 129, 130.
Kinsale, 17 ; Old Head of, 17, 19.
Kirkby, J. W., 29, 129.
Kitchen Middens, 49, 86.
Kitsborough, 66.
3nockakeen Bridge, 62, 65.
Knockgriffin, 82, 84.
Knockraha, 43, 58, 59.

H
Haines, C. Y., 127.
Halfway House, 88.
Harkness, Prof. R., 86, 110, 128.
Har rs Island, 6, 82.
Haurbowline, 113, 119.
Hau hton, Dr. S., 29, 127, 128.
He a%, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103.
Lower, 37, 38, 45, 90, 98, 100, 106,
9,
107.
Upper, 37, 38, 47, 87, 91, 98, 100.
Hiide, G. J., 26.
Hind, Dr. W., 23, 26, 26, 28, 29, 33, 34,
35, 130.
Hop Island, 89.
Hull, R., 7, 10, 24, 25, 34, 44, 119, 129,
l
130.
Huxley, T. H., 128.

I
Ice Sheet. 7. 38. 39, 65, 106, 109
_
floating, 39 ; lobe; 46, 46 ; movement, 42, 87 ; West British, 46,
46 ; fvernian, 45, 46 ; Stris, 60.
,9

L
iadys Well Brewery, 7-7.
iakeland, 68.
iand Ice, 44, 45 ; drainage, 44.
,aurel Hill, 53.
&amlara, 63, 65 ; Valley, plan of, 64.
Leamount, 66.
Jee River, 5, 6, 47, 53, 54, 65, 66, 67.
,,
,, Valley, 47, 66, 73, 77 ; borings
in, 73.
Estuary, 58.
Aihenigh More, 76, 87, 88.
Aies Cross. 68.
Ame, 28, 116.
,imerick Volcanic series, pebbles, 62.
Amestone, Blocks, 53 ; Brecoiated, 28 ;
Glaciated, 57, 68, 69, 93, 94 ; as
Building Stone; 109.
Red, 28, 110.
isg&l Cross Roads, 61.
,ittle Island, 6, 28, 32, 42, 81, 109, 110.
roam, 47, 50, 61, 53.
,ota Lodge, 67, 72.

134

THE GEOLOGY OF CORK AND CORK HARBOUR.

Pigeon Hill, 43, 69, 113.

Looneys Cross, 68.

Loughmore, 93.
Lyburn, E. St. J., 112.

? i I
M
Macroom Railway Terminus, 69.
MWeeney, Dr. E. J., 118.
Mallow, 18, 19.
Mangerton Anticline, 8.
Map of Cork; 16th Century, 78; 18th
Century, 79.
Marble, 28, 83, 109, 110.
Mardyke, 77. .
_
Marina, The, 80 ; Point, 90.
Marl, 97, 105.
Martin River, 50, 62, 53, 73.
Marshes, Clarks, Dunscombs,
Hammonds, Reap, West, 80.
Marwood Sandstones, 19, 23.
Meadstown, 34, 97.
Midleton, 28, 32, 47, 60, 61, 65, 82, 84,
109 : Brick earth, 112.
Limestone, 109 ; Marble, 110.
,,
Waterworks, 61.
Millbro, 66.
Millstone Grit, 34.
Minane Bridge, 111.
Monard, 46, 64 ; Iron Mills, 54, 56 ;
River, 54. 55.
Monastery Schools, 67.
Monk&own, 9, 10, 17, 88, 8% 99.
creek, -43, -92.
_
MO&e Granite boulder, 106.
Munster Dairy School, 68.
Myrtleville Bay, 98.
N
New Inn, 67.
Northern Anticline, 6.
Northesk, 81.

0
Ogham Stone, 62.
Old Court, 41.
Old Red Sandstone, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9-14,
16, 20, 23, 24, 50, 53, 54, 76, 76 ;
Fossils, 9, 21 ; Lower, 9 ; Ridge, 86,
87 ; thickness of, 9 ; Upper, 11, 13 ;
Valley, 59, 61, 62, 94.
OToole, Mr., 73.
Overflow Channels, 63.
Owenboy River, 43, 46, 87, 91, 92, 94,
Oi&nacurra
84, 86.

River, 6, 47, 61, 63, 65, 82,

P
Palaeontographical Society, 28, 29.
Passage, 10, 89, 91.
East, 5, 6.
,,
West, 5, 6, 41, 88, 99.
Pe~~plain, 8.
Peat, 48, 76, 77.

Pi&n ani Marwood

Gravel beds,
Mound,
23,59.
25.
Plants. fossil. 11. 12, 24.
Porter; J., 7, 44,* 136.
Posidonoml/a Beecheri beds, 32, 33, 34.
Post-glacial de osits,
2, 47; 60; 88:
.
$
7 86 ; raised
,,
,,
b::z%,
S;, 86.
Pottery Clay, 112.
Pouladuff, 76.
Poulnacahee Bay, 37 ; Section, 98.
Power Head, 43, 45, 88, 104, 106, 107 ;
Bay, 104 ;- Raised Beach, Section at;
104.
Pre-Glacial, 36, 39, 41, 47, 63 ; Beach,
101, 103, 108.
Cliff, 103, 104 ; Gorges, 7 ;
,,
,?
re-elevation, 40 ; Shore
line, 36-39, 89, 90.
Prestwioh, J., 40.

Q
Quartz Porphyry, 105, 106.
Queenstown, 17.
Junction, 56, 59, 81.
,,
Waterworks, 61,62, 63, 118.
s,

Radiolaria, 35.
Raffeen, 92, 93, 113.
Railway Cuttings, 61, 64, 65, 93.
Rain-wash, 55.
Ramhill, 110.
Rathcoursey, 86.
Rathpeacon House, 57.
Reanasallagh Gorse, 69.
Rear, Marsh. 80. 120.
Reclamation, 48, 81, 82, 84, 94, 95, 108.
Rh&ic beds, 26.
Ronayne Court, 67.
Ringabella Bay, 16, 98, 111.
Ringaskiddy, 41, 93.
Ringmahon Cross, 68,
River diversion, 7. 11. 86.
terrace, 63,77. .
,3
Gravel, 47, 63, 84 ; Fans, 47.
R;Gerstown, 16, 43, 66, 68, 69, 60 ;
Syncline, 7, 11.
Road material, 28, 113.
soches Point, 102.
ilochestown, 88.
Rock Close, 63.
2ockville, 83, 84.
%osemount. 57.
Zoss cliff, 34.
Xo&more Bay, 82.
Xostellan, 95, 108, 112.

8
St. Finbars, 67.
galeen Estuary, 43.
Stream, 96,
*,

13.5

INDEX.
Sallybrook, 68.
Salter, J. W., 128.
Sand, Building, 113.
Sandy Hills, 43, 113.
Scotchmans Point, 99.
screes, 38.
Sections fi ured, Cork City, 76 ; genera
across j istrict, 4 ; Gouldings Gler
ShL:ball y, 92.
Shandon Gap, 7 1.
,,
g;z>;;,

73, 118.

Shells, estnari&, 84.

,,
Glacial, 106.
heaps, 49, 86.
Sh$e line, Ancient, 36, 37, 39.
Shournagh River, 63.
Fl$iaEla
, 112.
. .
%pper, rocks, 10.
Siate, lil.
Slatty bridge, 84.
Soils and Subsoils, 121-126.
Southern Anticline, 6, 11 ; Ridge, 60
62, 97.
Spike Island, 100.
Spring Hill, 60.
Springs, 118, 119.
St. Georges Channel, 46.
St. Patricks Bridge, 76.
Stalagmite, 63.
Storm-beach, 81, 99.
Stream diversions, 67 ; Gorges, 60
Underground, 86.
Submergence, 26, 29.
Submerged River-Valleys, 39.
Subsidence of land, 39, 96.
Sunberry, 63.
Suir River, 6 ;
Summerhill Station, 69.
Symons, Mr., 19.
Syncline, 6, 8, 11, 16, 96.
T
Table of Area of deposits, 66.
Soils, 121, 123, 124.
Tatt&% Gorse, 46, 63, 66.
Templemichael Bridge, 67.
Tibbotstown, 62, 118.
Tiddeman, R. H., 40.
Tilley and Sons, 116.
Tivoli Villa, 11.
Trabolgan, 102, 103, 108, 111.
Trabolgan Bay, 108.
Tracton, 111.
Turret Farm, 66.

A. T. & 00. GJM.)

1660. 7. 1904. m-J*

U
Uplands, 60, 66, 69, 61, 107.
basins, 67, 68.
,f
Drainage, 61, 108,
,,
heights,
67.
,,
topography, 108.
Upp; Devonian, 14.
Ussher, R. J., 96.
Ussher, W. A. E., 26, 40.

Vein quartz, pebbles of 69.

Victoria Barracks, 71.
Cross, quarry near, 68.
,,

Wales, South, 11.

Wakehams Glen, 60.
Walker, R. & Sons, 74.
Waterfall Station, 87.
Section from,to Ballygibbon, 4.
Wa& Supply of Blarney, 119 ; Carrigtohill, 119; Ccrk City, 114, 116, 118 ;
Cork City, Analyses of, 117, 118 ;
Midleton,
119 ; Monkstown,
119 ;
Queenstown, 118.
Wavellite, 111.
Weaver, T,, 127.
Weaver Point, 98, 99.
Welland, W. J., 127.
Wells, Beamish and Crawfords, 116 ;
Beasley-street, 74, 114 ; Cold Storage
Co., 114 ; Messrs. Kiloh, 76, 116, 116 ;
Ladys Well Brewery, 77, 116 ; Messrs.
Lunham Bros., 114, 116 ; MMullens,
116 ; Smalls Well, 118.
Whidborne, G. F., 26.:
White Bay, 101, 102.
Whitecross, 68.
Whitegate, 100, 107, 108.
Whitewell, 16.
Whitney, Dr., 126.
Wilkinson, G., 109, 127.
Willson, W. L., 127.
Wilton, 121.
Windsor Hill, 60.
Woodward, H., 29, 129, 130.
Woodward, H. B., 36.
Wright, J., 28, 29, 31, 32, 128.
Wyses -Bridge, 66.
Y
Yellow Sandstone, 11.
Yoredale Shale, 34.
Youghal, 46.