On the Permian Breccias and Boulder-beds of Armagh

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Abstract
The strata of Permian age hitherto recognized in the north of Ireland have been referred, doubtless correctly, by the authors who have described them, to the upper division of that formation, or the Magnesian-Limestone series ( Zechstein ). The localities where these beds occur are three in number, Cultra on the south side of Belfast Lough, Tullyconnell Hill near Artrea, and Templereagh in Co. Tyrone. The strata are for the most part dolomitic; and the fossils they contain are representative of the Magnesian Limestones of the north of England, or of Lancashire. The beds which I have now to bring before the notice of the Society are considered to be referable, both on stratigraphical and physical grounds, to that Lower Permian series represented by the breccias of Worcestershire and Salop, and by the “brockram” of Cumberland, considered by Professor Ramsay to be an “old Boulder-clay” of Permian age. In this view I entirely concur, and I may add that the Permian beds of Armagh are not less truly a boulder-formation than those in the English localities above named. The Permian breccias of Armagh must have been frequently seen by observers, as they are well displayed in quarries; but their true significance has been strangely overlooked. My attention was first called to them in March 1872, by F. Egan, the Officer of the Geological Survey on duty in that district; and I was immediately struck by their resemblance to my old friends in Worcestershire and Shropshire, especially the beds at Enville and Alberbury.

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