On the Morte Slates, and Associated Beds, in North Devon and West Somerset.—Part I

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Abstract
Hitherto the Morte Slates have received but scant attention from geologists, owing to the fact that in all text–books, and in geological papers on North Devon, they have always been referred to as unfossiliferous; and all that was known with regard to them up to the year 1887 is well summarized in the following paragraph taken from the second edition of Mr. H. B. Woodward's well–known work,‘The Geology of England and Wales’ p. 127:—‘This division, termed the Morte Slates by the Rev. D. Williams, derives its name from Morte Point, on the north–west coast of Devon. The term Mortehoe Group, from the village of that name, was used by John Phillips. The Morte Slates, or “grey slates,” comprise pale greenish–grey and silvery grey glossy slates, much veined with quartz, and having a thickness estimated at from 3000 to 4000 feet. No fossils have been found; nor have any limestone–bands been recognized in them. The beds rest on the Ilfracombe Beds at Lee Bay, and the subdivisions which can be traced are noted by Mr. Etheridge (in ascending order) as the Lee, Rockham Bay, and Morthoe Beds. The Morte Slates pass downwards into the Ilfracombe Beds, and in Mr. Ussher's opinion they are simply an upper unfossiliferous portion of this lower division, since it is impossible to fix any definite boundary between them. Simonsbath is situated in the valley of the Barle, between the Ilfracombe and Morte Beds.Eastwards they extend to near Wiveliscombe, where they are exposed at the Oakhampton Slate

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