The area embraced in this paper consists of that part of Pembrokeshire which lies to the north and north-east of St Bride's Bay. Bounded on the west by St George's Channel and on the north by Cardigan Bay, it extends to the north-east as far as the mouth of the river Teifi, near Cardigan.

That part of the country which lies in the immediate neighbourhood of St David's has, through the laborious researches of the late Dr Hicks and others, become well-known to geologists, and may now be regarded as classic ground. The solid geology of this promontory has given rise to much discussion, and has, perhaps, attracted more attention than that of any other part of the Principality. The reason for this great interest is to be sought in the facts that the rocks of this area are of a very great antiquity, and that the sedimentary series contain the remains of some of the earliest organic forms yet found in the earth's crust, whilst the igneous rocks are also displayed in great abundance and variety, and present us, in the words of Sir Archibald Geikie, with “the oldest well-preserved record of volcanic action in Britain.”