The following is a note to Chapter 7 of the author's Navvyman.
The Victorians were fascinated by stories of toads/frogs entombed in ancient rock: toad-in-the-hole (sausage in batter) is now all that's left of it. Navvies in the Sherburn valley on the London-Birmingham freed a plump brown toad from solid sandstone. It soon blackened and died. Navvies in the Belsize tunnel in London saw toads hopping away from rocks they'd just broken open. On the St Dizier-Nancy railroad a living pterodactyl was blasted from Jurassic limestone. It rattled its oily, leathery wings, croaked, and died. (So it was said.)
Last modified 20 April 2006