The name of a town in Shropshire, used attributively in Wenlock formation, group, a formation of Upper Silurian age, typically developed near Wenlock. Also Wenlock limestone, shale, slate.
1834. Murchison, in Proc. Geol. Soc., II. 14. The lower part of this formation is termed the ‘Wenlock shale.’ Ibid. The shale beneath the Wenlock limestone. Ibid., 15. The Ludlow and Wenlock formations appear in the same escarpment.
1843. Humble, Dict. Geol., etc., Wenlock slate. Called also Wenlock shale.
1890. Hardwicke’s Sci.-Gossip, XXVI. 247. Splendid examples of Wenlock fossils.
Hence Wenlockian a., of or belonging to the Wenlock formation.
1855. J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 104. The genera being mostly Wenlockian and Ludlovian.
