1855.] Mining Districts of the North of England. 59 



tilating the mine. The air descends, or goes doivn the downcast 

 shaft, and then, after having traversed the workings of the colliery, 

 rises up the upcast shaft. The depth of the downcast shaft repre- 

 sented was about 68 fathoms, i. e. 408 feet, somewhat more than the 

 height of St. Paul's dome, and almost exactly double the height of 

 the Monument, which is 202 feet. Pillars of coal, varying from 40 

 to 50, 80, or 100 yards, are left to support the strata round the shaft 

 — in this instance they are 50 yards square ; the diameter of the 

 shaft is 13 feet. The winning head- ways, boards, pillars, &c., were 

 described by reference to the plan. 



After adverting to the localities which formerly produced or do 

 now produce household, coking, or steam coal, allusion was made to 

 the Roman wall, the east termination of which, midway between 

 Newcastle and the sea, gave rise to the well-known name of IVallsend 

 coal — a large colliery at that place, (which was also the residence of 

 the eminent viewer, Mr. Buddie,) having produced an excellent 

 description of household coal ; and the high estimation of Wallsend 

 coal led to the appellation being extended to others. At present 

 vast quantities of the best household coal are produced from col- 

 lieries in the districts near Haswell, Hetton, Seaham, &c., south of 

 the river Wear. Coking coal abounds in the western part of the 

 coal-fields ; and steam coal is extensively worked in several parts 

 of the county of Northumberland, chiefly in an area of fifty square 

 miles, between the rivers Coquet and Tyne — the locality of the 

 principal collieries being indicated by railways, or waggon ways. 

 These various qualities of coal, owing to the vast development of steam 

 navigation, railway locomotion, the iron trade, and various chemical 

 and manufacturing processes, in the last thirty years, have attained 

 an importance far exceeding that which once appertained to the 

 Wallsend coal of the north banks of the Tyne. — The Roman 

 wall itself received a passing notice, as one of the most remarkable 

 antiquities of the North of England ;* and drawings were ex- 

 hibited of some of its more conspicuous features. The connexion 

 between the conditions of physical geography and the works of 

 human art was exemplified in the fact of the Romans having diverged 

 from a direct line, to avail themselves of steep and romantic pre- 

 cipices formed of basalt, the overflowing of which, in the midst of 

 regularly stratified rocks, is especially deserving of note, both as a 

 geological and mining condition, and as an index to several of the 

 most remarkable objects, both of nature and art, in the mining 

 districts of the North of England. The greatest known mass of 

 this basalt is found near the rise of the river Tees ; and Mr. Bur- 

 lisoD, of Durham, has recently made a careful painting, which 



♦ The excellent work of Dr. Bruce, of Newcastle, on the Roman Wall, has 

 already passed through two editions, and a third is in preparation. The dia- 

 grams of the wall exhibited were from the numerous and graphic illustrations 

 of Dr. Bruce's work. 



